Undertale [SPOILER-FREE REVIEW]

Small note: This game was generously gifted to me by my friend Melissa. Thanks so much for sharing this game with me, Melissa, and for making this review possible!

The moment I saw snippets of a Let's Play of Undertale, I knew I'd have to play it.  I had a feeling this was a game I'd want to experience fully. Absolutely nothing would prepare me for what was to come.

At its surface, Undertale looks like an unassuming, quirky, old-school RPG with heaps of charm, humour, and personality.  The battle system is unique, boasting the typical attack/flee/item formula of most RPGs, but with some new features: ACT and MERCY. ACT allows you to take specific actions with the enemies, and MERCY allows you to either flee or spare the enemy. Undertale, you see, doesn't require you to kill or even battle its monsters. You can complete the game without landing a single attack on an enemy. Also, the player is forced to dodge attacks in a bullet hell-style minigame. The enemy will fire attacks of various kinds and you will have to dodge them with a small red heart, which represents your player character. The game is also rife with fun little puzzles. None of the puzzles are too terribly difficult, especially after playing through the game once. Boss battles are satisfying, regardless of outcome, and reasonably dramatic.

The music, which is always a high selling point for me, is practically perfect--it's genius, really. It's self-referential--you'll notice the same leitmotifs popping up here and there with remixes and other melodies threaded with new ones. Each song fits its context perfectly. There is a lot of chiptune music that is backed by strings or other instruments, hearkening to the game's classic feel with a new twist. The soundtrack also features touching piano melodies, goofy themes for bumbling characters, the occasional disturbing low-frequency tune, and a few sweeping epics. I recommend listening to the soundtrack in the context of the game before listening to it solo.

It's difficult to talk about aspects of the storyline without spoiling anything, so I will omit that entirely and say that you simply need to play this game for yourself--Undertale needs to be experienced to be understood, and deserves the attention it requests. The game can be beaten from start to finish in about 5-7 hours, but I recommend playing through twice--10-14 hours altogether.

This game is very complex, and nothing is quite what it seems. There is an unsettling quality to the game that's hard to describe. I'm not sure if it's in the retro-styled graphics, the music, or something else, but there always seems to be something bubbling under the surface, even amid the lighthearted moments. The game itself is humorous; it never takes itself too seriously, all the while subverting and poking fun at typical gaming conventions. The fourth wall is frequently broken.

If you enjoy this game, you will certainly play it twice, and you'll enjoy going back to see the hints of foreshadowing, as well as Easter eggs. If the game interests you, I urge you: stop at this article, and don't read anything else until you've played it through at least twice. This game has a ton of layers. In some ways, it reminds me a little bit of Journey--ways that aren't evident if you haven't played.

I loved this game and I don't think I'm finished with it yet. It was an expertly crafted experience--fun, quirky, and just the right amount of heaviness. I can't stop thinking about it.  I honestly believe that every game developer, whether indie or AAA, can take notes from Undertale. The fact that this game was Kickstarter-funded and received over ten times the requested amount is a testament to the excellence that was produced here. It is transcendent of video games and offers a story that cannot be told through any other medium. My only regret about the game is that I didn't hear about it when the funding was underway.

Undertale is available on Steam for $10, and I really can't recommend it enough. If you want to talk to me about it, please get in touch with me--especially if you want to talk Journey parallels with me! If you want to leave a comment, please avoid any plot spoilers.

Wide Sky

I didn't think this game would be my next post, but apparently Starbucks had other plans.

I walked into a local Starbucks today to grab something tasty to take with me. As I waited for my drink, I browsed the songs and apps of the week and saw a familiar little hedgehog staring back at me. It seemed that the app of the week was an iOS game I had purchased for my iPad months and months prior without trying it out. Obviously, the first thing I did when I went home was whip out my iPad and give it a try.

This game is stylish and cute, with simple but effective graphics making use of a minimalistic colour scheme. The music is well-crafted, with a cute undertone but a decided moodiness to it. The controls make use of the iPhone and iPad's motion sensitivity, allowing you to tilt the device to change the hedgehog's trajectory. I bought the game for $.99 earlier this year, but right now, if you're quick, you can pick it up for free at Starbucks.

The controls take a little getting used to. My first run in the initial stage didn't see me past it and I ran out of time. I found that when I didn't worry too much about the points and collecting all the stars and circles, though, I had much more fun with the game. The lack of enemies and the wide time window allows you to relax a bit while playing it. Other articles have discussed an issue with the game's controls, which do take getting used to. I found the combination of the game's music and atmospheric graphics, plus the game's open-ended timing and lack of enemies to be oddly relaxing.

Give it a few plays and let the controls sink in a bit before making any quick decisions about it. At only $.99 a play, I think it's worth picking up. Not to mention, if you act in the next week, you can get it for free at Starbucks. It doesn't have a groundbreaking story and it won't make you cry, but it's an engaging stress reliever and Spiderman-like.

Right now, I'm hooked on Pokémon X and still trying to keep my Animal Crossing: New Leaf town afloat, so indie gaming is pretty sparse. However, I'm playing through the delightful The Sea will Claim Everything, and still gradually playing through some of the Humble games I've collected. More posts will be coming!

-K8-bit

Cheap games and charity

I've found a way for you to get some sweet indie games on Steam. For cheap. If you don't have Steam yet and you haven't heard of this, you may want to jump on it!

If you're into indie games and/or Steam, there's a good chance you've heard of the Humble Bundle. Essentially, you are given the opportunity to buy a collection of Steam games at a price that you set. When you purchase this bundle, you are giving money directly to three parties: the developers, the charity, and the Humble website through a "tip". The tip is the smallest suggested contributor, with the developers being typically at the top and the charity not far behind. You can customize where you want your money to go, though.

There is only a $1 minimum donation, however if you reach the suggested minimum, you will often unlock better games. With the Humble Origins Bundle, you will unlock Battlefield 3 and the Sims 3 after the suggested minimum donation of just $4.82, which is the current average of what people are giving. That is a very, very minimal price to pay! If you look at the "top contributors", some people have paid thousands of dollars to contribute to the charity, developers and the Humble website. These people deserve extra thanks, because I doubt Humble would be able to function in such an inexpensive way if those few didn't contribute so much.

