dh722

[dh722]

05/27/2024 Her Trees

I played one of this dev's previous title Her Box, which was atmospheric point-and-click puzzle game with hand-drawn papercraft art(free). It was mesmerizing experience so I have been keeping my eyes on the dev.

Her Trees was a new release this year and it is more polished and with unique puzzle design elements. The game requires you to look at and manipulate a variety of small puzzle. The player is asked to figure out the exact keypad sequence(ABCDEFGHI) to solve each puzzle. Each piece is beautifully and elegantly designed with super interesting artworks.

In the design of these puzzles, there is clever usage of shape, geometry, layer/stacking, color(even though mostly monochrome), transparency and even player's process of constructing or destructing the puzzle itself. All of these elements are incorporated into the artwork of each piece. I felt not only smart when I solve a puzzle but also elegant :D which imo is the best telling feeling of a good puzzle in a game.

In its storytelling, there is a great deal of ambiguity and subtlety of what each puzzle or the game itself mean. There is no language or dialog in the game but only these puzzles and the various objects that you get to play with. Who's "her"? And what are these "trees/puzzles?" Player does not know these answers but if you have played Her Box, you would recognize this beautiful form of ambiguity that the dev is playing with.

[dh722]

05/27/2024 The Farmer Was Replace

A farming sim using in-game python code to control the harvesting drone.

Currently early access but it was a pretty fun experience overall. Tutorial does a good job of not overwhelming the player by tying it with the natural progression of the game. Coding concept like loop and conditionals are gradually introduced.

The animation and SFXs are simple but catchy enough to keep me hooked when playing. I haven't got too deep into the game but I think this game is probably made more for programmer/people who want to learn programming through gamification than just normal resource/farming sims audience. I think despite of a good tutorial and intro, the learning curve would scare/bore regular audience away.

for implementation reference(it could also just be a python wrapper)

[dh722]

04/13/2024 Miniatures(Demo)

Made of four unique hand-drawn stories, Miniatures is a point-and-click puzzle advantage game. I played the Familiar story, which is about the challenges of a family assembling a flat-pack cabinet.

The opening setup, which asks player to pick one of the four artifacts within a mysterious box(Each artifact leads to a corresponding story), reminds me of Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities. There is some subtle element of horror/unsettling in Familiar, which made it really intriguing for me personally.

Game design thoughts:

if you have watch Fantastic Planet, this demo gives off a similar vibe in terms of art and animation. It's hand-drawn with pencil style shading and cross-hatches. The animations are fluid, subtle and beautiful. At times of still frame, the flickering of those pencil shadings made things visually look more vivid and sophisticated.

There is little to no background music until the very end when the creepiness settled in with the low humming. The SFXs from interacting/clicking various object is crisp and intentional. It helped grip onto my attention. Because the camera view is solely focused on the objects that you are interacting with the entire time(you can really see the characters but their hands.), the quietness and emptiness of the environment felt unsettling.

[dh722]

03/16/2024 Pepper Grinder(demo)

A platformer game using a electric drill, made by Ahr Ech(published by Devolver Digital). This was a super fun demo to play.

Game design thoughts:

2D pixel with no outlines. Art style is super crisp and elegant. The pixel resolution felt perfect for this type of game: everything can have good level of details and looks interesting but still have the pixel art aesthetics

Great tutorials: There were really well-designed tutorial session in the demo. Yes there were explicitly some gameplay instructions in the first level but there was also techniques and knowledge that you acquire by simply playing and observing. It was definitely intentional but it was the dev holding hands.

Difficulty ramping up as I progressed into the later levels. It felt challenging but not unmanageable/jarring. Much of this thanks to many of the clever level designs that showcased interesting environmental gameplay/mechanics in the levels.

Juice: the drilling motion/action is such a pleasant and frankly additive part of the gameplay. Every time when the character enters into the sand with the drill, the camera subtly pulls back and a light vibration is released on my controller. It cues the player that the character is about to speed up and the control or motion is about to switch from walking/jumping to drilling(/almost swimming?).

Background music and sfx are great too. Music blends into gameplay in a very natural way. It was just the right tempo to make me feel relaxed but also focused

I wish there was a bit more story in my demo but maybe that is something that will be added in the release.

[dh722]

03/09 COLDLINE by Adam Pype

https://papercookies.itch.io/coldline

Third game by Adam Pype that I have played.

