In the week before Christmas we asked our fans on Facebook to vote for their favourite game in order to pick Miniclip’s Game Of The Year 2012! Over six days we asked you to vote on six games; the options were:

1: London 2012: Official Minigame: 2012 was the year of the London Olympics and we were honoured to host the official Olympics Minigame! This game was a big favourite over the summer, earning it a place on Game Of The Year shortlist.

Miniclip’s official Olympics minigame!

2: Rail Rush: available on web, Android and iPhone, Rail Rush was one of the most successful games of 2012, with over two million downloads! With numbers like that, why would it not be on the Game Of The Year list?

3. Rubble Trouble Moscow: this explosive game blasted its way on to the Game Of The Year shortlist. It was one of our favourites and one of yours, too!

4. 8 Ball Pool by Minicip: how could we not include one of our most popular games, especially after the 8 Ball Pool update! You love this game, and so do we

8 Ball Pool received a big update in 2012

5. Mini Pets: this cute Android and iOS title was one of our favourites in 2012. The game lets you shelter the cutest animals on earth. Give them the best accommodations around, watch them fall in love and welcome their babies!

6. Ice Temple: Fireboy and Watergirl: the final Game Of The Year option was this puzzling adventure! This adventuring title can be played by one or two players, and its unique controls made it a definite choice on the Game Of The Year shortlist.

The results

Each day we posted a new Game Of The Year option, Miniclip’s fans could vote for the game as their Game Of The Year choice by liking the post. The posts received thousands of likes, and the results are in! In reverse order, these are the votes each game received:

6: Mini Pets — 169 votes

5. Rubble Trouble Moscow — 298 votes

4. Ice Temple: Fireboy and Watergirl — 345 votes

3. Rail Rush — 500 votes

2. London 2012: Official Minigame — 503 votes

1. 8 Ball Pool by Miniclip — 5,869 votes

8 Ball Pool wins Game of The Year!

The winner then, with a huge number of votes was 8 Ball Pool by Miniclip!

Thank you to everyone who voted, and we’ll see you on Miniclip in 2013! Make sure you follow us on Twitter and Facebook for updates

We’ve rounded up the best racing games!

If you want to play free racing games, there are so many to choose from that finding the best racing games isn’t easy.

To help you find games to play, we’ve compiled this comprehensive list of the best free online racing games that can be found on Miniclip.com.

You need to be fast in Turbo Racing 2!

Turbo Racing 2

If you’re after a racing challenge, then check out Turbo Racing 2!

This is a street racing game with a twist: the bottom placed racer at each checkpoint gets eliminated, so make such you’re fast enough throughout the race, or you’ll be eliminated before the end of the race.

You’re also able to choose from a number of awesome-looking cars to make sure you win every race in style… just make sure you’re agile enough to dodge the oncoming traffic!

Gas & Sand is for racers looking for raw power!

Gas & Sand

Gas & Sand is one of the fastest racing games we’ve ever played. You’ll need to be at the top of your racing game if you’re going to win races!

One of the coolest features about Gas & Sand is that you can make the whole game full screen, meaning you can see the details better as you drive around the track and defeat your opponents.

Racing in front of a huge stadium adds that little bit of extra pressure for you to win, so only play if you can handle the speed!

Use powerups to take the lead in GoKartGo! Nitro!

GoKartGo! Nitro!

GoKartGo! Nitro! is unlike most other racing games you’ve played online. As well as straightforward racing skill, you’ll also need to make use of items and powerups in order to beat the other racers to the finish line.

You’ve also got the extra challenge of having to find all the extra shortcuts, stars and hidden character… whilst also fighting off attacks from other racers in their own karts.

If you’re after a racing challenge that’s more than just racing, GoKartGo! Nitro! is definitely a game you should try playing.

Can you become a rally champion?

Rally Point 2

Rally Point 2 is one of our favourite rally games because of its amazing graphics, fast cars and responsive controls!

Mastering Rally Point 2 is tough: you’ll need to win races by beating the target times! The game also features unlockable vehicles and tracks which you can activate as you play through the game.

What gives your racing the edge, though, is the boost and drift. You’ll need to perfect your use of these if you’re going to unlock the awards and become a Rally champion!

You’ll need to master Motocross Nitro’s tricks to win challenges!

Motocross Nitro

Motocross Nitro is one of the best looking web-based games we’ve ever played and it’s also one of the top played games on Miniclip, so it’s addictive too!

You’ll need to use the in-game upgrades to make sure your bike’s best suited to each of the terrains, and then you’ll need to master the tricks and nitro to beat the opposition in the sprints, races and freestyle modes and challenges.

If you want a racing game which requires all your racing skills to properly compete, Motocross Nitro is the game you should be playing.

Master Monster Trucks 360′s stunts!

Monster Trucks 360

The final game in our roundup of the best racing games is one where you’ll need to race against the clock to beat the best times!

Monster Trucks 360 puts you in some of the most dynamic race courses and challenges you to perform the most outrageous stunts and tricks.

You’ll need all of your racing skill if you’re going to master some of these tracks. This one’s not for the faint hearted!

What’s your favourite racer?

So those are the best racing games we could find! Which one of those is your favourite? Tell us by leaving a comment below

Make sure you follow us on Facebook and Twitter so that you’re kept up-to-date with the latest games!

Finding the best adventure games isn’t easy as there are so many awesome games for you to choose from!

Luckily, we’ve compiled a list of the best free online adventure games! You can play all of these for free online at Miniclip.com.

You’ll need to master the magical spells in Spellstorm!

Spellstorm

Spellstorm is a magical quest adventure! You’ll need to use all of the powerful spells to defeat the enemies who stand in the way of completing the quest if you’re going to succeed.

Tasked by your masters to defeat the evil chaos reaper, in Spellstorm you stand before his dark fortress in this battle between good and evil!

Spellstorm also has four Miniclip Awards which you can unlock by completing some additional challenges in the game

You’ll need to jump to survive in Minecart Madness!

Minecart Madness

Minecart Madness is an adventure game like no other! Head down the mines to see what really happens deep underground…

An “endless runner”, Minecart Madness is all about surviving as long as possible by jumping onto the platforms, over the huge gas and around the loops at ever-increasing speeds.

You’ll need to make sure you’re ready to jump, because that’s what you need to do to survive in this crazy cart runner!

Craft the best weaponry in Jacksmith!

Jacksmith

Jacksmith is a unique adventure: you get to man the forge and craft out the best weapons for the local warriors to take to battle!

Design and craft swords, bows, shields and other weaponry by hand in the blacksmith shop and then travel the land to seek the help of the local warrior clans.

Whilst the warriors fight, you’ll need to collect ores and parts so you can make even better weapons, as well as helping out with your trusty cannon. Keep going towards the land of the evil wizard Dudley!

Make sure you don’t hit the end of the line in Rail Rush!

Rail Rush

With over 10 million downloads on Android and iOS, you don’t need us to tell you Rail Rush is an awesome game!

In this free web version of the international mobile hit, you’ll travel into the depths of the mines in your cart. Collect as many gold nuggets as you can whilst avoiding the barriers and broken rail tracks which will lead you to an unfortunate fate.

You’ll need to be fast if you’re going to survive in this thrilling rail adventure, available on web, iOS and Android!

