Tasty Static

Posted by Xander Sat, 08 Aug 2009 11:10:00 GMT

PhoenixJ’s Tasty Static is an affectionate abstract send-up of shareware classic Skyroads. The goal is to race against time and your own life bar to the end of a course of obstacles. Arrow keys control movement and speed with space being the jump button, but it does become slightly more complicated than that, with various tiles restricting certain actions. That, and there are a number of quirks to the control scheme which need to be mastered to beat the tougher levels, such as bouncing into another jump for extra height. The game is set into a series of progessively tougher challenges, each broken up into a set of three under similar themes like RED 40 or CLASSY, with approapriate aesthetic hints to each one.

As you complete levels you unlock extras such as an FPS view, a variety of skins for your ship and even lasers to fire. Not sure what the purpose of those is yet, but when faced with any decision in life generally ‘The one with more lasers’ is the best answer you can give. There’s also a level editor built into the windows version (MAC/Linux versions are also available), and new levels can be down/uploaded from/to the site made by the community, if the substantial main campaign somehow isn’t enough with you.

The difficulty can be fairly extreme, and though the process is streamlined to minimise downtime it can still be a frustrating experience like its predecessor. Then again there really is nothing like these two games, and with a great soundtrack spread with new music for every themed stage the experience is incredibly well rounded, and a freeware joy for anyone daring enough to try to master it.

Posted in Macintosh, Linux, Windows, Action / Arcade, Freeware, Abstract | 16 comments

BOH

Posted by Derek Yu Wed, 15 Jul 2009 00:53:00 GMT

BOH (an Italian phrase roughly translating to “I have no idea”) is a new top-down shooter by Simone Bevilacqua that was originally released for the Amiga but has since been ported to the PC and Mac. The goal of the game is to progress through missions made up of a number of smaller levels, or phases. At the end of each phase is an Evil Master that must be summoned and destroyed to open the exit.

BOH employs real-time lighting, line of sight, and tight passageways to create a claustrophobic atmosphere and monsters appear constantly from off-screen, forcing you to keep moving – oftentimes the best course of action is to simply run away from monsters or run into them and take some damage to destroy them with your shield. It’s a challenging game, too. The demo includes a mission called “Tougher and Tougher” that reveals instant-kill sinkholes and traps that can get you stuck, forcing you to quit the mission and start over from phase 1 (there’s no saving in the middle of a mission). It also took me a while to realize that keys can be used between phases – make sure you fully explore each phase before you move on to the next, because there’s no turning back. The full game has 30 missions, but more missions can be created using a text editor.

This is definitely a polished product all the way around, and very faithful to its old school roots. The ability to create your own levels and skin the game (right down to the menus) is also welcome. The full game is 10 euros ($14) for a downloadable ISO or 12.50 euros ($17) for a boxed CD that includes the ISO, the game on all three platforms (it apparently also runs fine under WINE), plus an instruction manual.

Thanks to Eclipse for the heads-up.

Posted in Macintosh, Homebrew, Windows, Action / Arcade | Tags SimoneBevilacqua | 25 comments

Alabaster

Posted by Derek Yu Tue, 16 Jun 2009 03:04:00 GMT

Alabaster is a new interactive fiction game from Emily Short and various other authors that takes place in the world of Snow White. In the game you’ve been asked by the Queen to execute Snow White in the woods and bring back her heart in a box. Snow White, however, has another plan. Now that you’re out in the woods and alone with Snow White, which of the two women do you trust?

There’s a lot in this game to be interested in, starting with the game’s dark fairy tale setting and the themes that the game touches upon throughout the course of your conversation with Snow White. Secondly, there is the conversation system itself – it’s designed by Short, who laid out some of the concepts behind the system in her article about conversation in games. Alabaster also utilizes simple procedural illustration to lend a little more depth to the story without showing up the player’s imagination.

Finally, the creation of the game was rather unique in and of itself – although Emily Short wrote the introduction of the game, the conversation pieces, or “quips” were written by numerous contributors (John Cater, Rob Dubbin, Eric Eve, Elizabeth Heller, Jayzee, Kazuki Mishima, Sarah Morayati, Mark Musante, Adam Thornton, and Ziv Wities) and then tied together stylistically at the end of the development. The result is 18 different endings and over 400 quips, many of which have alternate versions, depending on the situation. The entire conversation tree is available for download, along with the game’s source code.

But is the game a success? Well, my early impressions of the game is very favorable. The story and writing are, naturally, very good. I love the idea of unraveling characters through conversation and the way you must use this information to ultimately make a decision to trust one person or another. Short’s conversation system is adequately complex, too, although the recurring problem in IF games – namely, how do I phrase what I want to say so that the interpreter understands it – is there. Conversational hints and the “CHANGE THE SUBJECT” action are very useful, but I’m still slightly resentful of them (they can be turned up or down). Still, this system is a step forward from the other (admittedly few) IF games I’ve played, and the story is well-worth following through.

TIGdb: Entry for Alabaster

Posted in Macintosh, Interactive Fiction, Windows, Freeware | Tags EmilyShort | 27 comments