It's a quick demonstration of how the auto attendant/custom support phone systems nowadays can result in an nuclear Armageddon(not really...) I really liked the premise and trope along the line of Dr.Strangelove - accidental nuclear war + laughs and comedy

Game design thoughts

The overall design of this game, almost every part of it, is direct , simple and clean - (1)The premise/background is delivered in text like SW opening crawl style (2) you have a map in front of you, indicating the real-time position of the missile (3) a big digital clock counting down above you (4) the big red phone looks so generic and simple and is your only agency; the controls are simple too only keypads and the pound key - All these actually give emphasis and contract to the only and most convoluted part of the gameplay itself - the fking phoneline and the automated customer support system. Everything becomes naturally funnier with this setup.

The actual phone conversation with the automated system is clever and funny too. You basically go back and forth with the automated voice until you realize how much bureaucracy has destroyed and can destroy humanity. Player is forced to navigate meaningless automated dialogues to get the information they need to stop/interject the missile, not realizing some of the information is more/less on the surface than they appear to be. It's subverting expectation in a really funny(but on-the-edge annoying way) - but then the player/me, for whoever has ever called into an automated voice box before, started having this inner dialogue "what do I expect from an automated system anyway nowadays? " because in truth it's all designed and engineered to waste our time and increase delay - It breaks the 4th wall because that's essentially our daily struggle too!

[dh722]

03/09 MapFriend by Adam Pype

A game by Adam Pype about you clicking through/exploring a series of geo locations on a map GUI. (I played one of their previous games No Players Online. And that was a great little gem!)

It has some horror elements and is inspired by Google Maps Street View(and the urban legends around that - you know Backrooms and whatnot)

Game Design Thoughts:

SFX and music: they made the whole experience and nudged it to the right direction. Without the aid of the background music and the occasional bizarre sounds coming from the map finder software, it would've probably be a much lamer experience

The "MapFriend" avatar: basically the MS's Office Assistant guy that constantly tries to talk to you and clue you in. It is funny and gives an intentional contrast to the gameplay/story which is incrementally darkened as you explore more locations on the map. I always love any sort of assistant/helper representation in games that seems to have any hidden agenda(or whose story/background is not 100% visible to the player. Are they there to help you? Do they know something we don't know? This kind of question keeps me guessing and it adds to the creepiness of the game overall)

Constrained Control: The thing about user interface on Street View is that the control is very limited compared to real world. You cannot turn your head instantly to sides/back and you have to click a lot to walk through an area and there is delay/loading in between those clicks. There is natural suspense and hesitation coming from these delay and limited movement. The length/duration of a player's mental preparation/anticipation for a horror scene/element is requested to be stretched under these conditions. And when a player is finally confronted with the actual horror element, they are more scared and more dread.

Climax: I didn't really like the last part of the game because it was too obvious that what was about to happen - I knew a jump scare is probably coming, which basically took me out of it. I wish the hint/setup was a bit more subtle or subdued

[dh722]

03/09 #Drive Rally(demo)

Made by Pixel Perfect Dude

Felt like a simplified version of some of the rally games that I have played in the past.(DiRT rally mostly)

Game design thoughts:

The co-driver in the car constantly yells at me whenever I made a mistake during the course of driving. It was funny at first but quickly became excessive, redundant and eventually annoying - I do think this it is an interesting part of the game but it needs to be throttled and needs to have more lines that aren't just pure scouting

Audiences/crowds are all 2D cardboards. Classic driving game trope

Driving controls are simple but also seem to require mastery to actually be good

Loading screen has instructions/control tutorial on it but because of how fast things load on the map(it's all low poly anyway!) my eyes usually can't catch the tutorial before it skips away to the game. I would imagine a "ready" button press after loading would do the trick.

[dh722]

03/02 - (demo) While Waiting - Optillusion

A very refreshing and intriguing little game demo, made by Optillusion(I also played a demo of Moncage, Optillusion's last entry, when attending Indiecade - pre-covid around 2018/2019. The Moncage demo was an incredible experience, probably one of the best puzzle game concept I have ever tried)

This game is about patience(or rather impatience). Player is being put into different waiting scenarios(like waiting for elevator/toilet) while trying to find different surrounding distractions to kill time. These distractions, when interacted properly(the puzzle part), unlock achievements for each scenarios(player can also do nothing, which unlocks an achievement by itself too)

Game design thoughts:

Clever usage of colors: interactable items are mostly colored, comparing to background/static items which are often monochrome or only outlined

Simple control: only two player inputs, space and wasd - there are minigames within each scenario and the inputs are translated differently/cleverly in each different minigame

No failure: there is no loss/failure state, which make player more willing to experiment and explore

Humorous Art: Nothing is taken seriously but there are subtleties and warmth in the delivery from everything in the game

[dh722]

2/24 - How Fish Is Made & Mouthwashing(demo)

Made by Wrong Organ. Got to try both of these games today. The surrealistic + strange humor vibe reminds me of some Lynchian works.

