For years many casual players and hardcore game-a-holics at work stuck with limited internet access, struggled with finding a decent medium between games they can play in a browser and overly-complex console smash hits.
There is a niche market which feeds off the former and a lot of it is more or less a mixed bag of amateurish ghetto-works or a 15-year old’s programming class project gone viral.
Not many take gaming as a serious artform and even fewer gamers understand anything about art in general. There is a massive gap between the fore-runners of the industry focusing on Hollywood-like presentation and those indie art kids that view gamings as an experience, wrapped in nostalgia of pixels.
None quite have captured the wave of opportunity while staying true to the ideals of art, street art and anti-corporate before it was cool like Wiesi (Felix Wiesner), the mastermind, graphic artist, animator, designer and programmer behind the indie flash portal Mausland.de.
The website is primarily a source for all of his work over the years. It started as a black page with a single flash in the center with no explanation, circa 1999. At some point Felix, decided to take things a little more seriously back in his mid-twenties when the site caught the attention of his local (German) media who lauded his work.
It was only a matter of time before he branched out into more and more involved work, pushing the boundaries every chance possible. The first official “game” project received major recognition around some of the most well-known flash portals around the web. Since then, the site never relented.
From classic mindless flash games like Streets of Fire, which was essentially casual/cellphone gaming before the term existed. To groundbreaking, monumental accomplishments like Indian Outlaw which brought back the legitimate old-school arcade game excitement with a new twist.
The German-based developer has always found success on the web not needing to work a day job in maybe 20 years as a result and never having to focus on industry standards or any such nonsense at any point. The ultimate dream of every producer, this is a real life encounter.
Which brings me to an important announcement. The long-awaited fourth installment in the Shark series, which was at one point a feature on G4TV, is finally here! So come check it out. This is the hardest project the team behind Mausland has ever worked on and I guarantee it will show.
If you like classic arcade action, if you like sharks, if you like flash games at all. Regardless of the looks you receive at work from playing one on your break, this one is for you!
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