A new feature to the Humble website is the Weekly Sale, which has a different bundle posted every week. This sale is courtesy of PewDiePie, who you've likely heard of in some capacity or another. Love him or strongly dislike him, Pewdie has been using his fame to help get funds for his Charity: Water campaign, bringing clean water to those in need. The Humble Bundle Weekly Sale provides a different set of games every week and a great deal, plus you get to contribute to the ongoing clean water campaign. It's an all around win situation. A win-win-win-win, really.

The current weekly sale is 5 games. Amnesia, well known title that it is, is the unlockable one in this bundle. After paying the donation average of just $2.74, that title will be yours, along with the other 4. Amazing.

If you can spare the extra, please do donate a little more. It's a great cause all around--you're helping indie game developers, charities, and the kind folks who are allowing you to purchase these games at such reduced cost.

I'll be back to reviewing games again very soon. You can blame Animal Crossing for this dry spell...

Also, I finally got Steam! Add me!

-K8-bit

Greetings from Harbour-Con!

I'm a guest at this year's Harbour Con-Fusion. If you're there now, chances are you've already been by my table.

This is a public call to all game devs and creators present this weekend. Come by and say hello! Maybe I could do an interview with you or play your game. Don't be shy.

I'll be live tweeting throughout the weekend, so join me @KCooperWriting. Enjoy the event!

Forgotten Kingdoms

I don't know why I didn't think of this game sooner when I thought of games to review. It probably had something to do with the fact that this is not your typical indie game, or even your typical game, for that matter.

Forgotten Kingdoms is a MUD, or multi-user dungeon. It is, essentially, a wholly text-based online Dungeons and Dragons game, though your typical MUD could be just about any setting. It can be considered a form of MMORPG, but it typically requires a bit more patience than your average MMO. I've played a lot of MUDs, but not so much in previous years. Forgotten Kingdoms has totally spoiled me. I can't play any other MUD. I've tried.

For a brief and amusing example of how MUDs work, fast forward this video to 1:32.



A unique facet of all MUDs is the amount of reading you're required to do. With this MUD in particular, players get a fun combination of hack and slash and roleplay. Forgotten Kingdoms is roleplay enforced, so you are required to absorb yourself in the world and put on the mask of whatever character you create.

The story itself is rooted in the Forgotten Realms (3.5 edition, ignoring 4th ed altogether) campaign setting of Dungeons and Dragons. If your "Realmslore" is lacking, however, the game has a series of useful help files that can bring you up to speed, as well as links. The game also has a player council, so if you're utterly lost you can use the "ask" function to get you right back on track.

Character creation is fun and engaging. You can pick from 4 base classes: warrior, priest, rogue, or wizard, and there are 25 races total to choose from, each with a descriptive help file to help you decide which to play. The basic races are human, dwarf, elf, halfling, half-elf, orc, gnome, and planetouched, with each (except humans) having a number of sub-races available. Each race has its own benefits, and as such, some races are restricted to new players until they get used to the game ad have learned the ins and outs.

You also get to choose your character's alignment from a list of 9 standard ones. It's important to act your alignment, as certain NPCs react to you depending on it.

My personal favourite part of the game is the faith system. Your character can follow one of 33 coded Forgotten Realms deities, or can apply to follow one of the many uncoded deities that exist within the Forgotten Realms setting. Following a coded deity has a number of benefits, from coded supplication items to domain prayers for clerics, not to mention the roleplay that comes from following a god in character. When a character follows a god, she is, essentially, given an in-character family, plus, probably, a group of enemies. For example, followers of Selune will not suffer followers of Shar, and vice versa. While uncoded deities provide little actual coded benefit, they do provide unique roleplay that might not be seen otherwise.

There are numerous areas, built by players and administrators alike, to expand on the world, and they're always looking for more people to contribute.

It's hard to put this game into words, other than by playing it. It is, admittedly, not for everyone; if you hate typing and reading, then I'm afraid you're out of luck. If you are looking to enter an immersive roleplay enforced experience and don't mind giving the Forgotten Realms setting a try, then give this MUD a go. It may surprise you with how much you enjoy it.

Briefly, I'll talk about the game's creators. This game is unique in that, because of the nature of the code, anyone can contribute to it, whether it's by helping with code testing or building areas for players to adventure in. Currently the game's version is 4.1, having been expanded from 1990's original DikuMUD code by Martin Gallwey and a number of others. Martin Gallwey is the most noteworthy, as he has been the game's main coder from the beginning and remains so today.

I have included a little screenshot here for your benefit, to show what the game looks like. Don't be daunted--you grow accustomed to the amount of text really quickly, and the character creation process eases you nicely into it.

Hope to see you in Waterdeep sometime.

-K8-bit, otherwise occasionally known as Tandria, Jezebel, Kelykii, Lucine, and a plethora of other characters

Public service announcement and Cassiopeia Drift

One of the things I want to make clear about this blog is that we write about indie games.

Shocking, I know.

But when I say we write about indie games, I mean that we write about them in all stages of development. This is all to say that if you have a project you're working on that you want featured, let us know. If you need help with some crowd-sourcing, let us know. thisindiegameblog was created to spread the indie love, and if that requires us helping draw attention to some projects in the works, then so be it.

That said, we won't be able to feature every project. But we'll certainly do our best!

Now that all that business talk is out of the way, let's talk about Cassiopeia Drift.

This project is currently being funded on Indiegogo. It's an MMO space adventure title based in a post-apolcalyptic society. Human societies, in this game, are completely decimated, and all humans are exiled from their own galaxy for mysterious reasons. Since they're exiled, they're forced to explore this new galaxy and adapt.

You have a choice of four different factions to play as, and game mechanics include building ships, commanding space stations, flying around space to your heart's content, and managing shops. It promises to provide a rich player atmosphere with a diverse and growing science fiction world.

As far as contributor incentives go, donating to this game will give you a variety of tiers. Some of these incentives include the ability to design races (at the $500 mark). At the $5,000 mark, you actually contribute to a large portion of game design. Have you ever wanted to gain valuable game dev experience? The Admiral of the Fleet tier could give you just that. If I had $5,000 to spare, I'd certainly do it!

Funding ends March 24th, so if this seems like a project that interests you, please throw them a few dollars and get some neat rewards along the way. If you want to find out more, check out this thread in the Crowd Funding Forum. There are lots of pictures and FAQ answers.

