ÿþ<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /> <title>Untitled Document</title> <style type="text/css"> <!-- body { margin: 0; /* it's good practice to zero the margin and padding of the body element to account for differing browser defaults */ padding: 0; text-align: center; /* this centers the container in IE 5* browsers. The text is then set to the left aligned default in the #container selector */ color: #900; background-color: #900; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 100%; } /* Tips for Elastic layouts 1. Since the elastic layouts overall sizing is based on the user's default fonts size, they are more unpredictable. Used correctly, they are also more accessible for those that need larger fonts size since the line length remains proportionate. 2. 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If you give this #mainContent div a font-size value different than the #sidebar1 div, the margins of the #mainContent div will be based on its font-size and the width of the #sidebar1 div will be based on its font-size. You may wish to adjust the values of these divs. 2. The space between the mainContent and sidebar1 is created with the left margin on the mainContent div. No matter how much content the sidebar1 div contains, the column space will remain. You can remove this left margin if you want the #mainContent div's text to fill the #sidebar1 space when the content in #sidebar1 ends. 3. To avoid float drop, you may need to test to determine the approximate maximum image/element size since this layout is based on the user's font sizing combined with the values you set. However, if the user has their browser font size set lower than normal, less space will be available in the #mainContent div than you may see on testing. 4. In the Internet Explorer Conditional Comment below, the zoom property is used to give the mainContent "hasLayout." This avoids several IE-specific bugs that may occur. */ .twoColElsLtHdr #mainContent { margin: 0 1.5em 0 13em; /* the right margin can be given in ems or pixels. It creates the space down the right side of the page. */ font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace; color: #333; } .twoColElsLtHdr #footer { padding: 0 10px; background-color: #036; } .twoColElsLtHdr #footer p { margin: 0; /* zeroing the margins of the first element in the footer will avoid the possibility of margin collapse - a space between divs */ padding: 10px 0; /* padding on this element will create space, just as the the margin would have, without the margin collapse issue */ } /* Miscellaneous classes for reuse */ .fltrt { /* this class can be used to float an element right in your page. The floated element must precede the element it should be next to on the page. */ float: right; margin-left: 8px; } .fltlft { /* this class can be used to float an element left in your page */ float: left; margin-right: 8px; } .clearfloat { /* this class should be placed on a div or break element and should be the final element before the close of a container that should fully contain a float */ clear:both; height:0; font-size: 1px; line-height: 0px; } a:link { color: #900; } --> </style><!--[if IE]> <style type="text/css"> /* place css fixes for all versions of IE in this conditional comment */ .twoColElsLtHdr #sidebar1 { padding-top: 30px; } .twoColElsLtHdr #mainContent { zoom: 1; padding-top: 15px; } /* the above proprietary zoom property gives IE the hasLayout it needs to avoid several bugs */ </style> <![endif]--></head> <body class="twoColElsLtHdr"> <div id="container"> <div id="header"> <h1>Maritato Games</h1> <!-- end #header --></div> <div id="sidebar1"> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><a href="index.html">Home</a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><a href="individual.html">Individual Game Project</a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><a href="group.html">Group Game Project</a> </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><a href="favorites.html">Favorite Games</a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><a href="reviews.html">Game Reviews</a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <div id="mainContent"> <h1>&nbsp;</h1> Musaic Box  KranX Productions _____________________________________________________ Musaic Box is a block puzzle game with an interesting twist. Each puzzle represents the score of a song, which must be pieced back together to complete that level, by fitting geometric shapes, made up of colored blocks into a grid. Each color represents a different musical instrument, and each block is a piece of that instrument s part in the score. As each instrument can only play one note at a time, no two blocks of the same color are allowed to be in the same column. The shapes and arrangements of the blocks, combined with the  key (the melody of the song, broken up by column, is usually playable in each level, as a basis for the puzzle), allows the player to put the song together using both geometry, and their ears to see which pieces sound good together. This adds a unique element to the gameplay, as in order to solve the puzzles quickly, the player must have a good ear for tones. These puzzles are broken up by an exploration stage, in which the player must search a house for charts that are the basis of new puzzles. This plays like a classic point-and-click adventure game, and while it is all in 2-D, the visuals are very well drawn. The descriptions of the various objects in the house during this stage can be interesting at first, but as the goal is generally just to find hidden charts, without having any items to use on anything in the world, it tends to encourage clicking at random after a while. Fortunately, this can be avoided by waiting for a few seconds, which causes the location of one of the charts remaining in that room to start glowing. This allows the player to move along to the next puzzle more quickly without being frustrated by being unable to locate the charts. The puzzles themselves grow gradually more difficult, and are kept interesting by special levels where the key is missing, or the melody is divided between multiple parts, forcing the player to rely more on geometry, or their ear respectively. Another good thing about the game is that the puzzles begin with well known children s songs, and then moves to classical pieces, so it could be used as a way to get kids to listen to classical music. The only major flaw of the game that I noticed was its lack of replayability. Because the puzzles are based on both the breakdown of the music, and geometric shapes, they are not randomized, so they will be the same each time you play. This is somewhat redeemed, however, by the creation mode that is unlocked by completing all of the puzzles in the game. This allows the player to move the blocks in any song around, and play back the result, which could also be beneficial as a way to teach children about music. All in all, despite the replayability issue, this is a fun casual game which can become rather addictive. _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ Dish Washington- The National Academy of Digital, Interactive Entertainment, Denmark _____________________________________________________ Dish Washington is a casual game mod for Half Life 2: Episode One, with a very unusual theme: dish washing. The player controls the title character, a dish washing crocodile, as he attempts to wash three stacks of dishes, and restack them to dry. The player has a limited amount of time to do this, represented by the temperature on a thermometer. When the player clicks on a stain on one of the dishes, the temperature is increased, giving more time, but missing makes the temperature decrease faster. The player must also be careful when stacking the dishes, to ensure that they do not tip over. There are several types of dishes, including cups, plates, and pots, and while they begin stacked, the player must remove them to wash them, and stack them in reverse order. Since this is not always stable, the three stacks must be combined in new ways to maintain the balance of the washed stacks. The visuals are not entirely realistic, but they suit the silly nature of the game, and are certainly good enough for the player to understand what is going on. The music is also rather fitting for the game, as it matches the rhythm of the dish washing, and also proves rather catchy after a few minutes of play. Another interesting feature of the game are comments from the main character that appear in a speech bubble at the top of the screen. These include both hints about the gameplay, and amusing exclamations that reflect the player s performance. These comments add characterization to Dish, which makes the game somewhat more interesting. Overall, this game is surprisingly fun to play, considering its theme, but there are several major flaws to it. Most importantly, there is a collision issue, so that clicking on the stains sometimes registers as a miss. This can make the game very difficult to play, as it causes the temperature to decrease quickly, while the stain refuses to be removed. While I did not come across any stains that could not be removed at all, I often had to click on a very specific part of the stain, indicating that the collision box may be much smaller than the graphic for some of the stains. Another issue is that the score increases by scrolling, one number at a time, and does so too slowly for the player to be able to tell what their score really is at any given time. Finally, the game could be improved by including some kind of instruction screen, to explain how to play before the game begins. These issues do detract from the game somewhat, but as a short casual game, it still remains rather entertaining. <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <!-- This clearing element should immediately follow the #mainContent div in order to force the #container div to contain all child floats --><br class="clearfloat" /> <div id="footer"> <p>Webpage by Kevin Maritato</p> <!-- end #footer --></div> <!-- end #container --></div> </body> </html>