 |
|
Smashing Bottles (PC) by jp (May 30th, 2026 at 18:16:28) |
Heard about this one recently and got stuck playing the demo on itch (though it's also available on Steam) for a few hours until I got to the final (demo) ending!
It's an incremental game with some interesting things going on - you have a bat and smash bottles, but you have a limited time to do so (in seconds, like max 25 or so after all the upgrades?). When time runs out you can go again or go to the shop to buy upgrades. As expected you want to get more money from smashing bottles and there's ways to do that - spawn golden bottles, champagne bottles (when they smash the corks fly out and can smash other things), and even molotov cocktails (that explode, smashing other things).
There's a few things I thought where nice/clever:
a. The game has two distinct phases (once you unlock molotovs, everything changes, really) - the "you smash" and the "maximize money in the time allowed". In the latter, the game mostly plays itself as the molotovs keep everything getting smashed.
b. The "you smash" has rotating bottles, and since the smashing can take a few hits, there's some interest in smashing champagne such that the cork flies in a certain direction for more damage.
c. The champagne corks are pretty clever - since it gives you a reason to, in the short time you have to smash, choose what to smash a little more carefully. Go for golden or champagne hoping for a productive chain reaction?
Of course there's also a prestige/reset mechanic - from which you can lock a separate bat that smashes.
I'm curious how far things will go once the full game is out - and what the nature of the upgrades will be. I'm really hoping for more variety in the experience beyond the simple "number go up" - in that sense the molotovs seem like they're capping the experience in a detrimental way (even as they were super fun to smash when I first unlocked them.
read all entries for this GameLog  - read comments (1) 
- add a comment 
|
|
Donkey Kong Bananza (NSW2) by jp (May 30th, 2026 at 18:07:32) |
Still playing!
It has an interesting structure in terms of its levels and such - the core metaphor is that you're going deeper into the planet with each level, and they're both thematic and numbered. I got to a point where there's a bifurcation - go right into what I thought was "jungle land" or left into "snow land". I went right did a few more levels, cleared the boss (it was plant/poison land) and in order to continue going deeper I was then told to go back to "snow land"! There's a fast travel/teleport system involving giant worms that can move your around, so it was easy enough to do this, but I was surprised to learn that the fork was just a "choose what order to do these" situation... and also, the entire "fork" makes little sense thematically so I'm curious to see how it's explained and communicated in the interface - will it look like a fork in the "hole" going into the planet's core?
The titular ability (bananza mode!) was a bit underwhelming - you turn into a bigger DK and can now punch things you couldn't before - it lasts a limited amount of time. But, I've since unlocked a new one - DK-bird - where you can glide around (and after paying to unlock) and drop an egg on enemies. The gilding around was important/necessary in the plant/poison levels, and I'm expecting it to be similarly required in the snowy ones. We'll see!
read all entries for this GameLog
- add a comment
|
|
Hollow Knight: Silksong (PC) by dkirschner (May 13th, 2026 at 14:58:07) |
Kicking myself for not writing an entry when I was playing this 6 months ago. I am cleaning up my wishlist, backlog, and etc., and the FEELING I get when I see Silksong "in progress" is anxiety. I had jotted a few notes in December, as follows:
"It’s true, Silksong is hard. Like, really, frustratingly hard. Like punishingly difficult. I hit a wall at the end of Act 1 trying to beat the Last Judge. The game likes to place benches far away from boss fights, such that retrying boss fights involves slogging back through tough platforming and other sections of the map."
I did kill the Last Judge and complete Act 1. I remember that took a very long time, and that after the Last Judge, I died a few more times and, probably, with shaking hands and rapid heartbeat, said, "I can't do this anymore." Actually, it may have been in one of those rooms with waves of enemies. This innovation is new and unwelcome to Silksong, rooms that lock upon entering and spill several waves of challenging enemies at you. Yeah, I think that is what got me, just being pummeled over and over in one of those rooms, getting tired of exploring the maze-like map, tired of dying, tired of corpse runs, just exhausted. The game became a chore.
Besides that, I loved it, haha. I was definitely into it for a while. It was sublime until it wasn't.
read all entries for this GameLog
- add a comment
|
|
Turnip Boy Robs a Bank (PC) by dkirschner (May 12th, 2026 at 17:20:35) |
I meant to quickly beat this back in April so I could have a "completion" for the month, but I got really busy after spending barely an hour one afternoon with Turnip Boy Robs a Bank, a bizarre little twin-stick shooter about a turnip...who robs a bank. The game builds off previous games in the series, which I have never played, in which Turnip Boy commits tax evasion and, according to this game at least, seems to have started a war. Work has slowed down for the first time in nearly two months, and while I wait for my next contract to begin, I figured I'd knock this out.
The whole game is silly. The world is populated by sentient fruits and vegetables. You are employed by a pickle / mafia gang leader to rob a bank of a garlic bulb / bad guy / killed your dad. You have a base, where you can get new weapon loadouts by bringing weapons from the bank (always try to return with something new or high-powered!), purchase progression items from the "dark web," and upgrade stuff at another vendor. You go on "runs" to the bank, which are timed (starts at 2 or 3 minutes, goes up to 5 or 6 with upgrades). Runs are over when you die or when you exit the bank. Die and you lose half the cash you accumulated in the run. Survive and you are handsomely rewarded. Upgrade stuff. Go back to the bank. It's a roguelite too.
The bank has a specific layout of rooms, but you'll encounter some randomized areas too, and enemies and treasure are somewhat randomized. Throughout the bank are tons of NPCs with little fetch quests that usually reward you with pictures (fun/ny to look at) or hats (fun/ny to equip). A blueberry might want you to find its wedding ring, a lime wants you to get divorce papers from her lemon husband, a scientist pineapple wants you to find a philosopher mango and ask it an ethical question about experimenting on fruits, etc. I had some good laughs.