Fight the dragon in Dragon Castle!

Dragon Castle

You’ll need to enter the Dragon Castle and rescue your friend from the evil dragon if you’re going to survive in this challenging adventuring platform puzzle game!

If you’re after an adventure game that requires you to think your way through each level, you should definitely try out Dragon Castle, which also includes six Miniclip awards you can unlock throughout the game.

Like all our top adventure games, Dragon Castle is free on Miniclip.com.

What’s your poison?

Those five adventure games are the best we could find and are guaranteed to keep you playing and coming back for hours and hours! Let us know which one’s your favourite in the comments below

Make sure you follow us on Facebook and Twitter so that you’re kept up-to-date with the latest games!

Free Running 2 is the bigger, bolder and better sequel to our incredibly popular Parkour game Free Running. It’s a race across rooftops to get to the finish before the clock runs out – and it soon gets tricky!

We’ve put together some tips to help you keep your cool under pressure. Ready? Let’s go!

1. Look out for Powerups

The green clocks give you a whopping 15 seconds of extra time to complete the course, which can be gold dust when you are only given about 2 minutes on each level. Look out too for red cameras that are launch you into a freestyle flip, which gives you 500 points – and is also really cool!

2. Know the signs

Before each special obstacle, of which there are many, there will be a yellow caution sign that will tell you what’s coming. If you look out for these, you’ll be able to ready yourself to react quickly. For example, some platforms will spontaneously drop, whilst others will continuously be moving toward and away from you.

3. Time that jump

This game is hinged upon your ability to time your jump to perfection. Jump too early or too late and you’ll plunge to your demise! This knocks a crucial 5 seconds from your allocated time, so concentrate and don’t just button-mash!

4. Be patient

Later levels have more complex path choices, but don’t panic! Even though you are against the clock, there is still time to assess the situation and decide where to go, instead of charging ahead without thinking.

5. Beware of explosions

Some of the obstacles will start to vibrate and explode under you feet as you run on them, whereas others will just shake and spark but stay solid until you reach the very end of the path. Not all sparks and explosions are the same, but instead they follow a pattern that you’ll need to find out for yourself!

6. If in doubt, follow the lines

In each level, there will be highlighted paths signalled by the lined paint on the obstacles. These make it very easy to identify a particular path to take. However, these may not be the easiest route, let alone the most rewarding!

7. Smoke signals

The end of the level is always signified by the burning barrel which gives off a huge trail of smoke up into the sky. If you can spot this near the end, you will be able to either try to collect as many points as possible or look for the shortest route possible, depending on your time remaining.

8. Get the high scores and awards

These Free Running 2 tips and tricks should improve your game and let you beat all the levels with high scores. You need 80,000 points for the gold award, so make sure you follow these tips to get maximum points!

Time to get running! Good luck, and don’t forget to share your own tips in the comments!

It’s the zombie apocalypse. The dead are rising, walking the streets in search of human flesh. There’s nowhere to hide. Nowhere. What would a zombie killing expert want in his hands in this situation? “A box of pencils,” he tells us. “And some sheets of paper.” Oh. Um. Okay. “To avoid boredom.” And here was us thinking that the only danger was having your brains eaten out.

Our zombie expert is none other than Russian game developer, Yuri Shapkin, whose action-puzzler Zombality was released on Miniclip earlier this summer. The game sees your character shoot, dodge, and bash his way through a building packed with the undead, drooling at the thought of sinking their teeth into you. You wouldn’t even want a crowbar to defend yourself, then, Yuri?

“Okay, maybe a zombie survival guide.” That’s more like it.

Before tackling zombies, Shapkin started out as an artist and Flash animator, and his roots are clear in Zombality: a lot of care and attention has gone into the game’s unique style and character models. As you progress through the game, your character unlocks a range of costumes: you’ll end up smashing zombies while dressed as a ninja turtle, our very own Gravity Guy, a cool dude in green shades… even something that looks suspiciously like Jedi Master Yoda.

Shapkin picks out the ninja turtle suit as his favourite, and it does beg the question which Zombality outfit one would wear to a fancy dress party. Other costumes that were considered for the game were Iron Man, Pikachu and SpongeBob SquarePants – the latter two perhaps ditched for their lack of zombie-killing prowess. Although that’s definitely a mash-up we’d like to see.

Zombie killers or a fancy dress contest?

Other costumes that were considered for the game were Iron Man, Pikachu and SpongeBob SquarePants.

Shooting the undead while dressed as Yoda is, to say the least, a somewhat surreal experience. Where did the unique art style of Zombality come from?

“I began making cartoon films in 2006”, says Shapkin, who won an award for his 2007 film One Actor Show in the Russian Flash animation contest Penguin Flash. That landed him an invitation to work as an artist and animator with developers Playrix, although he soon began making his own games as a hobby. From that point came his biggest creative move. “I create all my games and cartoons in my own art style – I developed my own little universe which I call oOpstopia.”

Yuri Shapkin’s fictional world of oOpstopia

oOpstopia can be seen in all of Shapkin’s work – a colourful, cartoony world used to portray a slightly comic and satirical series of stories. It is vibrant and lively – Shapkin describes it as “his dream” to see his work appear on high-def mobile devices, as well as the web. One of his other oOpstopia projects, the YouTube series Tankville, is hugely popular back in Russia with an audience of over 500,000 regularly tuning in for each episode. To those who know oOpstopia through playing Zombality, it’s strange to see the art style in use without any monsters running across the screen – what was it that made Shapkin want to lend his unique designs to an undead adventure?

“Everyone can become a zombie. It can be someone from any time, age or profession.”

“I like zombie games, and zombies,” he smiles. “Everyone can become a zombie. It can be a person from any time, any continent, age or profession. As an artist, I like to create different zombie people.” It’s an interesting point – zombies are universal, once bitten it doesn’t matter whether you’re an American footballer, a local sheriff or just a guy taking a walk when the apocalypse starts. All of these and more can be found in Zombality and, although they all have different abilities, they’re all after the same thing: your brains. And it wasn’t long before Shapkin decided to try his hand at his own addition to the zombie game genre, with his second game, Zombie At The Gates, featuring in the Top 5 at the annual awards of Jayisgames.com in 2012.

Shapkin’s second game, Zombie At The Gates

If all this talk of our impending zombie-related doom is giving you the creeps, worry not: Shapkin has a fine remedy. “Find the nearest video game store,” he says, “and play all the zombie games you can find. It will help you to prepare for any situation.”

You heard the man.

Like the look of Zombality? We’ve got two exclusive desktop wallpapers for you.

Check out our Zombality Walkthrough video!

Jet Ski Racer is the fast-paced racing game that will keep you on the edge of your seat. A flooded and abandoned city has become the meeting place for the coolest and fastest of racers – high speeds, dangerous objects and crazy jumps await you! Avoid the obstacles, collect the coins and find the fastest routes to win the race.

To help you finish first (and stay dry), here are some tips and tricks!

1. Get off to a fast start

Make sure you’re ready to go from the very start, because the other Jet Ski Racers are fierce competitors! As soon as the game starts, hit the accelerator button right away. This means you won’t lose precious seconds trying to increase your speed!

