#witchbeam

[doz-goz]

Which AAC character y’all’s ship?

I want to know what Assult Android Cactus characters yalls ship with one another.

I personally ship Peanut and Licorice together I want to know your thoughts.

[littlespoonsebastian]

FUCK astrology signs

FUCK mbti

WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE ITEM(S) FROM UNPACKING

I'LL GO FIRST

CHImK EN s

2nd place goes to the tiny bus

close 3rd goes to the citrus coasters

I can and will infodump about unpacking one day it's the only game I've ever 100% finished

[crazygamecommunity]

CULT Games e lo sviluppatore di Unpacking Witch Beam hanno annunciato il puzzle game contemplativo Tempopo per Xbox Series, Xbox One, Switch e PC (Steam).

[wingerb17]

Beard is growing in nicely as always.

https://www.twitch.tv/WingerB17

Today's a special episode, full playthrough of one of my favorite games of all time.

https://www.youtube.com/WingerB17

[jamiedotorg]

Unpacking

This review includes Spoilers.

Unpacking came out in 2021 and was developed by Witch Beam. It was designed and directed by Wren Brier, with co-designer and programmer Tim Dawson and composer Jeff van Dyck.

I found this game on Xbox Game Pass, and of course gravitated towards it because it was shown on true achievements as having a completion time of only 2 hours and an extremely easy difficulty, which it did since the game's sole mechanic is click and drag. I have to say however that it took me 4 hours and almost 40 minutes to complete the game entirely, I did have to move from one spot to another in the house, had laggy connection and was very precise in where I placed things inside the house as I was unpacking, which leads me to the gameplay.

You begin as a girl growing up and moving from place to place, starting in her bedroom as either a child or teenager. As you unpack the boxes to fill her bedroom, you get a sense of who she is as a person; she has some action figures, some books, video games, posters and of course the mascot of the game itself, toy plushies. As she graduates, you see her move into her first small apartment as she gets ready to start university.

Throughout the game, she accumulates items of the same manner, such as a collection of game-cube and DS like games, movies, books, a journal collection and even a small collection of plushie chicks and chickens, which she gains a new one in every move like a token of her life. You see her move in with her first boyfriend where the apartment is clean, hyper organized and everything seems to be in black and white. Her move-in colors the place up, and she even states she can barely fit herself into it. You see her move back in with her parents after the assumed break-up, and finally move into her own home where after some time, the boxes coming to the house change into a different shipping company.

In the final move, you can see she has moved into her forever home with a partner and a baby's room. The aesthetic of the homes is comfortable, cozy and filled with the character's personality. While I started the game with the goal of achieving another 1,000 Gamerscore...I stayed for this game's atmosphere and story, and the addictive nature of filling the rooms and finding out more about the character through the things that she surrounded herself with.

It was to this effect that I completed the storyline and went back through the levels to discover even more secrets hidden in the objects around her, like turning on the tv to start the game console or putting fun objects in odd places. This unlocks an in-game achievement system in the form of stickers on her photo albums, as well as unlocking Xbox/PlayStation achievements and trophies.

As previously stated, I did take a lot longer to complete it to 100% as I was distracted and did not want to just take things out of the boxes and put them anywhere on the floor, though I don't blame anyone for doing so if the goal is to simply complete as fast or as easy as possible. I was very specific in putting away her clothes, stacking her dishes away neatly and making sure her books were organized on the bookshelf. I was also a little tiresome after the third house of clicking and dragging items around as I was playing on a console instead of a computer where the controls might have been easier.

After all, I enjoyed this game, for ease of play and enjoyment, but wish there was more to the game in the way of mechanics and gameplay.

This game is available to date on Xbox Game Pass, or to purchase through the Xbox store for $19.99

It is also available on PlayStation 4 & 5 and Nintendo Switch

Thank you and show some love to the devs by playing this game or reviewing it if you've already played it!

unpackinggame.com trueachievements.com imdb.com

This has been a game review by someone who just loves video games and achievements.

