Does it blog?

That last post was pretty messy and incoherent. Sorry about that.

Here are some Indie games you should play. Today’s theme is "simplicity".

Weird Worlds: Strange Adventures in Infinite Space ($25)
This is a casual, coffee-break game - no real arcade or VG experience needed here. Each game is a randomised series of events that occur as you explore a randomly generated galaxy. There are a finite number of things that can happen in this game, but the way that are combined in each different playthough makes it delightful. The whole game-experience is very "lo-fi", but almost impossible to not enjoy, in the space of 5 minutes alliances are formed, ancient artifacts are found, giant space battles are staged and space whales are sighted. Yes.

Knytt Stories (Free)
This is a popular one, but I still know a lot of people who haven’t got around to it. Please, please do. It only takes about 2 hours end-to-end, but is a gorgeous example of minimalist game design. Nothing about the game is particularly attractive or clever, it’s just the purity of the thing. Knytt Stories simultaneously chills you out and keeps you on the edge of your seat.

Bridge Builder Game (Free)
Elefunk - a PS3 download game that came out recently - is a much more fleshed out version of this game, but the added complexity I think detracts from the excellent simplicity its granddaddy offers. The premise is simple: There is a chasm which a train must cross. You build a bridge using a limited supply of steel, then set the train off. Then the train falls into the chasm. Then you make modifications to your deathtrap until the train eventually makes it over without. It’s hilarious fun for the whole family!

This weekend was pretty quiet as far as recent weekends have gone, but a lot of fun. Friday we went to see the new X-Files movie, which surprised me greatly because I actually liked it, and had fully expected it to be a new and mysterious variety of tripe. The reviews of the film are terrible, and it is almost universally regarded as a solid "bad", but I thought the subtlety, continuity and style were excellent.

Saturday I can’t remember doing much of anything of any consequence. In the morning Ann & I played around with PixelJunk Eden a bit, and both immediately fell in love with it. I think there is something inherently enjoyable about freedom of movement translates into an enjoyable video game experience, and battling gravity as our twirling grimps fly off their silken threads fall tantalizingly short of almost every jump they attempt is, amazingly, more entertaining than frustrating. It probably helps that the game bathes you in web2.0 reminiscent vector visuals and new-age beats - the whole experience is like a brain massage.

After a conversation with a my good friend Bill about Games He Should Play Next he mentioned in passing Valkyrie Profile 2.

WARNING, A LARGE PARAGRAPH: "VALKYRIE PROFILE RELATED RAMBLE" IS APPROACHING.

To me, both games in this series are almost too good to be considered RPG-kin amongst their contemporaries. They both break the rules - constantly - and perverse the methodical traditions laid down by SQUEENIX’s flagship games so meticulously for years beforehand. Examples: In the early stages of VP2 I already find myself with 8 party members to choose from, and no matter what configuration I put them in they still remain capable of their own brand of ass-kickery. To me, this is incredible considering the inconsistent nature of just about every variable the game offers - I have a new, level 3 character who has a 10% chance to cast Death on any enemy, bosses included, every time she attacks. One of my characters is level 19, and the next lowest down is level 6. One of the trading items I have obtained already is "Cat Poop" - this can be used to make amulets. Currently my party consists entirely of burly men who use massive two-handed swords. I released one of my Einherjar early and got 500,000 gold, enough (at this stage in the game) to buy EVERYTHING EVER. Valkyrie Profile takes the normal RPG rules and says "You know what? We don’t really need these, let’s just multiply everything by 2 to the power of ZOMG and see what happens." The really amazing thing is that it works. I can’t help but think that there is some genius chaos-formula behind the scenes that keeps playabliity and balance in check no matter what you do. There are other things I could mention like the gorgeous art, the incredibly interesting and different-from-everything-else battle system, the inspired music, the frighteningly deep character customisation options…. but I won’t.

We went down to Ballard for the SeaFoodFest and spent the whole time in an apparently Midwest-themed bar called something like Zadya Buddy drinking beer and eating unhealthily. I had fries with gravy, cheese and sausage on them, which I’m told was Very Midwest. All I can surmise from this is that all Midwesterners must be both awesome and huge. Then we went to see Batman. Batman was very cool.

One thing that bothers me about modern action movies is this - and this isn’t specifically Batman-related, it’s just a good example: what happened fighting sequences where you could actually see what the heck was actually happening? It seems to me like what passes for an edgy fight scene in modern action movies can be represented sequentially as follows:

• 1. Two dudes are standing there, looking badass.
• 2. One (or both, although it must be simultaneously) charges in, yelling or with gritted teeth. Grunting is also acceptable.
• 3. This is the crucial point. Under no circumstances must the viewer be able to make out what is going on. Traditionally, present this by showing only handycam-tastic crazy blur with some more grunting noises.
  4. Zoom in on the guy who got punched for a second. Go back to step 3 and repeat until all the baddies are gone.