2. Watch out for mines

Mines are explosive obstacles set in the course – touch them, and you blow up! Watch out for yellow warning signs that give you a heads-up that you’re about to enter the danger zone. It’s not just your jet ski that the mines can damage, though – the other racers can also end up flipping out if they come into contact with them! If you’re brave, you can easily pass a few other racers in the mine areas.

3. Use boosts

Look out for green lightning bolts – these are power-ups that will give your jet ski a much-needed boost! They are often hidden, and sometimes close to mines, so be careful – but they can be the difference between a top 3 finish or last place!

4. Cut corners

Collecting coins will score you points, but the fastest route around the track often lies away from them. Cutting corners sharply can often save you a few seconds and allow you to zip past other racers who are taking the long way round!

5. Big air can be a big help

As you race around the course, you’ll encounter plenty of ramps that launch your jet ski into the air. These ramps always give your racer a temporary speed boost, and can be used to fly over the heads of your opponents and splash down ahead of them.

6. Keep your eyes open

Unlike many racing games, Jet Ski Racer’s courses change while you’re speeding around them! Buildings collapse, ships sink, and containers fall from the sky, changing the route you need to take and occasionally providing another ramp that you can use to get a speed boost. The fastest route from your first lap might be blocked by an obstacle in the second one, so make sure you’re aware of changes happening around you as you race!

7. Get the high scores and awards

You score points based on your finishing place, your average speed and the coins you collect – so try and balance getting the coins and completing the course in good time! You need 45,000 points for the Gold award – good luck!

Time to start your engines and play Jet Ski Racer! If you’ve got any other tips that you think belong in our guide, post them in the comments below!

Check out our Jet Ski Racer gameplay video!

The new Insane frame and pattern, with Elven Blue cloth.

Welcome to your fifth 8 Ball Pool Community Update! We’re here to bring you all the latest news from the game.

As usual, there’s lots to tell you about this month – here we go!

New tables and cues

We’ve just released some brand new tables and cues for you to customize your game even further! Check out the Elven and Insane frames, cloths and patterns in the Pool Shop, and take a good look at the brand new Amber and Silver cues! We’re looking forward to seeing some of these shiny new items in action

We’ve also been listening to your feedback and cue suggestions – and we have a few more cues coming to the Shop very very soon…

Big discounts in the Pool Shop

The Digitized cue is one of 18 cues that are now much cheaper!

To mark the release of Pool Cash, we’ve made some big discounts on many items in the Pool Shop. A whopping eighteen cues are now cheaper than they were, with our current faves, the Camouflage and Digitized cues, getting a 70% discount! The Royal Blue, Test Tube, Blue Hope and Pharaoh cues are also around half-price. It’s the perfect time to upgrade your 8 Ball gear!

Got yourself a new cue or table thanks to this update? Tweet your friends to let them know!

Talking of Pool Cash…

As you will have seen, the new currency – Pool Cash – is now live on the web. We’ve started everyone off with 5 Pool Cash, and you’ll soon have the opportunity to earn more Cash when you level up in the game. Look out for more news on that feature in the next Community Update!

For more information on Pool Cash, check out last month’s update.

Mobile news

Enjoying Tournaments on mobile, in the sunshine.

Following the success of tournaments on mobile, we’ve got another mobile update coming out in the next few weeks. Features will include calling pockets, the new mini-game Scratch & Win, and a few minor fixes to improve the game.

Other news

• We’ve streamlined 8 Ball’s loading process – your game should now load even faster than before
• More security improvements have been implemented into the game, and we’re continuing to work on combating new exploits

Cool stuff from the 8 Ball Pool Community

Players have been sending us all sorts of cool and funny images on our 8 Ball Pool Facebook page and on Twitter - here’s a few of our favourites from this month, including an awesome Indirect Clearance video from RON-O-SULLIVAN!

Got something to share? Message us the link on Facebook, or tweet us and YOUR pic could appear on next month’s Community Update!

That’s all for this month – if you’ve got anything to ask or discuss, hit the Comments below – we’d love to hear your feedback.

Your Vegas contact has been busted and the Corporation are waiting for you. Rev your engine and make your escape in On The Run: The Getaway!

The Corporation are a tough enemy – they’ve got fast cars, machine guns – even an attack helicopter! But if you can keep your wits about you, and use these tips and tricks, you’ll be sure to outrun them and get the high scores.

Start your engines and let’s hit the streets!

1. Use your special weapon carefully

Your special weapon unleashes a devastating plasma blast that wipes out all nearby cars, in front or behind! However, its range is quite limited, so make sure that the Corporation goons are close to your vehicle before hitting X. And remember, the special weapon doesn’t work on helicopters!

2. Fight back

Even if you’re waiting for your special weapon to charge, that shouldn’t stop you from fighting back against enemy vehicles. Don’t get bullied by the muscle cars – swing away to give you a bit of space, then ram into theirs sides. Time it right and you can send them into the path of oncoming traffic… BOOM!

3. Drive on the left

This is a risky manoeuvre, but a useful one – if you’re getting bashed by Corporation cars, move over onto the left side of the road and hope that they’ll run straight into a car that’s coming the other way.

4. TNT can clear your way

Each level has a couple of explosive TNT power-ups – look out for these as you’re on the run. Hit one, and it will trigger an environmental trap to destroy the enemy cars.

5. Keep your eyes on the sky

As if the Corporation’s cars weren’t tough enough, later levels see them bring out the big guns. The really big guns. Keep your eyes on the sky, because attack helicopters will swoop in on certain levels and drop bombs in your path. Look out for the flashing red markers up ahead – they show where the bombs are likely to land.

6. Use brake to get round your enemies

The Corporation will try and box you in and crush your car against the side of the road. There are times when you simply can’t out-run them – they’re too fast – so you need to use another trick instead. If the enemy is trying this move, just hit brake to slow down, then nip round the other side of them and accelerate away.

7. Top speed makes it harder to steer

You’re making a getaway, we know, so the urge is to go as fast as you possibly can. But this can actually make it harder for you: top speed means you have less control over your car, particularly around corners. So, ease off the gas a little and you’ll find it easier to dodge other cars.

You now know everything you need to get away from the Corporation. Keep these top tips in mind when you’re making your escape in On The Run: The Getaway!

How do you become a game developer? Where do the ideas come from, and how do they become complete, playable games for millions of people to enjoy? We sat down with Slime Lab creator Gionathan Pesaresi to find out.

Slime Lab 2 has been one of the most popular games on Miniclip this year, a puzzle platformer with the goal of guiding the eponymous Slime to safety, and it’s easy to see why: as well as challenging puzzles and hidden secrets, the simple act of moving Slime himself is a joy. Your blob of green goo flows and ripples as you slide, jump and squeeze him through the levels, googly eyes slipping about his body as you do so.

It wasn’t until Pesaresi was happy with the gloopy physics of his blob character that he actually came up with a game idea to fit around it: the character came before the game. He started out by drawing sketches and ideas in elementary school, before progressing into creating simple games. Even today, he spends a lot of his free time drawing and collecting cool toys – if he wasn’t a game developer, he confesses that he’d love to be a toy designer – and also hiking, explaining that the air helps to put him in a creative mood. His gaming roots come from playing C64 and DOS games in his youth, as well as coin-op arcade titles.

“My favourite games were graphic adventures like Monkey Island – although I also played a lot of Pokémon Red and Blue on my Game Boy.”

