When I read what Fireproof Games had to offer at Rezzed I immediately jumped at the chance to interview them about Omega Agent. VR games have always interested me and I couldn’t wait to try this one out as well as the Samsung Gear VR, to compare it with the Oculus Rift experience. They were also showcasing The Room Three, but at the time I had no idea what the series was about, though that changed rapidly. Continue reading Rezzed 2015 – Fireproof Games – Omega Agent & The Room Three
Tag: Rezzed 2015
Rezzed 2015 – Sublevel Zero
I’ll say this: I hated Descent, the original big daddy of the Six Degree of Freedom genre (6DoF). I found it confusing, dizzying and uncomfortable. Then again, at the time I had no choice but to play it on a keyboard only setup, so that might have had a lot to do with it.
So as I sat down to play Sublevel Zero by SIGTRAP Games I thought I would thoroughly hate it. There were two versions on show: the first using gamepad or keyboard + mouse and the second using dual joysticks and the Oculus Rift. There was someone on the Rift version so I took a couple of shots at the demo with the K&M…and I liked it. I really did. It wasn’t even disconcerting to change pitch and inclination and roll around and change my perspective. It all felt really cool and I had a blast, no pun intended.
By then the Oculus version was free so I jumped on it and I sucked at it. The VR worked wonderfully and one of the coolest things they did was alter your point of view depending on how close you are to the sensor. If you moved away from the screen, you would see more of the cockpit, and if you moved closer, it was like leaning over the edge—very interesting and adding a lot to the immersion.
I tried my best with this version but the turning/pitching stick was a bit too over-sensitive for my clumsy hands and I spent most of the time in a constant barrel roll and not the fun laser-deflecting kind. By the end, I did catch my bearings and started progressing but the VR version had a time limit and I’d gone way past it.
As I stood up, Luke Thompson—one of the developers and SIGTRAP founders—asked me, “So, what did you think?” And I told him everything. His reply to my barrel roll was simply, “Yeah, it might be a bit over-tuned, but that one’s a really good and precise joystick…the other one is just complete crap and it’s much stiffer!”
When I asked him how the title came to be, he told me it was something that came naturally from a conversation between the team members. One of them had just come out of making a procedurally generated dungeon crawler. Speaking about it and being big Descent fans, Luke tells me he said, “Wouldn’t it be awesome to have [a procedurally generated] Descent?” The idea caught on quickly between them and when a third friend suggested the underground theme, Sublevel Zero was born.
SLZ was one of the few VR-focused games I saw at Rezzed and like all of them, this was a title conceived for the technology. According to SIGTRAP Games, the right way to play it is with the Rift and the dual joysticks, with single-stick and keyboard being the second best. As much as I enjoyed the Keyboard & Mouse controls, they made it perfectly clear that this was the wrong way to play it, but didn’t judge me too harshly.
I won’t lie to you, SLZ was a hard game and now I know it’s going to be even harder on release because of its rogue-like mechanics. If you die, that’s it, start from the beginning with another ship and give it a go. Luke did say, however, that there would be some hard checkpoints at various intervals in the game so you could start from that point instead of from the beginning, and like other rogue-likes, your earnings and collections in one play would carry over to the next so you can craft new items and systems. There will also be a New Game+ and I had to ask: “If you die at New Game+, can you start from NG+?” I was worried he’d say no and in that case, the game would be BRUTAL, but thankfully, he didn’t say that!
Technology and the pursuit of it are at the core of Sublevel Zero’s plot. The game’s setting is that far into the future where the universe itself starts collapsing and no one can figure out why. Your character and his teammates find an unused research station that might have all the answers and perhaps a solution to the crisis. Collecting technology then not only becomes a mechanic but part of the game’s story and progression. Enemies will drop random loot mostly in the form of weapons—with variable stats—and items, and bosses will drop larger pieces of ancient technology, unusable by the player but part of a plot collection.
Luke went a bit further on the upgrade mechanic and how it tied to the loot system. Using the crafting system, once you’ve collected the corresponding blueprint, you can combine some of your weapons into new ones. This adds a level of strategy and risk/reward management to it because you might not want to combine weapon A with B until you find a higher valued version of the two of them.
One thing that I didn’t see in the demo version was the inventory system. I mentioned to Luke that there were items you collected by interacting with them and others you just had to touch. He explained that the former go to your grid-like inventory, and the others are just consumables. He admits they need to make it a bit more clear, though.
When I asked him on funding and if they would attempt any form of early access or crowdfunding, he said no because Mastertronic had already picked them up straight out of the game-jam where they first built a demo for the game and have been funding the development ever since. In his words, “They’ve been amazing and I really have nothing bad to say about them!”