Maybe I’m just so fond of those old Jackie Chan films where each fight scene was a joy to watch because of the wonderful choreography, but when did this get popular, and why?

Jules is here, and has finished writing this entry.

I got Lost Planet a long time ago - I think it may have been the first 360 game I ever bought myself, actually. In the middle of my playing it the ol’ girl suffered the tragic Red Ring of Death. By the time we had it back, for whatever reason I never got back into the game again, until a week ago. I’m glad I’ve given it a second chance. I love this game. It was almost universally regarded as a three star game. I think this is an unfair assessment, and I’m going to write about why.

Okay, I guess it isn’t hard to see why Lost Planet ended up being regarded as just "another decent shooting game". On the surface it really looks like one, but I think it’s more than just that. It boils down to this: since the early days of shooting games such as Space Invaders, almost all 2D shooting games can be diluted down to two actions: where you should be and when you should shoot. The only thing that the third dimension added to the formula was what direction should you be facing. It is how the player has control of those actions and the challenges they are presented with that determine if a game is fun to play. Making a good game is a tough balance - keeping it simple to play and close to the original formula is crucial; but making it different and interesting enough to stand out from the crowd by adding new ideas is equally important. I don’t think there is enough emphasis on this important balance in game reviewing and journalism these days, but enough of my rambling. Lost Planet.

I think Lost Planet is superb in achieving this design equilibrium - it borrows a lot directly from popular games like Halo (a game that I believe is successful because of it’s closeness to "the formula"), but also incorporates some very entertaining game mechanics that don’t stifle, but rather enhance the experience. The result is a game that feels quite different from other third-person action games but retains the all-important core arcade action. Perhaps the most dangerous of these differences is the deliberateness of the player’s movement. At the outset it can be challenging to get to grips with after other games that tend towards being fast-paced and chaotic, but Lost Planet’s deliberate nature makes perfect sense in context. It helps to make the levels work as intended in the setting - open, vast playgrounds where you have plenty of freedom to find secrets and choose your own path.

The reason for this scale is that rambling across snowfields and factories on foot is only one option for getting around. In every level there are a great variety of giant robots to pilot, sometimes buried under rubble, sometimes hidden in secret areas, but always not far away. These robots, or "VS" come in a ton of different flavours - many of which have unique abilities such as being able to wield energy swords, jetpack around or transform into a tank or bike. Furthermore, the player can customise any VS they find on the fly by attaching or removing weapons that are found all over the place. The player often has a choice between using a VS and charging in all guns blazing or sneaking around and taking out enemies one by one. Cleverly, both of these approaches are very similar in terms of challenge, and both have their own ways of making it fun. Despite the levels being very large and open, all of them scale very well and are excellently suited for either approach. It’s easy to underestimate just how hard it is to make this balance work, and it’s amazing how consistently this is achieved.

The other game dynamic that is worth mentioning is "T-ENG" - the ubiquitous energy source used to power absolutely everything in the frozen wasteland that the game is set in. Due to the freezing weather your personal supply of T-ENG is constantly draining away and must be replenished by finding heat sources (usually your enemies…) and sucking them up through your energy-storing "harmonizer". While the weather is always etching away at your T-ENG it is also consumed in order to heal wounds, meaning it is also your health meter. On top of this, many weapons use it as ammunition, and all of the VS you find require it even to move, and can drain it damn quickly if you insist on jet-packing around the terrain. By making T-ENG so valuable one has to make important strategic decisions. Burning it all up on special attacks and superior weapons may give you the upper hand, but leaves you with no insurance should you sustain damage. On the other hand, hoarding it and using non-energy weapons or eschewing VS will mean you can take plenty more hits at the cost of needing to wear enemies down slowly. It’s a excellent, simple dynamic that adds another "layer" of gameplay that remains exciting to wrestle with throughout the whole game.

Lastly I want to touch on a point that confusingly was one of the major targets of criticism - artistic design. I think this game is gorgeous. The levels themselves are stunning. Of particular note are the vast open landscapes and abandoned cities assaulted by constant driving blizzards that make up most of the setting. The game is awash with hazy white and blues, giving the game an beautiful, low contrast monotone quality tastefully punctuated by the bright orange of T-ENG sources you are always seeking. Each of the beasts you find on the planet also bears this frozen-blue hue, with weak points highlighted in bright orange making the designs beautiful and also neatly doing away with the "shoot the bad guy here" reticule or radio-advice that dampens the experience in other shooters. There is a good number of weapons including all the old reliables as well as some pretty interesting new stuff (the homing laser is crazy fun to play around with). Explosions looks absolutely terrific, and are just one facet the relentless special effects the game throws at you. The designs of the creatures, characters, scenery and robots are also terrific. So… maybe the game doesn’t have the same texture detail as whatever other game, but who cares? It looks wonderful.

