Sometimes a game comes along that defies all expectations, but not in the way that will blow your mind. Instead it's the circumstances surrounding a game's existence that brings hope and potential to an otherwise ordinary experience.
Viewing entries tagged
short
How much game is enough game for a game to be game? This might be a valid question rattling around in your head after playing OutDrive, but I'm trying to be too cynical about something that's essentially a fun little game. I just can't figure out if I prefer the product, or the potential.
I often try and think about trends in gaming and attempt to figure them out as they're happening. It's an impossible gamble that results in nothing more than a bit of a fun thought process, but I find it interesting either way. Spotting past trends is easy with hindsight; the real challenge is figuring them out as they happen.
I'm really enjoying these experimental little games from accomplished developers that are tiny examples of a good idea that probably could never be expanded on. Before playing the wonderful Subsurface Circular, I unironically got my hands on Edmund McMillon's experiment; Fingered.
I'm not sure if I've ever come across a Ludum Dare game on Steam before, but I imagine there are some out there. I don't mean a game that was developed from a game jam concept, but an actual entry in all its glory up on Steam for all to access.
With Steam Greenlight slowly dying at the side of the road, it might be worth having a think about some of its relative success stories. I say relative, because there's a bit of a well-earned stigma around Greenlit games, which are arguably considered to be of lower quality than the dreaded Early Access title. On the flip side, we now have a bunch of weird little games that probably would never have seen the light of day without the Greenlight entry point.
I find it increasingly hard to put up with a game that leans on easy one liners and fourth wall breaking in an attempt to shoehorn humour into its writing. It's often on the nose and fails to add any actual wit to the writing, so I'm a little surprised at how much I forgave Her Majesty's Spiffing after it quickly stumbled across the finish line. There's something to be said about self-awareness, but there's something else to be said about it being the sum total of an experience.
Let me tell you a story. You know the one about those games that big studios like to make every now and then as short experiences packed with quality production. Call of Juarez: Gunslinger stands as a tightly paced tale of compelling gun-play and some interesting ideas. These short AAA games are a good example of how it's not the size of a game, it's the way you use it.