ALL FORMATS

LIFTING THE LID ON VIDEO GAMES

SUPER MEAT BOY

FOREVER
Indie’s biggest platform hero
makes his bloody return

Issue 17 £3 [Link]

Prison Architect Story mode

Introversion’s dramatic How games generate
fall and triumphant rise atmosphere with words
 UPGRADE
TO LEGENDARY

AG273QCX
2560x1440
 As originally intended

W
e’re in trouble. Slowly, every day, we Emulators, then, are pixel-perfect to the point of
lose a little bit of our history. Another imperfection. They’ve tricked us all into believing they’re
capacitor pops. Another laser dims. right. But there’s another, more invisible, and more
Another cathode ray tube fails. It’s deadly trick that emulators play on us: input lag.
becoming increasingly hard for future generations to Emulators inherently introduce additional time from
accurately trace how we got to today. an input being made to the result being displayed on
WILL LUTON
Yet, it’s a better time than ever to play retro games. the screen. Emulator lag is often in the realm of two
Will Luton is a veteran
Following Nintendo’s little NES and SNES consoles, we game designer and or three frames, or 0.04 seconds. While that might not
have an onslaught of chibi, HDMI-compliant devices. product manager seem like much, especially considering human reaction
Sega’s Mega Drive Mini is nearly with us, and we have who runs Department times to visual stimulus are 0.25 seconds, you notice it.
news of a baby PC Engine gestating. But they all sit atop of Play, the games Consciously or not.
industry’s first
a huge compromise: they’re based on emulators. Games are often designed to put us in a state of flow,
management
Emulators are software packages built to mimic consultancy. He is which is achieved by pushing us to the absolute limits of
the hardware of another device as best they can; in the author of Free- our ability to react to stimulus. Game designers spend
games, this means playing software from one hardware to-Play: Make Money a lot of time tuning many different parameters in hope
From Games You Give
platform on another. As the years have gone on, of nailing flow. The best tuned are the absolute classics
Away and has worked
emulators have become so functional and accurate that with Sega, Rovio, and of retro gaming. So when we add that 0.04 seconds of
they have become almost indistinguishable from the Jagex. He is also an input lag, the timing gets a little out of whack, we miss
real thing. But that is as much a failing of our memory avid retro games and more jumps, crash into more corners, and we lose
as it the software. pinball player. something not so obvious: game feel.
Picture the sprite from your favourite retro game in So how then do we play games of the past in the way
your mind. How did it look? Chances are you saw some they were originally intended? The reality is we can’t.
crisp, square pixels in your mind’s eye. But where has During the time I’ve spent fiddling around in the back
that image come from? If you played games between of vintage broadcast monitors, I’ve come to realise we

#17
the late seventies to the end of the nineties, you were can only ever play a facsimile of the experience we
likely playing on a consumer-grade TV through a crappy remember with such fondness. There’s something
connection with a smeared, flickering monstrosity the important missing from even the most accurate retro
end result. gaming setup: a sense of time and place.
The crisp pixel art of today is the result of emulators, Video games are cultural artefacts. It’s impossible
flat panel TVs and the collective amnesia they’ve caused. for us to play Missile Command in a buzzing American
Game artists of yesteryear didn’t build for 4K screens; arcade with the threat of the Cold War looming, or to
they built their art for the glass tubes of then. There spin up Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater in the shadow of late-
were many tricks of cathode-ray scanning that would nineties counter-culture. So as much we would like,
add shimmering or semi-transparency, while dithering we can never travel back, only forwards. And as we do,
would create smooth gradients when squeezed memories fade, and we lose our history – even while it’s
through composite video. ever-more accurately emulated.

[Link] \ 03
 Contents

Contents

6
Attract mode Interface

06. Super Meat Boy Forever 18. Introversion Software

Team Meat give us the latest on The Prison Architect studio’s
their anticipated sequel dramatic fall and rise

10. Mable and the Woods 24. FUZ

A fantasy action-platformer with A student’s terrific PICO-8 tribute
a pacifist twist to the classic Fez

12.  A Place for the Unwilling 44. Couch co-op

Counting the days to a unique The developers bringing a social edge
narrative adventure to their video games

16.  Incoming 50. HAL Software

18 Aliens, Tokyo ghosts, and
George R. R. Martin
The minds behind Smash Bros.
and Kirby profiled

04 / [Link]
 Contents

WELCOME
Are there such things as positive
and negative difficulty? That’s
a question I asked myself this
week, as the announcement of
the PC Engine mini sent me on
a hunt through my collection of
games for the original console.
Browsing my dusty shelves, I
eventually settled on Tiger Road,
an action-platformer made by
Victor Interactive in 1990.

Originally designed by Capcom’s

50
Tokuro Fujiwara – the genius
behind the likes of Commando
and Resident Evil, who we
profiled back in issue seven –
Tiger Road ’s similar to Fujiwara’s
own Ghosts ’n Goblins: it sends
the player on a sprint from
left to right, as enemies and
projectiles hurtle in from all
sides. But even compared to
that legendarily tough classic,
Tiger Road ’s a brutally difficult
game – in fact, the PC Engine
edition is even nastier than the
arcade version, released three
years earlier. Flying bats spawn
unpredictably to knock you
into spiked pits; other foes are
capable of throwing projectiles
from outside the bounds of the
screen. Eventually, I became
so frustrated by all the cheap

56 44
deaths, and enemy attacks that
inflicted seemingly random
amounts of damage, that I
took to simply dashing through
stages without stopping to fight

Toolbox Rated
or grab any items.

This, I think, is the difference

between positive and negative
difficulty: positive difficulty
28. Design Principles 56. Outer Wilds challenges you to improve – to
engage with a game’s systems
Why designers should aim for Space-faring adventure and master them. Negative
simple complexity rewards curiosity difficulty is so punitive that you
disengage from its systems and
30. CityCraft 60. Judgment actively try to find ways to work
around them. Or, in my case,
Creating an imaginary fantasy city Back to Kamurocho in Sega’s quietly return the game to its
from scratch new Yakuza spin-off home on a dusty shelf.

32. Text as texture 62. Mario Maker 2 Ryan Lambie

Using words to create atmospheric Nintendo’s platformer Editor
video games construction kit levels up

38. Source Code 64. Gato Roboto

Recreate the path-following critters Pixel art Metroidvania
from Lemmings is the cat’s whiskers

[Link] \ 05
 AttractMode
Attract Mode
Interview

INDIE GAME
THE SEQUEL
After a long wait, Super Meat Boy Forever is
almost here – and it’s still as relevant as ever

I
t’s been a nine-year wait, and How did Super Meat Boy Forever come to it and make this a massively huge game
to some, that feels like forever. be? It’s had a journey from mobile title to that exploits the hell out of the two-button
But we’re on the home stretch, fully-fledged sequel. control scheme, to make a Meat Boy game
and soon enough forever will In 2011, I prototyped a one-button Meat that feels like Meat Boy but can be played
instead feel like… well, Super Meat Boy game in my hotel room at GDC. I did by pretty much anyone. Not only that, but
Boy Forever. The long-awaited sequel to this by making a Meat Boy character in the I get to scratch my itch of ‘I want to make
one of the original (modern) indie darlings, original game that would constantly run movies’, and I wrote a script for the story
Team Meat is continuing from where it left but could only jump and switch his running that has turned into about 40 minutes
off: you have to navigate levels of ever- direction by jumping off a wall. I made a of fully animated cutscenes. It’s about as
increasing, ever-more-punishing difficulty, few levels that complemented this control close to a huge, massive triple-A game as
and you have to die a lot. OK, maybe you scheme, and I found the game to be a lot of you can get without abusing employees!
don’t have to, but you will. fun. In 2014 we spent about three months
With a fêted 7200 levels to play through, creating a prototype and showed it off at How has the experience of developing
Super Meat Boy Forever is likely to keep a PAX 2014. At the time it was meant to be Forever differed from the original Super
lot of folks playing… well, forever. But it’s a much smaller game consisting of maybe Meat Boy? What lessons learned first time
not just more of what we know – there three chapters and not much else. Shortly around have helped here?
have been tweaks in the past decade, the after PAX 2014, work came to a grinding It has felt pretty much the same. When
main one being the addition of a second halt until 2017. When I was able to work on working on Super Meat Boy, I felt like I
action button. Yes, it’s no longer a one- the game again at the beginning of 2017, was working on the most important thing
button romp through violent deaths and I once again saw that the game was a lot of in the world. That feeling kept me going
desperate success – it’s now a two-button fun and no-one had really done anything through the project and never once did
version of that, with things like jump like it yet. So, I decided to go all out with I want to throw in the towel or give up.
attacks and slides added to Meat Boy and
Bandage Girl’s repertoire. If it were any
You can guess how hard this is all going to be;
other game hailing the addition of an


it’s the classic Meat Boy setup. Saws, mainly.

extra button to its input layout after a
nine-year wait, we’d be cynical. But this is
Super Meat Boy!
It’s been a long wait, but even after all
this time Team Meat co-founder Tommy
Refenes is still enthusiastic and confident
about what Super Meat Boy Forever will
bring to the table. We had a chat with him
to find out what the new game’s all about,
the best way to avoid burnout, and just
what it is that keeps him going.

06 / [Link]
Attract Mode
Interview

[Link] \ 07
 Attract Mode
Interview

feel natural, and you were never fighting

controls to reach your goal. Super Meat
Boy Forever does that exact same thing.
It’s fair to look at a screen like this
Designing levels (especially bosses) that


and cry ‘literally impossible!’ complement the two-button auto-running

control scheme was a bit of an adjustment,
but once we got it, we made a two-button
With Forever, the team is much larger, but Similarly, there’s an expectation for Meat Boy game in every sense of the word.
I feel like each person I’m working with Forever to be a hard game, something
adds to that energy. My lead level designer you have to ‘git gud’ in. What are the There’s a clear divide in the audience’s
Kyle and my additional designers Ryan unique challenges in making something expectations – some want more of
and Daniel surprise me constantly with uniquely challenging? the same, others more of the same-
the levels they are putting out. My lead A Meat Boy game isn’t a Meat Boy game plus – how have you managed juggling
artist Lala just makes amazing stuff if it isn’t hard and if you can’t get good these expectations?
appear out of thin air somehow. My lead at it. In the first game, the challenge I don’t pay attention to it, and that’s not
animator Paul, along with all the additional came in making brutally difficult levels out of disrespect to fans, but instead, I
animators, are cranking away on the script that felt fair. No-one ever says, ‘What the feel like I know exactly what I’m doing with
I wrote, and are making kind of a fully- hell, why did I die?’ when playing Super this game. To worry about feedback from
fledged Super Meat Boy movie to go along Meat Boy. The design philosophy of ‘hard people who haven’t played the game, who
with the game. Every day I see progress, by fair’ is pretty easy to follow when you are just judging it based on two words,
and every day I think ‘Wow…this is pretty simplify it down. Super Meat Boy worked would be a disservice to both the fans and
awesome’. I still have those doubts that because the level design and the controls myself. I get the concern – I liken it back to
everyone has of, ‘Oh… is this going to be complemented each other. You were when they cast Heath Ledger as the Joker.
good? Am I overthinking this?’, but it’s a never asked to do something that didn’t At the time I thought, ‘What the… that
joy to work on each day. Lessons from the dude?! Why didn’t they do someone like
first time around were: get a lawyer, and: Steve Carell – he’s at least funny, and I bet
read contracts. I’ve done both, and so far “ I 100% believe it will he can be evil. This is going to suck!’ and
everything is going great! succeed. The world boy, was I wrong. There are people who
will not like Super Meat Boy Forever, but I
may have changed,
Is there a pressure to perform this time honestly feel it will have a bigger audience
around, that maybe wasn’t there before? but people still want than the first one, and the huge majority of
Not really. Obviously, I want the game to to play good games ” existing fans will love it. I base this on what
succeed, but there isn’t a scenario where I’ve seen at public showings. I can’t tell you
the game isn’t profitable unless people just how many times I’ve heard ‘I heard it was
stop buying games altogether… like, if we an auto-runner and was sceptical, but this
have a war or something. But in that case, is amazing’. I have a rule, though, that I
the world is kind of [screwed] anyway so never read comments or articles that are
it doesn’t matter then if the game is doing written about me or the game. Keeps me
well or not. sane. I highly recommend it.

