Nanogames Blog

Editing Is now much easier

Wed, 25 May 2011 12:00:00 GMT

Usability testing over the past weeks has highlighted users having difficulty how to edit individual games. The previous version used a non-standard method of accessing the game settings, so now all the games can be edited from the 'SETTINGS' link on game's Title Screen.

Even more flexibility

Wed, 25 May 2011 12:00:00 GMT

Many of the games now allow the user to set the starting level, the number of successes on each level required before advancing to the next level (Level Target), and the number lives in each level.

The 'grid size' on Animation Puzzle and Memory 1 can now be reduced to as little as a 2x2 grid.

The time limit on Gem Swap can now be considerably extended and the grid can be reduced from 8x8 down to 5x5 (which displays much larger gems).

Enlarged Game Display and Klondike Bug Fixed

Thu, 19 May 2011 12:00:00 GMT

Version 2.7 of Nanogames is now shipping (or download the demo). The games now display much larger. Previously they were only 2/3 the height of the screen, now they are nearly the full height of the screen.

Several bugs fixed including one in Klondike that sometimes prevented the Aces being placed on the home stacks.

The Sandwich game now works without requiring dragging with the mouse. Just click on the object then click on the destination area. Klondike now works like this too, no dragging required.

The Pile of Balls controls have been improved. Move the mouse left or right to move the bunch, click above the line to rotate the bunch, click below the line to drop it.

New Website

Tue, 19 Apr 2011 12:00:00 GMT

Nanogames website has been totally revamped and now has blogs, forums, private members area and much more...

Game Settings Refined

Wed, 24 Mar 2010 11:00:00 GMT

The first Nanogames gave users direct access to many settings for each game. This was very useful but time-consuming. There are now three levels of access to the game settings.

1. The 'Global Game Speed Controller'. This slider control is displayed above the grid of game icons and is a fast way to adjust the speed of all the games simultaneously. It only changes the speed of games, not other factors like complexity or extra lives, but is a fast way to quickly adjust all the games to a manageable level for a player. These changes are not saved unless you change the settings of an individual games and save it's settings.

2. Each game has it's own speed control slider so the speed of each game can be set individually.

3. In the individual game settings you can also change the 'view' and see and adjust many game settings, rather than just the single speed control.

10 More Nanogames

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 11:00:00 GMT

This brings to total to 30. The new games expand the range and includes a card game for the first time (more card games are in the lab and available soon).

New Downloadable Accessible Games

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 11:00:00 GMT

Completed the downloadable version and it's getting great reviews:

"I am adjunct faculty at Rockhurst University in Kansas City for the OT program (in addition to my 'real' job at The Rehabilitation Institute of KC) and one of the activities I have the students do is find online games that their patients could use with a trackball, HeadMouse and switch input. One of them came across the Nanogames site and it is great!"

"Over the last week I have showed the site to our OTs in our rehab clinic and we are loving it."

Suzie Wiley, OTR
ACCT Program Adaptive Computer & Communication Technology

The positive feedback confirms that the latest improvements have been well worthwhile. The new version is much more responsive (the short delays in loading games from the web were noticeable) and the new menu access to player setup and game editing appears to be a much better solution.

Full Featured Flash 10.1 On Most Mobile Platforms

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 11:00:00 GMT

I'm at the Adobe Max conference in LA where Adobe has just announced Flash 10.1 will soon be available for most mobile phone platforms. A public beta of Flash 10.1 mobile will first be available for PalmOS and Windows Mobile. Flash 10.1 betas for Nokia Symbian (S60), RIM BlackBerry OS and Google Android will be released early in 2010.

Apple is the only major phone manufacturer not included in the announcement, however Adobe have been working with Apple on a version of Flash for the iPhone and Apple tends to announce major releases at their own events.

Why is this important for Nanogames.com? The announcement is part of Adobe's drive to deliver Flash across a rapidly increasing range of display devices from mobile phones to netbooks and TVs. This broadens the range of devices Nanogames can be displayed on.

Faster Flash on Mobile Phones

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 11:00:00 GMT

In a related development, Adobe has been working with NVidia to deliver much better performing graphics on small devices like mobile phones and netbooks, which tend trade speed for extra battery life. The collaboration delivers full speed HD video to mobile devices but it should also greatly increase the performance of Flash games on the next generation of mobile phones.