Music/SFX is super well put together in the game and enhanced the ambience along with a judicious use of lighting/darkness contract on the screen.

It's not in-your-face scary/jumpscare and the ambiguity/quirkiness in the dialogue keeps the game strangely intrigued and somewhat thought-provoking.

There is a lot of meta-material in the game, like some looney tunes cartoon that player has to sit and watch on a small TV screen...The way such meta is delivered reminds me of Kane Pixels work on the Backroom Series.

Dialogue - voice uses gibberish text sounds and with really cool typewriter dialog box that allows simple animation for the font.

(I played a short game jam game back in 2019 that overall had a similar vibe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erH-pt9CCaQ

[dh722]

Game Journal Week 05/18/2021

Game 1: Art of Balancing

Art of Balancing is a game about rock balancing and self reflection on VR platform. I played it with Oculus Quest 1. It was developed by Ama Inc., founder of which was previously a classmate of mine.

Copy & paste of my review from Oculus Store:

I have never tried rock balancing in real life before and am glad that it's offered in VR where I don't have to physically go somewhere and find rocks. The concept of VR rock balancing combining with self reflection sessions using voice recording feels very novel and interesting.

There is a sense of tranquility/serene in the gameplay itself and in the virtual environment surrounding the player. I can definitely see myself playing such game to heal/self reflect/meditate/recalibrate. It's supposed to be a slow game with no pressure. On this, for me personally, I still felt that I was somewhat pressured to figure out that preset configuration in order to get that last rock aligned with the white outline. Maybe because I personally have a short temper, I found myself getting slightly frustrated easily when stacking the rocks. I think part of this was due to the existence of the preset objectives that the game was asking me to complete. The objectives were somewhat too *specific* that it made it too much of a puzzle than a meditative experience for me. This being said, having no prior experience with rock balancing, I bet people feel frustration too when doing it in real life. However I wonder if the rock balancers also carry a specific rock configuration/goal in mind when doing it in real life. I wish the objective was more vague(maybe reaching a certain height instead) so that I can just just stack rocks with little to no mental pressure.

On the mechanics itself, I really like how rock stacking/balancing feels like in the game. It requires some but not an demanding amount of attention and effort from player to put the rocks on top of each other. I think there is a lot of potential in the self reflection part and the game itself.

The introspective moments/questions I raised to myself while playing this game were very valuable and meaningful. Looking forward to see more.

[dh722]

Game Journal Week 1/20/2020

Game 1: Not For Broadcast (https://store.steampowered.com/app/1147550/Not_For_Broadcast/ )

Not For Broadcast is a propaganda sim in which player plays as a TV news broadcast worker who takes controls of the flow of a TV program called National Nightly News. I only played a demo version of the game which lasted for around 20 mins of gameplay. The gameplay setup and its mechanics reminded me of another indie game that I found on itch.io in 2019 called Chronodog, which I also documented in a previous game study journal. Basically, player has to operate on a set of broadcasting interface(probably just like how a real TV broadcaster would do). Game requires the player to do certain operations correctly in a tight timeframe. There were a lot of tense moments during which if player messes up could end up with a funny result. The premise of this game is very refreshing. There are a lot of acting/directing going behind the scene of the development of this game in order to produce the actual /recording clips of the TV program. ---

[dh722]

Game Journal Week 11/09

Game 1: Tanuki Sunset https://squidsquadgames.itch.io/tanuki-sunset

A stylish neon retro racing game. Player playing a tanuki(racoon) riding a skateboard on a sunset highway. It's a fairly simple game loop: avoid obstacle, get points, and try not to fall off the edge. There is drifting mechanics, and some simple tricks that player can do.

A super fluid and aesthetically appealing player experience. There are items that can be picked up which either contributes to earning points (like mini-missions) / or changing the background music.

This is a really great example for which simple game loop coupled with tasteful art design can create a great experience.

Game 2: Unlock Everything https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/45/unlock-everything

A 2D platformer made for LD 46, based on the theme of "Starting with Nothing".

