MetaFilter posts tagged with videogames

Pushing the Limits of Sandbox Games: Rollercoaster Tycoonists

The ____ of Justice — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 15:29:07 -0800

Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 came out in 2004, and was received with mixed reviews. Four years later, hobbyists of the game continue to take it to a whole other level. You may have already seen links to the creative ways to devastate in RCT3. A whole other group of fans, however, have gone on to create highly detailed parks and ride recreations. They use customized textures and mods to create massive architectural works that require hundreds--sometimes over thousands--of hours of work. Apologies in advance for the long intros and ride lines for some of these videos. (Yes, even the lines you stand in is a big part of Rollercoaster re-creation for many hobbyists.) Space Mountain (entry way and line shown here) Pirates of the Carribean @ Disneyland Paris Epcot Center's Test Track A glowing tribute to several creations, rousing music included. Still no word on a complete Disneyland however--the universal wisdom is that no one makes it past recreating Main Street.

When is a door not a door?

nthdegx — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 02:48:25 -0800

Open Doors - a puzzle game.

If we all choose world "My" we can play together! Happy birthday!

Navelgazer — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 18:41:57 -0800

Happy Birthday, MeFi, here's a fun free* game! Ikariam is sort of like a Skyrates version of Civ, with the real-time MMO combat and diplomacy that might bring to mind. Also, it's set in Olympian Greece, but only kind-of. Enjoy! *Batteries not included. Some registration required. Suggested age: 8-and-up. Some implied violence and consumption of alcohol (wine). Expansion materials may be purchased but are not necessary to enjoy the game and are, by the judgment of this MFGA (MetaFilter Gaming Authority) member: "some kind of bullshit."

Degree 2.0 mash-ups not advisable for computer games careers

Artw — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 10:11:45 -0800

95% of degree courses in video gaming at British universities leave graduates unfit to work in the industry, according to Games Up?, an organisation set up to address the UKs video games skills shortage. Maths skills are a particular weakness.

Indie platformer extravaganza!

archagon — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 03:28:48 -0800

Do you enjoy classic 2D platformers? Then boy, are you in luck! The indie game community is thriving, and a good majority of its games are exactly that. I've spent many hours playing these unique, beautiful, and often exceptional projects, and there's quite a few - more than I can count on my fingers! - that could stand toe-to-toe with the finest contemporary games. Inside is a list of some of the greatest indie platformers, based on community recommendations and my own experience. Enjoy! Technical notes: most of these games are Windows-only. A lot of them are made using Game Maker, which sometimes requires a patch to work with Vista. If a game doesn't start when you run it but still shows up in task manager, use this patching tool. Here are some important contributors to the indie scene. Their games are renown for their quality:

Pixel: a reclusive Japanese software developer idolized for making the amazing Cave Story. (Note: Pixel's website is currently being remodeled. You'd normally find links to all his games there.)
- Cave Story [DL]: a metroidvania-style side-scroller with amazing music and art, great story, and smooth gameplay. If you don't speak Japanese, install this translation patch.
- Ikachan: similar to Cave Story, but set underwater and released earlier.
Nifflas: famous for making unique exploration platformers. Within a Deep Forest and the Knytt series are set in the same (beautiful!) universe, and emphasize ambience and exploration over action (although there's plenty of that too!).
- Within a Deep Forest: a metroidvania-esque side-scroller. You play a bouncing ball.
- Knytt: a side-scroller similar in feel to WaDF, though more exploratory. You play a tiny flea-like person who can scale almost any wall. (mentioned previously)
- Knytt Stories: similar to Knytt, with an emphasis on custom user content. There are many level packs available online. (mentioned previously)
Cactus: an extremely prolific developer who mostly makes abstract shooters.
- Cactus Arcade: a collection of Cactus's 17 greatest hits. (Includes the 3 games below.)
- Clean Asia!: an abstract shmup with a unique control scheme. Won the Autofire 2007 competition.
- Psychosomnium: a humorous and surreal side-scroller. Story-based.
- Shotgun Ninja: a quick-paced side-scroller that resembles a C64 game.
Ikiki: a quirky Japanese developer who's probably made as many games as Cactus. If you're getting errors, rename the EXEs to something English.
- Nikujin: a side-scrolling slice-em-up. Your ninja can perform several interesting stunts, including hanging onto the ceiling and running up walls.
- Tekkyuuman: a stage-based action platformer. You play a guy with a giant flail.
Matthew Thorson: specializes in difficult puzzle platformers.
- Jumper: Redux, Jumper 2 (for screenshots and download links, see Matthew Thorson link): stage-based puzzle platformer series. Very challenging level design, mainly focused on jumping.
- FLaiL (for screenshots and download link, see Matthew Thorson link): a stage-based puzzle platformer. Interesting elements include slow-down zones, gravity reversal powerups, and the ability to fly in one direction for a brief period of time. Excellent engine.
- An Untitled Story (for screenshots and download link, see Matthew Thorson link): a metroidvania-style side-scroller. Widely acclaimed. (mentioned previously)
Messhof: famous for sadistic, minimalistic, semi-arthouse platformers.
- Punishment: basic platformer. Watch out for the headache-inducing screen rotators and direction-switching powerups.
- Punishment: The Punishing: another platformer with a cruel twist.
- Flywrench: you're a bird-like creature. Flap through the levels and avoid touching areas that aren't the same color as you.
- You Found the Grappling Hook!: a side-scroller based around grappling hook gameplay.
Joakim Sandberg: makes side-scrolling beat-em-ups.
- Chalk: draw chalk lines to kill enemies, deflect bullets, and do other interesting stuff.
- Noitu Love 2 (commercial): mouse is used to attack and throw. Exceptional art. Full version costs $20.
Metanet Software
- N: the precursor to N+ on the XBLA. Stage-based action/puzzle platformer. Collect gold to add time and hit the main switch to open the exit. Excellent controls, but very difficult. Lots of user created levels available online. (mentioned previously)
Jason Rohrer: maker of arthouse games. Uses conventional gameplay mechanics to make an artistic point. Read the Creator's Statments after you've played the games!
- Passage: "my third game, shown at Kokoromi's curated GAMMA 256 event (at MIGS 2007)." (mentioned previously)
- Gravitation: "my fourth game, about mania, melancholia, and the creative process." (mentioned previously)

"Masocore", a term popularized by Auntie Pixelante, is a genre of games that trifles with the player's complacency about game mechanics. As such, they are often fiendishly difficult but occasionally fun to play (and definitely fun to watch!).

I Wanna Be That Guy!: extremely difficult platformer that attempts to make the player lose at every turn. (mentioned previously)
Syobon Action (download link is second link): much easier than IWBTG. Parody of Mario. Emphasis seems to be on humorous traps rather than difficulty. There's also a Java version.

Gamma256 was a game design event that required all featured games to use a very low resolution. Although these aren't platformers per se, I thought they might be worth mentioning due to their sheer experimental excellence.

Dive: see how far down you can dive. Exploration based.
StdBits: very abstract action-adventure game. Exploration based.

Some of my other favorites:

Mighty Jill Off: a short BDSM-themed jumping platformer with great pixel art. Made by Auntie Pixelante, a fairly famous indie game journalist and critic. (mentioned previously)
Alex Adventure: a game design experiment by a new developer. Rough around the edges, but interesting nonetheless. Quite surrealistic. (mentioned previously)
EverEternal WinterWorld: a Cave Story-like game designed for The Daily Click's Christmas Competition.
Love (semi-commercial): a simple minimalistic platformer. The environments are spectacular and never repeat. Costs $1 for the full version.
Aquaria (commercial): recently released metroidvania-style game. Uses high-resolution artwork. Similar to Nifflas's games in that it's also very much about exploration and ambience. Full version costs $30.
Seiklus: an early exploration-based platformer. Inspired Nifflas and many other indie developers.
Warning Forever: a series of Raiden-like boss battles, except the bosses change according to your playing style after every victory.
La Mulana: an extremely difficult metroidvania-style platformer. Made to look like a MSX game. You'll probably need the translation patch. (mentioned previously)

There are many more indie platformers out there. Browse TIGSource (who also have an excellent, albeit incomplete, indie game database) and the IndieGames blog if you're interested.

It may not be art, but I know what I like.