[musicmakesyousmart]

Witchbeam - Tales of the Ghede Zodiac

905 Tapes

2014

[clickbliss]

Assault Android Cactus+ Review

by Amr (@siegarettes)

Assault Android Cactus+

Developer: Witchbeam

Publisher: Witchbeam

Switch 

Assault Android Cactus is just fucking fun. I have a natural tendency to slip into critic mode--whether playing a game for review or not. After engaging with games for so long it’s hard not to constantly be reading into the craft of everything I play. I’m always thinking about what a designer intended, how certain parts of the game intersect with narrative aims, how a level design guides you...you get the idea.

When I play Assault Android Cactus all I think is “this game is so fucking fun I want to keep playing it.” Not to say that it’s a mindless shooter that’s easy to zone out to. Rather, this is one of those games that’s so thoughtfully designed that I my thoughts can take time off and appreciate the sheer physical joy of manipulating it.

The original version spent years in Early Access and it’s evident in how well constructed it is. Every stage is finely tuned and gave me just the right amount of friction to keep me constantly engaged. The number of enemies and bullets, the dynamic stage phases, and the amount of hits bosses take--each of these are pushed to the edge of unmanageable without really feeling overwhelming.

Special attention should be paid to the stage and character design, which put Assault Android Cactus far above its peers. Stages go through several phases as you fight through its waves of enemies. A moving elevator might land on several floors, gaps might be created or filled to create chokepoints and open areas, or parts of the stage might begin rotating. Each stage sets up and explores a unique idea, some almost feeling as if they contain two or three levels in their own right. Each level has its own arc of tension and release, balancing moments of overwhelming force and cathartic destruction.

The same arc can be found in each character’s weaponry, which employ their own unique main weapons, and a powerful sub weapon regulated by a heat gauge. There are some regular standbys like machine guns, shotguns and flamethrowers, but there’s plenty of more esoteric weapons like cannonballs, plasma fields, remote controlled propeller blades and drills. More importantly, they each change the way you interact with the space, making each character feel distinct and useful for certain situations.

No matter which character you pick you’ll need to be actively engaged too--timing of attacks matters as much as direction, especially with weapons like the sniper-like railgun or the propeller, which accelerates in your chosen direction as you pull the trigger and returns when you release it. The switch between weapons isn’t instant either, requiring your character to flip to their holstered weapon. Crucially, there’s a small moment of invincibility when you do, letting you pass through otherwise difficult to navigate bullet hell patterns. There’s a lot of finesse to the controls, and learning the nuances is as important and good planning and crowd control.

Thankfully, failing along the path to learning these nuances isn’t too harsh. Cactus has a unique approach to failure--your character has their own health bar, but losing it only knocks them out for a few seconds while you try to recover. The bigger threat is the battery bar, which constantly ticks down as you play. This needs to be replenished by picking up a powerup via defeated enemies. Essentially, Cactus wants you to keep up a sense of momentum, and death is only a temporary setback that gives you a moment to reset yourself before getting back into the fight.

In that way dying is more like driving off course in a racing game: once or twice will set you back but won’t end the race, but too many and you might as well quit since your time will definitely get you disqualified. Getting a battery at a clutch moment even gives you that same feeling of coasting through a checkpoint at the last second, extending your time and putting on the pressure to play cleaner. The penalty initially feels weird, but it turns out to be a smart solution, encouraging you to pay attention and do better, while letting you brute force through particularly troublesome levels without the intrinsic sense of failure that comes from seeing a continue screen.

Along those same lines, the Switch version provides new accessibility options, including an auto aim option that makes it playable on a single joy-con, as well as making it easier for people who have trouble aiming. This sacrifices some of the fine control that comes with two joysticks, which feels more noticeable with particular characters, but it’s an admirable addition that opens up the game to a wider group of players.

On the flipside, there’s a new campaign of remixed levels that’s much harder than the base game. Even the first level took me several tries to get through. I never felt that I hadn’t been prepared for them, but they demand way cleaner play than the main game. They felt comparable to the way something like Devil May Cry would mix up harder difficulties, putting in new enemy configurations to create new challenges for players revisiting the game.

