Recent posts by Bahaumaut on Kongregate

Topic: Games / A reasonable topic on runescape for anyone who doesnt just want to flame

Granted, Merlin’s Revenge is a ShockWave game. And given of how trusting I am of that whole codebase, I quickly shut down the browser. But apparently it is allowed, as given my “… sheer majority…” comment. (As an aside, the whole mess with the ShockWave being applied to more than just “ShockWave”, including “ShockWave Flash”, is deserving the marketing gurus that came up with one of the lower circles of Hell.)

I, personally, generally rate the ‘demo’ flashes low, unless the content they have is really worthwhile (akin to the free episode 1’s of shareware games of yore).

Given the all-coding languages, it’d be interesting to see in which direction they take it. I’m somewhat interested in SilverLight myself as a possible environment for gaming, once they straighten out the licensing, the codebase, and the programming environment for it. But as it stands, RuneScape seems more like a hack connecting their own website than something that feels ‘hosted’ by Kongregate. I do understand that online multiplayer requires someplace to act as the server, but the way it’s done is no different than an IFRAME tag. Now the fact that they’re selective of Java (another language I’m not too fond of, given that it systematically kept blue-screening my Win2K machine until I figured how to disable some of its features in a command-line fashion), with Runescape being the first addition (particularly as it already has its own ‘portal’ of sorts at its homepage) just feels ‘odd’. As more games get added that use Java, I’ll probably warm up to it, but it’s jarring compared to the general “gestalt” of the place we have here.

I know there’s a bit of complaining here, so I’ll try to provide something positive as an aside (constructive criticism, after all). Food for thought, re the expansions of languages: wonder if Kongregate can spin off a smaller version geared towards devices like smartphones. I believe I read that the IPhone isn’t well-adapted to Flash, but as they and similar products become more ubiquitous, with a standard multimedia format (JavaScript? Java? Flash?) being allowed, Kongregate could probably enter that realm as a portable portal.

Topic: Games / A reasonable topic on runescape for anyone who doesnt just want to flame

For me, I don’t have a hating of RuneScape. Used to play it years ago, particularly in college (given the 1400 days since last played, it probably was in college). But there’s a few issues that are irksome.

1) Non-Flash: The sheer majority of games here are Flash-Based. I can’t say that Kongregate can’t allow non-flash games, as I don’t own or run it. However, my experience has always been that K is a Flash Portal, with the benefits of a Live-style API for achievements, high scores, and chat. RuneScape is different in two major ways. The obvious is Java, complain as you want. The other is that the ‘Game’ is just a HTML page pointing to the main Jagex page for RuneScape. So basically, Kongregate is now a Portal to a Portal to a game? I don’t think this is what GLaDOS had in mind.

2) Pay MMO: Multiplayer capability in a game is not a bad thing; neither is a persistant world. The fact that there’s been heavy restrictions unless you become a ‘member’ with the requisite fees to enjoy the most of the game smacks against the whole “Free games” up there in the upper right of your screen. I’m pretty sure that the ad that popped up while loading goes to Jagex’s coffers, rather than Kongregate’s, too. Though if Kongregate gets a cut, it’d be worthwhile to let us know, as the ads are supposed to be supporting this as a free site.

Maybe if there was some ‘draw’ to the whole thing, like special benefits (even if of no use in the actual game) through playing through Kongregate, it might ‘feel’ more appropriate. But as it stands in my experience, RuneScape is the oddball of the group, sticking out like a sore thumb in comparison to everything else that has been done so far with Kongregate.

Topic: Technical Support / Odd DNS Address/security issues?

I’ve been experiencing something odd in the past day or two, including today, that has my red-flag risen to three-quarters-mast.

I believe it was yesterday that I couldn’t change the # for the posted messages for Pandemic 2. I could get it for other games, but I’m not sure what was going on. I finally realized that there was a period after the ‘com’ in www.kongregate.com, like so: “www.kongregate.com.”

A similar issue came up when I went to play Platform Racing 2. A message in the chat window indicated there were achievements I could get if I were logged in. Sure enough, I wasn’t. And sure enough, there was a problem with the address. This time, it was pointing to an IP address: “65.74.171.4”

The IP addy was in all the links for the box that rotates between the recent ‘active’ achievement/card games. When I reloaded the page, it was back to Kongregate.com

I’m not sure what’s going on, but as I said, it was terribly suspicious, and I do get a bit worried when DNS fakery occurs, particularly with recent tech news about DNS issues.