Context time, yay! As I write this I'm "researching" for a debate tournament tomorrow. State champs, woohoo! Anyways, I'm going to be pretty inactive this weekend for that reason. I'll try to make up for it on Sunday, but the backlog of homework is probably going to prevent that. Oh well.
Let's talk about Gelatin Joe. The main premise of the game is that you roll around collecting different color blobs. You use these blobs to solve puzzles and progress through the levels. It's a simple mechanic that was pulled off very well. See, when you use a particular blob, that blob gets dropped on the floor so that if you mess up, you can just get the blob and try again. Who cares if it violates the law of conservation of energy? It's awesome!
I can't spend much more time writing this, so I'm just going to recommend this game. It achieves everything it sets out to. The only problem I have with it is that when you die, you go back to the beginning of the level. Everything else about it is good. perfect. flawless. 10 stars. cut, print, genius.
yay.
Links
Jelly Gerard: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=459
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
GEAR
Ever wonder what happens when you mix Froggle, Astrobunny and Super Castlevania 4? Me either.
well, those last two broken games sapped a good amount of time from my day, meaning I'm going to have to be brief with this one. That's a shame because GEAR is genuinely one of the best designed games I've come across so far. I guess it's not too bad because there's not much in the way of constructive criticism I have for this game.
Let me be a bit more pointed in my praise. GEAR really excels in the area of level design. The game makes absolutely sure that the player knows how to play it. granted, it's not a very complex game, but still, you'd be surprised how easy it is to obscure simple commands like "run, jump and shoot a gear on a string thingy" with bad instructions and level design. Even the player who speeds through the textual instructions can easily pick up on what to do through the level design. "Oh look, there's a thingy that's colored differently from all the other thingies. I wonder what happens if I click it..." You get the idea
I'm struggling to think of more things to say. I betcha if I'd played through the whole game I would have found something that annoys me, but I just didn't have the time for that. For ostensibly completely delivering on the artistic vision with genuinely good programming and design, this game gets my seal of approval.
Links
Jump! https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=8716
well, those last two broken games sapped a good amount of time from my day, meaning I'm going to have to be brief with this one. That's a shame because GEAR is genuinely one of the best designed games I've come across so far. I guess it's not too bad because there's not much in the way of constructive criticism I have for this game.
Let me be a bit more pointed in my praise. GEAR really excels in the area of level design. The game makes absolutely sure that the player knows how to play it. granted, it's not a very complex game, but still, you'd be surprised how easy it is to obscure simple commands like "run, jump and shoot a gear on a string thingy" with bad instructions and level design. Even the player who speeds through the textual instructions can easily pick up on what to do through the level design. "Oh look, there's a thingy that's colored differently from all the other thingies. I wonder what happens if I click it..." You get the idea
I'm struggling to think of more things to say. I betcha if I'd played through the whole game I would have found something that annoys me, but I just didn't have the time for that. For ostensibly completely delivering on the artistic vision with genuinely good programming and design, this game gets my seal of approval.
Links
Jump! https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=8716
GAmbit
No, that's not a typo. That's actually how they stylize the title. I kinda thought it was cool when AEscher did it, but now I can't just dismiss it as an attempt to be artsy because more than one work used it. Oh well...
aaaand it's a not real exe...
Links
https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=597
aaaand it's a not real exe...
Links
https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=597
Galaxy Express
I've said this before, but I love how every broken game on this list is broken in a unique and different way. For instance, in this game, I'm presented with as black screen and the only thing I can do is make the word "housing" appear if I mash the "esc" key. Games are fun, huh?
Links
https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=24676
Links
https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=24676
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Fuzure
reeeally short review today, guys. It's not like today's game is all too substantial, anyways.
In this game, you hold the left arrow key, mash "x" and "c" and you win. Simple as that.
Fuzure is your basic minimalistic hack 'em up. Great for spectacle and the game feel is damn amazing at certain parts. I'm going to guess the main goal of this game was to deliver a satisfying and empowering experience. In that respect, it succeeds. At least, it would succeed were it not for two annoying flaws.
First off, the game provides you a method of moving quickly through the levels (jumping speed is far higher than walking speed). Therefore, all gamer sensibility would lead you to jump merrily throughout the level, killing all who dare oppose you. The problem with that is that moving quickly makes it easy to completely skip over an enemy. This would be fine if the levels were glorified races to the finish. That way, the player would have the choice of trying to dodge enemies as they accumulate or plowing through them to clear a path, possibly soaking up damage along the way. Bam, one simple tweak delivers an experience twice as deep, if not moreso.
