Space Giraffe Now for PC
Posted by Derek Yu Mon, 15 Dec 2008 18:53:00 GMT
Space Giraffe, Jeff Minter’s psychedelic 3d shoot ‘em up, is now available for the PC, and features a new “NUXX mix” (shown above) which is less tripped-out than the original version and contains 100 brand new levels. The 360 mix is still in the game, however. I think Llamasoft is trying hard to address people’s complaints with the game when it first came out!
The full game can be purchased for $20.
TIGdb: Entry for Space Giraffe
(Thanks, hyphz!)
Quick! Everybody buy it, or we’ll get yelled at for only spending our money on games we like!
My brain is bleeding.
I dunno about you guys but from what I played of the demo this game seems to be really basic and boring. Is the hook supposed to be that there’s “trippy” graphics?
There’s a range of quite complex and deep shooter mechanics, if you’re into that sort of thing.
Man, I tried to like this one. Got the demo on the Xbawx a while back. I can SEE that there’s some nice, healthy complexity to the game, the aforementioned “trippy” graphics make it impossible for me to concentrate on anything and play for more than a few minutes.
It needs CLARITY. Or else it won’t work. No offense to Minter’s hard work, but I can see why Frogger outsold it.
Must admit I was disappointed myself. It’s just a tube shooter with a tension bar and ramming mechanics. Then cover everything with a windows media player visualization. THIS is the game that’s either despised or genius?
It’s worth noting that the Full version of Cloudphobia just came out tonight. It’s 2 bucks cheaper, much prettier, and 200 times less pothead pretentious.
Pretentious though?
Really?
Cloudphobia… has more? I downloaded that… well, a while ago now. Loved it, but it was so short!
I had no idea there was a full version. Where abouts would it be?
http://www.dwahan.net/Marsbound/cloudphobia/index_e.html
I think people are generally a bit to harsh on this game. The X360 version is definitely one of my favorite games on XBLA. As Benzido mentioned, it’s a shmup with some pretty nice game mechanics.
Gainsworth: “It needs CLARITY. Or else it won’t work”
Yes and no. Maybe the X360 version was a bit overloaded with psychedelic visuals om some of the levels. But an important point about Space Giraffe is, that it can’t be played by just LOOKING at the game, you have to LISTEN to it as well, as audio cues are very important. It’s by design. But if you need clarity, that’s what the new NUXX mode in the PC version is for :)
Yeah, but the whole listening thing is to compensate for its excessive visual mess covering up the action on screen.
To draw a rough analogy, Devil May Cry 3 has some gameplay-unfriendly camera angles. To compensate for this, many enemies have distinct battle-cries to clue the player in on when a quick attack is about to come from offscreen. The “genius” of minter applied to that scenario is to make the camera angles even WORSE, then replace all the battle cries with farm animal noises.
Mischief Maker: “Yeah, but the whole listening thing is to compensate for its excessive visual mess covering up the action on screen.”
No it’s not. As I mentioned, the visuals covering up the gameplay is by design. Just take the Feedback Monsters. When killed they explodes in a visual mess, deliberately destorting the action on screen.
But Llamasoft probably wasn’t clear enough about that in the tutorial and/or help text in the X360 version. Hopefully they’ve done a better job in the PC version.
Ain’t this a big ol’ discussion! I understood the whole Audio Cue thing, but for me, the visuals still went and killed it. Though I don’t mean to belittle what you’re saying, Atomic, it does strike me as… messy. I’m just not cut out for that level of chaos. I’ll check out that NUXX mode, though!
Also, thank you for the Cloudphobia muchly, Derek! Maybe a frontpage is in order for it, too?
Gainsworth: Yeah, I can see why some people find the visuals a bit to much. So it’s probably a good thing, that they added NUXX mode.
Level 64 is the greatest level to appear in a game ever.
That is all.
This will totally be my after-finals treat tomorrow. I never got around to seeing a proper video of this in action until three minutes ago, and I have to say, I’m liking the chaos that I see. Of course, that’s a far cry from actually playing inside the chaos, but it has me intrigued.
