http://www.molleindustria.org/everydaythesamedream/everydaythesamedream.html
Every day the same dream… is a fantastic experiment in interactive game design. While it at times could be interpreted as being pretentious and artsy, the game creates a study of game design in a side-scrolling world. What happens if you make all the choices the game expects you to make? What happens when you don’t? What happens when you go the other way? Break free of the traditional tropes of automatic gaming reactions and become a new person.
Adventure games were once a staple of the PC gaming scene. For me, actually, it was the solid basis of all things PC game. Whether it was getting absolutely boggled by the puzzles in Myst, or getting freaked out by the ambiance in 7th Guest or The 11th Hour, or laughing my ass off to the Secret of Monkey Island, or being blown away by what simple imagery and brilliant storytelling could do with The Longest Journey. It’s a shame that the art form of the adventure game has fallen by the wayside in recent years.
Thankfully, there are some independent developers out there such as Amanita Design that are putting their all into crafting new inventive point and click experiences. Machinarium is one such game that looks absolutely breathtaking. Set in a grungy futuristic robot world, it apparently is the story of a little guy thrown in the trash heap, adventuring back into the big city to find his robo-girlfriend. Along the way, he can squish or stretch his mid-section to various heights to aid him in solving all kinds of puzzles to proceed on his way.
So far the game is looking great, and in motion absolutely backs up its painted look; one fear I had since seeing the screenshots. Also of note, especially in the preview video, is the music. With all luck, the game will be releasing this October, and I’ll be sure to play it through and report back on how it holds up!
About four and a half years ago, one guy (Daisuke Amaya) nicknamed Pixel put together an entirely self-made retro action-adventure game called Cave Story. Through the great efforts at Aeon Genesis, an English translation patch was made with the blessings of its original creator. About a month ago, I finally realized its existence.
One thing particularly striking about the game is how it melds its personality through the combination of its various elements: gameplay, story, visuals and sound; all created by the same person. In the same way that Everyday Shooter was a personal reflection on Jonathan Mak, its creator, Cave Story is certainly a reflection of Pixel. Though the characters are small and cute, its music up-beat and catchy, there’s a smart story being played out between the various creatures that populate the game’s scenario. It’s not just a series of progressively more difficult levels with bosses at the end, but rather an evolution of Metroid’s game design fused with a memorable cast you might find in an RPG.
When considering independent games, it’s easy to get caught up in the notion that it’s all amateur acts until someone gets noticed and consequently published. Certainly a lot of the crowd populating Xbox Indie Games (formerly Community Games) doesn’t help kill this notion; most of the popular titles I see rising to the top consist of programmer graphics and sound in need of a better ear. Yet, this is the image of indie games that is becoming popularized due to the ubiquity of console gaming. However, there are gems like Cave Story that suddenly appear and become classics among gamers in the know.
If Cave Story had been released either on the NES or SNES in their eras, I believe that we’d be seeing a huge following today with a multi-faceted franchise backing it up. It’s one of those games that you could have sworn you’ve played years ago. The music is instantly recognizable and hummable the moment you come back to the game after a few days away. It’s everything that makes me appreciate games, and for some miraculous reason it’s also legitimately free. If only there were more people of such high standards of creativity and generosity. Absolutely support Pixel and give his game a shot!
It’s not often an indie game goes for the epic scope. Most that you see being passed around are smaller artsy types, often with an intriguing art style to make up for its lower budget.
Zeno Clash, however, an Independent Games Festival finalist for 2009’s Visual Arts award (to be released some time early this year), is going to be attempting the bombast with its surrealistic punk-fantasy take on a first-person brawler.
The creature pictured to the right is known as the Father-Mother, a hermaphrodite that the main character Ghat happens to be a child of. Though not much is known about the story yet, the summary on the game’s website mentions that Ghat must run away from his family clan on an adventure. That would certainly be my most logical course of action if I were living in a fantastical universe and born to a clan that all shared the same mother and father.
In any case, this one has piqued my interest and would be a worthy one to keep an eye on. I’m sure more information on it will come about closer to the IGF awards this March at the Game Developer’s Conference.
An independent game for PC created by Petri Purho, Crayon Physics Deluxe is a stylish set of puzzles in a world drawn entirely with crayons. Each level’s goal is simple: Get the little red ball to the star(s). The pull, as the title declares, is that every object drawn in the world brings with it a certain set of physical attributes based on its size, mass, etc. Small pebbles will plink off of larger objects, while huge monoliths carry with them a power to move all sorts of things.
As it is a fresh set of ideas to grasp from the get-go, Crayon Physics starts off on the extremely easy side. You have access to the full toolset from the beginning, but you’ll be taught a variety of new techniques every now and then. Initially, you’re just drawing various rocks to push the ball towards the star. Eventually it’s revealed that you can push the ball directly left or right. Later, you’re shown that you can create little anchor points to attach new objects to the existing level, allowing for things to swing around or to bolt down more platforms. As the levels go by the challenges ramp up pretty fast, eventually getting to the point where each level may be the focus of your entire play session, coming up with elaborate contraptions to make passage for the tiny circle.
An added bonus are the great community features tied into the game’s website. You can create new levels and share them with the community, adding even more content to the already packed main game. For twenty bucks, there’s a ton here to play with: I’ve been digging into several levels every day since it came out. It’s a good bit of relaxing gaming without needing to take up much processing power - for your computer that is. Your brain will be getting a hefty workout from some of the more challenging puzzles.
Check it out at the Crayon Physics Deluxe website. There’s a good-sized demo for free if you just want to give it a shot. It’s well worth it!
On the independent games front, I made an awesome discovery this morning when browsing various forums. The discovery, much like the ones you’ll make in this game, seemed totally random yet here it is: Spelunky!
The basic idea behind this is crossing a platformer’s mechanics with the level generation behind Rogue-likes such as Shiren the Wanderer or the Mysterious Dungeon games. What results is a wholly different experience every time you play, making this a very fun excursion to come back to even after playing for a while.
There are basic tools, such as bombs and ropes, as well as found objects: rocks, arrows spewed from trapped carvings, girls-in-need-of-rescue (more on that in a sec). There are also many random set-piece type things to find, such as said girl. Once you rescue her, you can carry the girl around to help her to the exit. However, I also discovered that she served as a mighty projectile, defeating bats and setting off traps for me in her invulnerable state. Yet, upon encountering the second level, my curiosity got the better of me. A beautiful golden idol sat on a pedestal… and in true treasure-seeking tradition, upon its removal a giant rock squished me into a pile of pixelated gore.
In any case, if you have a spare few moments of boredom, be sure to check it out!
Posted by Leif on Mon Feb 1st at 10:41AM
Posted by SaRRa on Wed Dec 2nd at 7:57PM
