OPINION

Friday Flash: Find It!, The Missile Game, Sheep Dash, Commander Keen

Written by Phillip Winn
Published November 17, 2006

You know what day it is, and you know what this is all about. Don't be coy!

Every week I present three or more games, all of which require the Adobe Flash Player. I've been tempted at times to throw in something requiring Shockwave, or Java, but there are so many good Flash games out there, why would I disrupt the groove and possibly encounter one of the few browsers out there not set up to run Shockwave or Java? It's call "Friday Flash" and I'm sticking with Flash.

I test each game on Windows and Mac OS X, and make an effort to let you know when a game makes noise. Forewarned is forearmed, and all that. Unless you don't have forearms, in which case I'm sorry for being insensitive to your plight, and I hope you can still play these games.

Find It!Find It! is an odd sort of game. There's no score, though you do advance through levels, and other games I've listed that are more obviously "games" have had the same characteristics. So it's a game, and that's that.

You're presented with a picture and a timer. The timer counts down as you scan the picture, trying to spot the change. That's right, something changes. The picture at the end is different from the picture at the beginning, but the change happens slowly. The brain detects sudden changes better than faded changes, so can you spot the difference before the time runs out?

The menu says you can turn music on or off, but no amount of clicking caused this game to make noise, which is a good thing. Some of the levels are so tricky, I finally resorted to taking screenshots at the beginning and end of the level and comparing by flipping back and forth rather than fading. That tends to make the change stand out. The level with lots of Japanese text definitely did this to me. You'll be amazed at the changes your brain will miss!

When the timer runs out, the game is over, but you click a button to play again starting at the level you failed at, so it's not really over. Once you reload the page, all your progress is lost, but after you've spotted a change the first time, you'll probably remember it the next time around and catch up quickly.

The Missile GameWhen I first bookmarked The Missile Game, the page title was misspelled. It's now fixed, but the error lives on in my bookmarks. However, as amusing as missing the second 'i' in missile might be, the game itself is simply grand.

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Phillip Winn is the Chief Geek for BC Magazine, and a blogger since 1995. He may currently be found and followed on Twitter.
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Friday Flash: Find It!, The Missile Game, Sheep Dash, Commander Keen
Published: November 17, 2006
Type: Opinion
Section: Gaming
Filed Under: Gaming: Computer, Sci/Tech: Internet
Part of a feature: Friday Flash Games
Writer: Phillip Winn
Phillip Winn's BC Writer page
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Comments

#1 — November 17, 2006 @ 18:47PM — Phillip Winn [URL]

I can now report that Find It! has 40 levels, as well as the ability to make me feel quite stupid.

#2 — November 18, 2006 @ 10:57AM — Justene [URL]

We are mired in the muck at level 12, even with the help of CallMeMaddy, who showed a surprising talent for such things. Even screenshots have not helped.

#3 — November 18, 2006 @ 21:28PM — Matthew T. Sussman [URL]

I feel only slightly bad using screenshots to cheat.

#4 — November 21, 2006 @ 17:43PM — Phillip Winn [URL]

My kids needed hints from me on several levels, but proved surprisingly adept at spotting things more quickly than I had. My five year old son was really, really good. Distracted a bit by the barely-dressed dancer in a later level, but I'm still impressed.

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