Plasma Warrior
Posted by Derek Yu Thu, 05 Jul 2007 15:06:00 GMT
Plasma Warrior is such a cute lil’ Metroid-type game you just want to pinch its cheeks and give it a glass of warm milk. Boasting minimal electric neon graphics, beepy music, and triangular jumps, it’s an enjoyable run that can be played through in less than an hour.
To quote the indefatigable Arsecast Host:
“[In] the end, there’s nothing spectacular about this game at all. It’s been competantly put together but you’ve seen everything before and you’ve seen it better.
But… I quite like it.”
Short, but fun.
In a way, It like Metroidvania at it’s core.
Ok, I’ll put it as simple as i can… I’m not an indy guy. I work for a major game developer…and i’m a kinda guy that hates 99% major developer games. So, lately, i’ve been looking into indy gamers (and some major developers like doublefine and treasure) for inspiration that games are in fact not retarded and geared toward juveniles and adults that have a juvenile’s mentality (ya know, like the ones that already went to see transformers..and didn’t walk out.) Then i look at this (among 99% of others) i have to ask myself…wtf? Not to say there isn’t talent here or not…but why? Why are you people making games like this? Can’t you guys team up and build something “full” in gameplay that’s worth playing and worth the time spent to make?
To me 99% of indy gamers are people trying to be like me and trying to reach out to video game’s mediocre past. I wouldn’t wish that on my most evil enemy and right now, that’s Dick Cheney. Indy movies are made by 10’s - 100’s of people. If one fantastic indy film developer made a one man movie by himself, it would suck. And this here…sucks.
It’s just a game, dude. He’s not trying to make money off it.
It is just a free game, relax.
Mediocre past? Nobody is claiming this game is breaking any new ground, people are just enjoying for what it is - a competently made retro-ish title. I quite enjoyed it personally.
First of all, “Ugh,” don’t use terms like “you people” and “you guys” like you’re somehow different, or better, than the people here. A good portion of the developers here work in the mainstream game industry, too. They have real jobs and families and responsibilities. A lot of them are probably half your age and are in school.
Secondly, there are teams of 10’s to 100’s of people working on indie games. There are also teams of one. We cover them all here. This is a game made by one guy, and it’s a small game, but it’s fun. It’s finished. It’s probably better than anything you could make on your own because you have a shitty attitude about life and probably not a shred of personal creativity.
Seriously, what kind of an asshole are you to be talking to people like that? Like you’re King George talking to the unwashed masses. Hiding behind your anonymity like a coward and sniping people that have the courage to put their own work out there.
No shit you’re not an “indie guy.” You shit on people so you’re afraid of them shitting on you and you’ll live with that fear for the rest of your life. No one wants to be like you, man. No one.
Well said Derek. I can’t stand when people have an arrogant attitude.
undefined method `=’ for nil:NilClass Hey Ugh you know there is an old game (i played the amiga version) which is named as your nick. Very nice it was a puzzle with cavemen as protagonists. Peace.
The comments section is starting to attract elitists. You’re going to have to dumb things down a bit Derek and start covering mainstream games in order to curb attitudes or else TIGSource is doomed to the mires.
Oh man…Derek for the win. Seriously. Hell yeah.
Wow. This Ugh guy definitely needs to take a break…
I found this game to be quite awesome, and I personally love games like this. Its style is derived from the very basics of gaming. This is gaming down to the very core if you can imagine that. Basic sound, graphics, gameplay… but it all works so wonderfully.
My only regret is beating this game so fast. I wish it were longer. Once I got that awesome power up at the end I wished I had a vast world to explore…
Wow, nicely done bashing this game. I’ve played it, and I like it. Sure, it’s got it’s flaws, but it’s also got character; unlike many games you ‘big developers’ love to crank out so much. I applaud the lone developer for his talent, and his generosity to let us all enjoy his work.
Hey everybody! I feel unsatisfied with my own life achievements and I demand that you all band together and fulfill my personal dreams! Which I am not capable of doing myself because I am a busy important man with a Real Job in the Real Game Industry, unlike you people!
Accept my wisdom! Also I am a democrat!
OMG DRAMA!
(Um, er, I mean, actually I enjoyed the game. It was like … elegant bite sized metroidvania? And as usual, a great write up from the arsecast.)
This game rocks! I like how it gives you seemingly overpowered maneuverability while not breaking the level design. I suppose that could just be because it’s a simple design, but it still works. I also would’ve liked to see a mid-game mini-boss (or maybe a mini-boss after every new power to get the next keycard?) because the end-boss was fun and about the only challenge in the game.
