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Tag: Steam Greenlight

  • Gaming Week 41: Fotonica (PC/Mac)

    Gaming Week 41: Fotonica (PC/Mac)

    FUCK THE VERTICES
    The simple graphics really work in Fotonica’s favour, giving a striking look to an otherwise familiar genre.

    I stumbled upon Fotonica whilst browsing notonsteam.com, a website committed to popularising indie games that deserve recognition, but aren’t getting said recognition due to their inability to get on Steam. Fotonica stood out to me, with it’s sharp graphics and weird name, I decided to take the plunge and paid the developers the whole $2.99 they were asking for (It’s on sale at 50% off right now). All I can say is: I’m certainly glad I took the plunge.

    FUCK THE TERRAINNNN
    Terrains are different for each level, giving variety in an otherwise unoriginal game. This level composes of bridges and landscapes that get generated as your run further and further.

    The mechanics of Fotonica are simple enough, it’s an endless runner game that gives you the task of surviving for as long as possible by jumping over gaps between platforms. You’ll pick up the controls in no time, and from there on out its a case of learning the levels to make sure you get as many points as possible in your run up to the end of a level.

    Each level is different and unique in style, from bridges to landscapes, the vector based graphics don’t let up, allowing for some variety in an otherwise simple and repetitive game. Graphics settings can be changed from the options, letting you choose from vector graphics or filled in graphics. (an example of filled in graphics can be seen below)

    FUCK THE ARMSSSSS
    The arms/hands are a nice touch, giving you a sense of perspective as to where your character is and the speed they’re going as the arms flail faster and faster.

    Fotonica has 4 individual levels, each with it’s own aesthetic, as well as a Endless mode. Each level tracks your highest score, and is posted to the games built in leaderboards. If Fotonica ever comes to Steam, this will improve dramatically with more stages, more endless modes, and a steam friends list integration. For the moment, achieving a high score doesn’t mean much, this is through no fault of the leaderboards though, and is more a reflection on how limited you are in the level designs. There are rarely more than 3 routes you could chose from, and it feels like once you’ve got one route nailed down, there’s no need to choose another. If the developer was to do a  weekly challenge with different levels/objectives, this may make the game more competitive, allowing for great replayability – something the game seems to be lacking at the moment.

    FUCKKKK THE GOLLDDDD
    As you approach your fastest speed, the graphics change to gold, which gives you more score in the final tally of your points. It’s a nice visual change that ties closely to the mechanics of the game, allowing you to know when you’re doing the right thing without looking at some text.

    Fotonica is currently waiting to be Steam Green-lit, and I feel it could definitely use your support. The gameplay is solid, and the visual aesthetic is fairly unique in this genre of games. Being green-lit would allow the developer to add the following extras to the game:

    • 2 Completely New Levels! with new awesome electornica music and new scenery!
    • 2 New Endless levels with different aesthetics and music and play styles
    • 2 Difficulty settings to let you play an even faster version of Fotonica
    • 4 new 2-player levels
    • 10 New Achievements!
    • New options to customize your soundtrack, the position of the camera and more.

    Which in my book, sounds pretty awesome. Fotonica is already a fantastic concept in its own right, but with support from the community and a reason for the developers to work on it more, it could grow into something amazing.

    4/5

    p.s. My quick look of Fotonica can be found below:

  • Gaming Week 37: Game Dev Tycoon

    Gaming Week 37: Game Dev Tycoon

    FUCK THE SCREEENSSS
    The title screen updates to include your company name after playing the game once, giving a nice touch to an otherwise boring screen.

    Game Dev Tycoon has been out for a while, but it only came out on Steam on August 29th, meaning it now has full Steam integration. Achievements, steam in-game layout, means that the popular game for pirates has now become a official down to earth proper game. I’ve been looking forward to this version of the game for a while, and finally getting it on release day I spent the next 2 days playing 8 hours of the game.

    Game Dev Tycoon gives you control of a lone man who must make games for a living from his garage to start becoming a major part of the games industry. As you make more and more games, you can start renting out bigger buildings and more employees, which in turn makes bigger and better games for reviewers to give great reviews. It’s an endless cycle, one which’ll span 35 years of the industry, and will start with the G64 (the games name for the Commodore 64) and will end with the Xbox Next. You develop games by clicking anywhere on the screen to start a new project, this gives you a number of boxes to choose from which help you decide on what game you’d like to make (including the ability to name your title). Once you’ve decided on the game you’re going to make, your person starts getting to work on creating 4 different points that go towards to quality of the game: Bugs, Design, Technology and research. Generating these points to create the game takes approximately 2 months, in which time you’ll lose monthly costs (making your available cash drain all the time) and be given the choice on what parts of your game you wish to concentrate on. (e.g. do you want to invest more time into the development of the engine or the story? This choice differs for each game, and is completely up to you how you micro-manage employees time effectively.) Once you game is complete, publications review your game, and then it goes up for sale on the market, giving you the income needed to start work on your next game. It’s a neat little system that constantly keeps you entertained, ensuring that you don’t go a few seconds without having to manage a component of your company.

    FUCK THE PONGGGGSSS
    You begin Game Dev Tycoon in your garage, toiling away for hours at new and exciting game ideas until you one day get enough money to move into a proper office.

    Game Dev Tycoon’s use of real world brands is fantastically comical, including the history of the products themselves. Due to copyright laws, Green Heart Games couldn’t use the exact names of consoles and companies, so chose to be creative with their terminology. Nintendo is Ninvento, Sony is Vonny, and Microsoft is Micronoft. It’s funny a funny look at the industry, and helps to put our industry in perspective as a strange and wonderful place. What also helps to fill Game Dev Tycoon with joy and glee is the offices you inhabit, each having little easter eggs or memorabilia that will certainly make any fan of the gaming industry squeal with joy. It all gives Game Dev Tycoon a certain charm that resonates throughout most of the game, a parody of real life, but a loving one.

    FUCK ALL THE GAMMESSSS
    This is the closest I’ve ever gotten to a perfect game. It’s a shame “All Games” is such a judgemental publication.

    Game Dev Tycoon isn’t without its flaws, especially when it comes down to what games you should make. You’d think that making your own Game studio in a alternate universe would allow you to make whatever game you please, this is definitely not the case. Take for example if you wanted to make a turn based superhero game, you’d think that given enough resources and points in the right direction, this game would be successful with the market? Nope, Game Dev Tycoon ensures you stay within the confines of what happened in the real world in regards to games that were successful. The only way I was able to reach the end game was to have prior knowledge of the games that have been successful in the last few years, so a military action game aimed at the mature market (as close to Call of Duty as I could get) would sell a bucketload, but a school strategy game for everyone sells next to nothing. It’s a shame, as it requires prior knowledge of the games industry, and also stops players from experimenting with new types of games, which is never good for a game all about creating new things.

    Overall, Game Dev Tycoon is a fantastic first foray into the games industry for developers Green Heart Games. It’s a game that’s generous on value, and certainly has a lot of replay-ability. If you’re the type of gamer who loves micro-managing strategy games, Game Dev Tycoons for you.

    4/5