08 / [Link]
 Attract Mode
Interview

Meat Boy ’s moveset is now



based on two-button inputs.

How’s the 7200 levels figure been

reached? Handcrafted, but combined I figure out why – if they’re being reached
dynamically – how did you go about at a good pace, I don’t push. Having a team
putting this together? of people that hate working on your game
Each level is legit… meaning each one is or with you makes the game shitty. It’s not
being designed, tested, decorated, and in my best interest to do this, so I don’t.
polished. Those get smashed together How well I treat the team will reflect in how
to make one long level. It is a ton of well they do their jobs. way James and Lisanne put it together
work that’s being tackled by three level is what made that movie impactful,
designers right now. Are there any tips and tricks you and I feel like that is timeless. The indie
can offer other indies out there? scene has changed by becoming much
You’ve made a point to say you’re Especially those working on years- bigger than it was in 2010. For better or
working at a ‘healthy, sustainable pace’. long development cycles of passion worse, anyone can make a game now,
How key is this factor? How do you make projects, say? and it has expanded the market. I feel
sure you’re not burning yourself or the Don’t quit your day job. There is a it’s harder to get noticed since there are
team out over such an extended period? very good chance you will fail multiple so many games coming out every day,
Burnout comes from overwork, not from times before you succeed. Do not but I also completely believe that good
extended work. Personally, I don’t get overextend yourself, don’t go games succeed. No matter how big the
burned out. I imagine this is due to the fact mortgaging your house and stuff to market gets, people will still want to
that I have to keep my body healthy due make your passion project. Work at be entertained. Games that cannot
to having type 1 diabetes, so that means a healthy pace. Watch what you do that fall by the wayside. Same with
I have to eat right, and I have to exercise. eat, exercise, and keep yourself movies, same with books, same
A side effect of doing both of those things healthy, because you can’t finish with music.
is that my mind stays healthy and allows your job if you’re dead. I know
me to work long hours. It also helps that I say all this and in Indie Game: The It’s been nine years since the first game
this is all my brainchild, and every part of Movie I looked pretty unhealthy, and truth – can it succeed in a world that’s changed
this game I have touched in some way, so be told, I was. But that was also a month so much since the first game?
in a way, I have so much to do that it never before the game came out, not the entire I 100% believe it will succeed. The world
gets boring. As for the team, I give tasks development cycle. I relied heavily on my may have changed, but people still want
but rarely do I give deadlines. I make sure family to keep me healthy, and they did. to play good games and be entertained.
goals are being reached; if they aren’t, Take help where you can get it, and don’t Super Meat Boy Forever is a good and
be afraid to ask for help when you need it. entertaining game with a very large fan
If you do succeed, don’t spend your money base. I don’t feel like it will be a struggle to
like an idiot. Plan on your money running find success, even after nine years.
out at some point, and invest wisely.
Finally, and I think this will be the last
How has the indie scene changed since time I ask it because it’s not funny
the original SMB? Indie Game: The Movie anymore: are you doing a Battle
doesn’t feel like it’d be such an impactful Royale mode? We suggest it be called
documentary if it were released these ‘Teams Meat’.
days, from my perspective. 100 Dr. Fetuses are dropped on
I disagree. I think the movie would an island…
be as impactful because it’s a movie
about people, not about video games. Super Meat Boy Forever releases for PC,
The human element of the movie and the PS4, Switch, and Xbox One soon.

[Link] \ 09
 Attract Mode
Early Access

Mable And The Wood I t’s clear that a lot of thought has gone


into the foreground and background
designs to give the game depth.

How do you save the world if you can’t even lift your sword?
Developer Andrew Stewart gives us the lowdown

S
ometime during the mid-eighties she flies onwards, she will inevitably drop her
Info

GENRE
Metroidvania in the outskirts of Sheffield, a sword. When she recalls the sword to her hand,
FORMAT
young boy spent half his childhood she resumes the form of a young girl, while the
PC / Mac / Linux / playing video games and the other sword eliminates anything in its path. Mable also
Switch / Xbox half tearing through the woods. has the ability to take on the form of any bosses
DEVELOPER He went on to make text adventures on the that she kills, which then changes the player’s
Triplevision Games ZX Spectrum with his sister, and as a teen, to navigation of the world, and paves the way for
PUBLISHER experiment with game development using the different endings. These forms grant Mable
Graffiti Games Microsoft XNA and Flash. In April 2015, he took new powers such as the ability to sneak past
RELEASE part in the Ludum Dare game jam; the theme enemies, turn them into stone, or even smash
Summer 2019
was ‘An Unconventional Weapon’. His entry, through them.
Mable: The Journey, would go on to place 26th Interestingly, the game can be completed
out of 2821 games. Developer Andrew Stewart without bloodshed. Numerous power-ups and
had come a long way from the woods of High secret abilities are hidden throughout the game,
Green, but it was only the start of his four-year which gives you the opportunity to carve a
journey to bring Mable And The Wood to fruition non-violent path through the world. However,
in GameMaker. a peaceful solution is unlikely to be relatively
Mable And The Wood is not your typical painless; the world is populated with numerous
Metroidvania. The titular and newly resurrected unfriendly inhabitants. Even if you pick up the
Mable is unable to run or jump. She has a sword controls rapidly, Mable will have to do plenty of
so heavy that she can’t lift it, so she drags it careful shape-shifting and dodging if you want
slowly across the ground. However, Mable has to avoid any conflict. Bear in mind that the cult
the ability to shape-shift into a tiny fairy, and as that resurrects Mable believes in an ancient
prophecy that says she will hunt down great
beasts, take their shape and save the dying
world. But the prophecy is so very old, and its
meaning may have become garbled over time
– what if the cult is wrong? How will Mable save
the world? More pressingly after the game jam
in 2015, however, how would Stewart’s game
development journey continue?
In early 2016, Stewart ran a successful
Kickstarter campaign to raise funds to
commission an original soundtrack for the game,
and purchase additional art and equipment.

10 / [Link]
 Attract Mode
Early Access

 ou know it’s serious business when the cult wakes

Y


you up just in time for the end of the world.

He continued to work on the game in his free

time and was grateful for the support of his
Kickstarter backers. That support helped him to
get through family tragedies, a broken computer,
and stressful periods. “My wife Sarah’s support
during development has been absolutely vital, Neither snow nor rain nor heat


nor gloom stops this heroine

and without it, I wouldn’t have been able to work from saving the world.
on the game at all,” Stewart says. “I need to get
the game finished soon though, or she’ll have
forgotten who I am!” Kickstarter, and he helped with the fonts and
Stewart’s typical work day varies depending typography while Maarten Boot worked on the
on what he’s working on. “For example, when world map art,” he explains. “Swonqi is a great  art of what makes the
P


I’m designing the sprites, even though it’s pixel pixel artist, and I basically just message him on game so likeable is the
unexpected dialogue from
art, I always start with pencil and paper. I try and Twitter whenever I’m not happy with the pixel art residents. Turns out, not
everyone likes magic.
think about what would I’ve done for something.
be a unique visual motif “We’re trying to get a SNES For example, I did about
for this sprite and then seven or eight different
sketch my ideas around
RPG feel to it, reminiscent versions of the puff of
that,” he says. Mable And of Secret of Mana ” smoke that appears
The Wood may initially when you kill an enemy,
seem quite simple and stark with its pixel art and I was unhappy with them all. Swonqi took
and bright colours, but the layered backgrounds maybe half an hour to come back with the
give a surprising depth to the game’s 2D plane. perfect animation.
For a long time though, the biggest challenge “And I did a game jam with Fat Bard Music a
was simply getting the work done. As we saw while back, and the music was awesome, so I
in Wireframe issue 13’s look at life as a solo knew that I wanted to work on Mable And The
developer, making an indie game is no mean Wood with them. We’re trying to get a SNES RPG
feat, and requires an incredible amount of feel to it, reminiscent of Secret of Mana or Chrono LOOKING
perseverance. “I’d get home from work, get the Trigger. I want it to be the kind of soundtrack
BACK
kids in bed, and only then start working on the that you can enjoy on its own.”
Of the final hours of the
game,” Stewart recalls. “I’d try and get in two As the release date draws closer, though, Kickstarter campaign,
hours a night, but for a while, the kids were Stewart says he feels a growing excitement at Stewart recalls, “It was over
waking up several times a night, so I was getting the thought of people finally getting their hands the target, and there was me
three to four hours of broken sleep a night for on Mable And The Wood. “I’m really excited to and a few of the backers just
online chatting and watching
weeks on end. That was tough.” see how everyone reacts to the game, and to
it count down. It felt so good
Stewart met all of his collaborators through see which of the secrets they find,” he says. that there were other people
the TIGSource forums, with the exception of “I’ve hidden quite a bit in there. And a few things who wanted the game to
Maarten Boot, who was recommended by a are very well hidden.” be made!” Showcasing the
game at EGX also proved to
friend. “I worked with Chris Early during the
be an incredible experience
for him. “Just seeing how
much people really loved
 anquish a foe and you can take on its form
V


and gain an additional unique ability. the game blew my mind,”

he says. “It was the same
again at Rezzed, and I got to
meet some backers, which
was awesome!”

[Link] \ 11
 Attract Mode
Early Access

Majora’s Skies
A Place for the Unwilling looks to some superstar influences

“
W
e’d never say A Place for word adventure they ask if it’s a point-and-click
Info

GENRE
Narrative adventure the Unwilling is on par with game, then you have to explain that it’s an open
FORMAT
them, they’re both timeless world and there are no puzzles. A few minutes
PC classics, but we do aspire later, somebody else asks if it’s a visual novel
DEVELOPER to craft an experience that and you show them it’s actually a game where
AlPixel Games feels as unique as playing those two felt to us.” you’re free to explore a big city. Then another
PUBLISHER It’s a fair point from AlPixel Games, speaking person watches you trading goods and thinks it’s
AlPixel Games about its upcoming narrative adventure, but a trading game. See where this is going?”
RELEASE when you’re using both The Legend of Zelda: But it’s the story that’s core to Unwilling’s
July 2019 Majora’s Mask and Sunless Skies as reference experience, even with all the comparisons and
points for your game, there are going to be similarities being thrown about, it’s this specific
some understandably raised expectations. game’s focus, and it is its own tale to tell. Set
“When we use Majora’s Mask and Sunless Sea in a dying city’s final 21 days, the game follows
to talk about our game, it’s mostly because we’ve a branching narrative path for the player, who
always struggled to describe the experience takes on the role of a trader living in the city.
to others,” the studio tells us, pointing out that What do they do? Well, whatever the player
A Place for the Unwilling’s closest analogue is wants, really. Time passes, however you choose
actually something like Ice-Pick Lodge’s 2004 to spend it, and people go about their days –
psychological horror title, Pathologic. “When you you might just walk around the park, or trade
pitch the project in a show and mention the some goods, or maybe visit an old friend to pass
Aw geez, it’s the fuzz.
the time before the end.


