Bee in a Bubble - @Work - Ferry Halim's video games - Brief Article - Evaluation

T+D, May, 2002

Ferry Halim's creations are charming, elegant, and deceptively addictive. The 28-year-old game designer from Fresno, California, utilizes Macromedia's Flash to create fully functional browser-based games that are guaranteed to put a serious hitch in your productivity.

Halim uses small files, usually no larger than 200Kb, that run using ActiveX. But these aren't the crude, pixilated games from your childhood; they're much more sophisticated. With a look similar in style to Japanese illustrations, the games color palette is muted and animation is strictly 2D. A gauzy sheen creates a dreamlike effect, which is enhanced by simple, often soothing, background music.

The games are also infused with a sense of humor. In Midnight Serenade, you serenade your lover while catching the roses she throws to you, trying to avoid the old shoes and cans thrown by the neighbors. In Hydrophobia, you play a hungry frog that can't swim.

Halim offers 26 games on his site, each taking only a couple of weeks to design but many weeks to master. After two weeks of Bubble Bees, I'm nowhere near the top 10. Of course, you don't have to be an adult with a soft spot for goofing off to enjoy Halim's creations. Get the kids hooked, too. Halim has made a conscious effort to keep his games nonviolent.

* www.orisinal.com