Merry Christmas from The Daily Click!

Want a blast from the festive past, check out this Klikcast Christmas Special from 2019!

The video features plenty of cameos alongside the following wintery games:

• Elf Elfonsinio II (the sequel to Elf Elfonsinio) by Maciej Lamberski.
• Merry Gear Solid 2: The Ghosts of Christmas Past (sequel to Merry Gear Solid) by Podunkian

For more Christmas Click games check out Kliktopia's Christmas page. Want to make your own wintery game? There's still plenty of time to work on your entry for The Daily Click's Frosty Fusion Duality Jam!

The theme

The theme of the game jam is winter, and all games must incorporate elements of ice, snow, and/or wind into their gameplay.

The game must include the ability to allow a single player control at least two entities at once (although you could allow for co-op as well if you wish). This includes allowing the player to alternate between controlling different entities.

The deadline

Games must be made using Clickteam Fusion and submitted to The Daily Click by the 22nd of January 2023 (in recognition of time zones, this actually means 6:00 UTC on 23rd January).

The Pitch

Winter is a season of magic, of snowflakes and warm fires, of hot cocoa and cozy blankets. It's a time for creativity and imagination to flourish, and what better way to tap into that creativity than by participating in a video game making competition?

So bundle up, grab your computer, and let your imagination run wild. Think about the types of games you love to play in the wintertime, and let that inspire you. Maybe it's a snowboarding game set in the Swiss Alps, or a puzzle game set in a cozy cabin in the woods. Whatever you dream up, Clickteam Fusion is a powerful tool that can help you bring it to life.

But don't just do it for yourself. Think about all the other people who will be playing your game. How can you make it fun and exciting for them? How can you use the winter theme to create a unique and immersive experience?

So let's embrace the magic of winter and create something truly special. Join the competition, and let's see what we can accomplish together.

The Rules

1. Games must be made using Clickteam Fusion 2.5 (or earlier versions of Clickteam's software) and must be playable on a Windows 10 PC.
2. Entries should be submitted to The Daily Click by the deadline using the 'submit a game' button by the deadline.
3. Games may be of any genre or style, as long as they adhere to the theme and meet the other requirements of the game jam.
4. Teams may consist of up to four people, and individuals may also participate. If any of the content is made by third parties or by AI then appropriate credit must be given.
5. Games will be judged based on their gameplay and execution and on their creativity and use of the theme.
6. If you want to, you can also send a message to Joshtek (or include it in the game description) which explains how you think your submission with meets the assessment criteria, e.g. any elements which you believe were especially creative - this will then be referenced within any assessment of the game.
7. There will be no monetary prize. Winners will get DC Points and a special badge/tag.
8. The judges reserve the right to disqualify any submissions that do not adhere to the rules of the game jam.
9. The judges' decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
10. Keep your eye out for any clarifications of tweak to these rules.

The Daily Click's Chris Street (AKA Circy of Circlesoft / Team Ultimate) has posted a free version of Zone Runner: Anniversary Edition (for the PC) to The Daily Click! To quote Chris:

"On 15th December 2002, at the time of writing this, my original Zone Runner game was released, making the game 20 years old! For those who don't know, Zone Runner was one of the games which inspired the "N" series by Metanet Software and also my first truly popular game.

To celebrate this milestone, I have decided to release Zone Runner: Anniversary Edition for PC on the exact 20th anniversary of the original game. This is an enhanced version of the Android game released in 2018, rather than a fully blown new release. However I wanted to open up the experience so more players could enjoy and attempt to beat the game.

In this platformer, the objective is to traverse five zones, collecting coins and avoiding contact with anything bad. Enemies cannot be killed, but you can!"

This game was finalised in Clickteam Fusion 2.5. If you want to make your own games but don't yet have this software, then the good news is that Clickteam are currently offering a 65% discount for CF2.5 over on their itch.io store.

Also, keep an eye out for our month-long winter competition which I will be announcing very soon!

Want to make Christmas content but don't have time to make a whole game? We've got you covered!

