now playing: "Canvas Rider"

While good sports games are hide to find as it is, it's even harder to find a good sports game that's most perfectly adapted for the browser (versus the typical console unit). So when I discovered the Chrome app Canvas Rider (Maxime, Pete, and One More Level, 2010) (which takes its name from the "canvas" element in HTML5 that, in simple speak, creates a frame on the screen in which you can draw), I knew almost instantly that it would offer me a new perspective on the casual web gaming front. Canvas Rider is less of a single, unified game that you play through once or more, and more of a portal through which any number of cycling activities can be accomplished. There's no linear progression through goals; simply grab a bike and start playing any number of user-created tracks. Notice the operating adjective is "user-created." Ergo, you can easily sketch out your own tracks with a simple site registration (in turn granting you message board access as well).

While yes, your player-character is a helmeted stick figure on a mountain bike or hardcore BMX, rarely does your objective involve a simple routine of ramps and rails. Most tracks consist of anything from scenic landscapes to comic strips to graphic logos to utter nonsense. Some are long and some are short. Some are fast and some are slow. Some require the most expert skill to navigate, and some are clearly intended to boost the self-esteem of beginners like myself. I confess I have not yet developed the "hang" of it just yet. The manipulation of keys between acceleration, braking, and varying pressure on the left/right wheels reminds my fingers too much of QWOP, and as such, they fail miserably in keeping me patient long enough to finish a track however many tries it takes.

Obviously, knowing me, I didn't pick out Canvas Rider for its mechanics, but for its art. As an avid comics and graphic novels reader/fan/appreciator, I instantly saw this game as a comic in motion--animation, in a sense. Interactive animation. A comic in many overlapping panels that the player can turn backwards and forwards. The persistent grayscale theme initially suggested drabness to my visual preference for cones, but then again, the minimalism of it all is appealing too, in a different way. With color absent, attention to tones, details, and shading becomes that much more telling of a track designer's true ability. With just a tiny handful of tools, some users become the most tellingly resourceful over others, commanding not only other players' visual interests, but also their keyboards in the thousands and thousands of multiple playthroughs. In fact, the entirety of Canvas Rider is an exercise in level design, in coding-free graphics experimentation, and in user interface. It's an art exercise, a physics problem, and a psychology lesson all wrapped in one clever game design exercise disguised as a biking tutorial. The user who understands all these facets gains the most up-votes.

This is my favorite track. Falling is very easy for me to do (note the goal completion checkpoint signified by the yellow dot on the right).

Whether your particular fascination lies in biking, art, or discovering epic fails such as mine, Canvas Rider is perfect amusement for in between time or as a dedicated new investment of your gaming time. In the meantime, I'll be working on my own track, perfectly customized to help me finish my traumatized transition from QWOP. And if you get an inspirational lightbulb to create and share your own track, post it in the comments!