The Codex of Alchemical Engineering

This is a nice logic game that can be quite confusing at first because it's not really clear how you're supposed to play. It is available at:
http://www.kongregate.com/games/krispykrem/the-codex-of-alchemical-engineering

I really enjoy this type of game that is similar to programming. Anyway, it's not always clear how you can proceed in the game, part of that is the challenge of organizing your process, but part of that is just poor explanation in the game itself.

Some of the game's mechanics are explained well in the instructions, and I'll assume you've read those.

First is the Glyph of Binding
It binds two elements or atoms together. Atoms must be in the two circles to be bound, but they do not have to be released by the manipulator. What this means is that if an atom is sitting in the right-most depression and your manipulator, holding another atom, passes over the left-most depression, they will be joined and henceforth move as one.



Next is the Glyph of Transmutation
This transmutes only metals according to its label. It should be noted that if you want to transmute something twice you need it to pass over the Glyph of Transmutation twice, leaving it to sit on the glyph will not activate it. Also, like the Glyph of Binding, it is not necessary to release the atom in order to activate the glyph, simply passing over it is enough.


The Glyph of Calcination
This allows you to transmute an element, like water or earth, into a metal. Like the others the element need only pass over the glyph to activate it.





The Glyph of Duplication
This glyph requires that you have a metal with the symbol shown on the right of the glyph in the right depression. You then put an element into the left depression and the metal will be transmuted into the element on the left.






Finally the Glyph of Projection
This glyph requires the use of both the metal listed on the right and one of the materials listed on the left. When they are both on the glyph the metal will be consumed and the material on the left will move one step clock-wise between the symbols on the left side of the glyph. It does not cycle through, so once you reach the circle with the dot in the center you cannot further transmute the material with this glyph ( it will not be transmuted into the h symbol ).

Neon Disks

This is a puzzle/skill based game. The object is to light up all the red donuts by throwing a ball at them. It's physics based and the ball will bounce off of the donuts and the side of the screen realistically.

The ball disappears once it falls off the bottom of the screen, bounces too many times, or bounces too high ( you need to upgrade it a lot for this to happen ). Every level you complete earns you 3 extra balls ( dirty ), and 1 of 4 upgrades. The game is over when you lose all your... balls.

The 4 upgrades are:
Longer Guide
This upgrade is the most essential when you start playing. It lengthens the predicted path of your ball once you throw it. With this upgraded you can plan your shots more accurately. I find it is best to put a few points into this first.

More Bounce
This makes your ball bounce more when it hits things. This does not necessarily follow the laws of physics and your ball can bounce back harder than it hit an object ( and possibly bounce too high ). This is an essential skill for a few levels if you don't have a large aura, and is generally useful as can help keep your ball up in the air longer and so hit more targets.

Bigger Aura
This is a useful upgrade that increases the 'range' of your ball. Initially your ball has a range of 0, and so must actually touch targets in order to light them up. As you increase this skill your ball will be able to light targets by simply passing by them. This can be a very useful skill for maximizing each ball, and if you don't upgrade your bounce it is essential in at least 1 level. This is the only skill I've seen have a maximum level, after which you will have to upgrade something else.

Smaller Ball
While this skill may seem useless, there are several levels where targets are so close together your original ball cannot fit between them. If your ball is smaller, however, it is possible to get through and reach the other side. This upgrade seems to make the ball a little more difficult to aim, but I think it is essential to have at least a few levels in this skill.

Chaotic Perimiter Protector

This is a simple browser based TD. In it the creeps run along a predetermined path, so there is no mazing at all.

It does include a static 10% interest which you receive once you've killed the last creep in a wave.

There are 5 types of towers that are described with little icons:
- the rock/mountain icon means it hits land-based creeps
- the windy icon means it hits flying creeps
- the water/splash icon means it does splash damage
- the yellow triangle icon means it slows creeps

The 5 types of towers are:
Iron Balls
This is the basic tower type which you will need to build in the beginning of the game. It is cheap and hits both land and air units. It doesn't upgrade very well, though, and has no special abilities like splash or slow.

Wild Slash
This is the anti-air tower of the game. It only hits air and does a small AOE as well. The attack speed is relatively quick, but the damage is quite low. Thankfully it's a cheap tower, but there aren't a whole lot of air levels so...

Rock Wave
This is the slow tower. It is supposed to do splash damage, but I find it's unreliable. Sometimes creeps right next to each other won't splash, while faraway creeps get it. Regardless, the slow effect doesn't splash at all. This tower has the fastest attack speed.

Fire Orb
This is the ground only splash tower. It has a slow attack speed but a large splash and high damage. Upgrades never increase its attack rate, but seem to increase the AOE size ( confirmation of this would be nice ).

Allmageddon
This is the uber-damage tower. It hits both land and air creeps, but has no splash and a low fire rate. It's also the most expensive tower. It also slows creeps.

Introduction

I've decided to create this blog in order to post simple guides for free online games.

I've been playing free online games at sites like Not Doppler and Armor Games for quite some time now, and enjoy seeing the creativity of people from around the world and trying to master the challenges they present.

Some games I've played, however, are not so straightforward, and require some time to get used to. Often a game can be frustrating because it is unclear how you are supposed to play in order to be successful. While learning to win the game is part of the enjoyment I've found that the frustration often stems from simply not doing what the programmer thought was obvious.

I created this site in order to alleviate this issue somewhat. While I will post my ideas about how to play a given game I welcome input from anyone.