-K8-bit

Taking a step back with Knytt and Rebuild

This week, I wanted to feature a couple of games that actually introduced me to the indie gaming community in the first place. One of them came from a bizarre set of TVTropes searches, and the other came from... actually, I don't remember where I found it. Rebuild introduced me to Kongregate and got me signed up for it in the first place, and Knytt showed me just how beautiful gaming simplicity can be.

If you've read my blog before, you'll know that Journey was the game that really pushed me into the indie game circle, but these two both paved the way. Before these games, I didn't really understand what browser-based games, or games created by small studios, were capable of producing.

Rebuild I got very into. I actually played it through, straight from start until finish without moving from my seat. This took about four hours, but I didn't really care. The game is a turn-based strategy that follows an "after the end" premise; the world has been overrun by zombies, and you are among the last survivors. Your goal is to dig your heels in and rebuild what's left of your city.

I'm a big fan of zombie culture, from video games to books (I've even written one myself, but that's a story for another blog). Being a fan, I know that a lot of works in the genre can blend into obscurity, since there's so much content, and some times works can rely too much on the zombie content to be really very good. Rebuild doesn't suffer from this. It's a solid strategy game, and it's very addicting.

Knytt is a beautiful little nonviolent platformer. It may have minimalist graphics and gameplay, but it's very atmospheric, relaxing and all-around lovely. Apparently Nifflas, the game's creator, has cited Fumito Ueda, the creator of ICO, as an inspiration. Because all you can do in the game is navigate the beautiful landscapes, climb, jump and locate missing UFO parts, it's easy to see why. The music is also simple and mostly atmospheric.

As this isn't the same as my typical reviews, I want to give you the opportunity to play these games for yourself without any sort of bias on my part. You'll see, I'm sure, why I love them so much.

I do have another couple of reviews lined up for this week, hopefully. I played some really neat ones over the weekend.

-K8-bit

Demons vs. Fairyland, Bleed for Speed

I received an e-mail from Kongregate with a list of games that were new this week, and thought I'd pick one at random, as I didn't have the first idea what to write about this week.

I went on Newgrounds and flipped through the "Popular" section to select a random title from there, as well. Here are the games I chose.

Demons vs. Fairyland

In this tower defense style game, you play as the antagonists: the demons. You have kidnapped the children of Fairyland, and Fairyland's residents are trying to come back to collect them. As the demons, you spend the entirety of the game defending the children and keeping the citizens of Fairyland from taking them back.

The game has a number of options available to you. Firstly, you are able to customise difficulty and earn bonus experience based on what you change and to what degree. You can also earn points, which can be used to improve your roster and upgrade.

This was what my set up looked like.

You get three different monsters to choose from, and you can upgrade those the higher the level you play. Each monster has two different "ultimate forms" to choose from. Archers rely on speed, Puddle of the Monster has powerful magic at its disposal, and Haunted Houses contain skeletons for physical, ground-based damage.

The game spans 12 levels and you can replay them until you're satisfied with your result. The aim is to finish each level with 1 or more of the fairy children still behind. The best case scenario is that you have all five and none of them have even been touched by Fairyland's denizens. If you are able to get through a level without any of the children being touched, you earn three stars.

Another option you have, when dealing with the fairy kingdom, is to use spells to get them out of your way. If you happen to notice that some of your monsters didn't do a very good job at keeping one of the bigger creatures away, you can pause the game and send a Chain Lighting spell after them. You can set up totems for your monsters to steal gold or mana as well, which will help you expand or upgrade your monsters.

One of the earlier levels.

Stylistically, it's a very fun game, with cell-shaded backgrounds and quirky pixel characters. The music isn't too distracting, which is a good thing. One of the things I liked about it was the fact that you knew if you didn't have the right setup within the first couple of waves, and you have the option to restart.

I didn't play around with the difficulty customisation too much, but I recommend giving it a shot if you're looking for a challenging tower defense. I didn't have too much trouble playing it through on normal setting, but there was just enough of a challenge to keep it interesting.

Bleed for Speed

This is a bizarre and somewhat eerie avoid-style HTML5 game, in which you play a white blood cell navigating an apparently endless series of blood vessels. The aim is simple: you navigate the blood vessels, avoiding the nasty clots at all costs, and allow your white blood cells to multiply while letting as few die as possible.

The graphics are stylish but a little unnerving. The sight of a dead white blood cell is as off-putting as you'd expect.

A pair of dead white blood cells in the lower left corner, in case you didn't feel like sleeping tonight.

The higher your white blood cell count, the faster you go. The game's camera zooms out, as well, allowing you a broader view of the obstacles in your path. You can control where the white blood cells go by sending out a pulse, i.e., clicking directly beside the cell. The cells get happier the faster you go, which is also a little creepy.

Happy little white blood cells!

The only problem I experienced was that the music would skip and the game would chug a little the more white cells were added to the mix. This is likely, however, HTML5 platform over the game.

The game lasts as long as you make it, and keeps track of your high score. Mine was a meager 4295, and I think the most white cells I was able to keep alive at any point were about 9. I recommend giving it a try if you're looking for something weird and different, and if you like to challenge yourself by beating your own high score.

I had a couple of other games I'd like to review, but I'll save those for another time. Next week I'm going to talk about two of my all-time favourite indie games, and may do another post after that.

Sorry for the late update this week! Our ISP was acting up yesterday and wouldn't let me complete my posts. We're back to our regularly scheduled program, now.


-K8-bit

Plague Inc. and The Mirror Lied

Today I'm going to be reviewing two vastly different games. One is for iOS/Android, and the other is for the PC.

Plague Inc.

If you have a smartphone, chances are you've at least heard of this strategy game. It's a title released by Ndemic Creations, which only has one person--impressive, to say the least! The game has you beginning a plague that is meant to wipe out the entirety of civilisation as we know it. You can choose how your plague behaves by spending DNA points, currency you earn by infecting countries, on various attributes. You decide how your plague is spread, its symptoms, and how it reacts to medication and lab research.

To say the game is a little morbid would be an understatement, but to say it's a little addictive would be the same. B13 and I have been having a blast with this game. It requires careful planning on the gamer's part, especially in the later stages, and though it can get frustrating at times, wiping out the entirety of the population is scarily satisfying, when you're able to do it.