Whatever you do, it’s all your choice and –

importantly – it’s all your story. “We have many
different story arcs, and there are plenty of
breadcrumbs around,” AlPixel explains. “But
players are free to set their own goals in the city.
That’s the core of the game, creating a story that
is different from the rest. When you talk about
your experience with a friend it won’t just be
about if they killed that one guy or spared him.”
A Place for the Unwilling is being made using
Unity along with Ink, Inkle’s narrative scripting
language, most recently seen in the excellent
Heaven’s Vault. “[Using Ink] is key in a tiny team
such as ours, where you can’t just nag the only
programmer in the room for every new detail

12 / [Link]
 Attract Mode
Early Access

you want to change in a dialogue,” AlPixel says.

“Not every game out there needs Ink, but it’s
the most powerful and elegant narrative engine
open to everyone. They released it a few months
after our development began and it changed
everything. A Place for the Unwilling would be
very different without it. It has enabled us to do
all sorts of things that are almost impossible for
a small studio.”  sing Ink means the story
U


– and dialogue – is branching.
Being a small studio made up of relative
newcomers to the industry, AlPixel has also “Above all the things that we’ve learned during
used A Place for the Unwilling as a solid learning development, that still is the most important
experience, admitting it has made mistakes one. We all want to make great games, but we
along the way – but acknowledging this has don’t want to destroy the people that build them
all been for the best, ultimately. “One of the in the process.”
most meaningful decisions we’ve taken during It might not be specifically aiming to be the
development has been paying more attention new Majora’s Mask or Sunless Skies, but A Place
to healthy working conditions,” the studio for the Unwilling has been getting people excited.
says. “It’s not like we crunched a lot before, It could be great. If it is, it’ll hopefully be a big
but we’d do things like going to a show on the success for the small studio in Spain. But how
weekend, spend two full days taking care of to prepare for launch? “’Prepare for the worst,
the booth, get home expect the best, take  here’s a hint of eighties
T


isometric adventures on
completely exhausted, “Prepare for the worst, what comes’,” AlPixel the Speccy here.
and then go back to suggests as a motto for
the office on Monday
expect the best, take the team. “Everyone at
morning. We understand what comes” the studio is in a stable
everyone gives their very position, we are paying
best when they feel well, and it’s important to bills, and have some savings. There’s not much
pursue that. At one point, we started focusing else we can say – it’s mostly a matter of working
even more on this. Asking others how they are as hard as possible until release and hoping
doing, reminding them to take a break if they’re we took enough right decisions. We are proud KICKSTARTING
working late, being more careful with deadlines, of what we’ve built and can’t wait for people CHAOS
trying to be flexible with specific cases, and to explore the world we’ve spent so much
A Place for the Unwilling was
so on. time creating.” part-funded via a Kickstarter
campaign, but the game’s
original publisher ran into
 ime passes in this gorgeous
T some problems and – long


diorama, regardless of your actions.

story short – AlPixel has had
to do a lot of work picking up
the pieces. “We still intend
to keep our promises and we
post messages everywhere,
encouraging backers to get
in touch with us,” the studio
says. “It’s a time-consuming
task for a team that is already
overwhelmed, but we are
going to send the rewards
to every person that gets in
touch with us. We always try
to be open and accessible
on social media, email, and
Discord. Most backers have
already talked to us and will
receive their rewards soon.
We will continue trying to
reach the others.”

[Link] \ 13
 Attract Mode
News

Headlines
from the virtual front
01

02

03
01. E
 pic Gander 02. Q
 uiet Riot
It’s a telling situation we’re in, where Riot Games has come under increased 03. T
 urbo time
game developers (and publishers) scrutiny after the California Department
exercising their rights to a) be paid more, of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) The resurgence of Konami as a studio
and b) sell their games where they want filed an enforcement action, compelling that actually does things in the world
is met by a deafening roar of betrayal. the studio to provide the agency with of video games continues, with mini
But hey, that Epic Games Store, right? pay information for its employees. versions of its… well, of NEC/Hudson’s
What monsters they are, et cetera and This comes as part of an investigation TurboGrafx/PC Engine announced.
so on. into alleged gender discrimination at The 8-bit machine masquerading as a
One developer, though, has opted to the League of Legends developer and, 16-bit console will be available in three
push back – politely – in the shape of according to the DFEH, Riot has not been flavours worldwide, with Europe getting
House House, creator of the upcoming playing ball. the PC Engine Core Grafx Mini, Japan
Untitled Goose Game. The studio posted The agency – which enforces the PC Engine Mini, and the States the
a tweet after announcing its game would California’s civil rights laws – moved TurboGrafx-16 Mini. Seems Europe drew
be an Epic exclusive on PC – at least for to the enforcement action after it the short straw for naming.
a while – clarifying the decision: “House claimed Riot had not provided any The full range of games wasn’t
House is a small independent studio that details of employee pay, which needs revealed at the time of writing, but
has been operating on a tight budget to be analysed for the investigation we can expect R-Type, New Adventure
for years,” it wrote, “so a partnership like to continue. Island, Ninja Spirit, Ys Book I & II, Dungeon
this gives us a means to make games In a response to the DFEH’s filing, Riot Explorer, and Alien Crush. And you can
sustainably for the foreseeable future Games says it has been cooperating with expect them because they’ve been
– in an industry like ours, this kind of the state agency and is ‘disappointed’ the confirmed. Price and launch date,
stability is huge.” Bills do have to be paid. enforcement action has been pursued. however, have not been confirmed.

Ukie public vote crowns EA says loot boxes are ‘surprise

LittleBigPlanet best British game mechanics’, ‘akin to Kinder Eggs’

14 / [Link]
 Attract Mode
News

04

04. U
 nity
Two sides of the game developer
unionisation argument here, as
06
prominent figures in the world of both
gaming and grown-up politics have stuck 05
their oar in. Bernie Sanders, US senator 06. N
 ext-gen doubt
and lifelong civil rights activist, tweeted
out: “The video game industry made $43 05. L
 umber support PlatinumGames’ Atsushi Inaba has
billion in revenue last year. The workers thrown his own brand of cold water on
responsible for that profit deserve to We don’t want to cast aspersions, but the next generation of consoles, saying
collectively bargain as part of a union.” the decision to announce significant they’re ‘OK’. Speaking to Video Games
That flip side came in the form layoffs at Amazon Game Studios during Chronicle, the head producer said: “I’m
of Strauss Zelnick, Take-Two CEO E3 – when the (news) Eye of Sauron sure that things will move faster, graphics
and lifelong ‘we have no idea if he’s would be pointed elsewhere – strikes will be better, and maybe it will be easier
a civil rights activist’ person, who us as a particularly sneaky one. Dozens with less wait times… that’s good for the
commented on the increasingly present of employees were given 60 days to consumer. But it’s more of the same,
unionisation discussions. Speaking find new roles within the wider Amazon quite frankly, compared to previous
to [Link], the CEO said umbrella, or to receive redundancy generations. It’s nothing that’s disruptive
unionisation typically comes about pay after that timeframe, with some or super innovative, if you ask me.”
owing to lacking labour relations, and unannounced projects also cancelled, Far from being a killjoy, though,
low job availability/pay – the Take-Two according to Kotaku. Inaba explained what it is he does find
CEO argued none of these aspects apply Meanwhile, developers at AGS have, exciting – and it makes us think maybe
in his company, adding: “It’s hard to in part, put the blame for the studio’s Bayonetta 4 and Vanquish 2 will be
imagine what would motivate that crew lack of finished titles (only two have coming to Google Stadia: “For me, things
to unionise.” been released) firmly at the feet of its like cloud platforms represent innovation
Zelnick did strike a diplomatic note proprietary engine, Amazon Lumberyard. and something very, very different,”
though, saying: “If our colleagues want to It’s like “driving a train while the tracks are he said. “They’re platforms that excite
engage in collective bargaining, then we still being laid,” one anonymous dev told me and where I feel there is a lot more
will.” [Link]/Unite the Wall Street Journal. innovation happening.”

Ninja announces book; Booker Bluepoint co-founder Andy

Prize committee alerted O’Neill passes away, aged 47

[Link] \ 15
 Attract Mode
Early Access

Carrion
Here’s a game that gives players the chance
to explore the darker side of their nature.
In Carrion, you control a deadly, shape-shifting
alien that likes nothing more than to roam Spiritfarer
2D levels, gorily dispatching puny humans.
The debut from Phobia Game Studio, this one Keep a box of tissues handy for this potential
looks grim, bloody, and hugely entertaining. tear-jerker: you play a ferry master whose job
is to bear the souls of dead animals across the
sea to the afterlife. Along the way, you customise
your boat and see to your furry friends’ needs
before dispatching them to the great beyond.
Way To The Woods The premise alone is a bold one; throw in its
studio’s track record – Thunder Lotus Games
Australian artist and game designer Anthony previously brought us Jotun and Sundered – and
Tan was just 16 years old when he began work we have a potential gem in the making.
on Way To The Woods in 2015, which, given just
how spectacular it looks, makes us feel a bit
inadequate if we’re being honest. At any rate,
Tan’s years of hard work are beginning to bear
fruit: having been picked up by publisher Team
17, the game – a gentle adventure about a
pair of deer searching for a way back to their
woodland home – garnered some deserved
attention at E3.

Elden Ring
Like a 1970s supergroup, Elden Ring brings
together disparate creative talents to create
something new and, we hope, brilliant. In this
instance, Dark Souls director Hidetaka Miyazaki’s
joining forces with A Song of Ice and Fire author
George R.R. Martin to craft an open-world
fantasy game. We don’t know much more about
Elden Ring right now, but based on Miyazaki and
Martin’s previous output, we aren’t expecting
sunshine and rainbows.

16 / [Link]
 Attract Mode
Early Access

GhostWire: Tokyo
Billed by Resident Evil director Shinji Mikami as an
“action-adventure game in which you’ll fight paranormal
enemies,” Ghostwire: Tokyo looks like a natural
progression from Tango Gameworks’ earlier Evil Within
series: it’s a horror opus expanded to take in an entire
city. If we’re interpreting the announcement trailer
correctly, most of the residents of Tokyo have vanished,
leaving the megalopolis in the grip of a demonic horde;
meanwhile, we’ll be controlling a hooded character
armed with a spectral bow and arrow. That demonic
horde will, we’d wager, be susceptible to the odd magic
The Outer Worlds arrow in the eye or burst of supernatural energy from
the protagonist’s hand. Further details are thin on the
The Fallout series may have suffered a bit of ground, but if the game’s another hit for Mikami and
a wobble recently thanks to a certain online creative director Ikumi Nakamura, we’re hoping to see
outing, but we get a distinct impression that a whole series of these games set in other cities around
the franchise’s rich storytelling is alive and well the world. Ghostwire: Norwich, anyone?
in Obsidian’s The Outer Worlds. It is, after all,
directed by Tim Cain And Leonard Boyarsky,
two developers who played a key role in making
the original Fallout back in the nineties. A first-
person RPG set in a future where corporations 12 Minutes
already control a swathe of colonised planets
across the galaxy, The Outer Worlds mixes expert An interactive thriller with the time-loop conceit of
world-building and biting satire. Groundhog Day and the top-down perspective of
Hitchcock’s Rope, 12 Minutes is a uniquely unsettling game
from a former developer at Rockstar. Within the confines
of a dingy apartment, you have to relive the protagonist’s
final moments over and again, as you try to figure out why
a crooked cop has barged in and beaten you to death.
Like we said: unsettling.