Until then… rest sweet, dear Space Giraffe. You will blow my mind sooner or later… under the influence of LSD or not….
Yep, this is the game that had people baying for Minters blood. Never seen a game genuniely piss so many people off before.
But yeah, when you boil it all down it’s Tempest again, but with some interestingly reversed play mechanics (it’s all about safely gathering enemies at the top of the grid, rather than preventing them ever getting up there) and a focus on filtering out order from chaos.
I liked it, though. Genius? Probably not, but it is quite clever, in a bizarre, eye-smashing way. The Feedback Monsters are probably the biggest statement of intent there.
Less tripped-out? Why? :( I don’t think I understand this game but I love playing it until my eyes bleed. :)
Bobbers, I think The Shalebridge Cradle would disagree with you. :)
Yea, it’s kind of odd that all the awkward visual effects in the game are quite intentional. You do get used to it but I can understand how it could frustrate some people..
Oh, and if any admins read this, the TIGdb entry wrongly lists the game as Freeware right now.
Can’t stand the perspective on the very first level :/ I can barely tell what’s going on. No wonder it didn’t sell!
Cas :)
In before massive rage.
I fucking love Space Giraffe.
It’s seriously dick awesome. It’s totally tits.
The people who get frustrated by the visuals.. well, I guess it’s fair enough, but if they then start whining about it they can, simply put, cunt off. The whole point of it is that you have to use senses other than just sight to interpret the game. I guess some people can’t handle that, or find it somehow offensive, but the people that think it’s a mistake or ask, for example, LOL HOW MENY DRUGS WER EE DOIN WEN EE DID THIS?! need to get a grip, settle down and go home.
The problem is not that the game is flawed, though it does have flaws, as do all Works of Man. No, the problem is that it’s TOO INDIE FOR YOU.
Buy it.
cuntfaces.
Also, it’s fun to look at.
@Dominic: The reason this game had people pissed at Mintner was because he threw a hissy fit when people didn’t buy it, and got angry that other games sold better than it.
That, and not every appreciates psychodelic furry humo(u)r.
RE: LOL HOW MENY DRUGS WER EE DOIN WEN EE DID THIS?!
Have you ever SEEN a picture of Minter? That is a justified question to ask.
The definition of “furry” (in the internet trendy hate target sense) is not “involving furry animals,” Mark.
It should also be pointed out that the pyschedelia and the humour are separate components of the game. The humour itself is not psychedelic.
I think I understand what you were trying to say, and underneath all of the inane internet humour there is some truth. Psychedelia is not for everyone, and the same goes for Minter’s at times questionable (and absurd, I guess) sense of humour and his fondness of all things four-legged and cuddly.
The “hissy fit,” as you describe it, was definitely cringeworthy, but it was completely blown out of proportion and the rage it seems to have inspired is completely ridiculous (not to mention slightly embarrassing for everyone who felt it, or claimed to feel it). As clever as they might like to think they are, most people seem to suffer from a rapid loss of critical thinking ability as soon as they come into contact with the internet, putting them on approximately the same intellectual level as the average Daily Star reader and rendering them equally susceptible to hype and ignorant (and/or badly-informed) outrage, moral or otherwise.
Oh, and yeah, Mischief Maker, he does look like he’s done his share of drugs :P
Still, the question is… well, very stupid, and it suggests that the game is just the result of some crazy mindless drug binge, as opposed to the product of a great deal of work and considered thought.
I suspect that he has more interesting things to do than settle down for a programming session when he’s high (if he does still take drugs at all).
I’m surprised that he thinks that it will sell well at all.
After smoking a hefty bud from a llama-shaped bong: “Hmm, it didn’t sell well at $5 on Xbox Live. I should go ahead and make a PC version of it, and charge double! ‘Neigh’, what the heck, let’s quadruple the price. Baa!”
hummm,. me thinks Space Giraffe is much sweeter than that cloud thing,. much more interesting to look at (I for one enjoy the trippy-ness, as well I find it much more fun to play with! I suppose there is a solid line located just somewere between “pattern” shooters and “emergent” ones,. chalk me up in the emergent camp! Perhaps this preferance comes from when I am making games I want to be suprised, and challanged, and not just have to re-execute a pattern the exacte same way each time. Not that there is anything wrong with that, just that I loose interest very quickly, after I re-play the same part over and over trying to get back to the boss battle, and find its weak spot. I am trying to create games that just have a ramp up to a zone where you stop thinking and just play the game,. . an activity more than a sequence of events,.