 Plague Inc. has three difficulty modes: casual, normal and brutal, and 7 different plague types, ranging from a simple bacteria all the way to a bio-weapon, and you can unlock different genes to customise your plague with. For a $1 app store game, it is extremely versatile and great for any type of player.

The game also features an eerie, haunting soundtrack, and a stylish interface. It's surprising, to say the least, that all of this was done by one person. There are also a couple of humorous Easter eggs that you can find if you have the right combination of symptoms.

The Mirror Lied

This little oddity (or "experimental pretention", as the game's creator likes to call it) was created by Freebird Games--the same lovely folks who made the masterpiece To the Moon. It's what I would call a post-modern fairy tale, in that nothing is as it seems and anything you take away from it will be your own to decide. It's created, again, with the RPGMaker engine, thus it is a top-down view, and shares stylistic similarities with To the Moon. Nothing is directly told to you, and the interpretation is up to you.

You play as a young girl named Leah. One day, a bird flies over the roof of your house. The game begins from there.

You can interact with just about anything in the game and collect items as you explore. The game only takes place in the house, and it would seem that time passes every time you execute an action that's integral to the plot. Keep an eye on the various pictures throughout the game.

I won't go on much further about the game itself. It's very short, lasting no more than forty-five minutes if you really stretch it out. It features beautiful, catchy music that seems to sum up the game as a whole: a childlike music box theme with a dark undertone. It's a bit confusing on the surface, but the game will give you everything you need to succeed. Take a half hour and a cup of tea and give it a play to see what I mean.

Before I go, I'd like to give a little shout out to Daniel Albu, the creator of Square Madness. He has a new game out for Androids called MemAudio. Unfortunately I only have an iPhone, and the same goes for B13, so neither of us are able to play it. If you can, though, you definitely should, and please let me know how it is!

I've been playing through Ni No Kuni in my spare time lately, so I haven't been playing as many indie games as I'd like, hence I'm reviewing an iOS game and a short one this week. If you have any other little games you'd like me to try out in the next few weeks, as usual, send me a comment or a message. I'd love to play them!

-K8-bit

To the Moon

Sometimes, I play a game that strikes me so much that I immediately need to talk about it. In fact, that's the main reason I started this blog to begin with: to talk about games that stick with me after I've played them. To the Moon by Freebird Games is one of those games.

I was watching the first episode of a Let's Play on Youtube, and after the first five minutes I had to stop watching it because I knew I wanted to play it for myself. I finally got around to it this week and I'm glad I did. Being that I've just recently taken up reviewing indie games, I'm a bit late coming across this one, but I suppose I'm better late than never.

 To the Moon is a story of a man named John who is on his deathbed. The story is driven by characters Dr. Eva Rosalene and Dr. Neil Watts, who both work for the Sigmund Corporation. The corporation revolves around granting a dying person's wish in the form of artificially implanted memories. John's final wish is to go to the moon, and it's up to Dr. Rosalene and Dr. Watts to figure out how to get him there.

Firstly, for a game created with the RPGMaker engine, this is a stunning work of art. It also truly shows off what the engine is capable of, because you never once enter into a battle. It's classified as an RPG, but it's more of an adventure/visual novel hybrid with a couple of puzzle elements tossed in. I've added a couple of screenshots, both from within the first five minutes of gameplay, so as not to spoil anything. There is a startling amount of detail in every tile, giving a visual representation of the sheer amount of care and dedication that went into this game. The memory sequences have a disjointedness to them that is extremely effective; characters randomly appear and colours fade, giving the effect of a real memory. There is one section that has the lines in a basketball court drawn incorrectly because John didn't remember what they really looked like.

To the Moon game had a number of musical moments that, alone, could bring a person to tears. Give the game's Bandcamp a listen and you'll see what I mean. The music was moving and set the perfect tone for a game that was so emotionally rich. Composed in a collaboration with Kan Gao, the game's creator and director, and Laura Shigihara of Plants Vs. Zombies fame, the score is stirring. The sound presentation is well done as well, with particular attention to detail. For example, if you go upstairs while someone is playing the piano, you may notice it becomes muffled. The nature sounds are realistic and fittingly soothing.

The story is complex and brilliantly crafted. Playing through a second time will reveal parallels and ties that you wouldn't understand on the first playthrough. In typical indie game fashion, it has a way of immersing the player into the story in ways that other media, typically films and books, cannot. Games like To the Moon reveal, to me, that video games are the future of storytelling. I believe that games are one of the most powerful storytelling tools we have now, but they're often overlooked as trivial entertainment.

Which isn't to say, of course, that it wasn't an entertaining game! While it left me weeping for a solid ten minutes after the credits had finished rolling, there was plenty of humor. For example, Dr. Watts initiates a battle scene with a squirrel. Just when you think there may be some battle elements to the game after all, you are accused by a young girl of abusing animals. Both Dr. Watts and Dr. Rosalene have amusing character quirks, such as Dr. Rosalene's food-related interjections ("for walnut's sake!"). John's favourite food is pickled olives, which, consequently, is my favourite food, too. During one of the scenes I just couldn't take it anymore and had to go to the fridge to get the remaining half jar to scarf down.

The game clocks in at somewhere around 4 hours long. Come prepared with some tissues for the end, because this game will not go easy on your emotions. You will probably cry. I hope it casts its spell over you, too.

The game won a well-deserved award and a sequel is, apparently, in the works, following the next patient on Dr. Watts' and Dr. Rosalene's adventures. The ending of the game suggests that there may be several more "episodes" to look forward to, each following new patients.

You can bet I'll be reviewing another of Freebird Games' titles in the near future. I was very impressed and impacted by this beautiful, sad, intricate and funny story. No amount of words I can give it will do it justice. Play it through and see what I mean. The game is available on Steam and on its website for $10, but you can also download a one-hour long demo for free.

-K8-bit

Cloud

Cloud

This week, I wanted to take a step backwards and review a game that started a game company--thatgamecompany, to be precise. After playing their three headlining titles, flOw, Flower, and Journey, going back to take a look at their earliest game was eye-opening.

If you liked Flower, this game will tell you where the majority of it came from. While Flower portrays the dreams of flowers, Cloud is its human equivalent, portraying the dreams of a young boy in a hospital. He's tired of the confining walls and the medicine he has to take, and creates an escape in his mind by dreaming about becoming friends with clouds.