20 Accessible Games Now Online

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 12:00:00 GMT

There are now 20 accessible games in the Nanogames collection. All are single switch accessible but can also be played with 2 keys/switches (step-scanning) or up to 5 keys. The online demo allows players to adjust the speed, contrast and player control of all the games with one set of simple controls. The 'Single Speed' control is still available but players can now drill down and perform fine adjustments of many features in individual games.

After experimenting with a range of code structures and layouts the current design has flexible enough to easily handle new games and features. The range of games should increase much more rapidly now.

First Feedback

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 11:00:00 GMT

While I was adapting the first games for the Nanogames website I was never quite sure that others would see their usefulness so it has been a relief to get positive feedback from experienced users/players.

The on-line resource of accessible games NanoGames.com is slowly transforming into something very special indeed.

Wow, excellent find! Really amazing!

Wow! Looks like this fellow has really nailed a big part of the motion-impaired interface problem. The self-scan idea is really good.

I took a look at your web site, very very cool!

There is a long way to go before the games are universally accessible but with feedback like that I'm perhaps not too far off track...

Game Settings Simplified

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 11:00:00 GMT

One of the major goals of this project was to make it quick and easy for users to adjust the game settings. The initial version on Nanogames gave the user access to a selected range of game parameters which they could tweak (through a very wide range) to make the game play in the way they required. However this still required the user to play and understand the effects of each of those parameters then tweak, play, re-tweak, play, re-tweak etc. Still a time consuming process - even with the few games that are there now. It'll be impractical when the number of games gets much larger.

So, there is now just one game setting. 'Easier' at one end and 'Harder' at the other. Moving this slider alters several game settings and it is different for each game but typically moving the slider away from 'Harder' towards 'Easier' will make the game slower and will give the player more time, power etc. It will sometimes also start the game at a simpler level.

This method gives the user less control but is very fast to use. As with all the game settings controls it does require the game to restart before the settings take effect. In practice some of the changes can take effect while the game is in play but others require a restart of the game so getting a partial change while playing the game would be very confusing. Hence the requirement for restart. I do plan to bring the more detailed game settings back as an advanced option but currently only the single slider control is available and the feedback I've had seems to indicate that it works well for most users.

Games Settings Simplified

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 11:00:00 GMT

One of the major goals of this project was to make it quick and easy for users to adjust the game settings. The initial version on Nanogames gave the user access to a selected range of game parameters which they could tweak (through a very wide range) to make the game play in the way they required. However this still required the user to play and understand the effects of each of those parameters then tweak, play, re-tweak, play, re-tweak etc. Still a time consuming process - even with the few games that are there now. It'll be impractical when the number of games gets much larger.

So, there is now just one game setting. 'Easier' at one end and 'Harder' at the other. Moving this slider alters several game settings and it is different for each game but typically moving the slider away from 'Harder' towards 'Easier' will make the game slower and will give the player more time, power etc. It will sometimes also start the game at a simpler level.

This method gives the user less control but is very fast to use. As with all the game settings controls it does require the game to restart before the settings take effect. In practice some of the changes can take effect while the game is in play but others require a restart of the game so getting a partial change while playing the game would be very confusing. Hence the requirement for restart. I do plan to bring the more detailed game settings back as an advanced option but currently only the single slider control is available and the feedback I've had seems to indicate that it works well for most users.

Single Switch Can Now Be A Keypress

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 11:00:00 GMT

The first version of the games would only react to a mouse-click as a switch when scanning. Single Switch scanning now also works from keypresses or switches that emulate a keypress. Five of the original twenty games were already playable using keys so these have been removed from the game menu until the issues are fixed. Still leaves 15 games online.

Nanogames Launch

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 11:00:00 GMT

Finally!!! After several major attempts (and many minor projects) over the past few years I finally have a reasonable range of accessible games online. Only the basics are there so far. Built-in scanning, low vision support, extra wide speed and difficulty range. Not perfect but should be useful. There are many more games to be completed and put online but I now have a framework that works and can build on that.