The second problem is that the enemies are kinda glitchy. The first time I played, I got through every enemy in the first level and was met with a brick wall. Unbeknownst to me, an enemy had lodged itself within the architecture of the level, making it impossible to kill. Thus, the game was broken.
Other than that, the game is very simplistic. I think those two tweaks would have made for a solid foundation for a very entertaining game, certainly one worthy of my seal of approval. Because of those flaws, however, it falls just short.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay frantic.
Links
happy killtimes: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=570
In this game, you hold the left arrow key, mash "x" and "c" and you win. Simple as that.
Fuzure is your basic minimalistic hack 'em up. Great for spectacle and the game feel is damn amazing at certain parts. I'm going to guess the main goal of this game was to deliver a satisfying and empowering experience. In that respect, it succeeds. At least, it would succeed were it not for two annoying flaws.
First off, the game provides you a method of moving quickly through the levels (jumping speed is far higher than walking speed). Therefore, all gamer sensibility would lead you to jump merrily throughout the level, killing all who dare oppose you. The problem with that is that moving quickly makes it easy to completely skip over an enemy. This would be fine if the levels were glorified races to the finish. That way, the player would have the choice of trying to dodge enemies as they accumulate or plowing through them to clear a path, possibly soaking up damage along the way. Bam, one simple tweak delivers an experience twice as deep, if not moreso.
The second problem is that the enemies are kinda glitchy. The first time I played, I got through every enemy in the first level and was met with a brick wall. Unbeknownst to me, an enemy had lodged itself within the architecture of the level, making it impossible to kill. Thus, the game was broken.
Other than that, the game is very simplistic. I think those two tweaks would have made for a solid foundation for a very entertaining game, certainly one worthy of my seal of approval. Because of those flaws, however, it falls just short.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay frantic.
Links
happy killtimes: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=570
Monday, April 8, 2013
Future Fort Defense
Welp, school's back. That means no more delightfully detailed posts, much to my dismay.
And speaking of dismay, the first game to be reviewed since the start of school features the words "fort," another word for tower, and "defense."
*long, drawn out sigh*
Well, on the bright side, the game sets quite a relaxing mood on startup. For better or for worse, this mood doesn't stay very long. This game tasks the player with quite a lot. Between resource mining, tower building, fighter guiding, and enemy shooting, all the while having to calculate the flow of asteroids to your advantage, this is perhaps the most complex game on the list so far.
Taking that into account, all the design choices compliment this. The music, the color scheme, everything is designed around giving the player brief moments of reprieve, allowing him or her to "recharge" before taking on the next threat. All things considered, the game design is praiseworthy. I feel like if I were a tower defense aficionado, I would be incredibly enthusiastic about this game.
Though I might not be a fan of the genre, Future Fort Defense really does everything right, and for that, it earns my seal of approval. Well, it almost does everything right. If you press "esc" at any point in-game, you get sent right back to the menu screen, losing all your progress in the level. This sucks, but it certainly isn't a dealbreaker, especially considering the stages are short, there's a stage select on the main menu, and the "esc" key is nowhere near the main buttons, so it's bound to be a mistake you only make once.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay relaxed
Links
Space Towers: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26141
And speaking of dismay, the first game to be reviewed since the start of school features the words "fort," another word for tower, and "defense."
*long, drawn out sigh*
Well, on the bright side, the game sets quite a relaxing mood on startup. For better or for worse, this mood doesn't stay very long. This game tasks the player with quite a lot. Between resource mining, tower building, fighter guiding, and enemy shooting, all the while having to calculate the flow of asteroids to your advantage, this is perhaps the most complex game on the list so far.
Taking that into account, all the design choices compliment this. The music, the color scheme, everything is designed around giving the player brief moments of reprieve, allowing him or her to "recharge" before taking on the next threat. All things considered, the game design is praiseworthy. I feel like if I were a tower defense aficionado, I would be incredibly enthusiastic about this game.
Though I might not be a fan of the genre, Future Fort Defense really does everything right, and for that, it earns my seal of approval. Well, it almost does everything right. If you press "esc" at any point in-game, you get sent right back to the menu screen, losing all your progress in the level. This sucks, but it certainly isn't a dealbreaker, especially considering the stages are short, there's a stage select on the main menu, and the "esc" key is nowhere near the main buttons, so it's bound to be a mistake you only make once.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay relaxed
Links
Space Towers: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26141
Sunday, April 7, 2013
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