The gameplay is quite simple, and, as is now the norm for thatgamecompany games, it builds its foundation on a principle of non-violence, instead relying on emotional cues. I only experienced a slight problem with the controls, finding them a little trying on my first play. B13 didn't express this problem, though, saying he found the game quite easy to play and intuitive. Looking back on it, I was more focused on the point-A-to-point-B aspect of play, rather than the real task at hand: relaxation. Other reviewers have talked about it being one of the most relaxing games they had ever played, so I'm sure I wasn't going about it the right way.

Gameplay consists of freely flying high above the water, collecting bright white clouds. You can store the white clouds to build taller ones, combine white clouds with dark grey ones to create rain, turn light grey clouds into white ones, and draw patterns in the sky.

B13 considers the game to have a mixture of flOw and Flower-style gameplay, with view-from-above elements that flOw later developed, and the drifting-on-the-wind elements that Flower came to represent. The game's soundtrack is, very recognisably, composed by Vincent Diamante, of Flower fame. The music was one of the biggest highlights for me, featuring a very moving series of songs that attach the player emotionally to the little boy.

After Cloud was released, thatgamecompany was formed. Cloud received an overwhelming response, crashing the server of the website it was being hosted on, and receiving a million hits. The game also won a grant, which is, likely, part of the reason thatgamecompany is still alive and well today. Cloud caused people to re-think the direction of video games, and to consider that it, too, is a credible art form. The immense response to Journey, so many years later, shows just how well they are succeeding in this regard.

thatgamecompany has discussed remaking the game, and though it would be great to see what they make next, I can't help but hope they do remake it. I think Cloud came a bit before its time; the control scheme is reminiscent of the Playstation 3's Sixaxis controls. The graphics are lovely but simplistic and would probably benefit from a makeover, though the art and style should stay the same. The still images are well done and add a level of depth to the game, and though most games would opt for a cutscene instead, I feel the still images work well for this game.

All-in-all, Cloud is a lovely game and should be played to be properly enjoyed; no amount of talking I do about it will do it justice. It's immersive and, yes, it too is an experience. It's a reminder that games don't have to be violent, challenging, or mind-bending. They can simply be.

Lately I've been considering doing LPs for this blog, mainly because me playing through SCP-087 has to be seen to be believed (spoiler alert: I scream. A lot.), but also to showcase a few of the games we play. I'll be doing some research on how to make an effective LP.

I purchased To the Moon this morning and hope to be able to play it through the next week or so. As always, if you have a game you'd like me to play, let me know.

-K8-bit

Square Madness and Idle Idol Head

It turns out that one of the cool things that comes with tweeting your indie video games blog is the fact that occasionally, you get in contact with other indie game lovers or makers. In this instance, I got ahold of a dev by the name of Daniel Albu, who makes Flash, HTML5 and Android games. He has an extensive portfolio, as well as an impressive list of awards, but today I'd like to specifically discuss his recent HTML5 game.

Square Madness

I really enjoyed this game. Its design is simplistic, yet stylish. You play as a rotating black square, and your aim is to collect other black squares while simultaneously avoiding red squares. The smaller black squares, which are more difficult to obtain, give more points than the larger ones. As time goes on, the pacing of the gameplay gradually increases, but not to the point that it's ever terribly noticeable. It is well-paced enough that it is never fast to a stressful degree.

I actually found this game to be quite relaxing to play. One of the things I and fellow thisindiegameblog contributor B13 noticed was that it was easier and more enjoyable to play to avoid the red squares than it is to play to collect the black squares.

Case in point, I played to collect the black ones, and he played to avoid the red ones. My high score was somewhere around 1180. His, well...

Needless to say, he put me to shame.

If you continue to play this game long enough, you enter a sort of state of flow, meaning you can become completely focused and absorbed in the gameplay. The music and sounds were a nice addition, never too distracting or loud.

What I liked was that the game was simplistic enough that it didn't require a tutorial, but not mind-numbing in its simplicity. It's a good game to simply play, and since it's HTML5, it's very accessible. It's good to play if you're looking for a distraction, or if you're looking for something to help you focus.

Idle Idol Head

Firstly, I have to give bonus points (not that I give out any points at all, but you know) for the title.

Almost a year ago, when I played Journey for the first time, I had the pleasure of playing alongside fellow first-timer MrConkin. It turned out, when I did a Twitter search, that the user had a handle of the same name, and I've been following him on Twitter ever since. He also has a blog, where I learned he is a game developer. I don't mean for this to sound creepy, but I've been following his work ever since out of sheer curiousity.

Recently, I looked to see that he had posted Idle Idol Head up to Newgrounds, so I went over to give it a play.

The game begins with a quirky, fun cut scene with crisp, colourful graphics and fluid animation. You play as a deity named Moai, who is shorter than the others and wants to grow taller so he can ride roller coasters and get chicks. A character by the name of Rapa offers to help Moai. If he collects all the switches, shaped like Easter Island heads, Rapa will make him taller. And the adventure begins.

The character below Moai looks somehow... familiar...

You start out simply playing through levels to collect the switches, but then you can acquire other gameplay methods to help you collect different coloured switches. Once you collect all the switches in one level, you can progress to the next. If you manage to pass the level without dying once, you will get a star.

There are 30 total stars that you can receive in this game, and other than beating levels without dying, you can also perform tasks for other characters to
get them. Thankfully you can replay levels from the main menu, since Newgrounds saves your progress, so if you died on the first run-through of a level, you can re-play it to collect the star later on.

The gameplay consists of navigating Moai through a series of walled-in areas. You must avoid the walls, or else you will die. Running into just about any surface will kill you, though there are three different power-ups you can attain: flowers will turn you yellow and light your way, pools of water will turn you blue and also help you water plants, and fire will turn you red and help you melt snow. These different gameplay mechanics
contribute to the difficulty level of some of the puzzles.

In addition, the game has a gravity system that gives some weight to Moai as a character, and adds depth to the gameplay. He can be physically influenced by wind, allowing it to change his direction.

