Machinarium is a point and click adventure game which brought me back to the good old days of such games. You control a small and cute (this is my feminine side speaking) robot through its journey to find its lost beloved one in a cruel robot world!

It has beautiful hand-made style graphics (as you can see on the screenshots) and the robot world is designed almost as I would have imagined it. Its music is a great company to the graphics. Note that when you buy the game you also receive its soundtrack in MP3 format! There is a lack of speech, but the communication is being done well using speech bubbles which explains everything clearly. After all, in a robot world English (or any other human language) can’t be an option!

It incorporates a large number of puzzles, in a great variety, from simple games (e.g. a large tic-tac-toe variation and an arcade asteroids game) to more complicated puzzles. Some of them are hard enough even for an experienced adventure games player (maybe due to the lack of explanation) but everything is solvable with some attention and patience.

After successfully using an item, it is disposed so the inventory isn’t full with unusable items (actually when I finished the game, I had 2 items left in my inventory but it wasn’t annoying at all).

But enough with the praise, let’s talk for the bad stuff: It’s a little bit annoying that you cannot just deselect an item in use and instead you have to return it to the inventory. Also, it might become boring at some point to have to watch the full animation of the robot walking up the stairs to go to another floor etc.

The only actual downfall of the game is the use of Flash as the development platform. Right-click does nothing (actually it displays the frustrating Flash player menu) when it could be used for example to deselect an item of the inventory (if another development platform was used since Flash doesn’t support right-click functionality as far as I’m aware). Also, the point-and-click system isn’t as precise as someone would expect it to be, so you might find yourself at some point clicking in the wrong place and making a wrong move.

But these facts couldn’t prevent even a huge Flash hater like myself to play and enjoy this amazing game! Before I forget, you cannot die in the game, so feel free to explore and try anything that you can think!

You can download the demo and/or buy the full game from its official website.

no comments | belongs to: games | posted on January, 2010

Creation by ~lbsquat on deviantART

After my first collection of useful android applications, here’s another one:

AK Notepad: Set a reminder based on your note, share note with others through SMS, email & stick a note on your home screen. You can customize the note’s appearance, organize by label(hash tags),sort & search notes.

Astrid Task/Todo List: Astrid is the highly-acclaimed open-source task list that is simple enough to not get in your way, powerful enough to help you get stuff done! Tags, reminders, RememberTheMilk sync, Locale plug-in & more!

mAnalytics: Is a program to view your basic Google Analytics stats on your Android phone. Supports multiple accounts, profiles, basic statistics and charts for visits and pageviews.

eBuddy IM: One of the best instant messaging apps. Fast and reliable messenger. Chat with multiple MSN, Facebook, Yahoo, AIM, ICQ, GTalk & MySpace accounts. All IM friends in one buddy list. Run in background. Messages sent as data, not SMS/Text.

twidroid for twitter: Twidroid is the leading full-featured Twitter client for Android.

Dolphin Browser (Social&Smart): Dolphin Browser gives you a better Mobile Internet experience. Gestures, Sync Google bookmarks, Download youtube videos.

Flashlight: Grow small plants in your pocket. Build a new Pharos of Alexandria. Interrogate suspects. Find your keys. The only limit is your imagination! This app maximizes brightness and keeps the screen on while in use. Look elsewhere if you want colors, streamers, and wacky sounds… This is a flashlight.

Some of the applications listed here have also a paid version, but this post refers only to their free versions.

Do you have a favorite android application? Feel free to share it by leaving a comment!

no comments | belongs to: android | posted on November, 2009

Photo by ~radagacuca on deviantART

The “404″ or “Not Found” error message is an HTTP standard response code indicating that the client was able to communicate with the server but the server could not find what was requested (read more about the HTTP 404 error).

The motivation towards a custom 404 error page is to create a more (visually) appealing, usable and user-friendly page than the default (and dull) 404 error page of your Web server. The main reason to do it is to give the option to a user that landed on the error page to stick to the website. There’s nothing new about it but a lot of Web developers overlook or underestimate it.

There is a number of elements you can use in a custom 404 page:

• First, an image or some text to explain to the user what happened. If the website’s visitors don’t have a technical background, a “404 error” message won’t explain anything to them, so try to explain it without any technical details. You can also have a humorous message or image. After all, an amused visitor is always better than a frustrated one!
• A must have, is a link to the homepage so the user can have an alternative of closing the browser or re-typing a URL.
• Another good idea is to include a search box.
• You can also provide some links to popular or interesting content of your website.

Below is the image I’m using for my 404 error page:

Finally, some resources (external links) for 404 error pages:

• The Perfect 404 (@ A List Apart)
• 404 Error Pages, One More Time (@ Smashing Magazine)
• 50 Creative and Inspiring 404 Pages (@ Webdesigner Depot)

Of course, the web is full of creative and innovative 404 error pages. Feel free to post a link to your own!

no comments | belongs to: urban legends, web design | posted on November, 2009