“At that time, my favourites were graphic adventures like Monkey Island and Day of the Tentacle – although I also enjoyed playing a lot of Pokémon Red and Blue on my Game Boy.” Who didn’t? He does point out, however, that none of these titles had a direct influence on Slime Lab. Which begs the question, what did?

“Making a game where you take control of a blob has been in my mind since I played the original LocoRoco”, says Pesaresi, referring to the 2006 PSP platformer. However, it wasn’t until 2011 that Slime Laboratory appeared on Miniclip. “There were many failed tests while I was learning how to program,” he admits, “but after I started working on videogames full time, I spent a couple of weeks experimenting with the physics engine and eventually got a nice blob effect. After that I came up with the game idea and the genre.”

Ah, so was Slime Lab a collaborative process, or does he prefer to develop games from start to finish, from initial concept through to completion? “I think both ways are good,” he says. “In some cases it’s good to follow the idea of one individual if they have a strong game vision. In others it’s good to brainstorm with a team, and shape the game according to input from different people.” When pushed, he confesses his belief that the “visionary individual” approach – the Molyneux approach, if you will – is “more difficult to handle, but might eventually lead to a greater game”.

“My ambition is to create games that you become attached to… like when you remember a nice holiday you had in the past.”

Does he think that some games don’t live up to that criteria? “Maybe the average cheap mobile game”, he says, mentioning no names…. “I’m proud of Slime Lab 2 – proud of the way I learned from the feedback I got from people who played the original.”

So can we expect a Slime Lab 3? And if so, are there any new things he’d consider adding into the game? “Slime Lab 3 would be very cool!” he says. “It would be fun to add new power-ups and special skills to Slime. I haven’t planned anything yet though.” Apparently, he’s spending his time working on “an exciting new browser game” – although it’s clearly top secret stuff as that was the only information he’d divulge at this stage. Looks like we’ll have to wait for more news from our partner in Slime…

Like the look of Slime Lab 2? Play the game here, or check out one of our gameplay videos!

__MAzen__ sent us this brilliant image. Top dollar.

Hi and welcome to your monthly update from the 8 Ball Pool team! We’ve got a huge amount of news for you, plus a ton of player-created 8 Ball artwork that we’ve received this month from the community – check out some of our favourites down the side and in the gallery below.

Let’s get started!

8 Ball Pool – FREE on mobile

You’ve always been able to play 8 Ball for free on Miniclip.com and on Facebook – but we’re very pleased to announce that as of now, you can now download it onto your iPhone, iPad, or Android device, absolutely free! This means that your friends have no excuse not to take up the challenge and give you a game of 8 Ball - tweet the good news now and get them involved!

Bigger prizes

Amazing Elf image from hot5treak… scary eyes though!

In the next few weeks, we’ll also be increasing the prizes for each Tournament winner on web and Facebook, to bring it into line with the prizes available on mobile.

So you’ll be able to win 1,000 Pool Coins in London, 18,000 in Sydney, and 30,000 in Moscow. The entry fees have been adjusted as a result, but we’re sure you’ll agree that the potential prizes are worth it… if you’re good enough

Please note that the number of available tournaments will be temporarily reduced to 3 (London, Sydney and Moscow) while we roll out some new security fixes. Soon, the others will be re-opened.

Earn Cash when you level up

That’s right, when the new 8 Ball Pool web update goes out in the next week or two, you’ll start earning Pool Cash every time you level up.

P is for Pool.

You get 1 Pool Cash for every level you progress in the game – so good luck out there on the table!

Bear in mind that this feature isn’t out yet – it’ll come with the next update to the game client. Keep an eye on our Facebook and Twitter accounts for further announcements of when the update goes out!

Call pocket on all shots in elite matches

We’ve listened to your feedback, and a lot of players have asked for a feature where players have to call pocket on all shots in higher tiers. So, we will be introducing this for elite players in top tier Tournament and 1v1 matches on web and Facebook soon! This will reward the most skilled players, and make you less likely to lose to a hit-and-hope in high-stakes matches It’ll take effect in the Moscow and Las Vegas Tournaments, and Toronto and Jakarta in the 1vs1 matches.

Other news

Kunal908 made this to celebrate us passing 8 million Facebook fans!

Other things we’ve been working on this month include:

• New security fixes in the game, which we hope will greatly reduce any exploits and make for an even fairer playing environment for all our players
• Pool Cash will soon feature on mobile, as well as web
• Did we mention that 8 Ball Pool is now free?

Amazing images from our players

We get a lot of users sending in awesome pics that they’ve made, or even weird situations that they’ve found themselves in while playing 8 Ball Pool! Some of the fan-made pictures are out of this world, and must have taken a lot of time and patience to put together. You’ve probably noticed a few down the side of this post, and here’s a gallery with some of our other favourites from this month – if you’ve got anything you’d like to show us, send it to us as a message on our Facebook page, or tweet it to the official @poolbyminiclip Twitter account!

Can I axe you something?

Maybe your image will be in next month’s update!

If you have an questions, you can either head to our Facebook page, tweet us, or hit the comments below! And, if you have any problems, don’t forget that you can visit our Customer Support site to get help.

On The Run: The Getaway was one of our favourite games of the month.

Hi and welcome to the first Miniclip Roundup! In these blog posts, we’ll bring you a look at our hottest games this month, plus news, videos, cool stuff that you’ve made, plus what’s been going on in the Miniclip offices. It’s your chance to get a look inside the inner workings of Miniclip, and also ask us anything that’s on your mind – get involved in the Comments section below!

Let’s start with some of our favourite games of this month.

Games Roundup

We were super-excited to release the next game in the On The Run series, with The Getaway hitting the road. It’s all about using your speed, driving skill and special weapons to keep the evil Corporation off your back long enough to reach the end of the level. It’s fast and furious – but not Fast & Furious, that’s something else… although The Getaway probably has more explosions. Check it out – there’s helicopters and gunmen in vans and everything.

Atten-shun! Assault Course 2 launched this month.

Our other big hit this month was Assault Course 2, which, although a lot less physically-demanding than running an actual assault course, may still strain your fingers a little as you run, jump, crawl, dangle and shimmy your way through seven levels of obstacles. Stay out of the mud, look out for detonators to clear your way of barriers, and beat the clock to that flagpole finish. GO!

We have also spent a lot of time dungeon-raiding in Barons Gate, firing arrows at skeletons and big bosses in our quest for yet more loot. The shoot-and-loot core of this game reminded us a lot of Borderlands – it’s pretty addictive!

We’ve also been playing Once Upon A Life, a game with a story very different from anything else out there – you play old man Harry, out to track down his lost memories by solving a series of platform puzzles. Harry also has jet-powered walking sticks that enable him to fly. Yes. Once Upon A Life also features the most polite shark we’ve ever encountered in a video game…

After something a bit more explosive?

The very polite shark in Once Upon A Life.

Look no further than River Assault, our new blaster where you deal massive amounts of damage to enemy forces from your gunboat. Or have some retro-shooting fun with Mutant Alien Assault, where survival is the name of the game (not to mention a screen-shaking hyperjump at the end of every stage).