My favourite part about this game was the unique gameplay, coupled with its colourful style. The game was challenging enough that I was unable to collect all 30 stars on my first playthrough. Despite playing the whole game from start to finish, I still find myself wanting to go back to collect the rest. If I had one complaint about the game, it would be that some of the shout-outs to other games are a bit too obvious and break the fourth wall a bit. I liked the game's design and characters enough that having obvious shout-outs was a bit jarring. There's a shout-out at the final level, though, that was subtle and really well done. I won't say what it is, because I found it a pleasant surprise after playing through.

Both Idle Idol Head and Square Madness, interestingly enough, had similar styles of avoid-the-obstacle gameplay. It was by pure coincidence that I ended up reviewing them side by each, but they are satisfying for different reasons.

I have updated the blog a bit with a new link about "Funding the Dream" for indie games that need a little help along the way. Also, under "about thisindiegameblog", you'll find  a bit more about the blog, plus brief bios for B13 and I. As always, if there are any games you'd like us to play and potentially review, send them our way.

-K8-bit

TRAUMA and Tower of Heaven

I'm going to talk about two games I played yesterday. I actually played a lot of games yesterday, but these were the two that stayed with me the most.

TRAUMA

I'm going to start with a link to the soundtrack's BandCamp page. Listening to it will give you a good feel for the kind of atmosphere it gives off.

TRAUMA is a point and click adventure game that requires you to explore the environment to acquire photographs. There are 4 stages to explore, and 9 photographs are hidden within each one. Each stage is a dreamscape that the injured--and unnamed--main character explores in her subconscious. The main character is recovering in a hospital from a car accident.

In order to explore the environment, the player learns to paint a number of symbols with light. Interestingly, the light looks a lot like a car's headlights, in reference to the trauma the main character has suffered.

The game's difficulty isn't particularly high, but some of the photographs can be in tricky, out-of-reach places. Each stage has three separate alternate endings, brought on by symbols that are learned in other levels. What this means is that if you learn the symbol to cut something for one stage, it will be integral for the original finale of that stage. You can, however, use it in other stages to produce a different ending. Once you achieve all three alternate endings and the original ending in a stage, you unlock a photo radar that will help you track down any missing photos. This is extremely useful as some of them are hidden very well.

What I find interesting about this game is that it explores some facets of the main character's identity, but it's all very subtle. She doesn't come out and say much, but the player can tell she's disgruntled with her parents for forcing her down a path she didn't want to take, and not supporting her with other desires she had in the past. She was always struggling to meet their expectations, but perhaps they were too high. The "What they expect" stage is very implicit of this. Because the game rarely says anything outright, it makes some narrative decisions that allow the players to draw their own conclusions.

Reading other reviews online, I noticed that the voice actress, Anja Jazeschann, was criticised, in some circles, for not putting enough emotion into the narrative and thereby distancing the player. I would like to take this opportunity to disagree. The character in this game is not just recovering from her trauma, but also stuck in a period of deep unhappiness that, to me, sounds like she's been suffering from for awhile, but hasn't really begun to address it until she is hospitalised. The alternate ending implies that her problems are there to stay, as well. As such, the voice actress' hopeless tone is both accurate and immersive.

This game was somewhat reminiscent of MYST for me. When I was playing MYST, I always found the intense puzzles to be a distraction from what, in my mind, was the true star of the game: the moody and atmospheric environments. This game delivered what I've been wanting for a long time.






Tower of Heaven

This game was simply beautiful, and I mean that in the most literal way possible: the graphics were simple, boasting a palette akin to that of an old school GameBoy (and, in fact, inspiring the palette for this blog), but still managing to achieve stunning visual effects. The music was almost too good to be true. For chiptunes, they achieved a beauty and quality that I didn't expect. If you want to see what I mean, here is the soundtrack, also available for purchase on BandCamp. I love the soundtrack; it's one of the main highlights for me, especially the track Indignant Divinity. Wow.

One of the first things I noticed about this game was how hard it was. The creator even has a disclaimer stating as much. You will probably get frustrated getting to the end, but it will be worth it. You'll feel accomplished, too. You get unlimited lives, which is great, because you'll probably need them.

Imagine if you will: you're on a timer to defeat the already dangerous level, then you're told you can't touch a certain colour of block, the sides of any blocks, nor can you walk left. If you do any of these things, you will die. Also, touching so much as a vine or a blade of grass will kill you in later levels. Oh, and you're timed, too. That is what happens in this game. You receive a tally of deaths at the end. I got 297. Yikes.

You start the game and you're alone on the stairs to a tower where a deity lives. This deity is insulted at your insolence for daring to climb up his tower, and he threatens you with smiting if you don't get to the next level in the right amount of time.

It's a platformer with some puzzle elements. Usually the levels are arranged in such a way that it becomes very difficult for you to complete them without dying at least once. Or at least five times.

I very much enjoyed the game, particularly for the atmospheric quality the soundtrack and graphics give it. Some levels were frustrating because I'm really bad at games but that made it all the more satisfying when I got to the end. What I liked about the difficulty level was that while yes, the game was very hard, it was never hard to a point that I didn't think I could do it. The unlimited lives helped with that, I think.

Here's a clip of a Let's Play of it, as it's a Newgrounds game and it sadly doesn't have a trailer. It's not a very long game, so if you really want to get the full experience I recommend only watching a few minutes.



That's it for those two games! I recommend trying them both. If you have any recommendations for me to play, give me a shout in the comments section.

This is the first actual post here at thisindiegameblog, so I wanted to take this opportunity to say thanks for reading. I'm a big lover of indie games and I feel that the more indie games are talked about, the more they'll be played, and the more they're played, the better the creators will be recognised. Happy New Year! May 2013 be filled with many new wonderful indie games for us all to play!

-K8-bit

Finishing the Swan

Today, I braved the Boxing Day shopping rush to grab something other than a deal. It was a PSN card, so that I could download and enjoy a breathtaking PSN title called The Unfinished Swan. I played the demo last night and was immediately drawn (or painted, in keeping with the theme) to it, so I knew I had to play it as soon as I could.


This game was released as a partnership with Santa Monica Studio's incubation program, which also released other fine independent titles such as Flower and Journey. Naturally, I had high hopes for this game.

 

You play as a young boy named Monroe whose mother has passed away. She loved to paint pictures of animals, but she would never finish them. When she died, he got to take one of her paintings as a memento, and it was a picture of an unfinished swan.

