Barts’ Short Bursts vol. 1 – a bit of everything

I really do need to find some more suitable title for this (such as Gnome’s Decker’s Delight Links or Bytejacker’s Indie Rapid Fire): there are so many things worth bringing to your attention and so little time to write about them. Therefore, I have decided to make posts with a compilation of interesting links and tidbits that don’t quite qulify for a full post, either due to my chronic lack of time or because they are just a small curiosity. Here goes the first bunch:

No country for old pigeons.

Owl Country is a little indie title that I have found on TIGSource, but can’t recall how. It’s just pure magic of teh internets, I guess. While the game itself is a bit of a one trick pony, it has a great intro, amusing gameplay mechanics and big game makers could learn a lot from its authors when it comes to creating atmosphere. Be sure to watch the awesome trailer !

A true classic

Other not-so-indie game that caught my attention is in making is a remake of a retro hit we all know and love: R-Type. Check the trailer here – notice how the player can switch between 2D and semi-3D view, really neat. Another game these guys are making is Lode Runner remake, which makes me instantly like them, even if their website looks like prepared by a ten year old with an outdated HTML book (their Facebook page is a bit better). Sadly, this game is going to be available only for Xbox 360.

Penny Arcade noticed the existence of Poland in their comic strip. I love PA and this one is quite funny, but I need to point out that syfy would rather mean spots (as in nasty case of acne) and syphilis would be commonly called syf, which also means something of low quality or not nice. Always a nitpicker, Barts is.

There are also two quite interesting flash games that I would like to recommend for your gaming pleasure – Virus 3 and Bloody Day Out. They are both about logical thinking and planning a couple of steps ahead. The first one involves infecting a system of geometrical shapes as a virus and requires carefulk planning to infect the whole level within designated moves limit. The second one is starrring a cute little Death cutting through fields of equally cute critters. The trouble is, Death is bleeding out while doing that, so player needs to plan their moves carefully. Bloody Day Out is an excellent time-waster ad I heartily recommand it.

Did you know you can play hundreds of NES games online? I didn’t, so when I first learnt about Virtual NES website, it cost me a good hour or so spent with Belmont, Mario and others. Also, contrary to abandonware sites (mostly illegal), the owners of the site have gone to great lengths to prove their website is legal. Definitely worth a look, especially for other retro freaks out there.

Zombiegrinder 60000

Not that much can be said about Zombiegrinder 60000, except that it is a scrolling shmup that allows player to literally grind zombies – but there is a little twist to it, which makes it slightly less forgettable.

Player is put in the blood-covered shoes of a man with shotgun who is incessantly running to the right, killing zombies while accelerating. The original concept, however, is that the action is closely tied to music, so when the music slows down, the time flow also does in the bullet time manner, and when the music goes crazy, the action pick up on speed to match it.

Simple? It really is and I don’t think anyone can play the game for more than a couple of minutes, but it’s well executed, provides some distraction from work (ahem) and the idea of time slowing down together with music is neat. Plus there are zombies in it and gamers love zombies, so without further ado, ladies and gentlemen (okay, somehow I don’t think ladies are going to actually play it) I give you:

Olle Hemmendorff’s Zombiegrinder 60000

As the name implies, the in-game music (I know that calling this sound thingy music is perhaps stretching the definition of the word to the limit, but oh well) is grindcore. If you are not familiar with different kinds of metal, such as for example vegetarian progressive grindcore, feel free to inform yourself by means of this excellent video.

[found via comment section of Rock Paper Shotgun post on something completely different]

(I fell in love with) the Majesty of Colors

Have you ever dreamt that you were a gargantuan creature dwelling deep in the cold darkness of the ocean’s bottom, reaching to the light above with your myriad of tentacles, observing these little warm creatures of flesh, maybe catching one of them and drawing down to the murky depths below?…

What? No, me neither, just asking.

Yet apparently some of us have this kind of dreams and take this matter one step further, creating a game that allows player to control such a creature. That’s what “(I fell in love with) the Majesty of Colors” is all about – the process of discovery and interaction through three eyes of tentacled sea monster, all in delightfully retro graphics.

Note: I like retro visuals, but I am not too keen on pixel art abuse – just because it’s easier to make blocky pixelated sprites doesn’t mean the game is going to look good. Sometimes, however, pixel art really does become art (in real word, too, on rare occasions) and as a result right now I can’t imagine “Majesty of Colors” in any other graphical form.

I don’t want to spoil the pleasure of finding out how the game works, so I will not elaborate further on the gameplay itself. Remember, it’s up to you to discover how to play it and what to do, and the outcome will vary depending on that.

This touches the subject I want to tackle in more detail here on Barts News one day, as well as exploit myself: games are an excellent medium to tell a story that has visual appeal, builds ambience in a cinematic sense and has one advantage over movies and TV – player interaction and multiple variants. Traditional storytelling cannot give you what games can – influence over story itself, pushing heroes to act more to our liking, ultimately achieving different endings in functioon of player’s choices.

“(I fell in love with) the Majesty of Colors” is but a short little game, but it does exactly that – presents different story arch and ending based on player’s decision. As simple and limited as it is gameplay-wise and story-wise, it has an original concept, innovative idea of playing, multiple endings and one or two brilliant moments, my favourite one being the opening, when a little baloon makes the creature see colors.

Go ahead and play it, the experience will be worth it. And if you are an aspiring game creator, read wonderfully detailed post mortem on GameSetWatch to see how the author made it happen.