I was delighted to be able to join another Metaplace stress test last night – these are open to everyone, so if you ever thought you might like to make or play sophisticated multiplayer Flash games, it’s worth keeping an eye on what Areae is up to here.
Uberspace, an arcade-y space-y maze-y shooter in the vein of SOE’s free-to-play Cosmic Rift, isn’t remarkable so much for its gameplay, but for the technologies it tests, and the way players play.
Though there were over 70 players either playing the game or chatting in the lobby, the game was still fairly responsive. The ships would flicker a little, but usually they stayed where you expected them to be, without the sort of lagging you usually see when a game just can’t keep up.
But the players – they were the best. HTML injection attacks in the lobby chat; PKs, PKKs and campers stalking the game; I can just imagine the Areae crew frantically jotting down notes. This is pure testing gold.
Casual Flash games are the hot topic these days, with sites like Kongregate, MySpace, and soon Areae giving budding game developers easy ways to get their games and other virtual spaces out in the public eye.
Soon, all you’ll need to make your game a reality is a browser and a good idea.