Lost Planet may not have the most original premise, but if you want a really enjoyable, challenging, and appreciably different shooter with beautiful design and giant transforming robots and giant bug creatures and ridiculously huge laser cannons and lots of explosions and so on, then yeah. You need to get on this boat.

Oh yeah, it also has really excellent multiplayer. That too.

Hey. There’s a fairly neat indie game that just came out called Thrustburst. Essentially this is a tiny coffee-break style game, which is something I don’t normally focus on but I think this one is definitely more than polished enough to warrant further attention.

The game is based on an old game called “Urthwurm”, which was a one-button game where you steered an ever-moving worm (well, line really) through an endless cave for as long as you could manage to not hit the walls. Thrustburst expands the formula slightly by adding a simple weapon and shield system, and including controls to slow and speed your ship. It’s very hard, but also quite a lot of fun - each time you play you’re likely only going to survive as long as a few minutes, and quite often less than that.

But the other interesting thing about it is that it was conceived and designed by a few of the brightest minds (such as Helm and ptoing) at the Pixelation forums, one of my most frequent hangouts on the ‘net. It’s the most heavily “academic” pixel-art forum on the net by a long stretch, and quite often skitters into the boundaries of being elitist, but nonetheless is probably the best and most interesting place to learn of and develop pixel art techniques. For this, the visual design is both interesting and thoughtful. The game is free and downloadable from their team website.

Umlautgames

Bouncy!

Edit: Hit the jump to view the video in this post.

Check this out - now.

I’ve been keeping an eye on this game for a long time but this is the first time yet I’ve seen the game in motion. The way the game moves is almost certainly what will decide if it is revolutionary or merely an interesting experiment. I’m impressed and even more excited after watching this two minute long clip. Other games like Prince of Persia and Assassin’s Creed have managed to represent athletic movement like this; in these examples it is indeed wonderful and graceful - but it still has the unpleasant aftertaste of fakeness. You can’t escape feeling that you’re watching an actor - not being that actor. The whole concept behind the presentation of Mirror’s Edge is to try and provide a realistic protagonist’s-view of the game-world. Evidently, and remarkably without being annoyingly visceral I would say it manages to powerfully and elegantly convey this feeling. Obviously it remains to see how easy or difficult it is to control, but I am hoping for the best. There are so many physical details here that I’ve always wished someone would at least try: the protagonist’s urgent, varied breathing, the realistic movement of the camera, being able to see your own god-damned body. Is it so much to ask that a parkour-genius super-spy isn’t stymied by a two foot tall wooden crate?

Clean.

Don’t even get me started on the artwork, the sound design or the visual style. It’s like this game was designed to make me drool uncontrollably. If, in the end, it is to be nothing other than running along pristine rooftop playgrounds I’m still totally going there. Totally.

The turn-based strategy RPG is a well-established niche genre. There are an abundance of high-quality games and they are exciting to play while still lasting for a good while. Ultimately, if they are good quality they can give some of the most rewarding and fun video-gaming to be had. Here is a list of three that I think are really excellent and should definitely not be missed if you enjoy the genre. I’ll try not to keep these too ramble-tastic but I can’t guarantee it. I love these games.

1. Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones - Gameboy Advance

Fire Emblem gets so many things right that its lack of popularity until recently completely defies belief. In fact, I’d say that it is so well balanced that there is no appropriate way to change it. The design is astonishingly well thought out - and complemented by beautiful art, an enjoyable light-fantasy storyline, interesting and unique game mechanics, an incredibly clear, and easy to learn rule-set that has a very significant level of depth, multiple story paths, tons of characters, and some of the best hand drawn pixel animation I’ve ever seen. The length of the game is slightly shorter than most and it isn’t very challenging - however both of these things end up working in its favour as many games in the genre are too drively, making them difficult to bother persevering with. Fire Emblem is an excellent way to break into the genre; meanwhile if you even remotely enjoy games of this type, play this one. Its formula hasn’t changed much in 20 years and hasn’t had to - it was always right. If you are interested in trying any of the games in this list - or hell, even if you just like videogames, I urge you to give this a try, it’s so fun!