Sublevel Zero is coming this year to Steam and the Rezzed build will be available soon for download and testing, and I’ll be sure to let you all know when that happens! It might be time I get my hands on an Oculus Rift (or a Samsung Gear VR)! And it might be wrong, but I think I’ll stick to Keyboard & Mouse for this…sorry SIGTRAP but I suck at dual joysticks!
Rezzed 2015 – Machiavillain
Machiavillain was a game I was incredibly curious to see. I’ve always liked the role reversal games, where you’re the villain. My friends know how much I love the Overlord series. And while I’ve never played it, I’ve always wanted to give Evil Genius a shot. So when I saw what French studio Wild Factor Games were doing, a Dungeon-Keeper style game but featuring classic horror monster and horror film rules for killing teenagers, I had to check it out!
Machiavillain makes you the mastermind behind a monster mansion. At the start, you’ll have a façade and gold to buy, but only Mummies and Zombies to do your bidding. The first thing you need to do is build your house, add furniture and make sure to add accommodations for your monsters. They might be minions and possibly soulless but they deserve room and board just like anyone else!
Then it’s time to start bringing in the victims, ranging from jocks and cheerleaders to geeks and virgins. Killing them drops loot and materials you can use to craft and feed your minions. Your zombies like Geeks very much because of their big brains! The more you kill the better your reputation is and you can recruit even more monsters to your mansion. But if too many victims escape, you get too much notoriety and then the authorities show up, followed by hunters if things get worse.
Monsters shuffle around rather slowly, but you can increase the game time to make time go faster, but you need to be careful because overworked monsters will abandon your mansion.
Each of the monsters has a different power. Zombies infect, Dracula can turn into a bat and hypnotize victims, The Werewolf is fast, etc. When I went through the monster list I saw there was a Freddy Krueger one and I immediately turned to face Wild Factor Founder and Lead Programmer, Alexandre Lautié, and Zimra the artist, and asked them “What does he do? I’m a massive Nightmare on Elm Street Fan!” They beamed at me for this but then gave me an embarrassed “We don’t know!” Poor Fred had just been added to the roster and they still weren’t sure what to do with him. And being big fans just like yours truly, they wanted him to be special. I can respect and applaud that. Only the best for that depraved monster Freddy!
On their inspirations, they mention Dungeon Keeper on the gaming side, but Joss Whedon’s Cabin in the Woods as well. For the Horror game rules, a mix of classic horror films and the Scream series. I joked with them, saying, “Rule, don’t ever say ‘I’ll be right back!’” and we shared a nice laugh between us film geeks.
My turn with the game was terrible, but I had a ton of fun losing. I built a simple 1-room house and made the mistake of rushing to get victims in before my minions had finished. A couple came in and caught my monsters brick and carpet-handed and they both escaped to fight another day, while my minions kept at their original tasks completely embarrassed. I’d seen screens of them cleaning up blood and I didn’t even give them that!
You get victims into your house by putting up ads, and they range from generic ones that bring you random teenagers to specialised ones to bring in some of the bigger fish, such as the virgins and geeks! Then you just need to make sure your monsters are prepared and you have enough traps to lure the stupid teenagers away from each other. Remember, you can only kill them when they’re alone, unless they’re having sex! For this particular scenario, Wild Factor have even included a bed that folds on itself, as seen in Freddy vs Jason. You can’t imagine how delighted I was to hear that!
From what the team told me, you can build as large a mansion as you want, there’s enough space for it. The only limitation is you can’t build upper floors, though they did tell me the finished version of the game will have basement for the house’s spirit energy generator. To prove their point they loaded a previous game and the mansion made everything you’ve ever built on any of The Sims to shame! Compared to that, my little murder shack was sad and pathetic, but they assured me I would one day have my own monster murder mansion!
I found the visuals quite charming. Everything, including the monster carnage looks just so bloody cute! The first thing I did with my mummy was make it hide as a lamp by wearing a lampshade. It was too cool!
I can’t wait to know more and will be keeping an eye on this game and try to get as many previews as possible as they move from Alpha to Beta to release!
Rezzed 2015 – Mighty Tactical Shooter
Mighty Tactical Shooter isn’t the most subtle of names for a game but the directness of it is certainly charming. When I first read the press release and arranged for the interview with the nice people of Sock Thuggery, the concept of a Turn-Based Shoot’em Up (SHMUP) intrigued me. I’m used to the fast-paced nature of SHMUPS and the thought of stopping them for moment-to-moment decision-making was really odd for me.