I love this game! It has that special yummy something in the middle… Shame on you bitter mainstream major developer goon! Those are the words of a jealous little child. Why would you come into someone elses home and complain about the food you get served?
“Why are you people making games like this?”
Why not?
No, seriously. Why not? I need a laugh - care to elaborate?
I’m also a disillusioned mainstream game developer and GUESS WHAT I got so disillusioned that instead of moaning about it all the time, I only moan about it half the time and spend the other half MAKING MY OWN games and contributing to the scene.
INDIA THAN YOU UGH
Here is the game i mentoned in my previous post:
http://www.dosgamesarchive.com/download/game/87
I disagree with Ugh but in my opinion he got some good points in his comment.
Wow: good troll by Ugh. Especially given that the preceeding and post-ceding (is that a real word? :)) mention things like de Blob and the (failed) 300-idea attempt. There’s some inspiration, right there!
A lot of indy games are essentially just remakes or clones. But that’s kind of missing the point: a lot of these games are essentially learning exercises or an attempt to experiment with tweaking an aspect of the original gameplay. Some of these experiments work, some don’t. Some make it into the mainstream and thus the cycle begins again…
Yes, there can be a lot of dross, and a lot of low-quality remakes. The same is true of any industry: fashion-clothing, movies, music, books, comics: all that jazz. But there are items of genuine interest that occasionally pop-up - enough to make life interesting.
(to be honest, I saw this one and thought “uck - EGA graphics”. My bad maybe, but hey: I may not like the style, but I’m not going to call the developer’s achievements into doubt. For one: he managed to finish it - I’ve got at least half a dozen unfinished games sitting on the HDD…)
I am totally surprised at the reaction to “UGH”. He phrased an actual question, and he even managed to do it in a pretty inoffensive manner. Derek, the meanest words you were able to find in his post were “you people” and “you guys”.
I expected an intelligent defense of what minimalist or retro indie games are for (like, for instance, “they let designers apply the lessons of gameplay garnered from the entire history of video games in a setting that strips away most of the dross that has accumulated around the ankles of mondern games” or something) –that’s just an example idea from me, who has never made a game and would like to hear the opinions of people who have.
Instead I got a bunch of people attacking a person for the minor flaws in the way he talked or presented himself. I would’ve thought that leet internet folks like yourselves would know that it is really hard to not come off like an asshole on the internet, and we should really try to ignore that stuff in favor of actually TALKING ABOUT INDIE GAMES and what we think they are for.
So if you want to respond to this (unreasonably long) post, go ahead– I’m interested, but I’m even more interested in your thoughts about UGH’s post. Also to the people who posted “it’s just a game”– well, yeah. But games are interesting and important, and if you just want to download and play them, that’s fine– but why comment, then?
Well, I won’t say I didn’t go a bit overboard, but read his post again and tell me if you don’t find it horribly condescending. Constructive criticism is good, but I won’t stand for that kind of snobbery from someone who doesn’t have any idea what they’re talking about.
Even if you haven’t made a game yourself, imagine that you’ve spent a good chunk of time finishing up some other project of personal value to you, only to have someone (who has never done the same) come up to you and ask you why you wasted your time on it. And then tell you that you should go round up a team of 10 to 100 people to work on a “full” project (disregarding that your project, although small, is totally “full”). And then he goes on to tell you that “people like you” are just trying to “be like him” and that because you made something on your own that it inevitably sucks.
Does that sound like minor flaws to you, or does that sound like a complete asshole?
The value I see in minimalist / retro games is that people like to make them, and people like to play them. We’re still learning what can be done with them. End of story.
this game is excellent. personally, I think the metroidvania genre (with strong emphasis on the metroid) isn’t over yet. there’s still room for deeper mazes and a few more creative game mechanics imo.
I guess Ugh wants the indy community to make an fps because everybody else is making an fps.
mainstream games suck exactly because they are design by committee. good games get made because someone wanted/needed the game to exist so desperately that they took matters into their own hands and just started making it. that’s how a lot of good software gets made. (ahem gnu)
Uh greg, Ugh’s point was that he’s as sick of mainstream games as you are, and that if indies teamed up then they could make production-quality (so-called ‘AAA’) games of their own design, without the barriers that are put up by platform holders and publishers.
Unfortunately this is impossible as it’s bad enough trying to organise a team of 10 - 100 people all working together in an office. On the internet it wouldn’t be possible.