Kliktopia has a new Custom Levels section which lists games with custom level editors. You can upload your creations to Kliktopia via that same page, so you can consider making game for one or more of the customisable Christmas games on the site: Santas Challenge by Chris Y, Santasm 3 by Radix, and The Santa Mission by LIJI.

You can also check Piece Of Pie Software's Clickteam Christmas Compilation which features featuring A Kinda Isometric Christmas by Julian Solorzano, Bad Santas Attack by AlphaVi Software, Children from Stare Lubiejewo by adrian09_01, Christmas Sokoban by Plooscva and Downhill Santa by EHE which are all Christmas games listed at Kliktopia - warning: the video does contain a bit of swearing.

Christmas games are continuing to be added to the Piece of Pie YouTube Channel, including Click games such as Christmas Stone by Hishnak (and you can go into their archive to watch them play their own Christmas game The Geezer Christmas). The playthrough videos for these games have now been added to the respective entries for the games at Kliktopia. I've also just added a load of videos for non-Christmas games which have been generously recorded for Kliktopia by Ragey0. And you know who else is doing streams of Click games at the moment? WonkyGaming - although a lot of the content is South Park games, Wonky's latest stream includes other Click games such as Ninja Force which was published by BigAl0104 on The Daily Click back in November 2021.

The games were assessed by Joshtek and msg based on their gameplay, creativity and use of the theme and ranked into three tiers:

• Gold award: Infinite Romeo by Danni (Joshtek's choice) & Hungry Hedgehogs 2022 by blazewasbored (msg's choice)
• Silver award: Lobotector by Tammy Spahn
• Bronze award: Space Hedgehogs by LordHannu & Harry the Hedgehog by BigAl0104

Participants received DC points and tags reflecting their ranking. Thanks to everyone who took part in this competition. It was really fun to play all of these games and see what you all came up with!

Click here for the judge comments.

The entries are for the Hi-Score Mash-up Game Jam so check them out while us judges are doing our reviewing thing. Also, check the bottom of this post for a question about whether you're interesting in a winter-themed competition.

Interested in taking part in a winter-themed Click game creation competition? Let us know below, as we'll run one if enough people show an interest. It also would be useful if you could give us an estimate of how long you think the competition should run for if we were to run it.

You might have noticed that Kliktopia's Vitalize page features games with hi-scores. Well, now you can add hi-scores to your own games using a more advanced version of this service. Just send me a DC Mail letting me know what username you want and I'll create you an account and provide you with the details.

If you're participating in the Hi-Score Mash-up Game Jam then you can use the template .mfa to integrate the hi-score service into your entry or you can just use the default Hi-score object and let me integrate it for you.

P.S. I missed off announcing two Click games from eearlier this year so I'll mention them now:

• Shell, an action game made by Team Shell for the Armed Forces Jam where you play as a tank and you must shoot at buildings

• Pakistan Resistance 2, a Shoot 'em 'up by MinkoedZamorVedro where you must once again defend the borders from multiple waves of attack

Happy Halloween! If you're interested in getting spooky then check out:

• The results of TDC's Halloween Competition from 2021
• My Klik Halloween Game video from 2020
• Rikus's Halloween Game video from 2011
• The Halloween section of Kliktopia
• My summary of TDC Click Halloween Games from 2021
• The TDC theme page where there is a Halloween skin

If you want to take a break from halloween (and working on your entry for the Hi-Score Mash-up Game Jam), check out these new entries for The Daily Click:

We've had some good feedback about the concept of the Hi-Score Mash-up Game Jam, but a number of people have said that they wouldn't be able to get a submission the were happy with completed in time for the initial deadline.

As nobody made a submission in time, I'm making it a month-long competition and extending the deadline to 11:59pm 20th November (GMT/UTC) which will make it a month-long competition.

I've also removed the requirement that the game be in a different genre to the original genre as it can be difficult to make a black-and-white judgement as to whether or not two games are part of the same genre. Instead the creativity criteria will reward entries which rework the original concept(s) in different ways or make the character(s) work well in a different genre.