But I had to give it a shot. The game opens with the presentation or a new type of fighter ship, the first of a fleet of millions. But just as they’re getting ready for the test flight, the space station they are in falls under attack and life support systems fail. Here is where you regain control and the first choice you have in the game is to pick your would-be pilot. The problem is there isn’t anyone qualified around, just clerks, janitors and in my case, an accountant. The ship’s AI quickly gets you into the cockpit before the ship falls and crashes into the planet below.
This is where the game really starts and works as a tutorial stage. The controls are fairly simple: there are two reticule around your ship, you drag the larger one to where you want to move and you use the smaller one to add curves to that path. With a right-click you access your weapons menu and select what kind of attack you’ll do, from a normal shot to even a V-shaped and a back shot, or none at all.
But how does the firing work with the turn-base? Well, as you move, and he longer you do so, you’ll see horizontal lines branching off from the path one, these are the moments your ship will fire and you’ll need to carefully plot out your trajectory so the shots fire at the right times and places to hit enemies. In fact, these predictive lines don’t just show how your stuff will work but will also predict enemy movement and fire, allowing you to either kill them or avoid them by taking advantage of the predictions.
It’s actually quite difficult to master but incredibly fun, turning the reflex-based SHMUP into a deep thinking strategy game. I was blown away by it. Better yet, once you’ve finished the level, you can watch a real-time replay of it. I saw mine, it looked like an effortless level clear instead of the hard-earned battle it was!
Beyond the flight and firing, there are other supporting mechanics. First of all are the buddies, the ships AIs, each with their own distinct personality, one more outgoing and aggressive and the other much more protective, almost maternal. It’s a nice bit of characterization, giving game mechanics a voice and personality. One takes care of your weapons, and makes sure they keep recharging, while the other does the same for your shields. They work automatically and you don’t need to worry about them, just enjoy their commentary.
Your shields represent your health and as you take damage, you start losing systems, which means you lose your weapons until your health recharges. As I didn’t know this at the start, it confused me a bit because I just kept losing access to the cool weaponry, and no one likes that, right? Johnny admits he needs to put a bit more of an explanation in the game, but once I knew what it was about, I took better care of my health!
Your weapon energy level determines just powerful your shots are. If it’s high enough you’ll fire three parallel lasers for a boost in damage but if you let it get low enough (by continually firing) then you’ll get one measly little laser. This adds another layer of strategy to your play…unless you’re me in which case you’ll just go through it with the single shot, because patience is not one of my virtues!
I really liked the visual design, which the artist tells me was like that because they wanted the old-school Atari or Amiga SHMUP feel. It really looks old school, with only the turn-based mechanics betraying that. In particular, the level design reminded me not of a SHMUP but of Super Metroid, something about the greenery in the jungle stage.
As we spoke about the release plans, they mentioned they weren’t sure it would make it to Mac, as there are elements in the time-travelling story that were perhaps too dark for Apple to consider, and they didn’t like the idea of having to change the story for that release. Following up on his, Johnny told me the plot involves several points of time travel but he wouldn’t reveal much more than there are five zones with a few stages each and that you would be able to re-visit them at any point.
The stage revisit is also to work with the objective system. Each level has a set of checkpoints separating different areas and waves of enemies, and there are objectives listed at the start of each, such as killing X enemies with Y shot, or take Z damage. If you complete the objective, you get elements that you can use to upgrade some of your ship’s systems. Some of the objectives however, are ludicrous, like beat a boss in under a second. It’s for these you’ll need to revisit later on when you’ve unlocked better weapons as you progress through the story.
As of now, the game is still early in development and there are still things they need to work on. The latest addition was the upgrade system, the one you use the elements for, but it’s at a state where they still don’t know how it’ll mesh with the rest of the game. I personally thought the auto-scroller could use a little boost in speed, but overall I loved Mighty Tactical Shooter and would keep playing it. I don’t have the best reflexes in the world but I love puzzles so this seems like the best way for me to enjoy a SHMUP. And I only played a level using the basic weaponry. I’ve seen videos of missiles and gravity wells and so much cool stuff that I can’t wait to try out.
The Sock Thuggery team are confident they can release it this year on Steam (PC, Mac & Linux), but you won’t be seeing it on Early Access because they already had a successful Kickstarter campaign!
There are also discussions for a Vita release, but they’re still discussing the legalities of it.
Rezzed 2015 – Mushroom 11
The very first interview I had planned for Rezzed was with Untame Games about Mushroom 11, an amazing puzzle platformer where you control an amorphous green blob in a post-apocalyptic world. Nature is weird and mutated and there are only remnants of human civilisation, but we as a species are gone from this dangerous yet tranquil world.