One night, Monroe awakens from his sleep, and the swan has gone missing from the painting. He goes to look for it, and he's pulled into a white world where he must begin by throwing balls of black paint to reveal his surroundings. All the while, he is following the golden footprints of the swan to try and track it down.

As the player, you watch the surroundings evolve from simplistic white canvas that reveals pathways and creatures through the thrown black paint balls, to landscapes that feature simple white with grey shadows, to all-around elaborate, inverted dark-to-light levels. The gameplay evolves from splattering paintballs, to using water balloons to grow vines that you can climb across, to creating blocks in an alternate dimension that will transfer to the regular dimension. Each chapter of the story teaches you how to play the game through sheer experimentation and simple puzzles that will bring you closer to completing the story. The puzzles never get too difficult, and the gameplay is very minimalistic, making it a good choice for experienced gamers and casual gamers alike. You can simply pick it up and play it.

Some of the game's concept art.

Design-wise, it relies on minimalistic colours, shapes and designs, and the character designs possess a nostalgic, Petit Prince-like quality. The world, though mainly empty of characters, is full of breathtaking scenery, reminiscent of ICO. Its gameplay, though it uses a number of different mechanics to bring it to life, can be summed up as a platformer, though, as many games are, this game is so much more than that. It's one of those refreshing games that is simple but complex. It creates a new idea of what gaming can look like, and the direction it might be headed.

Another interesting component of the story is the unexpected dual storyline. At first, you're witnessing Monroe's story alone, but as the game progresses, the story of a self-absorbed king begins to unfold, to the point that his story is as important as Monroe's. It also draws a lot of parallels to Monroe's story, and to his mother's story.

While the game deals with some dark or sad themes, it is considerably lighthearted. Part of this is because of the game's fairy tale-like storytelling. It deals with the subject of death in a way that is overt, yet sensitive and honest. To me, this is saying that death is a normal part of life, and how you accept death says a lot about you. The theme of leaving things unfinished is an interesting theme, as well, but I won't go too far into detail, or else I risk spoiling parts of the game.

The game is a triumphant voyage through the imagination. It's beautiful, uplifting, strange, mysterious, and just a little bit sad. I felt compelled to talk about it in detail after playing it, but I also know I'm not quite finished with it yet. Something about this game begs to be revisited. It's one of those games that, to me, feels almost allegorical, like a good piece of literature. It further cements the video game's place as a form of art and a storytelling device. While video games have been debated over for their artistic merits for a long time, to me there is no question that it's a remarkable art form. What other medium allows you to immerse yourself so wholly into the experience?

The game is available for purchase on the PSN for your Playstation 3 system. You can also download the demo for a free trial. For more info on the game, you can read an interview with Ian Dallas, the game's creative director, here. To add, Journey-lovers should check this game out. You may just find a little surprise hidden within.

(Note: This post was originally published on 12/27/12 at this link.)

More on Journey

Not to beat a dead horse, but I have more to say about this game after a week of playing it. As I said in my last post, I don't want this to turn into a video game review blog. That's not my aim. Instead, I'd like to have a discussion about this game, because I absolutely love it. I love this game.

Here is some background music for you while you read the article. Please listen to it; it's one of my favourite pieces from the game's soundtrack.



Since my last post, I have played through this game 4 more times, making for 5 in total, and my husband has played through once. I've convinced 2 other friends to play and it affected them similarly. The 4 other playthroughs were vastly different from my first, and two of them I found profoundly sad.

What I've learned from the playthroughs of the game is that finding a companion who wants to travel with you is absolutely golden. I was spoiled during my first few plays, and I had partners who were helpful, engaged and patient, then moved on to partners who were mostly goal-oriented in the latter plays, some of whom didn't think twice about running ahead. I got separated from many of them. It didn't sour the experience, but it did make me feel very sad, and lonely. This is especially true for the last one, in which I had a few not-so-patient partners, then finally came across one who was very friendly and let me teach them a little trick (how to trip). Momentarily afterward, though, we were separated, and then I was forced to complete the rest of the game alone.

One of the main things this game has taught me is that you can find kindness in anyone. In that the game is anonymous (until the end--but even then you can retain a level of anonymity), any person you meet on the street can be a person you played with. Regardless, I've been rethinking how I interact with people I don't know, even if it's obvious that they wouldn't play Journey. To me, the people you play Journey with are the same as the people you encounter randomly on the street. They each have that capacity for goodness and kindness. The person you're playing Journey with is, figuratively, the person who holds the door for you, or the person who bends down to help you pick up something you dropped. They may not be directly or overtly changing or affecting you, but what they do for you certainly means a lot. It's like graffiti or yarnbombing, but instead of witnessing a physical imprint, the player gets to witness an emotional imprint. The game's anonymity is also a nice reminder that you could be playing with anyone, making discrimination virtually impossible.

That also means that in this game, any first impression is not a first impression of you. You don't need to wear specific clothes or look a certain way for someone to like you. Racism is gone. Language is gone. A whole new level of anonymity is achieved. Because of that, nothing can be personal; it's simply not possible. Though, of course, with a game like this, the player just might end up taking things personally, because the game feels personal, even if it really isn't. The game is really an extension of yourself: it is how you project yourself uniquely in a world where people don't look so unique.

On a more plot-driven point, this game can be seen as many stories converging into one. This game has seven chapters: the Prologue, the Broken Bridge, the Desert, the Sunken City, the Water Caves, the Sand Temple, and the Snowy Summit. Other things that have seven chapters are the seven stages of grief and the seven stages of life, both of which can have nuances which hint to themes used in the game. I will leave that for you to explore with your own experience of the game, and if you haven't played the game yet... well, why haven't you played the game yet?!

The game is also highly reflective of the hero's journey, which Jenova Chen himself spoke of in an interview. Once again I'll let you read it and draw your own parallels.

Part of the problem I've had more recently with finding partners not quite so engaging might be me. I've realised that I have gone into the game more recently with a goal: to show people things and to make friends. But, it's the journey that's important. The point of this game is not to have goals and things you absolutely need to do or succeed at. It's the journey that counts!

To end this, I have a different article for you to read. This one is about Jenova Chen, co-founder of thatgamecompany and artistic director. I find his vision to be fascinating and genuine.

