Onoma

The first thing I want to talk about with this one is the options screen.  It's quite an interesting design choice that there are no options in the options screen...hmm...got a good feeling about this one.

So the main thing with this game is that I absolutely hated it in the beginning, but then it grew on me.  I would notice a certain design choice and say "why would anyone do that? that's asinine," but then I would realize what it accomplished and I'd let out a big "ooooh now I get it."

For example, let's talk visual style.  Everything is made up of neon shapes like you'd find in Asteroids, which is a tad on the unoriginal side. Both you and certain enemies emit these ridiculously long particle trails that look terrible at first, but then you see a little bit of an enemy's trail at the edge of a screen and go "oh now I know where to go.  That was clever."

The mechanics are like that, too.  I was just about ready to denounce this game because you move so unbelievably slowly; but then you get into a dogfight with a purple triangle and find yourself scrambling to out-maneuver it.

There's also this really cool mechanic where you are surrounded by an aura, and if an enemy gets inside that aura, your score multiplier goes up.  That way, you as the player have to choose between staying away from dangerous enemies and going near them to get more points.

All in all, it seems like the developers knew what they were doing with this one.  It's the kind of design a critic loves because everything seems to have a purpose...mostly.  There are some things that I just don't understand about this game.  For example, the music is really dark and scary but the sprites are all colorful.  What kind of mood were they trying to set here? Because the "fight for your life/inevitable demise" mood the music seems to be going for just doesn't work.  Also, you can't shoot through enemies, but other enemies can.  I learned that lesson after one really enraging game over.

All in all, this game was kinda fun, but nothing to brag about.  You can definitely appreciate the design and you can certainly learn from Onoma, but if you're just looking to have a good time, your time is probably better spent elsewhere.  Good job altogether, though.

That's all I got for now.  Until next time, stay thoughtful

Links
Oh no, ma: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=24647

Oniro

Hey guys, sorry to be so lax about the blog lately, but I've had my hands full with a really big family event.  Anyway, I'm here now and I'm going to try my best to give this game the review it deserves.

Oniro is, far and away, the most emotionally moving game I've played so far.  Not a single word of dialogue is uttered in the entirety of the experience; the game relied solely on gameplay mechanics to tell its story.  "Mechanics as metaphor" is the big word of the day.  I'm not going to say any more than that for fear of spoiling the experience, but I'll just say that this game is a perfect lesson on how to use the game itself to convey not only instructions, but an immersive and fleshed out narrative.

If there's any game that deserves the title "Poetic Experience," it's this one.  Normally, that title is associated with overly artistic pretension, but I really don't get that vibe from Oniro.  The levels show quite a bit of variety and the central mechanics are very easy to learn.

Actually, let me talk about the central mechanics for a second.  I honestly couldn't describe them to you.  Objects that are close together can have their sizes manipulated, but, in line with the laws of alchemy, one block must decrease in size proportionally to another block's increase in size.  Again, it's tough to explain, but I've honestly never seen a mechanic that both teaches itself to the player flawlessly and reinforces the narrative.

All right, I'm starting to sound like a broken record here, so I'm just going to let you chew on what I've said so far.  I do have some problems with the game.  It's one of those "beat it in one go" games, which isn't horrible considering how short and sweet the experience is, but come on, guys.  It's not that hard to program in a save feature.  Also, it's way too easy to put yourself in checkmate; whether that means falling down a hole or pushing a block a little too far, you're going to be pressing the "redo" button a whole lot.  It's not a bad method of punishment, but it wears on the nerves after a while.

Speaking of wearing on the nerves, there is a 5-year old gnawing at my ankles at the moment, so I'm going to leave you for now.  This game definitely earns my seal of approval.  It definitely takes its place among my favorites.  If you like a well-told and clever story, you'll like Oniro.

That's all I got for now.  Until next time, stay subtextual

Links
Oh, Nero: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26730

Onion Union

Jeez, what's with all the broken games lately?

Links

https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26012

Oneiro and Oneironauts

Well Oneiro is broken, and Onieronauts is unsubstantial, so this isn't going to be the blockbuster blog post at least one of you might have been hoping for.

Onieronauts uses that pixel art style that I've expressed dislike for in the past, but there is one minor detail that makes it worth it in my opinion.  The feathers that come out of the pillow when you hit stuff with it are realistic looking.  This creates a really appealing juxtaposition between old and new, and it's so subtle.  Some may think I'm overreacting, but it's the little things that keep me going.

Anyway, Onieronauts is a beat-em-up kind of like Dungeon Fighters Online except not online and not a Dungeon Fighter.  You walk up to dream monsters and mash "Z" until they are no more.  I do like how well the mechanics hold up.  I've never once expected to hit an enemy and then not been able to (a phenomenon all too common in DFO).