Navelgazer — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 22:03:51 -0800

It's been almost a year since Roger Ebert responded to Clive Barker on the debate over whether games can truly be "art." In support of Mr. Barker's position, here are some of the most artistic moments from games in recent years - the tragic, the trippy, the Saturday mornings, the darkly comic, the downs and the ups, and the rare phyrric victory. For the record, I revere Roger Ebert as a film reviewer, but just disagree with him on this count. I apologize in advance for not including Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, Deus Ex, Bioshock, or any number of other great games which I simply haven't played enough to know the parts to exhibit.

Your quest awaits!

GavinR — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 20:53:05 -0800

The classic arcade game Dragon's Lair is turning 25 and Don Bluth has a deal for you. For one week only, if you buy a copy of Dragon's Lair for DVD, PC, or Blu-Ray from the online store at DigitialLeisure.com you can have it signed by Don Bluth as well as designer Rick Dyer, and animators Gary Goldman and John Pomeroy. The new cleaned up version looks sweet! I hear it looks really great on Blu-Ray. I can remember drooling over it when I saw it played on the TV show Starcade. There was even a Saturday morning cartoon based on the game. If you spent any time in an arcade during the mid-80's you'll probably recall the attract mode which is one of the most memorable ones in the history of arcade games. I still have it burned into my brain. Need a walkthrough for the game? Well, the website Dragon's Lair Project has that covered.

GrifBall

nthdegx — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 06:16:38 -0800

GrifBall! Red Vs. Blue's Sarge and Caboose introduce the rules. A sample match: Bungie Vs. RvB. Context: Since the release of online multiplayer first-person shooter Halo 3, Bungie have allowed players to customise maps with the placement of objects, weapons, spawn points etc. using the Forge feature. Combined with customisable rule sets, unusually innovative custom games are possible. With the release of the downloadable Legendry Map Pack, Bungie offered a map called the Foundry, which is essentially a blank canvas for players to customise. Although it featured an array of barricades, ramps, and vantage points in its default layout, this could be recreated from scratch using the Forge, demonstrating the flexibility now available to players. It didn't take long for the folks at Rooster Teeth (the guys behind seminal machinima comedy Red Vs Blue) to combine the powers of the Forge, the customisable rules and use the open space available in Foundry to invent GrifBall, a lethal and frenetic virtual future-sport (itself a heavily adapted mod of the Assault game type) which has since been a regular feature of Bungie's double-XP weekends and has associated tournaments.

On the Rain-Slick Precipace of Darkness

Caduceus — Wed, 21 May 2008 14:40:02 -0800

The first video game based on the internet's most prominent gaming comic, Penny Arcade is released today. After nearly a decade of being a juggernaut of criticism and foul language to the game industry, the duo behind Penny Arcade put their money where their newsposts are; will their game be any good? I don't know yet, as I'm stuck at school all day. On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, developed by independent game studio Hothead Games, is a 1920s style pulp adventure with steampunk and Lovecraftian elements, mixed with the gameplay elements of a traditional turn-based Japanese console RPG and Penny Arcade's typical brand of humor. The Penny Arcade team divided their work on the game very much like their work on the comic; Gabe (Mike Krahulik) did the art design, and Tycho (Jerry Holkins) wrote the story and script (and each and every description of everything, as I understand it). While I imagine if you're a fan of Penny Arcade you already know about this and whether you want to buy it or not, I thought I'd throw it up anyway. It's available by download for PC, Mac, and Linux, for $20. Also available on X-box Live Arcade.

"I wish cake had velocity to it. That way I could travel at the speed of cake."

Rhaomi — Mon, 19 May 2008 16:42:58 -0800

INNER FEELINGS FROM OUTER SPACE: An anonymous Maxis dev pairs the bizarre creatures of Spore (pre vi ous ly) with an assortment of deep and not-so-deep thoughts in this oddly amusing little video blog. Topics discussed so far: Stars, Mating, Arms, Planet Doughnut, Egg nog, Infancy, Anti-gravity, Cosmology, Hindsight, Movies, The Big Bang, and Cake. All the videos are mirrored at YouTube, with more on the way. Should serve as a decent distraction until the free Creature Creator download next month.