Bugs
Lately, I have been thinking a lot about games with bugs, since I have been working on ways of implementing various bug-like movement through code in Flash. And as luck would have it, the more I think about bugs, the more games I find that feature bugs. And while I still have not yet found a convincing Centipede clone in Flash just yet, this next one shares some traits with the classic.
Bugs is a game created by Hairy Bullet Games and is available to play free on hairybulletgames.com. An action arcade game at heart, Bugs features an interesting gameplay mix from that of a shooter and a strategy game.
The object of Bugs is to stop the bugs from scarfing the 'shrooms by zapping them with your sonic spidey sense. When all the mushrooms are gone, so is the game. Control is with the arrow keys for movement and the space bar for activating your sonic powers. Bugs do not harm the spider, yet the spider's sonic powers can destroy a mushroom.
One by one the bugs will crawl out of the woodwork and walk across the play field. If one runs into a shroom, it eats it and then turns and walks back from where it came. The spider may not move through mushrooms, it must go around, and it can only send out sonic waves in the direction it last moved.
There is a good deal to like about this original and appealing game. The graphics are nicely done, and reminiscent of a classic. The optional scanlines add a nice old-school aesthetic, and the retro sound effects are consistent with the game's overall appearance. I especially liked the gameplay balance of the weapon causing destruction to the mushrooms, and ultimately to the ending of the game. Also impressive is the sheer number of bugs the developers managed to animate across the screen at once with no visible drop in framerate. Bugs is a fun little game about, uh, bugs, and that's good enough for me.
Update: It seems that all good things come to an end sooner or later, and so is the case with Hairy Bullet Games' Bugs.
This was nice game and I liked the basic idea, but I think the movement of spider is quite wrong. I really dont see any reason for using acceleration which only makes controlling the spider harder. It would of been much better with basic "step-from-one-tile-to-next-when-key-is-pressed" movement.
For me, this is good idea wasted with wrong movement.
Yes, I have to agree with you, Tony, that the control of the spider is the least likable implementation of the game.
Still, it is a race to get to the bugs in time before they scarf down a 'shroom, and so the acceleration does help. I believe that if the control were as you mentioned, the challenge might seem futile. Maybe it would have been better to move the spider with the mouse instead?
high score of 157364!!!!
took a while though lol
I was probably complaining about the movement mostly because the game felt very much like old school arcade game, so the fluid spider movement didnt quite fit there. With different graphics/sounds this might not be bad at all.
I still like the idea :)
Hello, I wrote this game and if anyone really wants a true conversion of Centipede drop me a line and let me know. This game did infact start life as a centipede clone but I drifted off track somewhat.
Thanks for the comment, John. Yes, I am very interested in a Flash conversion of Centipede, have you created one? As you may know from my site, I have a thing for excellent Web games, and I really liked what you did with Bugs. It reminded me a lot of Centipede, and yet it is unique as well. Please let me know if you have a link available for Centipede. I used to love playing that game, and would love to play it again. =)
Hi Jay,
I'm currently working on a Centipede version in Flash. I have it up in beta now at http://www.clublime.com/centipede
Go check it out. :-)
Jay, this game isn't working for me. Maybe it's off the net.
Joel - thanks for the heads-up. I just tried myself and noticed the game, while still available to play, was not appearing as it used to in the pop-up window.
I changed the window to include scroll bars so you can reposition the window for play.
It appears that this game has been taken off the web (at least where you're linking to it) and now hairybulletgames.com directs to a site where you must be a registered user to play and it doesn't seem to have many unique games solely based on what's obvious from the homepage.
Update