[Link] \ 17
 Interface
Breaking out

BREAKING OUT
When Introversion began to feel shackled by Prison Architect, it decided
to break free. But what will freedom bring for the acclaimed developer?

T
WRITTEN BY here are four directors running a title which allows players to construct and
David Crookes Introversion Software, the maintain a maximum security jail has given them
developer that once promoted so much freedom.
itself as the last of the bedroom Gone are the shackles of working on a game
coders. But of Mark Morris, Chris for so many years; Prison Architect was first
Delay, John Knottenbelt, and Thomas Arundel – announced in October 2011, and released
the talent that helped to bring acclaimed games as a crowdfunded alpha pre-order in 2012.
such as Uplink, Darwinia and DEFCON to life – Banished too are the outside pressures of video
one stands out as being particularly special. game development. After all, the game topped
“If Tom or Johnny came along one day and $28 million in sales within a few years – more
said, ‘Look guys, I’ve got to go’, it wouldn’t be the than enough to buy time for a developer as
Darwinia won three end of the world,” says Morris, with endearing tight-knit as Introversion.


prizes at the
Independent Game
honesty. “But if it ever happens that Chris “When we released Prison Architect, we kind
Festival Awards in 2006. stops making games, then that will be it for the of hit the jackpot, really, because it sold – and
business.” Thankfully for Introversion, there continued to sell – in mad numbers,” Morris
appears to be little danger of that happening. says. “We kept thinking that the rate of sale was
Delay loves making games and, today, going to slow down, but it didn’t.” Sales in excess
Introversion is in an enviable position. It recently of two million tell their own story.
sold the IP for Prison Architect – the studio’s most A full release in 2015 saw Prison Architect
successful game to date – to Swedish publisher achieve rave reviews, and it won the Best
Paradox Interactive, and it’s rather ironic that Persistent Game category at the 12th British

18 / [Link]
 Interface
Breaking out

CONSOLING THE WORLD

Aside from looking forward, Introversion is also casting an
inward eye, with plans afoot for a console version of DEFCON,
its strategy game billed as ‘The world’s first genocide-’em-up’.
“If we’re just going to cynically exploit a dangerous world and the
Doomsday Clock, then now’s a good time, considering it’s closer
than it has been for a good while,” says co-founder Mark Morris.
“A console version would be cool.”

DEFCON provided a quietly terrifying



strategy experience.

[Link] \ 19
 Interface
Breaking out

loads of conversations about whether we should

continue to be ‘the Prison Architect guys’ and
whether we should make another Prison Architect
game and maybe keep going with it until the end
of time. But we felt that wasn’t what we wanted
to do as a team, and we wanted to unshackle
ourselves from this cash cow.”
How much Introversion made from the sale
to Paradox Interactive hasn’t been disclosed,
Prison Architect has appeared on many but the impact felt by the developer is, Morris


platforms including Xbox One, PS4, and

more recently, Nintendo Switch. argues, worth more than money alone. It’s
allowed Delay to remain motivated and eager
to pursue new gaming avenues, while ensuring
Academy Game Awards in 2016, awarded by Prison Architect will continue to be enjoyed by
BAFTA. “We’re now just having a bit of fun and fans for some time to come. “We started to think
waiting for a seed of an idea to come along,” this could be a match made in heaven, because
Morris says of the current plan. “There’s no we can step away and work on new concepts,
pressure, no need to get an alpha out by and Prison Architect isn’t left to rot,” Morris says.
September, and we’re enjoying the freedom.” Indeed, Introversion believes there’s still a
Campaigns in Prison Architect use lot more that can be put into the title; they just


Polaroid photos to tell their story.

BUILDING UP didn’t want to be the ones to do it. Paradox
There’s a sense that the decision to hand over certainly has experience. Along with Tag Games,
responsibility for Prison Architect wasn’t an it successfully ported the game to mobile
easy one, given that devices (while Double
Introversion is made up Eleven created versions
“When we developed
of a small team which, for consoles).
aside from the directors, Scanner Sombre, I think we “It’s hopefully in safe
also includes a handful made some mistakes” hands,” Morris adds.
of programmers. “Paradox has a strong
Introversion, more than most, knows what it’s track record in keeping games alive for a long
like to hit rock bottom. It was close to going time, and nurturing and building communities,
bust in 2010 and, although there’s little chance so for us, it was a really exciting move – although
of that happening again anytime soon, ridding it was stressful, too.”
themselves of such a profitable game will always
have inherent dangers. DOING TIME
Even so, Introversion is confident that it’s But what of the titles to come, and what has
made the right decision. “With Prison Architect, Introversion learned from the past? Most
we found ourselves having an amazing game recently, in 2017, it released a first-person
and an incredible audience, but also a company exploration game called Scanner Sombre
that was starting to drift in a direction we didn’t which had players assuming the role of a cave
really want to take it in,” Morris explains. “We had explorer. It was critically well-received, with
On promotional duties


for 2006’s DEFCON.

STANDING OUT
Despite the rise of software like Unity and Blender, Introversion believes it’s still as difficult to
make a new, attention-grabbing game today as it was back when the studio began. “It might
be easy to produce something thanks to technology such as Unity, but it’s hard to create a
game that’s good,” says co-founder Mark Morris. “So while people can make 3D worlds far
easier than they could back in 2001, the likes of Unity produce similar results and lay down
a particular set of constraints. You get to a point where you have a feeling for how a game
might be, and a sense in the back of your mind that you’ve played something similar before.”

20 / [Link]
 Interface
Breaking out

In Darwinia, you send soldiers into battle


against a deadly computer virus.

particularly keen coder; he’d created Uplink, a 2D

cyberhacking simulator, over 18 months, starting
in his third year. When he eventually showed it
to Morris and Arundel, they were impressed.
After graduation, they saw that Imperial
College London was running a competition,
offering £10,000 for the best business idea.
Morris, Arundel, and Delay believed they
could put forward a proposal for a video game
company based around Uplink. “I just saw it as a
bit of money to pay off some debt,” Morris says.
The idea didn’t win but, with a business plan in
place (and with Knottenbelt assisting with some Darwinia sold 40,000


copies – a respectable
tricky technical issues with the game), a decision
figure for an indie
reviewers enjoying the concept of players was made to go one step further and try to sell developer.
using an in-game LIDAR scanner to scan the Uplink to the public.
environment and build the world around
them. Having to douse the walls with colourful TURNING PRO
dots took Introversion down an artistic and The young developers first attempted to release
atmospheric path that could be frightening and Uplink themselves, putting up £600 between
mesmerising in equal measure. Unfortunately, them to buy compact discs from a CD plant,
Scanner Sombre didn’t fare too well in terms produce packaging, and tout the game around
of sales. the British press.
“When we developed Scanner Sombre, I think As Delay explains in a blog post on the
we made some mistakes, and I think those Introversion website, a homemade copy landed
mistakes were down to knowing that, at any on the desk of Kieron Gillen, a journalist for PC
point, we could step back and start working on Gamer who, fatefully, decided to play it. “If you
Prison Architect again,” Morris explains. “This believe the legend, Kieron also handed the disk
wasn’t especially helpful for Scanner Sombre’s around the PC Gamer office and told everyone
success, and we felt that Prison Architect was else to play it,” Delay says. Gillen awarded the
preventing us from exploring new ideas. My game 80 percent.
biggest fear has always been that Introversion Suddenly, interest in Uplink boomed, and Darwinia was made to look retro, in


part because Introversion didn’t have

would never release another title, and it keeps it led to a distribution deal with the publisher a dedicated graphics artist.
me up at night. But that, in part, was what I was Pinnacle, which got the game into shops.
worried Prison Architect might do to us.” Now that the venture was turning professional,
The strategy now is to take stock and look to Introversion Software was incorporated in
Introversion’s strength: the elements which have January 2002 and, as sales boomed, Delay
ensured the company has been able to weather turned his attention to another game, Darwinia,
the storm of a changing video game market that would take three years to make.
for the best part of two decades. For that, it’s “Chris proved very early on that he had a very
worth returning to the late 1990s, when the artistic side to him, and that artistic and creative
four directors were students at Imperial College exploration is what we saw in Darwinia,” Morris
London. Three of them were on the Computer says. “It was very different to Uplink, which was
Science course, and Arundel was reading a strongly themed simulation game, and it was
Electrical Engineering. Delay, however, was a the start of Introversion creating two separate

[Link] \ 21
 Interface
Breaking out

Whether watching or playing, the The escape mode in Prison Architect turns



spectacle of the Darwinians at the tables and has players assuming the role
war was awe-inspiring. of a prisoner hell-bent on getting out of jail.

categories of game, although that has only Darwinia and Scanner Sombre had actually been
FAILING TO become apparent as the years have gone by.”
Darwinia began life when Delay took part
a psychological requirement. Once Chris finishes
exploring one kind of technical simulation-based
SUCCEED in the first Indie Game Jam in March 2002. project, he moves on to something else. In each
Had Introversion not reached The Game Jam asked attendees to generate case, we learn things not just about games but
rock bottom in 2010, Morris and display 10,000 sprites on screen at one the state of the market at the moment. So long
reckons it may not have time, using an engine created by Chris Hecker. as we’re putting out interesting, well-executed,
made Prison Architect. Delay was inspired by the concept and, together relatively large and not trivial experiences,
“It was the burning to the with programmer Andrew Bainbridge, whom I’m happy.”
ground of the old company
he’d met at Frontier Developments, he began
and the mistakes that
we’d made which created
to create a war game that would eventually ROCK BOTTOM
the ability for us to make
become Darwinia. With its tiny, blocky sprites, In that sense, Introversion has few regrets
Prison Architect,” he says. Delay’s game had a retro flavour, and mixed – though Multiwinia, a lighter, multiplayer
“There were mistakes that elements of god game and strategy with puzzles follow-up to Darwinia, would prove to be a dark
we didn’t even know were and action. Darwinia soon became a personal chapter for the studio. Its unexpectedly slow
mistakes at the time, but I labour of love, as Delay threw in ZX Spectrum- sales threatened to push Introversion towards
found that reading stories of style loading screens and a character named collapse, but Morris maintains that Multiwinia
big entrepreneurs who failed Dr Sepulveda, who bore more than a passing was “borne out of circumstance” – in short, to
but went on to grow and have resemblance to Sir Clive Sinclair. satisfy Microsoft’s demand for a multiplayer take
their huge success helped
on Darwinia.
us through the dark times.
Anyone struggling today can
LEARNING FROM THE PAST Multiwinia was planned as an Xbox Live
look at us and see that going
It’s to this sort of experimentation that Arcade title, but Introversion also worked on a
through a bad time is almost Introversion looks set to return. After all, PC version, which launched first. Sales proved
a necessity to be successful. Darwinia was a critical triumph when it came devastatingly poor, yet the company was
You can’t get there without it.” out in 2005, attracting a strong fanbase and, effectively forced to push on with the XBLA
after winning the Seumas McNally Grand Prize version, requiring it to employ more staff and
of $30,000 at the Independent Game Festival buy extra dev kits in order to get the game
in 2006, helped raise the studio’s profile. through Microsoft’s arduous approval process.
“We probably wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Introversion accumulated a hefty debt as a
Darwinia’s success at the IGF awards,” says result, and figured it would need to sell 30,000
Morris. “The game also resonated strongly with units to pay it back. When the game – named
a core group who really understand what games Darwinia+ – eventually came out in 2010, it fell
like Darwinia and Scanner Sombre are about.” short of the sales target.
Introversion followed Darwinia with the real- “We got rid of all the staff, and the directors
time strategy game DEFCON, which simulated went part-time,” Morris recalls. “We weren’t
a nuclear war and riffed on Cold War-era really doing anything, and we only had a trickle
movies like WarGames. Casting the player as of money coming into the business from the
one of six warring superpowers, it kept a tally back catalogue that was on Steam. We owed a
on the number of civilians killed. The game relatively large amount of money to a number of
was released at a wallet-friendly price, and was firms, and we told them that it would take a year
another critical success. or two to repay them. Their option was to let
“Strong-themed simulation games have been us do that or push us into administration. I was
Introversion won


multiple awards at a running theme for Introversion, and DEFCON very heartened that most of the firms forgave
the Independent sold well,” Morris says. “But switching between some of the debt and told us not to worry
Games Festival in
2006 with Darwinia. games of this type and more artistic tiles such as about it.”