I’m guessing that the increased price is traceable to the extra levels. I don’t know, I think it’s totally fair to charge more when the length of the game is doubled, though it does mean that it’s a little too dear for me to get right now. The new year will see it purchased, though.
“It’s seriously dick awesome. It’s totally tits.”
Do you want to be taken seriously? Or is that some sort of bad joke?
It all goes back to Tempest and Tempest 2000. From Atari 2600 to Xbox, they have become more complex/crazy each time. I can see how going straight to this is like “what is this f’ing mess?” but with a foundation of the previous games I was happy to see and play it on the Xbox.
I have to say that while I dug the visuals they were a little much, like humorously crazy on purpose, so I’m very glad to see this slimmed version.
Wish the music was a bit less ho-hum dance, though. Tempest 2000 music was great at the time.
Lots of people commenting, with almost no one actually having played the PC (PEECEEE!) Version. Because if they had, they’d know that the PC version has TWO modes… one with overly intense visuals, and one without.
In other news, my machine cannot handle this game. Runs at about 20% speed.
Lyx, I’m pretty sure that had been established before your comment.
In other news: Space Giraffe isn’t fucking tempest! The gameplay is completely different.
Agreed. Tempest was fun as hell, and didn’t rely on meme-filled text.
Something I’ve noticed on several forums - repeating itself right here, right now - is that this game really gets under some peoples skins, and you can’t say anything positive about it without them coming in with a snarky comment about how much they hate it/the guy who made it/the people who enjoy it.
Normally, when I don’t like a game, I just say so and don’t bug people who do.
Dominic, what gets under people’s skins was his attitude regarding the sales of the game. It was whiny and probably not a terrific idea for a game designer to do, publicly.
What is pretentious is his idea that buying Frogger is somehow a worse choice than buying Space Giraffe. If Frogger is more fun, I’ll buy it.
On top of that, it’s his choice to make a new and unappealing shooter. If he wanted to make money he should’ve just made a ‘old, shite arcade game.’
Dominic, I’ve been noticing that you can’t go on a discussion forum and say that you found the game to be disappointing without someone rushing to the rescue and saying that more effort and talent went into this one arcade game than the entire past 30 years of video game design combined and that those who find the visual noise to be a disappointing gimmick are philistines who bear a personal grudge against Minter himself.
I just don’t see anything on display here that wasn’t done just as well if not better than Spheres of Chaos years ago. Sorry.
Gooooorrrrinnnng!
It can disagree all it likes, it’s still wrong :p
What I want to know is that if it’s supposed to definitely not be Tempest, then why does it look like Tempest and why does the game let you play it like Tempest for the first twenty odd levels if you are playing for reasons other than high score?
What are you going to do for the other 80 though?
Curse the game for having intro sections reward the skills that are not useful later I suppose. Then play Torus Trooper instead.
SG is not Tempest in the same way that Quake is not Doom. Sure, you’re still walking around corridors shooting monsters, but a lot of the underlying gameplay mechanics have changed, and unless you adapt, you’ll be pretty terrible at it.
Actually, the increased price I think is a kind of remarketing thing. With SG on the 360, as I understood it, Yak hoped he’d get loads of people taking a chance on it. In fact, most people were polarised between the people who wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole and people who absolutely loved it and who’d have happily paid 800MSP or even more (some big fans bought multiple copies). That combined with the extra levels, expansion packs and the “standard” price of a PC indie game is behind the pricing I think.
Oh, and - don’t forget bullet juggling as well as bull attacks. Nice difficulty adjusting mechanic and a good way to score high ;)
this game is nice and jeff minter is a guru, fullstop. Now i’m going to buy it. Also, NOW I WANT SHEEP IN SPACE HD!
