Three weeks ago I was hired as a full-time Flash Developer for Glue in London! The company has an incredible list of clients who I'll be working alongside, who'd have thought making Flash games for Newgrounds would lead to an awesome job!

Having a full time job doesn't leave me with much time for my own Flash games but I'm already close to finishing my next one - Meteor Blast 3D. This is the third game in my Meteor Blast series that's been completely recoded from scratch to use the Away3D engine.

As my first 3D Flash game this wont look spectacular, but I'm keeping things simple and I think it'll be more fun than Synergy that some people found over-complicated. Although the game is very nearly finished, it's hard finding time to wrap things up so its still hard to say a release date - but hopefully some time this year!

For anyone wondering about Chromium 2, it is in production but I have huge plans for this and it'll be a while before I have anything to post about. Check back in 2010!

As usual I feel the need to make a post following the NG London Meet 5 (I'm not on the list of names, I expect Luis had a special list he forgot to put up). This was my 4th one so felt more like meeting up with friends than an arranged event, but it was also great meeting a few of the newcomers.

After most meets I say I'll stop by the forums more often and forget to post until the next one comes round, so this'll likely be the same. If I met you and haven't got you on Facebook already it'd be great if you could add me.

Summary of what else I've been up to - last week I launched a massive redesign and update of my gaming website ChromePlay, some of the more original aspects are still in the works but it'd be great if you could check it out (comments welcome!). Also this week I will finally be releasing Chromium to Newgrounds so look out for that in the portal!

Keeping the news brief but if you care what I'm up to I post regularly on my new-ish website http://www.markplunney.com.

If anyone is having problems accessing my website, this is because I had problems with my previous host so I'm moving everything to a new virtual private server. This could take anything from a few days to a few weeks, so don't expect it back any time soon!

This move will cause a delay with the release of Chromium as the high scores wont work until the server move is complete so I'm putting it on hold. The game is COMPLETE though, drop me a PM if your interested in beta testing!

UPDATE - New site up at http://www.markplunney.com! Old domains should be back soon.

While I wouldn't normally make a trailer for a new Flash game, this one couldn't really be shown just through screenshots. So here is a video preview for my next game, Chromium -

This was also a chance for me to use "Wars" by HURT from their new album "Goodbye to the Machine". This is one of the best albums I've heard in a long time, if you like what you hear go buy the full album.

So what is Chromium? Think Geometry Wars meets Sixty meets Ghosts of Hell with a few 3D touches and insane difficulty level.

The trailer only shows about half of the game, I still have a few more enemies and powerups to add, as well as all the sound (which will play a big part in the game). Look out for it on NG in late June, early July.

New minigame for Easter - Egg Snatch! Play now on Newgrounds -

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
489203

The Webcam mode is similar to Love Snatch, but there's also an all-new Mouse controlled mode for people without a webcam. Submit to Easter and Webcam collections if you're feeling nice!

In the next couple of weeks I'll be announcing my next major game through a fancy new technology called VIDEO. This is my biggest game release yet and I can't wait to show you what I've been working on.

Yesterday I finally for around to releasing Meteor Blast Synergy to Newgrounds. Just managed to get a Daily award at #5 which I'm very happy with, thanks for all the great comments people have been leaving. Check the game out here:

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
484573

I've been working a lot on my gaming website ChromePlay.com this month, the big new feature being Facebook Connect logins. This lets you sign into ChromePlay with your Facebook ID to leave comments, keep track of games you submit, share games on your Facebook wall and save favorites.

I think the use of Facebook IDs on ChromePlay has a lot of potential, if anyone has ideas of where I can take it next then please let me know. I'm thinking along the lines of integration with the high score API (which is used in Meteor Blast Synergy).

The favorites and sharing features have also been added to the ChromePlay Facebook Application. If you missed my last post, the Facebook App lets you add any games to your Facebook Profile - if you're a developer then you can even add your own games.

This week I launched a new feature on the ChromePlay Facebook Application that lets you add any ChromePlay game to your Facebook profile. Just log in to the App, go to a game, and click the link below it.

As developers can submit their own games to ChromePlay.com this means you can get your own games on your Facebook profile! Keep in mind that I don't accept all games to the site though, generally only those that score about 3.5 or higher here on NG. If you're not sure just submit anyway though, I might like it!

I just released a new game for Valentines day - Love Snatch! Sorry, its another lame webcam game. If you have a webcam give it a try though, its pretty fun when you get into it!

(NG London Meet Page if you've been living in a cave and dont know what this is about)

Just got back from the NG London meet so thought I should drop a quick post in here...gonna keep it brief cause I gotta catch up from the lack of sleep over the weekend (though in the sweetest hotel I've ever stayed in, huge thanks to Luis for putting that up for us).

This was my 3rd meet & they get more awesome every time...the turnout for this one was overwhelming & I wish I'd managed to talk to everyone, but it was great meeting a lot of you and seeing all the regulars again.

Hope everyone that went had a great time too, Facebook me if I met you (Mark Lunney), & massive thanks again to Luis & everyone else who helped get this together. Cant wait to see everyone again : )

I'll try n drop by the forums when I wake up in a week or so...

I've finally finished my sequel to Meteor Blast, Meteor Blast Synergy. The game is now in Beta, if you're interested in testing please PM me. Ideally you should be familiar with Flash game programming and have played the original, but any help will be welcome.

There's a final screenshot below (I posted four near-final screens in my last news post). It might not look hugely different to before, but I'm confident that this is a massive step from the original and I hope you think the same when I release it within the next few weeks!

In other news, I can confirm that I'll be attending the Newgrounds London Meetup IV this week! I'll be there getting to London on the Thursday and be there for the main meet on the Saturday. This will be my 3rd NG meetup, but as you'll know this is the first one with Tom Fulp (childish squee) so it'll probable be the biggest one yet - cant wait! See you there if you're going :-)

Happy New year! In my last post I mentioned some of the new features in my next game Meteor Blast Synergy (sequel to 2008's Meteor Blast). Now for some screenshots!

You can see a few of the new things in action, such as the giant Megarocks, Stat Upgrades, Endless Mode and Challenges. If you look at the redesigned Laser Key (bottom left of each screen) you might also be able to see how Synergy lets you combine lasers, for example, mixing a Red laser and a Green laser will fire a Yellow laser. This new system adds a huge new depth to the gameplay.

The game is about 80% done and I'm hoping for an early-February release. If you're interested in Beta testing in a couple of weeks please drop me a PM!