22 / [Link]
 Interface
Breaking out

LOCK DOWN he’s a little bit more discriminatory,” Morris says.

Even so, it was a low point. Introversion was “He’ll tell us about a good game idea and list the
forced to leave its London base – a beautiful reasons why, and those reasons are generally
four-storey Georgian townhouse – and take references back to things with which we’ve
stock. This was something of an extra blow, had success in the past.” At the same time, the
because one of the reasons why the company developer plans to look ahead and forecast what
could still call itself “the last of the bedroom is set to be interesting in a few years’ time.
programmers” was down to having that office: “You see trends which run for a little while,
two of the rooms actually contained beds. especially in Hollywood, where they’ll go through
Arundel’s sister, Vicky, who was working as the particular cycles,” Morris begins. “For example,
developer’s marketing manager, even lived there was a once a glut of near-future sci-fi
there. Suddenly, all of that was gone. which felt really fresh because everything up
Indeed, it was a pure stroke of luck that to that point had been long-term sci-fi. They
eased Introversion back from the brink. A new all touched on the same sort of look and feel,
digital storefront and then went away
called Humble Bundle “We got rid of all because something new
emerged, which allowed came along.
the staff, and the directors
players to determine “I reckon the new
the price they wanted went part-time” things happen because Darwinia+ was created for


Xbox Live Arcade following a
to pay for collections somebody in some request by Microsoft, and
of games. It launched in 2010, and a year later, obscure Belgian film festival or whatever creates combined elements of
Darwinia and Multiwinia.
a bundle consisting of Darwinia, DEFCON, and a film with a fresh look, or that’s set in a place
Multiwinia earned Introversion £100,000. Then that hasn’t been explored for a while. That’s
Prison Architect emerged, and in Delay’s mind, kind of where I want Introversion to be – not a
the company has barely looked back since. developer that wants to capitalise on what was
Today, rather than follow the same trajectory big last year, but on what is going to be big in Introversion: still going strong


after almost 20 years.
of music and film – “You’d have a big hit or a two years’ time.”
big album, and then be under pressure to get Certainly, Morris can see Introversion
the next one out,” Morris argues – Introversion continuing for another 20 years. “I really hope
intends to adopt an organic approach to so, and I really want it to,” he says. “I love this
creativity. While it has canned a previously industry and how it changes all the time. I love
announced title called Order of Magnitude (a sci-fi how, every year, there are new challenges and
colony sim), it’s kicking around ideas of a similar new opportunities, and that people want to play
theme, but taking time to do so. new, interesting, and exciting games. Today, a
“We don’t want to drag an idea out, or select hundred or so games land on Steam every day,
the best idea from a bad bunch, or try to and it’s a real but fun challenge to get eyeballs
push an idea forward when it’s not ready to on what you have to offer. I definitely want to
be pushed forward, like we did with Scanner keep fighting. I want to keep producing great
Sombre,” Morris continues. The emphasis, he stuff as long as Chris is having ideas.”
adds, will continue to be on “producing games
that haven’t necessarily been done before.”
Meanwhile, Introversion is also keen to learn
from the past.
“Once upon a time, Chris would come along
and say ‘This is the next game idea’, but now

Scanner Sombre hasn’t fared too well in



terms of sales, but it remains an

absorbing first-person exploration game.

[Link] \ 23
 Interface
Interactive

Interactive  s in the original, the aim is to

A


manipulate the world’s perspective
and collect all the cube fragments.

FUZ
We catch up with Henry Stadolnik, a US student who’s
managed to demake the classic Fez for PICO-8

I
t’s over seven years since the release clues that these glyphs could be translated –
Are you a solo of Fez – designer Phil Fish’s platform- and within days of Fez’s release, the web began
developer working
puzzler that, with its eye-catching to fill up with translations, and how the glyphs
on a game you
want to share with spatial shifts and evocative pixel art could be used to solve the game’s deeper
Wireframe? If you’d and music, felt entirely unique, even mysteries. “If I had to single out a particular
like to have your as it riffed on such video game staples as Super favourite thing,” Stadolnik says, “I’d have to say
project featured in
these pages, get Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda. Fez is old the Zuish language… There was even a time in
in touch with us at enough, in fact, that its influence is now being high school when I’d memorised enough Zuish
[Link]/hello felt in the players who enjoyed it in their youth, to be able to write in it.”
and are just now beginning to take their first Now a college student studying computer
steps into the realm of game development. studies and game development, Stadolnik
For Henry ‘Jusiv’ Stadolnik, who lives in has created the ultimate homage to Fez:
Massachusetts, the impression of Fez’s gently he’s managed to fit a miniature demake of it
surreal fantasy world has never left him. into PICO-8. As we saw in issue 12, PICO-8’s
Phil Fish’s Fez had a big When Stadolnik originally got into playing it in his a programming environment that, with its


impact on Stadolnik.
“I don’t think I’ve ever really early teens, he was soon swept up in its puzzle- 128×128 pixel display and 32kB of memory,
played anything else quite solving and atmosphere: “It’s got a cool art style, provides a fun challenge to developers of
like it,” he says.
charming sprite work, a phenomenal soundtrack all kinds. And just as we’ve previously seen
– Disasterpeace is consistently outstanding – demakes of No Man’s Sky and Another World
and inventive mechanics and puzzles. I don’t tailored for the fantasy console, so Stadolnik’s
think I’ve ever played anything like it.” crammed an instantly recognisable version of
What really stood out for Stadolnik, though, Phil Fish’s classic into a tiny space. This is an
was its use of language: namely Zuish, a series even bigger feat than it initially sounds, given the
of geometric glyphs carved into Fez’s crumbling complicated world-rotating mechanic devised
architecture. Easily overlooked as mere by Fish and programmer Renaud Bédard in the
background details at first, there were subtle original Fez.

24 / [Link]
 Interface
Interactive

 lthough reduced to fit

A


PICO-8’s resolution, FUZ
 tadolnik’s also managed to
S contains many of the original’s


squeeze a few oblique puzzles flourishes, including flapping

of his own into the Fez format. butterflies and moving clouds.

says that creating new iterations of those glyphs

was little more than “an afternoon’s work,”
there were greater obstacles elsewhere.
“The most challenging aspects to code were
the systems for colliding with the world and
“ Because I made the levels as


for drawing Dot, your hypercube companion,” voxel models from the start,
Stadolnik says. “The former was technically the rotation effect was
actually surprisingly simple to
the larger feat, but I’d never programmed a implement,” Stadolnik tells us.
3D perspective projection, never mind a 4D
one, so figuring out how to get Dot to properly
render was a bit of an ordeal. The collision code
One of Stadolnik’s bigger challenges was tricky because it had to scan through the BIRD STRIKE


was figuring out how to render Dot,

Gomez’s four-dimensional sidekick. area data differently from each perspective, Aside from FUZ, Stadolnik’s
made a wealth of other
figure out whether the player was exposed in
miniature games, which you
the open, and reposition them onto valid floor can find on his website
“FUZ started with the idea of seeing if it was tiles accordingly.” ([Link]). Among our
possible to recreate the rotation and platforming Given that we’re unlikely to get a true sequel favourites is I Just Wanna
systems of Fez in something as limiting as to Fez anytime soon (Phil Fish left the industry Land, a PICO-8 score attack
game in which you control
PICO-8,” Stadolnik explains. “I technically started in 2013), it’s perhaps unsurprising that players a bird as it flies skittishly
FUZ in the summer of 2017, when I got the tore into FUZ with relish – so much so that some between deadly balloons in
idea for how to store and render the levels players managed to uncover its mysteries within search of point-earning stars.
(they’re essentially hours. “I guess it was I Just Wanna Land was, like
many of Stadolnik’s projects,
voxel models stored “There was a time when a little surprising that
created as a game jam entry.
in slices on the sprite someone found even “As far as I’m concerned, game
sheet, with each colour
I’d memorised enough Zuish the most buried secret jams are probably the single
pixel corresponding to be able to write in it” within six or seven best way to get into making
to a specific type of hours,” Stadolnik says. games,” he tells us. “They force
you to make something small
tile). I toyed around with the prototype of it “But then, given that people tracked down the and manageable, and serve as
for a couple of days, but got stuck on making music image puzzle in the original within the a stellar way to get a sense of
the collision work consistently and shifted to first six hours, that just seems to be par for the the workflow and to prove to
other projects.” course with Fez-related things.” yourself that you can, in fact,
make something.”
Stadolnik’s already ruled out the likelihood
FUZZY LOGIC of making a larger version of his PICO-8 tribute,
Stadolnik picked the project back up in spring perhaps spread over multiple carts like Nick
2019 this year, though, and after another month Walton’s Notemon, previously seen in issue 7;
or so’s work, uploaded the finished FUZ to the “I don’t think I have enough ideas at present
web in May. And while FUZ’s world is inevitably to actually make it worthwhile to try to create,”
small – it amounts to a handful of locations, he says. All the same, Stadolnik’s well and truly
compared to the dozens seen in the original caught the game-making bug, and plans to
– what’s immediately striking is how closely it make lots more games, in PICO-8 and beyond.
replicates the most prominent features we saw “The more I create, the more thoroughly I realise
I Just Wanna Land, created for


in Fez: the rotating voxel worlds that hang in the this really seems to be my calling,” he tells us. a 2018 game jam, features
some entertainingly tricky
sky-like little islands; the pale hero, Gomez, with “I’d love to release a larger indie game someday, controls to master.
his red hat and wide, staring eyes; and even a and I do have a whole summer of time ahead of
reworked rendering of Zuish. While Stadolnik me, but I can’t promise anything yet.”