The rest of his post is just as moronic though - you can’t compare games and movies in terms of team size; you can’t compare indie projects and mainstream projects; just because he doesn’t like the game doesn’t mean that it’s not acceptable indie material or even that it ‘sucks’… could go on.
haowan, you’re right. and saying that indies should team up, while good in theory, isn’t realistic.
still, I look at it like this. last gen 3d games were do-able by indy mod crews. In those days you could at least finish a mod. these days you can’t even make a friggin new weapon w/o spending weeks. you need a full version of 3dsmax, mad chops and demonic drive and talent.
whereas 2d games from long ago have a minimal price for entry, and somehow seem to entrance the player as much or more than a well-done high-budget fps.
you know, the less visual info you give the senses, the more the mind makes up for it. and what the mind creates is often vastly more powerful than what can be done with technology.
I may be off topic with Ugh’s original intent, but his post is shite. To me, he seems to say that I’m looking into indies because I don’t like AAA’s, but wait, I don’t like indies either, because they’re not enough like AAAs. I dunno, I’m probably wrong about all this.
No, it does come across like that, you’re right. It’s definitely a post that could have been put across more positively - there’s a lot of talent out there, let’s put it to use by making a huge awesome game - but that’s false hope really and unrealistic.
“A lot of indy games are essentially just remakes or clones. ”
No, A lot of games are essentially just remakes or clones. Everyone borrows or steals.
“you need a full version of 3dsmax”
Use Blender. It is free and excellent. (blender3d.org)
Anyhow, the reason why most indie developers don’t band together and make a Triple-A title is because then it wouldn’t be an indie game anymore. It would lose out on what makes indie games special.
I thought Ugh was the devil’s advocate/puppet, or is that NO?
UGH doesn’t like commercial, doesn’t like indie, thinks the history of videogames is mediocre.. what’s left?
Cynicism?
Allow me to register my disgust towards this Ugh character. It twists my nerves just thinking about these asshats who dismiss people’s efforts in a failed attempt to boost their imagined status of superiority.
These people will never understand the fact that all us bedroom coders do these things for the fun of doing them, and not to compete with the latest cookie-cutter franchise or to impress pompous clowns like themselves.
Wow, for a little game that takes less than an hour to complete (and it had save points, why?) it sure has become a lightning rod of discussion. And all because someone said “ugh.”
Let’s talk about the game. I loved it. It was a quick play that wasn’t hard to get through. Personally, I’m in the position that a little gameplay hors-d’overs isn’t unwelcome.
But, if I were to make suggestions to the creator, and these are from someone who just plays games, I would say: Don’t make the game harder. Don’t make the levels longer so that you have to travel further just for the sake of extending the game. Instead, give us more to explore. Try to think of something for people to do that isn’t necessary to completing the game but something… colectable. Nothing necessary to the game but should we want more something to go explore for. In Sonic it was power crystals. In pokemon is was… pokemon. In metroid it was powerups. Make it so the game has a 100% rating that is unnecessary to the end of the game.
I agree with the collectible idea… I haven’t played this little game yet, but I’ve looked at the discussion. I can definitely see how some people would see these minimalist games as “a waste of time” but I can’t agree with that. I’m an artist, and if I considered every little sketch I did a waste of time, then I’d never draw anything…in fact, I got that way at one point, but then I saw that others were doing so much greater and better things in art and I couldn’t live up to it… because I wasn’t even trying.
Anyway, besides that, I think there’s still some sort of mysterious allure of the minimalist graphics style. Maybe it’s nostalgia; after all, I grew up playing games with bright colors and “beepy” music (a good word for it, I might add). But I really think there’s some charm to it. It’s simply another style in games, and I agree that the potential there is not exhausted. As an artist, I also think that good art is truly in a great experience – whether created by pixels, 3D shaders, or paint. Sometimes there’s more mystique in what is implied than in what is said. I applaud any game designer or artist out to discover that. I guess I’m rather a minimalist in design theory, but it’s compelling somehow. One of my favorite indie games at the moment is still Lyle in Cube Sector. It just has so much character. And who says childlike nature isn’t something good to be held on to? I loved the Transformers movie =) Cynicism isn’t that much fun anyway. And what’s a gamer or game designer doing if he’s not here to have fun, or give others a taste of that childlike essence we call joy?
yeah, this was definitely a good game, because I finished it and I kept wanting there to be more, like you said, places to explore, things to collect that didn’t necessarily do anything. the weird enemies were cool. the simplistic art instead of bothering me was kind-of welcome. All in all, the right corners were cut that allowed one man to finish a complete game, w/o cutting the elements that are essential to making a game fun.