Posts with ‘messhof’ Tag

July 15th: messhof at Light Industry

By: Derek Yu

On: June 17th, 2008

Rail War

If you’re in the Brooklyn, New York area on July 15th, you have an opportunity to head over to Light Industry and play the games of Mark “”http://www.messhof.com/“>messhof” Essen, including two unreleased games:

Game artist Mark Essen, a.k.a. Messhof, will install five playable games at Light Industry, including two new titles: Stenography Hero, a competitive text-based stenography simulator in the spirit of Guitar Hero, and Rail War, a western-themed side-scroller projected in a Cinemascope aspect ratio.

Other games on dis-play include Flywrench, Punishment, and Randy Balma: Municipal Abortionist. The show begins at 8pm and tickets are $6 at the door. No word on whether there will be free drinks!

Very cool, though. I imagine the installation will be similar to the one Mark set up at his university earlier this year.

Randy Balma: Municipal Abortionist

By: Derek Yu

On: May 24th, 2008

Randy Balma: Municipal Abortionist

I went to Las Vegas with my parents one summer and they took me to an arcade there (I can’t remember which hotel). In the arcade they had this virtual reality headset with Wolfenstein 3d in it that was haphazardly constructed and extremely disorienting, and it made me want to vomit. I haven’t thought about that game in many, many years, but Randy Balma: Municipal Abortionist brought the memories flooding back (out of my mouth).

I believe its creator, messhof, is genuinely trying to hurt us with his games.

You Found The Grappling Hook – PRO EDITION

By: Terry

On: April 14th, 2008

yftgh

Messhof has created a PRO EDITION of You Found The Grappling Hook exclusively for Business Week Arcade, which recently featured the game. In the comments on his blog, he describes the changes:

Much of the gameplay is different. It now involves espionage and national security.

More information

Punishment 3 Will Probably Punish You

By: Derek Yu

On: January 12th, 2008

Without giving too much away— the game will be nauseating. And hard.

Punishment 3

Punishment 3

Punishment 3: in Space? Dear lord. That’s almost worse than leprechauns.

Hit up messhof’s game blog for more updates. And be sure to check out the first two games here.

Flywrench

By: Derek Yu

On: December 5th, 2007

flywrench

Superb little abstract game, from the creator of the Punishment series. Very economical in its design. The inherent frustration is balanced by instantaneous reloading after death.

Watch the trailer in the extended for an idea of the game mechanics involved.

Note: the game automatically saves at the end of each of the 8 “gates.”

(Thanks, Eden!)

Punishment 1 and 2

By: Derek Yu

On: August 15th, 2007

punishment 1

Punishment 1 was one of the 50 Really Good Games in the Indie Game Guide, and of it I wrote:

“Punishment is an assault to the senses, a punishingly difficult platform game that continually alters the player’s perception. It’s the gaming equivalent of spinning around until you’re dizzy and then trying to walk in a straight line… and as a bonus, there’s a level that features a giant, smiling portrait of Shigeru Miyamoto in the background.”

Now there’s a sequel, of which cactus writes:

punishment 2

“Without spoiling too much, I can say that this game is down right evil. The gameplay revolves around tricky platforming, and flipping switches to open the door to the next level. Except there’s one big twist that will make your mother cry. Everytime you get to a new level you have to flip all the switches in each and everyone of the earlier levels again. So you have to make it all the way down to the bottom level, and start flipping the switches over and over. And over.”

And it’s true, my mother did cry. You can find both games here!