[Link] \ 25
 Interface
Column

Open development’s
weakness and wonder
O
pen development is a godsend promotion, take a look at people like Unknown
for indies. There’s a quote I Worlds (who made their entire Subnautica
always trot out when talking production board open to the internet), Mega
about it, from Roger Zelazny’s Crit Games (who ran a brilliant and brilliantly
Lord of Light: “An army, great in savvy Early Access campaign for Slay the Spire)
space, may offer opposition in a brief span of and Grey Alien Games (who’ve by their own
time. One man, brief in space, must spread his omission managed a decades-long career as a
opposition across a period of many years if he is super-indie without ever making a ‘hit’ game).
LOTTIE BEVAN to have a chance of succeeding.” Open development is pumping a handcar
Lottie’s a producer and I usually make an awkward feminist joke about along a stretch of railroad, picking up as many
co-founder of award- how much I love the traditional use of masculine passengers along the way as you can before
winning narrative
microstudio Weather pronouns for gender-neutral statements, but you reach your terminus. If you do it well, you
Factory, best known for the point’s still valid. If you have megabucks, you can end up delivering the same number of
Cultist Simulator. She’s can advertise your game over a short period of passengers as the sleekest, swankiest express
one of the youngest
female founders in time. Think ads on the sides of buses, K/DA- train there is.
the industry, a current style promotional music videos, paid influencer However, even though I love it, open dev isn’t
BAFTA Breakthrough
streams, and Keanu Reeves revealing your perfect. My co-founder Alexis Kennedy talks
Brit, and founder of
Coven Club, a women release date at E3. But if you’re indie, you rarely of game design as ‘moving the pain around’,
in games support have the money for grand gestures like these. meaning that you’re always prioritising one
network. She produces,
markets, bizzes and That’s why indies increasingly seem to be turning part of the game at the expense of another.
arts, and previously to open development, where you pay for your The real strength of open dev is you being able
worked on Fallen audience and sales not in cold hard British to communicate with your audience directly,
London, Sunless
Sea, Zubmariner, pounds, but with time. Time spent tweeting in- inviting people to hop up on that handcar like
and Sunless Skies progress art assets, blogging about your design one friend to another.
as producer at
intentions, and posting GIFs of stupid bugs from So a real weakness of the system is when
Failbetter Games.
beta on Imgur. And yes, that last part was the that communication breaks down, whether
most 2019 thing you’ll read all week. that’s because of difficult circumstances,
We’re seriously committed to open dev at publisher limitations, or something as simple
Weather Factory, but to avoid shameless self- as localisation. Translating Cultist Simulator into
simplified Chinese caused all manner of difficulty:
how do you excite new Chinese-speaking players
who have no previous relationship with you and
no reason to trust you? How do you convince
“Open them that they should buy a game defined
development by western touchpoints like H. P. Lovecraft
is pumping a and Mary Renault? It’s a doozy, and a whole
other article. But it’s a ‘You cannot go that way’
handcar along
message at the edges of open development, and
a stretch of it’s worth knowing where those messages are.
railroad, picking I wonder how many other invisible walls I’ll
up as many bang into with open dev, and whether they’ll
ever add up to enough of a downside to make
passengers
 pen development:
O me drop the system. Talk to me in ten years


along the way much cheaper for indies when my company’s bigger – maybe I’ll see you
than hiring Keanu ‘You’re
as you can” Breathtaking’ Reeves. around at E3.

26 / [Link]
 Toolbox
Contents

Toolbox
The art, theory, and production of video games
28. Design Principles
Simple complexity, and why
it’s a vital design goal

30. CityCraft
How to devise a virtual
city from scratch

32. Text as texture

Using snippets of story and
dialogue to enliven your game

38. Source Code

Recreate Lemmings’ path-
following critters

40. Making Anew: Part 6

Marketing for time-strapped
indie developers

42. Directory
Code an adventure game:
 he programming secrets
T
a free online course


behind those bumbling

lemmings. See page 38.

 ind out how to create richer, more

F


involving worlds with snippets of

story and dialogue on page 32.

[Link] \ 27
 Toolbox
Advice

The principles
of game design
Simple complexity should be the goal
of every game designer, Howard writes

AUTHOR
HOWARD SCOTT WARSHAW
Howard is a video game pioneer who authored
several of Atari’s most famous and infamous titles.
[Link]

D
o you like things simple or and the implication of its use is the player
complex? The KISS principle experience. Each of these aspects can be simple
says Keep It Simple, Stupid. or complex.
But sometimes, simple is boring, Every game has either simple or complex
and complexity is needed to content, and it provides a simple or complex
inspire interest. It could depend on who we experience. This results in four content/
are. Some people like to keep things simple experience game pairs: simple/simple, simple/
because that’s easier. Some prefer things more complex, complex/simple, and complex/
complex because that creates more possibilities complex. Simple/simple is games like flipping
and opportunities. But in my last column, we a coin or noughts and crosses – easy to learn,
talked about what your games say about you. but they don’t hold our interest. Next, we have
Today, I’m talking about what a game suggests complex/complex, like elaborate adventure
about itself; specifically, the relationship games or American football. These are enduring
between how much work it takes to make the games, but the rulebooks and guides can be
game and what the yield is on that work. How huge. In these cases, the level of effort to create
vast a result did your time and effort generate? the games reflects the depth of the experience.
I think about simplicity and complexity
quite a bit – they’re topics that keep coming HYBRID PAIRS
up everywhere I go. In some ways, they’re On the other hand, the hybrid pairs are much
two sides of the same coin, or at least two more interesting. They (not unlike my own Atari
 arshaw famously had
W ends of the same scale. Another thing I think games) include the best and the worst of game


just five-and-a-half
weeks to complete E.T. about a lot is systems. In fact, I regularly find design. In my opinion, the best designs use a
The Extra-Terrestrial. myself assessing the simple effort to generate complex possibilities.
simplicity/complexity The worst occur when a complex effort yields
of systems I encounter. simple or limited possibilities. One thing is for
Every system has two sure: when you talk about development time,
aspects to consider: complex content takes longer to implement than
the mechanism itself simple content.
and the implications Remember: a game, at its root, is simply a set
of its use. Every of rules in a well-defined environment with a
video game is a goal and a starting setup. Implementation effort
system too, and has comes down to the number and type of rules,
these two aspects. and what’s involved in creating the environment.
The mechanism is the Some games have few rules, and some have lots.
game content (code, That doesn’t make them better or worse games,
graphics, and so on), but it does change the development time.

28 / [Link]
 Toolbox
Advice

Rise Of The Robots , we’d argue, is an example


of complex/simple design: technically
advanced (for 1994) 3D graphics married to
derivative fighting action.

Tetris is such a perfect instance of



simple/complex design that it’s

still being iterated on today.

The big issue is, how does each rule affect the
play experience?
Consider complex/simple games: these games is motivated to find value, so they’ll work harder
die quickly, killing their makers in the process. to learn the game. This realisation emboldened
Would you spend huge resources delivering a me to take another tack. After all, if adding a Complexity
lame game? No-one does it twice. little complexity will significantly enhance the is baggage
And finally, let’s talk about simple/complex. play experience, that’s a good trade-off. Right? I prefer to think that everything
This is the holy grail of gaming: deep, rich I began to look at the process of game design can be understood at a simpler
level. Much of the complexity
gameplay which springs from a simple premise. not as restricting rules, but rather as adding we perceive is unnecessary
Chess and Go are great examples of this. goals and rules… but only add ones which baggage we bring to a task
Simple rule sets in simple environments that increase the complexity of the experience rather than inherent complexity
generate innumerable more than they increase of the issue itself. This is how
we make things worse than
possibilities (OK, “Remember: a game is the complexity of the
they need to be. We do this
numerable, but the content. Yars’ Revenge
simply a set of rules in a until (and if) we figure out
numbers are incredibly is full of this kind of how to address things more
large). Tetris is a well-defined environment” thinking. Of course, with effectively. I like to summarise
quintessential model of Yars, I had time to think. this phenomenon this way:
complexity is the process by
ingenious design. How simple is Tetris? Easy to When I was given a mere five weeks to do the which the obvious is obscured
understand. Easy to operate. Virtually any game E.T. video game, there was no time for thinking. by the irrelevant.
system can implement it, and yet the gameplay I needed something simple to implement
endures because the challenge sustains. because that’s all I had time for. But I also
needed this simple approach to generate a
BUSHNELL’S DICTUM complex web of possibilities to give the game
Nolan Bushnell had a brilliant dictum on game legs. I tried to hit the sweet spot, but ended up
design. He said: “Easy to learn, tough to master!” somewhere a little sour in the eyes of many.
Translating this into my own kind of speak: hit I guess it depends on how you look at it.
the simple/complex game pair! Making trade-offs is what video game
Bushnell’s quote exactly describes an optimal development is all about. Some people take
coin-op game. Tantalising enough to entice the a more restrictive approach, thinking that
first quarter, challenging enough to keep them adding things only creates opportunities for  tari founder Nolan Bushnell
A


is a proponent of simple/
coming. No barriers to entry and no simple exit. trouble in the form of bugs and development complex design; tellingly,
Challenge must rise by perfectly mirroring the time. I believe an additive approach is more Atari is a reference to his
favourite game, Go.
game’s learning curve. When I began at Atari, productive, as long as I remain mindful of the
I took that as a starting point… then I departed simplicity or complexity of what I’m adding and
quickly. In fact, I made a career out of violating it. make accurate assessments of how this will
I realised that home games don’t really have impact the overall play experience. Every time I
the same restrictions. ‘Tough to master’ must make a ‘profitable’ contribution, the game gets
remain in force, but home games needn’t be incrementally better. And isn’t that what design
quite so easy to learn. After purchase, the player is all about?

[Link] \ 29
 Toolbox
Advice

CityCraft: A town
fit for dwarves
Konstantinos shows you how to create the
foundations of an imaginary city from scratch

AUTHOR
KONSTANTINOS DIMOPOULOS
Konstantinos Dimopoulos is a game urbanist and designer, combining a PhD
in urban planning with video games. He is the author of the forthcoming Virtual
Cities atlas, designs game cities, and consults on their creation. [Link]

W
hen sitting down to work town is, when it exists, and how big it is.
on this issue’s CityCraft, I To make things more specific, I then decided
Mood Boards only knew I wanted to write on a settlement in a steep mountain range, set
Initial maps, sketches, and something that would feel in a fantasy world of powerful magic where the
architectural ideas aren’t like a short, non-interactive dwarfs are the less magically-inclined race.
meant to be final. They’re
guides that will evolve, and
workshop. A piece that would provide you Dwarves tend to focus more on technological
will be useful in guiding with an example of how the construction of an solutions, so their machinery should be slightly
artists in their visualisation imaginary city could be approached, and suggest more advanced than that achieved by people
of the city – especially when the first few yet crucial steps in this process. in medieval times. Forges, cranes, and a variety
supported by mood boards.
To avoid falling back on pre-existing solutions, of tools – as well as some partly magical
These collections of photos,
illustrations, references, though, I hadn’t decided on the type of city I contraptions – should be commonplace for
inspirations, and screenshots would present to you beforehand. the roughly six or seven thousand dwarfs living
are meant to evoke a style Instead, I resorted to four d20 dice rolls on here, as well as for the few hundred subtly
or mood that characterises my random city tables, and came up with a high- segregated humans.
the city. They aim to convey
a theme, suggest a palette,
fantasy mountain town inhabited by dwarves. Thinking about the town’s human community
and perhaps even describe a Do keep in mind that this article won’t end with led me to also consider its history. The town
crucial landmark or a function. a completed city, but rather a draft you can build has stood for over a thousand years, beginning
Text, maps, and sounds can on. A properly fleshed-out city would require far as a small mining colony, rising to prominence
fit in a mood board, too.
more time, sketches, and detailed research. when gold (or other metal) was discovered,
and reaching its apex after the war against
GETTING STARTED the humans. The existing human population is
Handily, those initial dice rolls partly answered descended from captured warriors, who’ve been
three key city building questions: where the treated exceptionally well. As for the old, original
town, its remains can be found close to the

The architecture


and organisation of
Machu Pichu can
be the source of
inspiration for any
stone-built
mountainous
settlement.
Photo by Colegota.