2. Front Mission 1st - Nintendo DS

Front Mission is for tinkerers. This game is half strategy-RPG, half mech-mechanic simulator. In playing this game you will likely spend at least half of your time individually configuring each mech in your squad in from the weapons to the paint-job to make the perfect mechanised kill-squad. The gameplay is heavily tactical (often outnumbering you with similar-spec units 3:1) but not prohibitively difficult like other SRPGs. There are lots of fun side-quest related activities that can be done for cash, and the game-world is a very nicely realised military-centric future with lots of lovely details littered around the game. The graphics are amazing - especially when you consider how complicated it is to make every mech look great and still offer the millions of combinations of equipment any single one can have. Front Mission also has a very interesting parts-based damage system that adds an extra tactical element to the battles that adds even more depth. It’s also not too long which is a plus in my books - although some of the battles are going to last you more than an hour - they’re epic! Front Mission 1st is an upgraded version of the original SNES game with better graphics and stuff. Oh yes!

3. Bahamut Lagoon - SNES

Very few people have heard of this game, sadly, because it is one of the most creative and fun games I’ve ever played. It’s very specifically designed - an epic geared towards enjoyment by SRPG veterans who will get months of enjoyment out of it. It is hard to think of even one aspect of this game that isn’t fresh and unconventional, so I’ll mention a few that have stayed with me. Firstly - you are assisted by fun NPCs: giant dragons. You have no direct control over them, but they are absolutely integral to you progressing in the game because of their awesome potential power. During battle, you can issue basic strategic commands, and outside the battlefield you must talk to as well as feed these dragons to keep them performing well. What you feed them determines what they will ultimately grow up to become (of about a possible 100 forms!). Secondly, you have absolute control over your army. Each character is assigned to customisable squadrons of four. Additionally, each character has their own item-set, ability set and special attributes which all influence the usefulness of the resulting squad. There are a lot of built-in features to make this micro-management smoother, but if you are like me you’ll love messing with all of that stuff anyway. The storyline is a multi-path large-scale epic (almost too much at times!) and the game does a remarkable job of making each of the many characters interesting. It is not a perfect game in some regards, but it is so different, and so bold about being different that it glosses over any niggling issues the game has and makes you love it. Oh yeah, the music is wonderful and the art and animations are also incredible. Oh yeah, and DeJap did a fantastic translation of it. So now if you don’t know Japanese, you can play it too. Do so.

Also Awesome:

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, Phantom Brave, La Pucelle, Vantage Master Online, Advance Wars: Days of Ruin, Der Langrisser, Shining Force I & II, Yggdra Union.

So, last night I really did a lot of work on Paraplu. Like many nights I spent working on Soft Landing the result was… nothing. No new graphics, just about 3 hours of meandering experimentation. Sometimes I feel really good after these sessions, sometimes I truly wish I at very least could come out of them with something to show.

It’s a tricky thing. I suppose I shouldn’t be hard on myself, since a lot of times that I do this I realise afterwards that I have come a long way. Last night, I’d never attempted to draw a stone tile pattern before, and a few hours later, I still couldn’t do it. Almost all of the work I have done for Soft Landing represents my first attempt at any number of things.

I’m hard on myself when it comes to my art, which is both good and bad. I could probably do with a little more self-praise, as I almost never feel happy with my work, and that causes me to only really work in short bursts. Like most creative people I hate it and I love it when someone points out a mistake or shortcoming in my work - I like seeing myself learn but I love seeing myself create something wonderful that other people and myself can agree on. I don’t show my art to many people, and even the people I do show it to only see what I carefully let filter through. The problem, I guess, being that I don’t think I’m very good, but I have no real way of knowing. I don’t suppose there really is, now I think about it.

In my game-making adventures I think Fet probably more than anyone else has a good understanding of my creative process because he’s probably the only person I’m comfortable with showing anything I’m working on. Some of the sketches and mock-ups I send him are obscenely incomplete but he has developed a keen understanding how my work evolves and what it will look like when it’s complete - and thus I’m easily able to discuss direction with him during the developmental process. In the old days of #urd I used to get much more varied feedback. I wonder - if I posted the more nitty-gritty development art in here, would people be interested? (If so, let me know!)

Ramble ramble ramble.

I guess what I’m saying is, it’s weird to spend hours working on something and only come out of it with something as intangible as knowledge. I don’t even know how well it will really serve me in the future - it’s just impossible to say how many more times I’ll have to attempt doing it to end up with the right 384 bytes of information that looks great in a video game.

This Weekend:

1. GT Legends with Ross. I’m sure we’ll end up @ Cadwell Park in 1965 cars, as usual. It’s the best fun. Looking forward to this! MAN am I rusty, too.
2. Paraplu. Feeling very inspired.
3. Not going out. I’m so tired, I just want to sit around for a few days and get my hobby on.
4. Cook something nice! It’s been a while since I tried cooking a new dish. (Suggestions?)
5. Sit outside on the balcony and drink some wine, because - well.. wouldn’t you?

- Jules