Words not enough to convince you of the awesomeness of all these games? Then check out these screenshots instead! Or…

…Ooooh, videos

Loads of new videos have hit our YouTube channel this month. Our most-watched clip is our wonderful 8 Ball Pool tips and tricks guide, followed by our gameplay video for River Assault, and this superb clip of one of our top games of 2013, Free Running 2. We really think that one has a good chance of being named Miniclip’s Game of the Year, which is another thing that may be coming your way very very soon…

To get the maximum awesomeness out of your internet, we suggest subscribing to our YouTube channel. Or, you could just sit staring at your browser until we upload the next video. It’s your choice.

The Miniclip Charity Cake Bake

In the office

In between listening to Rebecca Black, Will Smith, and the Ukrainian version of Kiss FM (number of Ukrainian speakers in the Miniclip UK offices: zero), September also saw a cake bake-off to raise money for the Teenage Cancer Trust charity. Many cakes were baked, judged and scoffed, from spongecakes to Black Forest gateau, and £151.19 was raised.

In case you haven’t realised, we like cake. We recently had a controversial suggestion by one of our staff to move Cake Friday to Wednesday but that was quickly shot down amid cries of “heresy!”, “burn him!”, and “this is Spartaaaa!”.

I am Ironman

Miniclip recently started sponsoring Swiss triathlete Raphael Vorpe, who was competing in the 2013 Ironman World Championships in Hawaii on October 12.

Triathlete Raphael Vorpe and the Miniclip Team

For anyone who doesn’t know, the Ironman triathlons are about the craziest, most intense endurance race ever dreamed up humankind: 140.6 miles of swimming, cycling and running (I’m tired just thinking about it). Raphael finished in the highly impressive time of 9 hours 22 minutes, placing him 168th out of 2,134 athletes! Huge congratulations to him, and to all who entered. On a side note, his time meant that he beat celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay by about 4 hours. Just putting that out there.

Around the blog

This month, we sat down to talk game development with Slime Lab creator Gionathan Pesaresi, and his influences and inspirations (Pokémon Red and Blue is quite high on his list). Oh, and if you’re an 8 Baller – and let’s face it, who isn’t – then you should definitely check out the latest Community Update blog post which has everything you need to know about what we’re working on for the next update.

The spooky Zombie Big Trouble is one of our new games for Halloween.

Come and work with us!

Like games, cake, working hard and having fun? We’re hiring for several new positions right now – check out our Careers page!

What’s Next?

October means only one thing for gaming… Halloween! We’ve got a ton of spooky games coming up in the next few weeks. Some are scarier than others, but we’re sure you’ll love zombie go-karting all the same. Keep an eye on Miniclip.com, or you can give us a like on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to make sure you don’t miss out.

We’re already starting work on the next monthly Miniclip update, in which we hope to feature some of our favourite fan-made videos, pictures, Facebook comments and tweets of the month. If you’ve got something cool that you think everyone should see, send it to us! And if you’ve got any questions, hit the comments section below.

See you next month!

We’re very proud to have been nominated for Best Website at this year’s BAFTA Children’s Awards!  And you, yes YOU, can vote for us right here.

Each year, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) host the Children’s Awards to recognise the very best programming and content available to young people today. It’s also a great chance for youngsters to have their say, by casting their vote for their favourites – last year over 500,000 votes were cast, and BAFTA are estimating that there’ll be even more this year!

So, get involved! Go and vote for us now at www.baftakidsvote.org.

Thank you to all our fans!

And in case you needed any more convincing as to why you should vote for us, here’s an awesome video.

Halloween is the perfect time for ghost stories, horror movies, and creepy games – and at Miniclip, we’ve got plenty for you to get your fangs into. In fact, we love Halloween so much that we’ve created a special set of awards for you to win, with our top 10 Trick or Treat games! If you can crack all 10 achievements, a very shiny Trick or Treat Super Award will be yours…

So turn off the lights, settle in, and get ready to play… if you dare.

1. Zombotron 2: Time Machine

Award Score: 250,000 points

Why you should play it: Your time machine has crash-landed on a zombie-infested planet and it’s up to you to repair it and get out of there, blasting your way through the undead horde. Doctor Who never had it this tough. You also get to drive a massive, zombie-crushing truck at one point. Squish!

Scariest Part: Battling through unexpected enemy ambushes – they zombies are smarter than your average brain-eaters.

2. After Sunset

Award Score: 55,000 points

Why you should play it: The sun has gone down and there’s wave after wave of enemies to fight off. You start out armed with little more than a meat cleaver and a moustache as you try to stop panicking humans from becoming part of the undead.

Scariest Part: With more enemies showing up every second, and other humans running around yelling for help, it’s easy to lose your cool. Keep calm!

3. Zombie Karts

Award Score: 40,000 points

Why you should play it: Customise your zombie karter and hurl skulls at each other while dodging tentacles, ghosts and bats in one of the most fast and frantic racers we’ve played this year. Complete challenges in the game to unlock more outfits for your racer!

Scariest Part: Zombie Karts is more silly than scary. But we’re not going to lie: the thought of losing a massive lead because somebody zapped us with their Special Attack sends shivers down our spine.

4. Zombie Breakout

Award Score: 10,000 points

Why you should play it: It turns out that hazardous chemicals + corpse = zombie apocalypse. Those silly science people! When will they learn. Anyway, there’s a whole lot of undead that need putting back in the ground, and your character, Bruce, needs your help in taking care of them.

Scariest Part: The super-powered zombies are no joke. Run away!

5. Zombie Defense Agency

Award Score: 100,000 points

Why you should play it: This is tower defence with a spooky twist. Upgrade your turrets and try and stop the horde from stumbling to their target.

Scariest Part: When you realise that you’ve put your most-powerful turret in a bad position and the zombies just keep on comin’. Panic!

6. Candy Magic

Award Score: 20,000 points

Why you should play it: This is a retro-style, side-scrolling shooter which requires quick reflexes. There’s a whole host of Halloween ghouls and goblins coming at you – plug them full of your magical attacks and then grab the candy they drop for maximum points.

Scariest Part: The snake-haired Medusa boss at the end of level 3 is not only creepy, but real tough too. Especially when she brings out her serpentine henchmen to lay down even more attacks on your poor witch. Why’d it have to be snakes…

7. Los Zombies

Award Score: 40,000 points

Why you should play it: You have a great big machete with which to fend off some of the most difficult undead beasts we’ve ever encountered. Oh, and you can upgrade to a minigun as well, but where’s the fun in that.

Scariest part: Not spotting the explosive zombie until it’s too late…

8. Bounzy 2

Award Score: 17,500 points

Why you should play it: Bounzy 2 has a strong element of strategy: you need to make maximum use of your environment to take out the enemy. This involves deflecting bullets off surfaces on their way to the zombies, guiding homing missiles past obstacles, and even kick-starting a car into driving over a couple of undead foes.

Scariest Part: Bounzy 2 shouldn’t give you the creeps, as your character is always in a safe position on each level. But we can guarantee that you’ll definitely feel the pressure when you’re down to your last bullet on a particularly tough level.

9. Rail Rush Worlds

Award Score: 2,000 points

Why you should play it: One of our most popular games has had a Halloween update! Ghosts, bats and tons of other creepy obstacles will try to knock Jack O’Lantern out of his cart. You need to duck and dodge your way to the 2,000m mark – good luck!