Motifs and decorations can add character and



consistency. This one was borrowed from The Lord

of the Rings Online’s Mines of Moria expansion.

30 / [Link]
 Toolbox
Advice

entrance of the very first mine. It is, of course,

located in the lower city.
I’ve already thought of the town as vertically
organised, but deciding on its basic functions Deciding on a visual style


comes before tackling its structure. So initially, demands researching
similar cities, like World
mining, and eventually manufacturing, sit at of Warcraft ’s Ironforge.
the heart of the local economy. It will also need
forges, mines, wooden pulleys, blacksmiths,
workers at manufacturers, and guild houses. is civic politics. Politically, the city will be a free
Water is stored in subterranean cisterns, and town inside a wider confederation of dwarven
collected from local wells, the nearby river, kingdoms. Its society will be feudal, and thus
Meet the
and rain catchers. The city grows most of its strictly class-based, and driven by strong blood Residents
food inside its walls, in parallel to its other bonds and the concept of honour. A slowly Cities are built by people,
and in turn, change the people
functions such as defence, transportation, rising artisanal and merchant class is starting
inhabiting them. This is a
residence, commerce, culture, religion, shelter, to contest the status quo, but never openly nor dialogue that never ends,
and entertainment. in an organised manner. The and one that creates unique
The structure of the “I resorted to four poor are taken care of, and a character types, professions,
town will roughly follow the strong sense of pride can be political views, entertainment,
d20 dice rolls on my and traditions. It will spawn
concentric rings model, found in all workers, fighters,
random city tables” characters that players can
adjusted to the steep and artisans; communal interact with, talk to, or at least
slopes surrounding it, and traditions have survived observe. Besides, there are
will be organised as shown in Figure 1. In the despite the rise of a ruling caste. few better ways of finding out
about a place than talking to its
centre (1) and at the top lies the citadel, acting Architecturally speaking, I’d imagine a sturdy,
locals. Making those locals fit
as a governance centre, as well as the residence ornate style built from rock. A network of torches and enrich their surroundings is
of the oldest and most powerful families. The light the city at night, and buildings are organised all part of building a game city.
ring surrounding it (2) is a mixed-use zone where in densely packed blocks with an average height
residence is predominant, and where most of two to three stories.
social, cultural, and commercial activities take Then there’s the road plan to think about.
place. The following ring (3) consists of farms Roads should be wide enough for beasts of Figure 1: This sketch, proposing


and urban fields, and is followed by a densely burden and carts, with a geometric layout the structure of the dwarven
city, should guide the design
forested green belt (4) separating the residential adjusted to a radial grid with the citadel (1) as its team throughout its creation.
part of town from the forges, workshops, and centre. A main boulevard – possibly connecting
guild-run manufactories of zone 5. The outer two major temples – would divide zone 2 into
and lowest part (6) contains the entrances to the two distinct districts.
mines, the old core, and defence structures as it With all this sketched, more questions remain.
is adjacent to the city’s outer walls. How can we best show off the city’s dynamism?
How strong are the boundaries between public
FILLING IN DETAILS and private space? Who runs the city guard?
With a structure in place, we can move on to Have parts of town been carved inside the
fleshing the city out. There are many aspects of mountains? And last of all: can a city ever be
urbanism that have to be covered, one of which considered finished?

[Link] \ 31
 Toolbox
Text as Texture

Text as Texture:
Weaving atmosphere
with words
How succinct snippets of story and dialogue can
invigorate game mechanics in unexpected ways

AUTHOR
PAUL KILDUFF-TAYLOR
Paul is the CEO of Mode 7, an indie game
developer and publisher. He has been the
lead writer on all of their in-house games.

T
here tend to be two schools of and level designers so that their work is infused
thought on narrative design. with drama and seamlessly aligned with the
Traditionally, it’s viewed as the player’s experience.
construction of a monolithic Reality mostly falls somewhere between
compendium of lore, bolted on these two poles. Not every story element can be
to the game with the aim of fleshing out the expressed solely by the environment or through
world. A more modern perspective is to see it AI behaviour; equally, players don’t generally
Frozen Synapse uses


a simple mission-based as an all-encompassing discipline, one intended want to plough through long expository diary
structure for its single- to pervade the entire development process, entries. We can’t always anticipate the direction
player campaign. This
means that we can assign influencing game designers, artists, animators, gameplay will be taking during the development
relevant barks
for each individual level.
process, and so writers need to be adaptable.
This means developers, particularly those
working on smaller projects, need to be tactical
about text. When done right, this can provide
an extra ‘kicker’ to a game mechanic, enhancing
the player’s emotional response or highlighting
an emergent event. Text or voice acting can be a
cue to pay attention, a cheeky hint, a signpost, or
a wry aside. In addition to this, a great bark or UI
text element can provide much-needed context:
it can ground the player in the world and give
them a sense of their own impact. Let’s take a
look at some practical examples…

STRATEGIC WORDPLAY
The triggers we use to display text don’t have
to be complex to be effective. In our turn-
based tactical game Frozen Synapse, we use
a straightforward bark system based on the
number of units killed in the turn.

32 / [Link]
 Toolbox
Text as Texture

PRIORITY ONE
If you add a lot of bark
triggers, you will need
to start prioritising. Vital
instructions and key plot
beats should be privileged,
while exceptional events
like multikills or devastating
losses need to come a close
second. Think about salience
here: what does the player
need to know, or what would
a casual observer remark on?
It’s best to keep this text
short, sharp, and optional.
The player should be able to
ignore it and clear it easily if
Figure 1: Belacqua makes a they choose to.


sarcastic quip about the

outcome of the previous turn.

This serves a triple purpose: cement the The player’s relationship with the NPCs who
player’s role as a tactical commander, remind are speaking matters hugely. Frozen Synapse has
them of what just happened, and provide a bit a mute protagonist, but the other characters
of light entertainment. In Figure 1, the player know you can hear them – this occasionally
lost a single unit, but also managed to take out leads them to unburden; you have no choice
an enemy, so we have Belacqua (something of a but to listen to them! This then allows for
comedy sidekick character) giving his opinion on recontextualisation – if a character is always
the outcome. quipping, you can give them a moment when
This type of ‘outcome they’re depressed
trigger’ (my term for “Players don’t generally or morose, and have
a comment on ‘what
want to plough through long them bark to the player
just happened’), while while in a different
simple, can still lead to expository diary entries” emotional state. Having
quite a rich system. You different bark sets for
Subset’s Into the Breach also


could consider adding triggers for the types of each level, or even character ‘mood’ if your makes use of outcome
triggers to flag up important
weapons used, the effectiveness of an attack, game has a definition of that concept, can be information to the player.
the time the player takes to make a decision, immensely powerful.
and more.

FRAME PERFECT
Outcome triggers work best when they have
context. In Origin’s classic space sim Wing
Commander, and many games subsequently, the
impact of your wingman’s barks are enhanced
by the fact that you can have a fuller dialogue
with them when you return to base, and by the
narrative framing of the combat situation you
find yourselves in.
Think about why characters are talking in
the first place: are they chipping in because
they’re opinionated, concerned, angry, or
showing off? What are they aiming to get out of
the exchange?

[Link] \ 33
 Toolbox
Text as Texture

These are triggered when a pass has taken

place, it has been caught in the endzone for a
goal, and the AI is defending. OOCold refers to a
situation where it is literally impossible for the
defence to prevent a goal if the player does
the right thing, whereas conversely, OONoOPlans
would fire when the AI believed that the player
had zero chance of scoring.
Figure 2: In Frozen We also have bark sets for different types of


Cortex, Mentor Brack attacking play, such as short runs, long runs,
of the Redemption
team comments on passes resulting in bonus points, and so on.
the player’s failure to This kind of specificity allows the AI’s reaction to
capitalise on a major
scoring chance. be appropriate.

STATE OF PLAY
INFORMED OUTCOMES IO Interactive’s modern take on the Hitman
On Frozen Cortex, a turn-based game based franchise demonstrates an effective use of
around a futuristic sport, our gameplay AI barks, with panicked members of the public
system is aiming to score goals by moving exclaiming in shock as they witness you choking
the ball into the appropriate endzone. out a guard. It’s important to recognise that this
To accomplish this, it iterates through every signifies both a notable event and a meaningful
possible attacking plan, then tries to construct change in game state: being spotted usually
CHARACTER a defence which can defeat all of them. means you have to flee.
As a neat side effect, this enables it to This elevates the bark simply from reporting
BUILDING evaluate the likelihood of a score occurring on on an outcome to being illustrative of a game’s
Character is vitally important
any given turn. We can use this information to internal process, something which can not only
when it comes to barks and
our advantage when creating outcome triggers: inform, but also surprise and delight players.
quips. In Frozen Synapse,
essentially, we can be more informed about the In Frozen Cortex, we can not only report on
the character of Belacqua
was created mostly to give current game situation. an event after it has happened, but also give a
us an opportunity to bring Let’s say the player has just scored a goal ‘status update’ on the AI’s thought process while
some acerbic irony into a against an AI opponent by passing the ball into it’s making calculations. For example, if the AI is
narrative which was otherwise the endzone. We can trigger an appropriate making a challenging call, it can express doubt
fairly po-faced. outcome bark from the opposing team’s coach with barks like these:
Comedic characters like based on how likely the player was to score
this should be used as bark_hasDichotMoreThan2_AIDefense_1: I gotta
from their previous position – we can effectively
seasoning – too much quipping pick something…
comment on the player’s skill (see Figure 2).
and they overpower the story bark_hasUncoveredInBest_AIDefense_0: We don’t
Here’s a selection of such barks from an in-game
and make it unpalatable; too
script file: have much info on this one…
little, and you risk a bland,
leaden narrative which does bark_hasUncoveredInBest_AIDefense_1: I could
bark_completionEndzone_aiDefense_OOCold_0:
little to acknowledge the see this going either way…
Yes, that was utterly obvious. Let us
player’s inevitable position
of detachment. continue.

bark_completionEndzone_aiDefense_OOGood_2:
Well, I must concede that was a good pass.

bark_completionEndzone_aiDefense_OOBad_2:
Well, I believed we had a good setup there.
Clearly that was not the case.

bark_completionEndzone_aiDefense_OONoOPlans_0: Figure 3: Frozen Cortex ’s Professor



Turek brings an analytical approach to

I’m flabbergasted! the game, and his dialogue reflects this.

34 / [Link]
 Toolbox
Text as Texture

Hitman 2 ’s narrative framing allows for a highly reactive environment and



characters who frequently verbalise their responses. It makes sense for

these characters to be shouting out – they’ve just seen something terrible!

It could also bait the player, based on bark_ctwAIGoingToWinLowTime_0: You’re out of

their situation: time there, $humanPlayer.
OPPOSING
bark_NoOptionsNoThrows_aiDefense_0: No more
Again, it’s important to establish the context FORCE
passes for you and nowhere to run! for all this verbiage. Our matches are framed When you’re using text to
as a duel, with a named character who will add some flavour to generic
While tactical situational barks are great, it’s call you up prior to their team taking the field enemy or AI actions, it pays
important not to neglect the overall game state. (see Figure 3 for an example of this dialogue). to think about clashing
ideologies. How could one
Our AI calculates an overall chance to win the Outside of the matches is a conventional linear
group annoy another, and
match, and so once again it can bark based story, which helps to give the characters more
what would the response be?
on the specific event which caused the change defined roles in the world. Even if your game
Even if your game has quite
to occur: relies on random encounters (as a sports game simple systems, you can still
necessarily does with its league structure), tell intriguing small stories
bark_ctwAIGoingToWinTurnover_0: Ah yes! We
consider adding a small linear component as through coincidental events.
caught them out there! We’ve got this! well; this can serve as a useful anchor.