I think part of the reason this game has affected me so strongly is because I am on a journey, myself. Like Chen, my desire is also to move and touch people, but with words instead. It is my wish that some day, I might be able to write something that moves someone in the world as much as Journey moved (and continues to move) me.

(Note: This post was originally published on 4/5/12 at this link.)

A Petal for your Thoughts, Part 2

...And then, I played Journey.



As the trailer suggests, it's a game in which the journey is the most important part. As the trailer also suggests, there is a co-op mode, meaning you can play alongside someone else. The co-op is very unique, however, in that you don't choose who you play with. In fact, you don't even choose if you get to play with someone. The co-op is randomly selected, depending on whether or not someone is playing in the same area as you at the same time. They could also leave at any point, making your experience different every time. Sometimes they'll be replaced by someone else and you'll have multiple companions. You can't talk to your companion. You can only communicate in symbols, song notes and chirps. You may not believe this, but it actually becomes a feasible means of communicating, and you may find yourself understanding what your companion is saying by the end of the journey.

I was lucky, in that I had the same companion throughout. I wasn't sure if I had switched companions, but my suspicion of having the same one was confirmed at the end when I was told the screen name of my buddy (thanks for the great time, mrconkin! Sorry I kept falling off stuff; I have terrible depth perception).

Near the beginning of the game, I was walking alone when my companion, very suddenly, appeared beside me. We were both overjoyed, and we sang back and forth and chased each other in circles before progressing in our journey. The wide expanses of the game's setting are enough to make a player feel very small, so having a second person just like you to help you and stand beside you is startlingly powerful.

My companion was very helpful, and tried to protect me and signal me where to go when monsters appeared. He would sing to me to get my attention when he found something. At one point near the end of the game, we had been momentarily separated. I knew we were near the end, and I couldn't even see the white bloom glow that hinted at his whereabouts. I felt lonely and sad that we wouldn't be completing the journey together. I actually started crying as I looked up at the beautiful, glowing expanse I was soaring through, quietly wishing that my companion was there to see it with me.

My husband, who was watching me play behind me, saw the golden glow of my companion soaring up a long line of scarves at the same time I did. Knowing how attached I had grown to this guy in the mere span of 2 hours, he pointed him out, saying "there he is!". I laughed, and the two of us were reunited once more. After another brief separation, we were rejoined again, and we completed the journey together, walking into the bright white glow side by side.

Reading this, you would think I went on some sort of life-changing pilgrimage. I almost feel as though I did, and I don't care how stupid that sounds.

The game made me think of communication, and the inner workings of things like language. The entire game, nothing is ever verbally communicated, and it's not needed. You form ways of communicating with your companion, and you learn more about the story by visual representation. Your relationship to your companion reminded me a bit of ICO, in which you also can't communicate other than by calling out. The bond is made stronger, though, in Journey, by your companion actually being a real person on the other side. A story I heard online was that someone played a game of Journey with someone and sent them a message afterwards. That person replied to them in Japanese, meaning they were both able to play this game together when they may otherwise not have been able to do so. It's incredible that a game can bring strangers together like that.

I am truly captivated at the way these games can convey strong stories without using any words. They both have linear stories with a beginning, middle, and end, but the only way to communicate those stories is through strong images and powerful music. And yet, I feel I have a stronger response to these games than from any game I've ever played. It seems that the games with the most minimalist storylines and gameplay are the ones that really tug at me and make me think outside of the story.

I don't want to turn this into a video game review blog, obviously, but being that both Journey and Flower are games that have heavily inspired me (and the blog is called "When I'm Inspired, after all) I felt compelled to share my experiences in writing.

If either of these games appeal to you at all, I really urge you to play them. My experiences are just that: my experiences. You cannot truly know these games by listening to someone else's commentary. You have to play them yourself to truly know. Some people have talked about which is "better", but in my opinion they can't be compared. They are separate, unique experiences that stand alone.

Both of these games are great advocates of non-violence in video games, as well as art in video games. Journey is an excellent example of teamwork, as the only reason to work with someone else in the game is for the sheer gratification of it. I feel there is a little something in each thatgamecompany game that suggests harmony and peace. If we all had that little something in us, I believe the world could be a better place.

Our world is so full of "stuff"--cars, buildings, and machines. In a world like this, it's nice to find some simplicity, such as the simplicity you find in Flower and Journey. The landscape and scenery can make you feel this unexpected elation. It's too bad that can't be enough for all of us.

That is how these games have affected me. Have they affected you, too?

(Note: this post was was originally published on 3/16/12 at this link.)

A Petal for your Thoughts

Anyone who has ever tried to pass off video games as mindless entertainment really owes it to him/herself to check out the game I have posted a trailer of below.



This game is Flower, a game in which you control the wind and a stream of petals to make flowers bloom. Each flower that blooms adds another petal to your stream. It sounds simple, but watching the trailer alone should tell you that it's actually a very intensive emotional experience. It's a game that is directed at everyone, and that anyone could pick up and play and enjoy.

I don't want to spoil the ending, so I'll recommend that if you have a PS3, you at least download the demo and give it a shot. I hope you won't be disappointed.

Playing through this game got me thinking about the things we do to this planet and have been doing, and all the things that are happening because of us. The bees disappearing, climate change. The earth is slowly falling into ruin. It's not pleasant to think about, but it's sadly what we face from day to day. Most people prefer not to think about it at all (including myself, some days), and some deny it. The reality is that the planet is declining, and we aren't helping that. In fact, we're helping it decline.

I notice a lot of negative connotation when the topic of environmentalism is brought about, and I've always really wondered why. I read a letter to the editor in a local newspaper once that said that "tree-hugging" wasn't the way to secure a sustainable future, and that a creating jobs (that negatively impact the environment, in this instance) was. I can understand and support the need for jobs in any community, but why would that ever take precedence over the world we live in? If it's an immediate threat to our world, why would we choose that over our planet?

We've taken the earth into our own hands, and we haven't been very careful with it.

I'm not saying I'm perfect. None of us are. But we can all find ways to live a little more purely, whether it's by recycling more, composting, turning off the faucet while brushing your teeth, planting more flowers, or turning off the light when you leave the room.

Earth Hour is coming up on March 31, 2012, 8:30 PM. If you're able, try to make an effort to use little to no energy during that time. Light a candle and read a book. I plan on doing just that.

(Note: This post was originally published on 3/25/12 at this link.)