Scariest Part: Rail Rush gets very quick, very quickly. Sweaty palms will not make it easier for you – deep breaths!

10. Zombie Breach

Award Score: 35,000 points

Why you should play it: Taking on a zombie with your bare hands – now that’s the mark of a real action hero. That’s what you’ll need to do in Zombie Breach. Oh, and if they get too close, you can always rely on a bit of back-up in the form of a devastating cannon fire from your reinforcements. Or your trusty knapsack, which can deliver a mean combo.

Scariest Part: As the zombies get faster and more frequent, it’s easy to get overwhelmed out there.

Ready for the challenge?

Think you’ve got the skill, the reflexes, and – more importantly – the bravery to take on these 10 award games? Head over to the Trick or Treat hub on Miniclip and give them a go now!

There’s been some fantastic games on Miniclip this year, but we wanted to know… what was your favourite? What game would win our People’s Choice award?

So, we picked our top 10 games of 2013, made an awesome video, and then threw the vote open to our Facebook fans to decide which game was our number 1 for this year. From there, we whittled it down to a Final Five, and then, in a last vote, our winner was crowned. Congratulations to 8 Ball Pool, picked as Miniclip’s Game of the Year by you, the fans!

8 Ball just passed a pretty awesome milestone.

8 Ball has proved to be not only the most popular game on Miniclip this year, but also one of the most popular on all of Facebook, as well as on iPhone and Android phones. A few days ago, we went past the incredible landmark of ten billion games played. That’s a lot of wins, a lot of incredible shots, a ton of “sorry gotta run”s, and plenty of “hehe”s!

We’d like to say a huge THANK YOU to all our 8 Ball players! For every game, every pot, every trickshot, every cool bit of 8 Ball artwork that you’ve spent time making – it’s been an incredible year.  We’ve seen trickshot videos that have blown our minds with their creativity: we’ve already published one sweet collection and have another on the way. Keep emailing them in to us using the address social at miniclip.com and you could be starring in a future video too.

To commemorate the fact that you picked 8 Ball as your favourite, you’ll now see this cool People’s Choice badge next to the game page

Thanks to all our players for making 2013 such a special year! Look out for even more great games coming to Miniclip in 2014… oh, and in the rest of 2013, of course! There’s still time left for us to release some more fun stuff for you to play. Don’t forget to keep an eye on our Facebook page, Twitter feed, or our YouTube channel for the very latest Miniclip news.

8 Ball is your winner of the People’s Choice award for 2013!

What a year it’s been in 8 Ball Pool! We’ve seen new features, amazing trickshots, cool Pool art, and over ten billion games played of classic 8 Ball action. So, here we are, at the end of 2013. We’re already looking forward to plenty of exciting stuff in 2014, but here’s everything you need to know about 8 Ball Pool as we enter the holiday period!

Last week, we released an update for 8 Ball on web and Facebook, and we’ll have a new version on mobile devices in the next couple of weeks. What’s new in these updates? Read on!

Play Facebook Friends in 8 Ball

We’ve fixed a bug that was preventing some users from being able to challenge their Facebook friends to a game of Pool. You may now see the game asking you to confirm access to your Facebook Chat contacts: you’ll need to confirm this in order to challenge friends. Most of you will have done this when you installed the app, in which case you’ll already be able to play your Facebook friends!

New Christmas Cue

The new Christmas Cue is available for a short time only!

There’s only one way to play 8 Ball this festive season and it’s with the brand new Xmas cue. You may already have noticed the cue in the Pool Shop on web and Facebook – it’ll be added to mobile very soon too. Shot of the season!

Double-value Coin Packs

Look out for a special offer coming soon to 8 Ball over the Christmas period – double-value top-ups on selected Coin Packs in the Pool Shop! The offer will run from the 23rd to the 26th of December – keep an eye on our Facebook page or the @poolbyminiclip Twitter feed for the latest info!

Trickshots Masterclass – Part 2

Epic trickshot inbound.

We’ve just published our second collection of your amazing trickshots! We had an absolute ton of entries emailed in, so we’re already working on a super-size edition of shots for Part 3. Again, we’re just amazed by the incredible creativity and skill shown by some of our players. Some of these shots we had to watch again and again to try and work out how they’d been potted. Thanks so much to everyone who has sent one in so far. Remember, if you’ve got a trickshot for us, email social at miniclip dot com. And if you missed Part 1, it’s right here.

In the meantime, sit back, relax, and enjoy these awesome shots!

Localized versions coming to mobile

8 Ball on mobile is being localized into multiple languages.

We know that 8 Ball is played by gamers all around the world, so we’re taking steps to ensure that the game is even more fun for everyone. The next update to 8 Ball on mobile devices will include localized language versions of the game in French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese. We’re working on bringing out some other language editions soon too!

“No guideline” mode in elite mobile tiers

We’re also introducing a new feature in the top tier of 1v1 and Tournaments on mobile: a “no guideline” mode. It’s the ultimate test of skill; we’ve seen quite a few players request a gamemode like this so we hope you’ll enjoy it. If you’d rather play with guidelines, there are plenty of other tiers to choose

What next?

Well, that just about wraps it up for 2013… but what have we got coming in 2014? Well, there’s a ton of top-secret stuff that we’ll share with you in these updates when we have a little more detail. In the meantime, why not tell us what you’d like to see in 8 Ball next year?

That’s all from us, so all that’s left to do is wish all our players a happy holidays and a very happy New Year, and all the best for 2014.

Thanks for playing!

The 8 Ball Pool Team

Zero Gravity is a brand-new space shooter/runner coming soon to Miniclip, created by our very own Associate Producer Jamie Joseph. In his role at Miniclip, Jamie oversees development of our games – he works closely with developers to produce games like Crash n Burn, Bow Master Japan and Guns of Anarchy. We sat down for a chat to find out how he went about getting his game made.

Survive on your dangerous trek back to Earth

Could you tell us a bit about Zero Gravity?
It’s a shooter set in space inspired by endless runners. It has several levels and we added in side objectives to each one to increase replayability. Your character has to avoid obstacles on the way to the end of the level but you also have to shoot enemies to survive.

What were the influences for Zero Gravity?
Dead Space 2 was one of the main things that influenced Zero Gravity.  A section of the game has you guiding Isaac’s descent to a space station whilst flying through and around space debris and that was a definite inspiration.

What was the process you went through to get Zero Gravity produced?
After coming up with the game concept, I pitched it to our in-house games team to see if they liked the idea and to get it approved. The team talked about whether or not Zero Gravity would make a good game, the key features and any areas they think could be improved. After that I made amendments to the game design document and pitched the concept again. Once everyone was happy they gave the game a rating on how successful they thought it would be. Finally, I contacted the developer to get started on the creation of Zero Gravity, in this case it was the studio Silent Bay.

Shoot robots and dodge debris

Were there other things you’d like to have included but didn’t have time/budget?
We wanted the game to have an endless runner mode too. We also wanted to include an oxygen meter which would double as an energy bar, and an end of game boss. These are features to include for a potential Zero Gravity sequel.

Is this the first game idea you’ve pitched?
I’ve pitched a few concepts before but the scope of those game ideas was too big so needed to be refined. Even if you have a great idea, there is still time constraints and a budget to consider. It’s always great to see an idea that you’ve created become a game, and in my time at Miniclip I’ve been lucky enough to see many games become reality.

