The Autism Forge Games area has its own page. IRC chat stays beside the games, so you can keep talking while you play; in full screen the newest lines appear along the bottom of the game. Voice and video remain available in the chat client.
Starting and joining
- Open Games and choose a chat name or visit as a guest.
- Pick a game and how to play it: Solo, vs CPU or Multiplayer.
- Multiplayer opens a lobby. Everyone else sees it in their own arcade menu and joins with one click. The person who opened it starts the game, and can let the CPU fill an empty seat.
One game runs at a time and the whole room shares it. Anyone can watch the game in progress, and some games, such as Frogger Forge, let people join while it is running. Signing in is optional; guests play under their chat nickname.
Controls
Every game works with the keyboard, the mouse and touch. There are no on-screen control pads: click or tap the game and it takes the keyboard, and clicks, taps and swipes on the game do the same as keys. Each game shows its controls under the picture.
- Esc goes back to the menu, and T moves you to the chat box (Esc returns you to the game).
- Sound is off until you turn it on with the speaker button.
- The full-screen button makes the game fill the screen; the chat button hides or shows the chat beside it.
The games
- Frogger Forge: hop each frog across the traffic into the five bays. The traffic speeds up level by level.
- Maze Munch: clear the maze of pellets. Power sparks turn the three ghosts blue for a short time, and each has its own way of hunting you.
- Forge Pinball: plunger, flippers, bumpers and lanes that raise your multiplier. Players take turns, three balls each.
- Pong: first to seven. Press Space just before the ball reaches you to smash it.
- Dungeon Party: a cooperative fight through eight floors. Each turn, choose attack, guard or heal. The monster shows what it will do next, so plan for it.
- Trivia: ten questions. Type your answer; faster answers score more, and hints appear if nobody gets it.
- Doom: two Freedoom campaigns run in your browser for you alone.
- Phone games: the J2ME tab holds classic Java phone games, which also run in your browser for you alone.
Community games
The menu also lists community game packs: collect-and-dodge adventures and card duels. These are data files, not downloaded scripts. Wren (Soulshack) has a checked game-pack tool and can create a new one when an admin asks. New packs appear in the menu without restarting the arcade or taking chat offline.
Keeping chat readable
Game moves travel over the arcade's own connection, never through IRC, so playing does not fill the channel. Only what you type in the chat box reaches #main. Scores go to the high score table.