Sometimes killing things with no purpose whatsoever, does not satisfy a gamers needs.  When that happens, there is only one thing a gamer can do.  Turn to an RPG.  In this week's Ioo Web game of the week, we take a look at Armor Games' Sonny 2.

Sonny 2

It is not often a role-playing game can be found for free, but as you will see, some developers cared more about the product than making money.  You play the role of Sonny, an expert in multiple combat techniques, a man just trying to find answers.

Along the way, you will meet many companions, some of which will offer their assistance in your quest for justice.  You can control up to three characters at the same time.  Including, gear choices and skill placement.  Additionally, this is a turn-based combat game, which means that both the player and enemy take turns issuing maneuvers.

The action is fast paced however; the battles only take a few minutes each.  But there are multiple battles and training battles for you to engage in to receive experience and items.  Just like every RPG, you must gather gear to compete in an ever hardening environment.

Armor Games

Armor Games has been receiving a lot of attention from us recently and the reason for that is that most of their games are accessible by design but not on purpose.  You see, most of the designers enjoy simplistic controls that are easy for everyone to understand, allowing the focus to be placed upon the game itself.

Sonny 2 is no different, simplistic controls and intuitive gameplay is the theme here too.  We once again sat down with an Armor Games creator, Krin Juangbhanich.

AG:  How do you deal with releasing a video game with such large scope for free on the Internet?

AR: I've always liked working with bigger ideas and concepts, so to me this felt normal in terms of scope. The thing with big ideas is that you need to know what to do from start to finish. The main reason why a lot of big game collaborations start out good but don't make it to the finish line is because of the lack of planning. So I'd say a lot of planning went into Sonny, and that is what made the game possible. I'm extremely happy with it being a free Flash browser game as well, it just means that its accessible, and to me, that's one of the most important things.

AG:  Would you consider Sonny 2 a game that could be played easily by the disabled community?

AR: Yes, I think so, because it requires very simple controls. That was originally intended for players who have laptop trackpads though. In all honesty, until you've asked me this question, I've never really been aware of disabled gamers when I am designing a game! It is a very good point though, and as I said before, I like things to be accessible, so I'll keep this in mind for all the games I design in the future.

Unfortunately, I haven't put much thought into the colorblind gameplay elements. At heart, I've always used color to identify and characterize things, so if I were to make a game that is more colorblind friendly, it would be a welcome challenge.

AG:  The graphics are simple, it is the music and voice-overs that add the depth to this game; can you give our readers a peek into the development process?

AR: Well, first we worked on the game's engine. The whole gameplay flow, the items, character abilities, buffs, and things like that. Once we have the core gameplay down, we turned our attention to the aesthetic appeal of the game. I really thought that the premise of Sonny being a zombie was an interesting idea to base the series on. The graphics were designed to be more functional than beautiful, but we did our best to make it look good anyway.

When I was making the first Sonny, I looked back at my older RPGs to see what was missing. I found that out people didn't like the music I had made, and that the characters were boring. So for Sonny, I made it a priority to find a great musician, and a voice over artist to fix those old problems.

Now, the feedback from the new Sonny games tell me that the gameplay can be repetitive, and that the story could be better. So that's the next step for me. You may think it's me making the games, but it's actually the players who are making the game, with their opinions and their feedback.

Enlightenment

If this interview served no other purpose, another game developer has been made aware of the needs of disabled gamers.  Before we could even point out that the weak spot, as far as accessibility goes, for this game was for the colorblind.

The variances in color are between red, blue, and yellow that means many colorblind players should be able to at least distinguish the shades.  Nonetheless, it's good to know younger developers are so receptive to the idea that players in a special needs may want to play their games.

Good times

Sonny 2 uses a point and click interface, those with mobility impairments and one-handed gamers will have no problem with this game.  There are no audio cues that are important; they do add a certain depth to the game however. And finally we have covered the colorblind problem, the severity of the issue will vary between gamers depending on which colors you cannot see.

Sonny 2 is a free web-based game with much of the same features players love entitle such as World of Warcraft.  A compelling storyline goes a long way for this game.  Yes, the battles are repetitive but when the fighting in a turn-based, spells and skills type video game, repeatedly using the same maneuvers is common.  Almost expected.

You cannot ask for much more from a game the developer will receive no money from producing.  Enjoy this well thought out flash game courtesy of the feedback provided by the players.  As the developers said, they do not create the games, the games create themselves from your feedback!