Crucially, all of this performs great as well. A lot of Switch ports tend to suffer from limited resources, especially when coming from a higher end platform, but developer Witch Beam personally put in the effort to make sure everything ran smoothly in this version. No matter how many enemies or bullets crowded the screen, I never experienced any real slowdown. Menus are snappy, response is fast and the animations and art direction shine through, even if the visuals obviously can’t match the higher end platforms.

All of this is to say Assault Android Cactus easily holds its own alongside the best of modern action games. It’s a considerate, deliberate game with lots of nuance, but made with the immediacy and accessibility of a twin stick shooter. Whether you want something you can put in front of a friend and jam out to or a game to really dig into and try to S-rank every stage, Assault Android Cactus has you covered.

[spair-m]

Hey, play Unpacking

It’s great, turn on the boom box on the 5th level, trust me

[championsandheroes]

Unpacking is such a lovely relaxing game... except for That Level. Strangely, the game is both more and less than what I thought it would be. There are fewer levels, but there is so much more story. That being said, I've replayed it more than once because it's a great game when my brain feels fried and I want to do something while listening to a podcast or the like, so, yeah, I highly recommend it.

Patreon, society6, and redbubble are tidy and have prepared for you to move in, no need to do all the hard work on your own.

[mmishee-art]

Unpacking - 2021

© 2021 Witchbeam. All rights reserved. I was contracted to work on Unpacking as a pixel artist in it’s final year of development in 2021, where I assisted with the final artwork for many interactable items. I would apply lighting and polish to 1st pass artwork, and design cover artwork for books, clothing, dvd cases and game cases, as well as the game title screens that appear on many of the TVs. I collaborated with art director Wren Brier, as well as fellow pixel artist Angus Doolan, with animation and additional art and direction by Tim Dawson. Angus Doolan did 90% of the item 1st passes & Wren Brier did 10%. Angus also had a hand in most of the environment art in the game, as well as the end art. Joseph-Paul Silipo (h3xmode) did 2nd and 3rd passes on environments in chapters 6 & 7.

[revt23]

#TysonSanerGamer Episode from August 14th, 2018 "Assault Android Cactus" #assaultandroidcactus #witchbeam #JeffVanDyck #GenkiStar #twinstickshooter #XboxOne ##consolegaming https://www.instagram.com/p/BpAgajtA_bV/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=17aapkkwuikzp

[carlabrahamsson]

“Vanessa Sinclair – Poetry In Emotion” is an experimental film program featuring words, music, and images by Vanessa Sinclair, Carl Abrahamsson, Xambuca, Witchbeam, Carl Michael von Hausswolff, Mikronesia, Joachim Nordwall, Julie Fotheringham, Thomas Bey William Bailey, Katelan Foisy, Val Denham, and Sheer Zed.

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/poetryinemotion1

#vanessasinclair #poetryinemotion #trapartfilm

[aonedog]

Miller, Witchbeam & De Brys, Esq - The Static Suites c30 (Alien Passengers [N°63] 2017)

[jsoliday]

Special performance of the Hexbreaker Trio on the evening of Friday, September 1st, 2017. The performance took place inside the Buckland Gallery of Witchcraft & Magick (http://bucklandmuseum.org/) located in the Tremont neighborhood of Cleveland. Hexbreaker originally formed as a Quintet (Telecult Powers & Grasshopper & a ghost guest), then became a quartet (Mister Matthews & Grasshopper & a ghost guest), but will be realized on Friday as a trio (Witchbeam, Jesse DeRosa of Grasshopper, a ghost guest).

[witchbeam]

New Mother's 3rd Eye Dream Book now available. Paypal $3.51 to witchbeam@gmail.com as a friend, include ye old address. Features numbers, hot picks, and fully illustrated by Witchbeam. I'm back, baby. #dreambook #vectorillustration #swamproot #mothers3rdeye #witchbeam #telecultpowers #telecult (at Cleveland, Ohio)

[mmishee-art]

Dunno if i've mentioned here, but I'm working with Witchbeam on a game called Unpacking!

Here is a lovely summary by JennyWindom on TikTok! (kimchica25 on Twitter)

Its coming out this year, make sure you wishlist it on Steam!