Any plans to port the game to mobile?
If the game is successful then it’s an option we’d definitely look into. It would be interesting to see how we’d work out a shooting mechanic alongside the movement controls.

So what advice would you give to someone if they got lost in space?
Always be prepared for any situation, have lots of food and oxygen to survive! Make sure there’s a nearby planet to land on and hope someone comes to get you soon.

Blast your way through hostile territory

Zero Gravity is coming soon to Miniclip.com. Check out the trailer below.

Hey guys, we’re back again with more news on 8 Ball Pool’s recent updates. Lets jump right in!

Match three and win big!

Scratch & Win

Scratch & Win is a recent addition to 8 Ball Pool on Web, you may have seen it already if you play 8 Ball Pool on mobile. It’s been pretty popular so we decided to put it Web too!

It’s a scratch card mini-game, similar to lottery tickets. The aim is to match three of the same squares to win that prize, e.g. Match three 500 coin squares to win 500 coins. Not every card is a winner, but the prizes are bigger than Spin & Win.

Just like Spin & Win, the higher value prizes are rarer and harder to win. You can win scratches from Spin & Win and also buy them from the Pool Shop.

Sport Relief

Help us raise money for charity!

As we’re sure you’ve noticed, there is a promotion for Sport Relief in 8 Ball Pool Web and Facebook. We’re donating a minimum of £2.10 from every purchase of the 7K coin bundle to the charity. The campaign is running in-game from March 19th to March 26th 2014!

Sport Relief takes place from 21st – 23rd March and it’s already shaping up to be an unmissable weekend with more than 1,000 events taking place across the UK. Money raised through Sport Relief will help people living incredibly tough lives in the UK and across the world. You can find and enter your local events at www.sportrelief.com.

10 million Facebook fans!

Massive thanks to all our users!

Just over two weeks ago, the 8 Ball Pool Facebook page passed 10 million likes! This is all thanks to you guys and the love and support you have for 8 Ball Pool. Thanks for being the biggest and best Pool community in the world!

Beat the Boss

We’ve been doing the Beat the Boss event for a while now and it’s becoming a pretty big deal! We’re now livestreaming the event on Twitch, so the world can see you win (or lose). We’ve even added a Beat the Boss award into the game so you can brag to your friends about how you’ve beaten Big Rob, the Miniclip CEO. Don’t forget, you have to be playing 8 Ball Pool on Miniclip.com. Check out the Beat the Boss FAQ for more info!

The last event was one of the most successful to date: Big Rob came out ahead with 7 wins and 4 losses. You players need to brush up on your skills before you take down the Boss! He had a few close matches: one of his opponents, Domingos, was on the black but fortunately missed his final shot, so Big Rob took the opportunity to clear the table and win the match. Better luck next time!

You can find us on Twitch and also watch past Beat the Boss broadcasts. We will announce all new Beat the Boss events on the 8 Ball Pool Multiplayer Facebook page.

Are you good enough to Beat the Boss?

A few reminders…

One of the big updates to 8 Ball Pool Mobile was the All-In mode where you have the chance to double your coin balance – just so long as you win two consecutive games. Another point to be aware of is that the winnings are the total of the player with the lowest balance. For all information on the All-in mode check out last months blog post.

Cairo has also made a reappearance as the top tier 1 vs 1 room with a whopping 500,000 prize pot. Tokyo Warrior Hall is now the highest ranked tournament to enter, with an amazing 60,000 coin prize awaiting the victor!

Trickshot Masterclass #4

We’re working on the 4th edition of the Trickshot Masterclass compilation. We’ve received loads of trickshot videos from you guys already but keep on sending them in. We love watching them and might even share them on Facebook or Twitter.

The Tokyo Tournament, and a brand new Cairo 1v1 tier, are coming with the next mobile release.

Check out Trickshot Masterclass #3 below.

Remember, you can email us at social at miniclip dot com or message us on Facebook.

That’s all for this month’s update. Leave your questions in the comments section or you can message us on Facebook or Twitter.

Hey Miniclippers! We’ve been as busy as ever this month, and we’ve got plenty of new things to tell you about.

We’re developing a game based on the amazing Beast Quest fantasy books.

Miniclip News

Let’s kick off with BEAST QUEST! We’re very pleased to announce that we’re going to be developing a game based on the hugely-popular Beast Quest fantasy adventure books. We’re going to be bringing the amazing world of Adam Blade’s books to life in a mobile game later this year. We’re already sharpening our swords in anticipation, this one is going to be awesome.

Also this month: we were proud to support the charity Sport Relief by creating a special Pool Coins bundle in 8 Ball Pool, and donating a minimum of £2.10 from every bundle sold straight to the charity. The money raised from each bundle could feed 4 children living on the streets in India for one day, and we were delighted that over £2,000 was raised in total for the charity. You can find out more about the campaign in this press release.

Oh, and one other thing we did this month: we went to Casual Connect Europe, and interviewed some awesome indie developers and got a little showcase of their games. We chatted about the high points of being a game developer, what their favourite-ever games were, and what their high-scores were in Flappy Bird (not much, sadly). Check out the interviews in our exclusive video!

Over £2,000 was raised for the charity Sport Relief through 8 Ball Pool.

New games

Ninjas, big swords, and hundreds of zombies. Yup, that’s Ninja Slash.

One of our favorite games of this month, and the subject of our company-wide score contest, has been Ninja Slash. A mission-based hack-and-slash runner, with an awesome art style, Ninja Slash is a game for those with lightning-fast reflexes as you slice-and-dice your way through hundreds of kooky zombie enemies. To rack up the highest scores you’ll need to complete missions to boost your multiplier – our current leader in the Miniclip offices has over 900,000 points (!). Apparently he spent all weekend playing the game. It is kinda addictive.

We also released a new basketball game to get you all in the mood for March Madness. Basketball Jam Shots has you shooting hoops with a difference…with fiery backdrops instead of packed stadiums, and some very sneaky defenders who aren’t averse to lowering the height of the rim or even flipping it round 180 degrees to stop your shot. But if you can get round their tricks you’ll get a chance to sink a shot from the halfway line to really up your score.

Bait and Switch has been one our popular releases this month. You play as a warrior worm defending yourself from waves of hungry fish who won’t stop until they’ve taken a chunk out of you! Upgrade your weapons and gain poison, time and freeze abilities to get the upper hand over your foes. Even with an arsenal of weaponry and your special abilities, you’ll still need to keep on your toes to survive the ever-increasing waves of enemies that will be coming your way. Wait, do worms have toes?

Lego CHIMA is one of our newest massively-multiplayer online games. Once a pristine, natural paradise, the world of Chima has become a battleground for eight animal tribes, and you can build and customize your own Lego kingdom. There’s a huge open world to explore, with missions to complete and secret areas to discover. Completing missions allows to you to develop and improve your character with new skills and even better equipment.

Build and battle in Lego CHIMA.

Crash & Burn walkthrough video

With Crash & Burn proving to be one of the most-played games on Miniclip in March, we’ve had a few questions from our players about where they could find those 25 hidden packages. So, we put together a video walkthrough to guide you to them all. We’ve also thrown in the location of the super-secret trophy, and a quick demonstration of how to take out the high-flying zeppelin. Boom!