Player literally starts with nothing: every element in the game, even the main menu and the "start game" button, is locked and requires player to go through certain procedures to unlock them. The protagonist character can't move nor hear at the beginning of the game. The levels in the game are designed as such to cope with such unique mechanics: conveyor belts are used for pushing player forward when player hasn't acquire the movement controller; Before acquiring a buster cannon, player has to avoid enemy instead of fighting them. There is a clear distinction intended by the creator between having nothing at the beginning and having everything at the end. With all the basic 2D platformer functionalities(weapon, jump, movement) acquired, player is able to defeat a boss.

A very obvious homage to the Mega Man series.

Game 3: Lost in Translation https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/45/lost-in-translation

The winner entry for LD 46. This is a beautiful and fresh concept: You crash-landed in a unknown town in which people speak a language that you have no knowledge. You pick up information/grammar piece by piece by talking to these people. It's a very clever span on the theme of LD 46.

Art design is outrageously simple yet funny. It's no doubt that the developer drew inspiration from Charlie Chaplin and the genre of silent film.

Game 4: No Player Online https://papercookies.itch.io/no-players-online

A unbelievably refreshing horror experience. Player finds a old VHS game tape. In it, it's a list of servers for a flag capture game that have no players in them.

The creepy atmosphere of wondering in a empty server is very unique. You feel like you are uncovering something that was sinister and buried deep.

It required so much attention to details in order to craft such experience. And the narrative directing is also wonderful.

Games also played but no comments:

Super Ness : playing as the Loch Ness Monster to help boat get through the lake

https://jaun.itch.io/super-ness

Red Skull Reef: tower defense game.

https://robotrage.itch.io/red-skull-reef

[dh722]

Game Journal Week 10/19

Game 1: Triggore( https://frankiesmileshow.itch.io/triggore )

A Halloween themed pixel style shooting gallery. Player plays a house owner defending against ghosts at a dark night. The catch is player can only hold one item at a time. This design of limiting player's capacity of managing resource creates a lot of tense moments in the game. There is a lot of emphasis put on lighting in the scene: Player has to pick up matches/candle in order to see where the other items are. The interaction between different items is also a great touch.

[dh722]

Game Journal Week 10/12 (IndieCade LA)

"RPG TIME: THE LEGEND OF WRIGHT"

went to IndieCade today. Played a lot of amazing games. Two games that left me huge impression were Moncage from NYU and RPG TIME: THE LEGEND OF WRIGHT from deskworks.

The Legend of Wright is a game made by a Japanese studio of two persons(srsly?) The design/aesthetics is just otherworldly. Like nothing I ever played. A stunning combination of 2D and 3D arts

[dh722]

Game Journal Week 10/05

Game 1: Pixel Soldier( https://www.alphabetagamer.com/pixel-soldier-alpha-demo/ )

A fast paced arcade shooter with unique level design element: player controls a blob ish character moving on the inside of a square shape level. Player's movement is consisted of move and dash, both take place inside the square. Because everything happens inside the square, things can get heat up and intensified quite quickly when there are a number of enemy present. Combining these seemingly simple controls offer great depth in gameplay. Enemy/boss's attach pattern also emphasizes these elements greatly.

Game 2: West of Time( https://bottle-break.itch.io/west-of-time )

In West of Time, player stages a murder scene by freezing time and displacing different objects in the scene. These objects will have different interaction with the characters in the scene and these interaction will play themselves out and affect how the murder will be taken place.

The goal is to have everyone killed in one scene.

Much of the gameplay will be progressed through trial and errors from the player. Dialogues between characters explain relation among characters.

Game 3: Cardiac( https://katanalevy.itch.io/cardiac )

This is a short demo experience for a bigger WIP game. Some interesting surreal aesthetics. Player controls a mass of flesh rolling around with its flesh tentacles.

[dh722]

Game Journal Week 09/28

Game 1: Ducklings(https://ducklings.io/)

A beautifully crated browser-based zen experience. Player plays a duck dad trying to rescue as many ducklings as possible from the river back to duck mommy. The core game mechanic is a bit like Snake: there are many ducklings scattered on a vast river. Duck dad swims at them, and then the ducklings will follow duck dad until they get back to the nest. The challenge comes from boats and yachts cruising on the river. If duck dad collides with a boat or a yacht, he disappears(dies?) and the ducklings will stop following. The game does provide a primitive saving system: the total number of ducklings already rescued by the duck dad(sent to the nest) will not be reduced to zero if accident happens.(And this progress is seemed to also be saved by user's IP address)

The game itself is a total relaxation. Bright and innocent color palette, along with Disney cartoon like animation and cute 3D models, constitute a fascinating pastime experience.

Only mouse directional control is needed to guide duck dad's direction. It's a game pretty much person of any age can play and enjoy.