On the other hand, there are a few lessons Onieronauts could learn from DFO.  In the latter, not only is there a multitude of attacks to keep gameplay engaging, but there are upgrades to incentivize the player.  Neither of those things appear in Onieronauts with no alternative.  Thus, the gameplay gets very stale very fast.

And that's pretty much all there is to say today.  Until next time, stay fun

Links
Now you Neiro: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=1650
Now you Not: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=25877

OMG! Real Zombies!

This is another one of those games that needed a lot of tweaking, but had a decent premise.  Actually, I'm starting to sound like a broken record at this point, so I'm not going to waste your time.  I'm just going to tell you what's unique to this game.

First, the camera is out of control.  Seriously, you can't move your aiming reticle at all without the camera having a conniption fit.  Needs work.

Second, give me checkpoints.  Oh please give me checkpoints.  This game can get really unforgiving when the zombies accumulate, so expecting me to be able to clear the whole thing without assistance is just cruel.

Also, why do my bullets drop off so much.  Is this a gun or a slingshot?

Yeah, there are some goop parts of the game too.  I like how you need to mash "A" and "D" to break free of zombies but the game never feels the need to tell you that, it just trusts your gamer intuition.  I think the levels are designed pretty well and the jetpack mechanic is a barrel of fun.

Overall...eh, s'good.  Sorry for being boring today, but I can only work with what I have.  Plus I'm just not feeling creative today.  Oh well.  Until next time, stay alive.

Links
LOLZOMBS: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=472

Oasis Ostinato, Oculus and Oggo Poggo

This was an interesting day for DigiPen blogging.  I played one game that I was genuinely intrigued by, one game that was broken, and one game that I wish was broken.

Oasis Ostinato is the broken one and that's all I'll say on the matter.

Oculus is my favorite kind of game to stumble across.  Aesthetically, this game is ugly.  Maybe that's what they were going for, but even on a technical level, this game is just unimpressive in every way except what matters.  In terms of mechanics, this game is intuitive, innovative, imaginative and immersive.  Those four "I" words make up one hell of an experience.

You play as a mummy whose goal in life is to collect all the Anubis statues (or what I assume to be Anubis statues.  They just look like dog heads).  Unlike most platformers of this nature, the levels are not conveniently designed to make a perfect albeit difficult route to your objective.  Instead, you need to manipulate the levels to your advantage using a bunch of magical lenses that can magnify or remove walls depending on how cleverly you place them.

These kinds of puzzles are, in my opinion, the best.  They really do make you think like you're thinking outside the box and proving your intelligence.  The one and only solution is not apparent, if it even exists.  On top of that, I just love the uniqueness of the mechanic.  It's creative and original and it's exactly the reason I play these games in the first place.  This one gets my seal of approval.

And now let's get to Oggo Poggo....uughh.....

somehow I knew this was a senior game just by playing it.  It has the same problem as A Series of Tubes.  It's just barely functional and, more unforgivably, mindless.  It's as if they just threw it together over a weekend without even thinking "would this mechanic make the game good?"

I'm not even going to delve deeply into why such mechanics and design choices are so asinine.  I'm just going to list some of them.
-one hit deaths
-lack of save feature or checkpoints
-infinite consecutive jumps that allow you to rocket into the sky at will
-hitboxes the size of elephant hotels
-unrefined textures
need I go on?  Stay away from this game.  Sorry to be harsh, but sometimes things are just bad and people just fail.

Links
Oasis Ostinat-nope: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=573
Roculus your Soculus: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=25113
Bing Bang Boing: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=16267

Nurgles

this is another one of those games I feel could have been decent, but was rushed out before it was truly finished.

I think the most outstanding feature about this one is that it has a "win game" button.  All you have to do is press "k" and you can consider your level beaten...interesting.

If you choose not to go the route of instant gratification, you'll have a game with pretty much the same mechanics as Dig Dug but with an emphasis on finding the goal and traversing levels.  There are also these little raccoon-like creatures that follow you arround, supposedly helping you throughout the level, but really the only threats keeping you from each level's endpoint are most efficiently evaded by simply moving around them.  The nurgles that follow you around pretty much only do just that.  Supposedly they should be able to help you kill baddies and collect fruit, but they're impossible to control, making it not worth it to even acknowledge their existence.  Besides, the sprint button makes you go so mindbendingly fast that completing the level legitimately is almost as easy as just pressing "k."

That's all I got for now.  Until next time, stay exploitative.

Links
NRG-Ls https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=18535

oh yeah by the way my friend Jeremi and I have a Let's Play channel now.  Check it out!
http://www.youtube.com/user/LeBasementBros/videos