Minesweeper: A Forgotten Masterpiece

So, as you may guess from the title, this is a post regarding Minesweeper.

I could easily write an essay on this, but I guess I'll keep it short for the sake of all you readers.

Minesweeper is a game most people have played, yet the vast majority of those people will have never understood it. Excuse me for any errors, since I play on the Windows Vista version, but I think they're all roughly the same.

Basically, there's a "minefield". It's just a bunch of squares. Some of these squares are mines. Click on these and BANG; Game Over. So, what's your goal? To find out where these mines are and click on every other square to un-cover them. There's a counter showing how many mines you haven't "placed" yet, and you just have to find them with some logical deduction and right-click on the squares to indicate that they're there.

This will make it impossible for you to click that square, and die. Now, how do you know where they are? Some of the other squares will have numbers on them. This number is the amount of mines the square is adjacent to. So, the maximum possible is, obviously, 8. (Diagonals count as being directly adjacent in Minesweeper.)

The first step, obviously, is to choose where some are by finding a square with exactly that number of squares adjacent. Say there's a 2 up against the edge, limiting it to a 5, and it's above a straight line. It only has 2 adjacent squares, so they MUST be mines. And you work your way through. I'm not sure if it's only in the Windows Vista version, but you can double-click on the numbered squares and it will remove everything next to it, possibly killing you if you got it wrong.

So, it's actually quite simple. It just requires thought. Of course, as the map gets bigger with more difficulties (Beginner, Intermediate, then Advanced.), you may find yourself stretched mentally. This is the fun part; play for it. :P It's amazing.

So, in conclusion, despite being simple and graphically, nothing amazing, Minesweeper is an amazing game requiring lots of thought and logic. I strongly recommend going to play it now. Pretty much anyone should be able to pass a Beginner puzzle, and even if you can't manage Advanced, you should still be able to make a good attempt at an Intermediate.

So, what are you waiting for? Try it now!~ Go do it.

Idle Games - Scrap This Shit

My first post on the basis of this blog. Games.

That's ultimately why I made it, and that's this blog's main purpose. To support my rants about games and what-not.

So... First in the firing line -- Idle Games.

Seriously, what is this shit? Scrap it. NOW. I don't want to get rewarded for doing nothing; that's just dumb. And then there's the people that just leave their computers on for days to get ridiculously high scores.

The worse bit -- They're getting even crappier.

One of the later ones: A Knight's Story 2.

You play as one of a certain amount of classes, and can choose where your character automatically grinds. Then there's the boss monsters that can come from nowhere and rape you, re-setting you to the "safe zone" with no monsters without you knowing.

Not to mention how un-balanced the classes are. And how it's possible to kill some monsters in a certain zone at one level, but not others, which will, again, kill you and send you back.

What is the need? Why not make an actual RPG? He has decent art, a fine enough concept, just no actual GAMEPLAY. Surely, all games should require GAMEPLAY, to, fundamentally, make them a game. There's no win conditions or loss conditions really. All you get for dying is loss of time, which only helps you further yourself in doing nothing. This isn't winning, you're just losing further. Losing time, losing CPU usage, losing sanity, losing dignity, losing actual rewards for doing something. Losing productivity. And, last, but not least, losing fun. I don't want to just watch a character repeat the same actions multiple times, it's stupid, annoying and ridiculously monotonous. Why are these things in circulation, and why do some people rate them high. Honestly. >.<

Laying the Path

Okay, figured I better get my goals for the short-term down here somewhere.

Writing:
- Re-write my Kongregate Profile.
- Post on here a lot.
- Fix "The Vortex"'s Wiki Page.

Flash Development:
- Learn how to code and make;
a) A Minesweeper flash with in-built achievements and further difficulties than the 3 on the Windows version.
b) A simple platformer just to test my skills on that genre, might pursue it if I'm half-decent. xD
c) Something mouse-reliant, presumably a game where you have to click on objects flying past.

Real Life:
- Stick in with my coursework and GCSEs.
- Have a nice, family Christmas.
- Get internet at home.
- Survive the winter with my extremely low "Frost Resist." D:

That's more or less it, but I'll need to work on some artwork and stuff aswell for my games. Oh, joy.

The Beginning of the End.

Well, here it is, my blog. The name, Iridescent Insanity, is quite nice, don't you think? I've based it on how many people see me, and how I'd like to portray myself. A little bit of insanity, and randomness, but it's all colourful and a bright ray of sunshine within the darkness and madness. (Oxymorons FTW?)

So... Here it is, and I hope you enjoy it.

And... If you didn't understand most of that, you'll probably want to look up the word "Iridescent". Because I'm nice...

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Iridescent - I prefer the second description, to be honest. Much better. (That's the second definition, not the second point of the first definition.)

And, in case you're new to the English Language or just a little weak with your vocabulary...

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Insane - Insanity was pretty weak, more or less "The condition of being insane." The third point of the first description on this is pretty awesome. "Utterly senseless." -- Maybe I won't go that far, but still... It's going to be pretty random. ;)