It is curious to me why this game should bring on quite so much hate? It’s clear that a lot of thought, effort and love has gone into it, and the result is pure Minter madness. Now, this obviously isn’t going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but so many of the comments levelled at it are simply unfair, regardless of whether it clicks with you or not.
Anyone who has played Tempest 2000 will recognise very quickly that this does not feel like the same game at all. Maybe to those who played T2K or the original Tempest a bit, and who then have a quick go at the demo of SG might think it’s the same thing, but it really isn’t.
As for describing the visual effects as ‘Windows Media Player’, well that’s just fucking rude, and by making such a comment, you do nothing more than reveal your ignorance.
Trying to argue that it’s a crap game is pretty pointless, too. There are too many gamers out there stating how much they love it for this to be true. An acquired taste it may well be - and for many it may be a taste that they never acquire. This is fine - many people never learn to acquire a taste for olives, but it would be stupid to argue that they are unfit for human consumption.
Now I’ve only played SG PC for a day or two, and I haven’t got very far with it yet, but I already love it. I think that the core of the gameplay seems to be down to establishing a rhythmic flow in managing the chaos. When it clicks, it becomes like a dance, and in typical Minter fashion, each level requires you to dance a little differently. Those who can’t dance, need not apply.
Hajimete no Paso Kon, I neither want nor need to be taken seriously.
All I want is to be loved.
Good contribution, by the way.
Yep, this is the game that had people baying for Minters blood. Never seen a game genuniely piss so many people off before.
You’ve never heard of Zelda: Wind Waker?
The game brings on hate and complaint because the author posted an angry rant on his blog at how angry he was that the XBLA version of the game was outsold by Frogger.
To be fair, he had a lot of valid complaints about the XBLA delivery mechanism (the “your game is now one line” problem) but people took it as meaning that he was arrogantly pushing his artistic vision as one that everyone should subscribe to.
Dude was pissed off and depressed because he had worked on a game for a couple of years, and released it only for it to be immediately curbstomped by what was literally an ancient arcade ROM dropped into an emulator - not even a port!
I dare anyone to get a kick in the balls like that and be all sunshine and fluffy bunnies about it.
But, nerds hold very long, very insane grudges. One guys depressed grumble on livejournal will get him years of hate.
Dominic, could you link us a pic of yourself? Just curious.
Well Duh. He makes an agressively Avant Garde niche game and lo and behold, it’s outdone by something with popular appeal. What did he expect would happen? This is like Yoko Ono throwing a fit because her record was outsold by the BeeGees.
“This is fine - many people never learn to acquire a taste for olives, but it would be stupid to argue that they are unfit for human consumption.”
They fucking are though. Disgusting things.
Seriously though, I hate that attitude of “you can’t say it’s crap because lots of people say it’s great” train of thought.
I think Mischief Maker (sorry to single you out dude, you’re just the most vocal guy falling on the nay side) is wrong, in my ever so not quite at all humble opinion but I fully back up and appreciate his right to turn round and say he thinks it’s shit.
Anything else is just plain dishonest.
So what if lots of people like something I don’t or vice versa? That matters not a flying fuck to me, but shit me man, we can discuss this stuff.
It’s so very far from pointless.
Every forum of decent size needs a logical fallacy moderator. Unrealistic, but needed.
There is no greater enemy to free thought and open discussion than the forum moderator.
Oh look, a gaggle of idiots on an indie gaming blog.
I don’t think so, Tim.
I haven’t played it yet because I didn’t own an XBox 360, so I’ll try it out now. Thanks for the news, Derek.
A lot of people compared my game’s visuals to Minter’s, so it’ll be nice to finally see how well my acid-trip graphics stack up to his acid-trip graphics.
Am I the only one who sees the NUXX mix as a reference to Born Slippy, Underworld, or by looking at the way the game feels, Trainspotting ?
It definately is, Jeff Minter is a big Underworld fan. And KLF, if you didn’t figure that out :)