Twitch

Come join our growing Twitch community! If you didn’t already know, Twitch is a video platform and gaming community where gamers from all over the world broadcast streams of themselves playing games. Unless you’ve been living on the moon for the past few months, you’ll have seen our Beat The Boss events in 8 Ball Pool, where you – the players – can take on Miniclip CEO Big Rob.

We’ve recently started livestreaming these on Twitch so you guys can watch the event live and join the conversation in our channel’s Chat Room! In future, we will be looking to stream more than just 8 Ball Pool, so keep an eye on this space to see what else is in store!

Zero Gravity is our explosive new space shooter.

Zero Gravity interview

Zero Gravity is our newest game on Miniclip.com, and was created by our very own Associate Producer Jamie Joseph.  He took some time (out of his very busy schedule) to have an interview about how the idea for Zero Gravity came about, and how it went from concept to a full game on Miniclip. Find out all about it here.

Winner Takes All in 8 Ball Pool

All In mode is the newest mode for 8 Ball Pool Mobile, allowing players to win big in the highest of high-stake games.  To win an All-in match you have to win two consecutive games, so no pressure guys! For more info on All In mode, and all the latest developments in 8 Ball Pool, don’t miss our monthly community updates.

Finally

Are you ready to go All In?

Now that the weather is getting warmer, don’t forget to take your gaming outside and enjoy some sunshine while you play :)

Last week we unveiled the massive Man Or Monster, a huge retro-style action game that we’re developing at the moment. In the first of our new series of developer blogs, we spoke to two of the brains behind the game, Adam Campbell and Diederik Groesbeek, about Man Or Monster’s visuals.

One of the earlier concept designs for Man Or Monster.

Building a world, one block at a time

“Man Or Monster uses a retro voxel graphical style. We’ve been big fans of the style for a long time, so we thought: why not try and build our own voxel world? We spent a lot of time looking at some other games that use voxels, like Minecraft, Cube World and 3D Dot Game Heroes, but we knew that we didn’t want to just copy the look. So we investigated how we could make it more our own thing.

“We thought it’d be cool to stomp on landmarks like Big Ben and the Eiffel Tower.”

We grew up on 8 and 16 bit games, so a big goal for us was to try and create something that evoked those days – only in 3D. Similarly, the thing we love most about Minecraft is that ability to create and destroy game elements: that’s how the idea of a big monster destroying a city came about! So we decided to keep to a cubic style, but add a bright, colourful retro-feel to our game.

We also decided that we wanted to add some real-time strategy elements to the action, so  opened up the scope of the art style to include military units and other cool features while playing as the Man (if you’re the Monster, you can have fun trashing these units instead!). We also worked on a ton of customization options for your Monster, as well as planning out some of the ones you’ll go up against if you’re the Man.

I think probably one of our biggest influences here was Midway Games’ Rampage series. If you’re not familiar with it, check it out on YouTube – it’s super-awesome.”

Landmark design

“Once we’d decided on how we wanted the game to look, it was time to start building! We soon decided that we wanted multiple monster and multiple units for the man to build. We imagined that it would be so cool to stomp on famous landmarks like Big Ben and the Eiffel Tower. So we thought we’d need at least a couple of cities to bring some variation in size and difficulty. Of course we went a bit overboard so we ended up with ten completely different ones, each with their own layout, buildings and landmarks!”

“One of the biggest problems with the creation of the cube-style assets (besides that it was totally new to us!) was the scale differences between Man, Monster and the city background objects. You cannot give everything the same amount of detail. Not only is this technically not feasible, but it’s also a lot of work for the artist. In the game, you can see that the cubes used for the Monster are quite a bit bigger than the ones used for Man. We think it still looks good, though – we hope you agree!”

Protect or destroy famous landmarks. You decide.

Watch out for next week’s developer blog, when we’ll be taking a look at one half of Man Or Monster – the jetpack-equipped Man. In the meantime, don’t forget to follow this blog to get all the latest Man Or Monster news delivered straight to your inbox.

Read the Man Or Monster launch blog post right here.

This week’s blog is all about the Man, the hero of Man Or Monster. Playing as the Man, your role is to defend the cities being attacked by the Monster, using  a variety of weapons and abilities at your disposal. In the second of our series of developer blog posts, Diederik Groesbeek goes into some more depth about the development of the Man and the tools of his trade.

Update: we just uploaded the first-ever trailer for Man Or Monster! Click here to watch it now, or scroll to the bottom of this post.

Our 3-D defender

“Who’s the Man? The Man is just a regular guy! It’s what you get when you try to make a guy out of cubes. And we gave him a cool cap. That’s it! Of course, it’s the the jetpack that makes him SUPER and gives you a fighting chance against the Monsters. Everybody loves jetpacks. It’s a fact.

As well as being a cool bit of kit, the jetpack was a design necessity for the game. If you’re playing as the Man, you need to be able to get around the city very quickly to set up your defenses and then take on whatever Monster is dropped into the action.

When we started making the game, we’d imagined these huge environments and Godzilla-sized Monsters, and then were faced with the problem of having a tiny little guy running around trying to avoid getting stepped on by a giant foot. So the jetpack was a natural solution: it gives you the maneuverability to zip around the map, placing units and overseeing the action. You can get down to ground level to pick up items, or you can easily fly up to the rooftops to set up artillery or take a shot at the Monster yourself. You can even perch on moving clouds for a nice view of the city.

“We faced the problem of a tiny little guy getting stepped on by a giant foot.”

So the jetpack was in from the start. It’s also in one of the games we used as inspiration: the brilliant Giants: Citizen Kabuto by Planet Moon!

You can place units like tanks, helicopters and even electrified Tesla coils all across the city to help you defend the city from the Monsters. You’ll have some time before the monster arrives to strategically place those units in the Monster’s path.”

The bigger they are…

“We won’t spoil some of the surprises that you’ll face when you come up against the Monster, but it’s likely that you’ll take a bit of damage when you’re playing as the Man. Fortunately, you can pick up heart containers and medikits when you get hurt. There’s also armor to make the Man invincible for a while, so you can really get close to your foe. Besides this, you can upgrade your heart containers, fuel and especially your weapon to do more damage.”

“We tried to give the items a retro feel – we started feeling nostalgic for Gameboy or SNES-era games while we were creating these! The Man has currency to collect so he can purchase upgrades to increase his chances of survival.”

Too many ideas, not enough time

“As with most games, we’re never able to include every idea we come up with. With Man Or Monster, we thought about creating multiple characters to choose from – we even made a few turnarounds of other models, but didn’t have time to implement them properly. One of the coolest features that we didn’t get to include was the ability for Man to directly control the units he builds, like in Grand Theft Auto. Maybe for Man Or Monster 2…!”

“Regardless, Man Or Monster is packed full of content. We’re building in daily challenges to provide loads of replayability even after the main game has been completed, adding fresh new challenges for players to get into.”

Keep an eye out for the next developer’s blog where we’ll be taking on the city destroying monsters. In the meantime, read the previous Man Or Monster dev blogs for more info as we build up to the game’s release this summer.

Man Or Monster: Launch Blog Post

Man Or Monster Developer Blog 1: Building A World

Man or Monster Developer Blog 3: The Monsters!

Update: Watch the brand new and exclusive Man Or Monster trailer now!