A few highlights

1. SFX and music: the ambient surrounding music on the river, the cute little "quack" sound from the ducklings, and even the sound the humans make when their boats hit the duck dad are pure joy

2. Nest upgrade: Every time duck dad brings enough ducklings back to the nest, duck mom upgrades the nest with fancier stuff: fences, better foundation, and even a little makeshift windmill. This adds another kind of incentive for player to keep playing the game.

2. Online experience: This game seems to be an online experience, in which there are multiple duck dads played by different online players swimming on the same river and working for different nests. It makes the game more interesting by adding a bit competition element. In this case, the ducklings become a kind of resources(since there are that many on the river. they respawn very slowly) that players have to fight to obtain. If a player cuts through the ducklings that are following another player, the ducklings will follow the new player instead.

Game 2: Make Sure It's Closed( https://corpsepile.itch.io/make-sure-its-closed )

A very very short retro horror experience. Players play the role of a child whose parents have left home for some event. Dad left a node to remind the child to shut the garage door down before going to sleep but also stated that there might be something wrong with the door switch. Then the child tried multiple time of shutting the door down, until a ghost like creature crawls in.

Developer did a good job on building the expectation and suspicion before letting the ghost appear itself in front of the player. It's not a jumpscare, and that's even better.

[dh722]

Game Journal Week 09/21

Game 1: Death Crown (https://co5monaut.itch.io/death-crown)

(I played a demo version of this game on itch.io)

A indie RTS game with unique 1 bit aesthetics.

Death Crown has a simple yet exquisite artistic style: everything in this game is made of black line and white space. The aesthetics of this game remind me of those things kids would draw on their diary/notebook.

Mechanics are very simple. Players are allowed to build three types of building units: (1)barrack, which produces troop that can destroy enemy's castle and lead you to victory

(2)mines, which produces golds that can produce gold for purchasing building units

(3)towers, which protects you from enemy's troop attack.

These building can only be built on your own territory, which you expand by constructing more buildings.

There are also locations for crystal on the map. Capturing crystal(expanding your territory to cover the locations of the crystal) will enhance the power of your troops.

Player is put into a 1v1 battle against computer AI/another player. One interesting detail about this is that you can actually see every move the AI is about to do. AI's cursor is completely visible to the player, so it is almost like there is a real player playing against you.

Game 2: Imagine Lifetimes ( https://gamejolt.com/games/imaginelifetimes/348701 )

In Imagine Lifetime, players make choices at each stage of his/her lifetime. These choices have consequences and branches the narratives into different outcomes. Start from being a baby to then becoming an adult, the choices that the game presents to you are filled with dark humor yet actually related to real life. The actions and choices made in childhood has less severe consequences than the ones in adulthood. And the game, through its narrative experience, encourages you to notice these differences and to make choices accordingly. Kinda like how real life works :)

A few highlights:

1. The female and male narrator voices, supposedly representing your mom and dad, react to each choice you make in the game. They act like almost a guidance, giving out a good indicator of if the choice you just made would have positive/negative impact on your life. A good example was after entering adulthood when player trying to commit crime to get quick cash, the narrator reminds player that this would a bad choice and have bad consequence. The tone gets worsen as player wants to get more money out of the crime(a slider to increase/decrease the amount). The voice acting itself is humorous and lighthearted.

2. There are several mini-games in Imagine Lifetime. They adds more diversity and fun into the gameplay. For example, when it comes to the stage where player can make baby with the partner, a.k.a the D.I.Y choice, player will play a sperm trying to get to the egg. Along the "journey", player has to use mouse directional control to guide the sperm. There are several multiple choice(A/B) questions along the way, and player has to guide the sperm to swim to the correct answers in order to get fertilization bar to 100%. Those questions are hilarious, and realistically dark.

Game 3: Fisherman ( https://gamejolt.com/games/fisherman/438393 )

Fisherman is short 3D puzzle game with surreal Silent Hill like imagery.

Objective is not specified in this game, but it looks like at least for this demo version players are expected to collect all the fish hooks?(hence, fisherman?)

Player plays an armless creature, and a zebra from time to time.

When player finishes a level with the armless creature, the scene is switched to the zebra. It's back and forth. There is almost a Lynchian feel to it.

There are about in total two to three puzzle pieces in the game, and they are not really difficult to solve. The atmosphere does keep me wonder: what is this armless creature? what happened to it? what is the place?

The use of fixed camera angles across the scenes definitely remind me of Silent Hill and Resident Evil. Though I got a bit motion sick from it....