I sat down to play it after watching someone give it a go, and it helped me realise the biggest challenge the game presents its players: you’re not pushing the blob. When you first see the cursor and your ‘protagonist’ your first instinct is to use it to push the thing along, but that’s not what the cursor does. It’s an eraser and it removes cells from the blob, making them grow on its opposite end. So if you remove a chunk of it from the right side, it’ll grow out of the left. It’s an interesting concept but it takes players ages to wrap their heads around it.
With controlled erases and gravity you create momentum and if you’re hugging a wall or a vertical shaft, it helps in climbing. You can even split it into multiple blobs. When that happens deleting a bit of one makes the other grow and that is something I often had to do for some of the puzzles, as I needed to have one bit of it push down a button while the rest crossed a gate. It’s trickier than it sounds, but also extremely fun and quite addictive. The Untame team have come up with so many challenges for you to navigate through, from buildings sinking into lava, forcing you to rush up a shaft with splitting pathways, to filling up a derelict elevator and weight it down to use as a platform and so much more. Every scenario requires careful erasing but also sometimes quick judgement. The good thing is that there are plenty of checkpoints around and even if you die you’ll just pop back up in one of those and you can try again.
I interviewed Julia and Itay Keren, one of the two couples working on the game. I asked Julia about the name of the game, thinking it might tie into the creature’s origin, maybe that was its code name, but that wasn’t the case. The name came from the Game Jam where they first worked on the concept, and Mushroom 11 was just one name they threw out and it became the final title. The theme of the Jam was Ouroboros, a snake eating its tail. Their take on it was this fungus creating itself from the bits you erase. It certainly fits the theme and it’s also one of the most ingenious and creative mechanics I’ve played with in all my years of gaming. Even with just a few minutes into it, it was extremely satisfying to finally make it up a ridge by carefully erasing cells from my blob.
Something I realised while playing and later Julia and Itay confirmed was that while there is a story, there is no exposition at all. You can see the story all around you in graffitis and murals. This is a post-apocalyptic world without humans, they’re all gone and you can see at least one possible way they went out with a crude drawing on the wall at your starting location. It’s very subtle and everyone will look for something different in the game. Some will focus on the puzzling experience while others will look through every nook to find the next bit of lore. I fall somewhere between the two to be honest and I was already coming up with my own theories in the short time I had to play the game.
When I asked Julia about the world without humans she said it was because they were all tired of how all post apocalypse stories revolve around humans still surviving, so they wanted to explore a world without them, one where only nature remains. As someone who’s never been a fan of the traditional post-apocalypse survival stories, this is right up my alley!
Speaking of nature, your blob can eat up any organic matter it finds. At first, Itay mentioned, they tried to make it grow as it ate up creatures but that soon got out of hands so they decided on the blob having a fixed size and kept the eating itself to enhance exploration. Every time you clear a chapter, a score will pop up, telling you how many poor creatures you devoured. I thought I’d gone through the entire first chapter area but by the end, I discovered I had only one-quarter of the organic matter, which meant there was still so much more to explore! The score itself might be meaningless but it’ll drive the exploration and that is always a good thing. When I finally get my hands on the full version, I’m definitely taking my time to finding every creature out here!
The demo consisted on two chapters but I only cleared the first one, which even included a boss fight of sorts. It was another puzzle, one where you had to put everything you learned on movement and climbing into action while dealing with a plant-like creature spewing fire and flailing around madly. It took a few tries but eventually I ate its fruit and it died, falling into a pool of magma. After following it and escaping through a narrow path on the left, I left the area and completed the chapter. I had to leave the booth but I saw how much the second chapter raised the difficulty. You start at the edge of chasm with a massive magma pool with only a small vertical shaft a few feet away. I gave it a try but could never make it into the passage without falling into the deadly pool. As an adventure gamer and avid puzzler, a part of me wanted to stay and finish it, but I just couldn’t at the time. Made me sad really because as soon as you wrap your head around the erasing, the game is so much fun.
One of the biggest hooks in their press release was the fact that Future Sound of London was doing the soundtrack and I had to ask Itay about that. As a lifelong fan of FSOL, he wanted to have them work on this and knowing the worst case was being ignored he made the call and they’ve been collaborating ever since. As someone who didn’t know much about FSOL, I could only judge the music by itself, and it really fits. It might be techno but not the full on blasting rave-like we all imagine when he hear that word, but much subtler melodies to enhance the mystery and the urge to discover everything this barren landscape has to offer.
Mushroom 11 is coming this year on Steam, and I will most definitely get and review it when it comes out. The game info page is already up on Valve’s service if you want to take a look for yourself!
The Rezzed 2015 Experience
I have to say, after the past three days, I like Rezzed. I don’t have any point of comparison though as I’ve never before been to any gaming convention/expo. This was my first time and it was fantastic. I didn’t know what to expect to be honest. Continue reading The Rezzed 2015 Experience