In each corner of the bank is a boss. Boss fights were fun, but the most challenging were early on. Once you start upgrading stats, the game becomes easy. It definitely ends up being an "upgrade everything and go nuts on all the enemies!" type game, experience being overpowered.
I haven't played a twin-stick shooter in a while, and while this wasn't revolutionary or anything, it was fun and scratched the itch. I gotta get back to Divinity: Original Sin 2. I might have some extra time till my next gig, so maybe I can boot it up, remember what I was doing, and make some progress this week.
read all entries for this GameLog
- add a comment
|
|
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (DS) by jp (Apr 27th, 2026 at 22:04:52) |
I got to that point where I hit a monster/boss that just wasn't that much fun, and then I got a bit lost in terms of where to continue making progress, and the backtracking started to get a bit tiresome...as I explored and searched for different paths. So, time to bail!
read all entries for this GameLog
- add a comment
|
|
|
|
|
GameLog hopes to be a site where gamers such as yourself keep track of the games that
they are currently playing. A GameLog is basically a record of a game you started playing. If it's open,
you still consider yourself to be playing the game. If it's closed, you finished playing the game. (it doesn't matter
if you got bored, frustrated,etc.) You can also attach short comments to each of your games or even maintain a diary (with more detailed entries)
for that game. Call it a weblog of game playing activity if you will.
[latest site fixes and updates]
[read more]
|
view feed xml
|
 |
|
2323 registered gamers and 3358 games. 7895 GameLogs with 13390 journal entries. 5126 games are currently being played.
More stats
|
 |
|
Dominoes (Other) by memphisroots |
| This game is best played by at least 3 individuals looking to have a social gaming experience |
|
most recent entry: Tuesday 5 February, 2013
|
Game Log
Double Six dominoes is a very social,player-paced multiplayer table game. It can be played in teams, but it is not necessary for the game to be played.
Players :
Double six dominoes can have between 2 and 5 players. A player is represented in the game by a "personal deck" of game pieces (dominoes). Each player will be dealt
between 5 or 7 dominoes to start the game. Each player will take turns playing individual dominoes in hopes of scoring on their turn.
Game Pieces:
The game pieces in this game are called Dominoes. These game pieces have two numbers written on them that are separated by a dividing center line. The numbers on the
game pieces will range from 0:0 to 6:6 totaling 28 game pieces total. These separated numbers are how the players know whether or not they will have a valid play on the board. This
process will be explained later on in this log.
Board :
There is no physical game board that is necessary to play the game of double 6 dominoes. However there are a few areas of gameplay that will occur during the course of the game.
The main play area is where the players will try to place individual dominoes down to try and reach one or both of the main goals of the game. This main play area will start with one
domino being played either by the winner of the previous round, or the player that is chosen at the beggining of the game. There is one more important note for the main game area that
involves dominoes with the same number on either side of the separator. This dominoe may be layed sideways.If it is the first one placed down, then it is called the spinner and may be
played off of in a perpendicular way. Double six only allows for one spinner.
Pieces are to be placed by matching numbers on their sides. Two mathcing numbers should be touching unless the double number is drawn.
The secondary play area is the draw pile. This is the location of all of the non player drawn dominoes. It is here for the players to draw dominoes should they run out of valid plays
on the board.
Before Game Play :
There are a few things that need to be set up before the game can begin. A set score needs to be agreed upon by the group of indivduals playing. This score is the goal for each player
to reach in order to win. A score card needs to be drawn up to keep up with each players score. The dominoes need to be shuffled and every player should draw one domino. The highest
drawn domino is the person that will play first. Every play after that will follow a clockwise path through the players.
Before every round, all of the dominoes should be returned to the center of the play surface and shuffled. This will randomize the dominoes each player recieves and adds the element of
luck to the game.
Scoring:
There are two ways of scoring points throughout the game of double six dominoes. The first way is to create a total sum of the outside exposed numbers on the dominoes as a multiple of
five. This multiple of five will then be added to the players score on the score card.
The second way of scoring is for a player to be the first to place all of their game pieces down. The player will then say domino, and the other players will show their dominoes face
up. The totals of all the numbers on the dominoes will be rounded up to the nearest multiple of five, and these totals will be added to the winner of the round.
Game End / Win:
There are a few ways for play to end in this game. The true end of the game can only be reached by one player gaining a score greater than the agreed winning score. HOwever the game
can end with all players agreeing to quit. At this point, the player with the largest score wins.
However, there are a few ways that each round can end. One way for the round to end was discussed in scoring. It is when a player has placed all of their available dominoes on the play
area first.
Another way for playe to end is for a player to place a game piece in such a way that no player can make a valid move. This is called locking the board, and results in a round end with
noone gaining any further points.
GamePlay :
First Round) I played with two other indivudals,and we started with 5 dominoes. My main goal in the first game was just to try and maximize score by making multiples of five
possible around the outer edges of the board. The second player went the a strategy of trying to lock the board without really trying to make scoring a proirity.
The third player had a similar goal as me, but they wanted to keep the total multiples of five possible in scoring to the minimum multiple of five they could manage.
The third players goal was to keep scoring at low intervals.
Second Round) The second game, I paid less attention to scoring, and more to trying to counter the attempts to lock the board. I did this by introducing as much diversity in numbers
on the board as possible. The second player continued to try and lock the board, but was much more frustrated now. The third player was very lucky in their domino draws
as they were able to make multiples of five out of the variety presented on the board.
[read this GameLog]
|
|
|