GET SPECIFIC
Consider the following situation: the AI has the ball but
is surrounded by the player’s defenders. Out of nowhere,
it comes up with an incredible run to the endzone.
When the coach is celebrating, we can be really specific
about how unexpected the situation is. Here are some of
the barks we used for different characters:
“Praise the pattern! A dire circumstance transforms
into success!”
“Getting out of that strategic black hole was inspired AI-heavy games like


Frozen Cortex may

play, if I do say so.” present some
“What? Am I really that good? Obviously, I am!” unconventional
opportunities for
textual feedback.

[Link] \ 35
 Toolbox
Text as Texture

DETAILED DIALOGUE This is fairly generic, but we’ve used the

We’re occasionally given space for the opportunity to employ some unique diction for
player to interact with NPCs outside the this faction here.
confines of combat or the main game loop.
WeveGotTheUpperHandNow: Sonata is leading her
In these situations, it’s still important to
maximise opportunities for contextualisation community into glory - your weak efforts pale
and characterisation. in comparison to her beauty
Mode 7’s Frozen Synapse 2 is an ‘open-world
tactics’ game where players can move around a This is much more faction-specific, and we can
large procedurally generated city encountering start to bring wider lore into play.
various factions. The player is able to call up rival A system like this allows you not only to have
faction leaders, and vice versa. Chats can be characters commenting accurately on recent
scripted using variables events, but also to give
that are populated by “It’s possible for narrative their opinion on them in
data from individual a distinctive way. Using
to permeate other
faction files. flexible phrases for each
NOTHING Characters will call up areas of your design” faction can help keep
TO SAY? the player, greet them, the amount of content
In some instances, such as and make a reference to a recent event. Here’s needed from spiralling out of control – here’s a
during loading, there isn’t a simple example where the AI has just defeated further example from Blue Sunlight’s file:
always a meaningful game the player at one of their minor bases:
ThingsAreMovingForwards: Our progress towards
state to report on. This can be
a great opportunity to drop a chatVariant[]: the Union continues
bit of backstory, some hints, event: I_ATTACK_TEAM_AT_ annoying: vexing
or even a little context-free NONHQ_OWNED_NODE_SUCCESS TheyAreGood: They have a strong understanding
banter between two NPCs.
of their responsibilities
Try to think unconventionally
text: <$speakerteam. suggest: advise
here – dull ‘loading tips’ can
undermine a game, whereas WeDefeatedYou> at <$nodeName>. <$speakerteam. ItoldYouToStayOut: You have persisted in your
something unexpected can WeveGotTheUpperHandNow>. aggressive violation of our territory
keep the player interested
through what might otherwise button: CONTINUE As long as the player doesn’t end up seeing
be a tiresome interruption. too many repeats, you can reuse phrases like
If we take a look in the faction file for these in different situations quite freely.
Blue Sunlight, a religious cult, we can see
the following: AMBIENT NARRATIVE
I’ve focused a lot on dialogue and barks, as
WeDefeatedYou: We were able to triumph
these are simple ways to add texture to your
Figure 4: The Frozen over you game. But, as I mentioned at the outset, it’s


Synapse 2 city view

showing a venture possible for narrative to permeate other areas
taking place.
of your design.
In Frozen Synapse 2, factions undertake
missions we call ‘ventures’. These usually
take the form of spawning a squad, sending
it somewhere in the city, then performing an
action there. While the venture is in progress,
the faction is vulnerable to attack from either
the player or a rival AI force.
As the structure of ventures is fairly
simple, they can be used for all sorts of
narrative purposes.
Let’s take a look at the faction file for Diamond
Brothers, a banking faction who largely control
the city’s finances:

36 / [Link]
 Toolbox
Text as Texture

Defiant’s Hand of Fate uses a



characterful antagonist to increase

the competitive stakes for the player.

occasionally:

venture[]: v_
manipulatestockmarket Another faction, one who dislikes that
venture[]: v_ particular venture, will say this:
hostbankingconference
antiVentureChat: they have been meddling with
venture[]: v_laundermoney
the stock market again - they can’t even play
This group of ventures happen periodically – by their own rules QUALITY AND
they’re just something we want to be going on Giving the player different perspectives on QUANTITY
in the background, independent of the faction’s a single action can lead to some interesting Flexible dialogue systems
level or other activities. narrative nuance. Do they want to allow this are great for lively NPC
When a venture is going on, the player will practice to continue – how does it chime with interactions, but they can
encounter it in various ways: their personal morals? Do they accept the result in an explosion of
• Diamond Bros venture squads will move justification of the faction involved or listen to content and overworked
around on the map one of their rivals? writers! The best way around
this is to get placeholders
• Several UI notifications will appear in for everything you think
• The faction performing the venture may WEAVING IT ALL TOGETHER you’ll need as quickly as
comment on it during calls By taking a tactical approach to game narrative, possible, and then look at
• Other faction leaders may comment on it and grabbing opportunities when player actions, the frequency with which
during calls AI or simulation presents them, you can add a different dialogue triggers
• A city district may call up the player, great deal of polish and additional excitement. are firing. If you can identify
complain about the venture, and ask them Responsive dialogue or the ability to view an phrases which are being
to stop it event from multiple perspectives will enable used constantly, then that’s
your players to tell their own stories about where you’ll need to target
While ventures do have a gameplay what’s happened, as well as bringing them the bulk of your variation.

component – they are minor optional missions deeper into the world you’ve created.
that the player can undertake, as well as
contributing to the faction’s overall power level
and district relationships – their main function is
to illustrate the faction’s personalities.
Let’s say v_manipulatestockmarket is taking
place. If you call up the Diamond Bros leader,
he’ll use the following phrase to describe it:

midVentureChat: attempting to correct some

of the erroneous financial practices we’ve Frozen Synapse 2 ’s city simulation allows


plenty of opportunities for dialogue to be

observed at the city’s stock exchange drawn from emergent situations.

[Link] \ 37
 Toolbox
Source Code

The original Lemmings , first released



for the Amiga, quickly spread like a

virus to just about every computer and
console of the day.

Source Code

Path-following
Lemmings
Learn how to create your own obedient lemmings
AUTHOR
RIK CROSS that follow any path put in front of them

L
emmings is a puzzle-platformer, ‘Tiled’ software ([Link]) to stitch the suitable ground is found to move onto, then
created at DMA Design, and tiles together into a level. the lemming reverses its direction.
first became available for the The algorithm we then use can be The above algorithm is stored as a lemming’s
Amiga in 1991. The aim is summarised as follows: check the pixels update() method, which is executed for each
to guide a number of small immediately below a lemming. If the colour of lemming, each frame
lemming sprites to safety, navigating traps those pixels isn’t the same as the background of the game. The sample [Link] file can
and difficult terrain along the way. Left to their colour, then the lemming is falling. be edited, or swapped for another image
own devices, the lemmings will simply follow altogether. If using a different image, just
the path in front of them, but additional “Left to their own devices, remember to update the level’s BACKGROUND_
‘special powers’ given to lemmings allow them the lemmings will follow COLOUR in your code, stored as a (red, green,
to (among other things) dig, climb, build, and blue, alpha) tuple. You may also need to
the path in front of them”
block in order to create a path to freedom increase your lemming climbheight if you
(or to the next level, anyway). In this case, move the lemming down by one want them to be able to navigate a climb of
I’ll show you a simple way (using Python pixel on the y-axis. If the lemming isn’t falling, more than four pixels.
and Pygame) in which lemmings can be then it’s walking. In this case, we need to see There are other things you can do to make
made to follow the terrain in front of them. whether there is a non-ground, background- a full Lemmings clone. You could try replacing
The first step is to store the level’s terrain coloured pixel in front of the lemming for it the yellow-rectangle lemmings in my example
information, which I’ve achieved by using a to move onto. If a pixel is found in front of with pixel-art sprites with their own walk cycle
two-dimensional list to store the colour of the lemming (determined by its direction) animation (see my article in issue #14) or give
each pixel in the background ‘level’ image. that is low enough to get to (i.e. lower than its your lemmings some of the special powers
In my example, I’ve used the ‘Lemcraft’ tileset climbheight), then the lemming moves forward they’ll need to get to safety, achieved by
by Matt Hackett (of Lost Decade Games) – on the x-axis by one pixel, and upwards on the creating flags that determine how lemmings
taken from [Link] – and used the y-axis to the new ground level. However, if no interact with the terrain around them.

38 / [Link]
 Toolbox
Source Code

Download
the code
Path-following critters in Python from GitHub:
[Link]/
Here’s a code snippet that will send path-following creatures roaming around your screen. To get it wfmag17
running, you’ll first need to install Pygame Zero – you can find full instructions at [Link]/pgzero

from time import sleep self.y += 1

from PIL import Image # if not falling, a lemming is walking
else:
# screen size height = 0
HEIGHT=800 found = False
WIDTH=800 # find the height of the ground in front of a
# lemming up to the maximum height a lemming
# level information # can climb
level_image = ‘level’ while (found == False) and (height <= self.
BACKGROUND_COLOUR = (114,114,201,255) climbheight):
# the pixel ‘in front’ of a lemming
# store the colour of each pixel in the ‘level’ image # will depend on the direction it’s
img = [Link](‘images/[Link]’) # traveling
pixels = [[[Link]((x, y)) for y in range(HEIGHT)] for x if [Link] == 1:
in range(WIDTH)] positioninfront = ([Link][0]+[Link],
[Link][1]+([Link]-1)-height)
# a list to keep track of the lemmings else:
lemmings = [] positioninfront = ([Link][0]-1, self.
max_lemmings = 10 pos[1]+([Link]-1)-height)
start_position = (100,100) if not groundatposition(positioninfront):
# a timer and interval for creating new lemmings self.x += [Link]
timer = 0 # rise up to new ground level
interval = 10 self.y -= height
found = True
# returns ‘True’ if the pixel specified is ‘ground’
# (i.e. anything except BACKGROUND_COLOUR) height += 1
def groundatposition(pos): # turn the lemming around if the ground in front
# ensure position contains integer values # is too high to climb
pos = (int(pos[0]),int(pos[1])) if not found:
# get the colour from the ‘pixels’ list [Link] *= -1
if pixels[pos[0]][pos[1]] != BACKGROUND_COLOUR:
return True def update():
else: global timer
return False # increment the timer and create a new
# lemming if the interval has passed
class Lemming(Actor): timer += 0.1
def __init__(self, **kwargs): if timer > interval and len(lemmings) < max_lemmings:
super().__init__(image=’lemming’, pos=start_position, timer = 0
anchor=(‘left’,’top’), **kwargs) [Link](Lemming())
[Link] = 1 # update each lemming’s
Sprites cling to the


[Link] = 4 position in the level ground below them,

[Link] = 10 for i in lemmings: navigating uneven
terrain, and reversing
[Link] = 20 [Link]() direction when they hit
# update a lemming’s position in the level an impassable obstacle.

def update(self): def draw():

# if there’s no ground below a lemming (check both [Link]()
corners), it is falling # draw the level
bottomleft = groundatposition(([Link][0],self. [Link](level_image,(0,0))
pos[1]+[Link])) # draw lemmings
bottomright = groundatposition(([Link][0]+(self. for i in lemmings:
width-1), [Link][1]+[Link])) [Link]()
if not bottomleft and not bottomright:

[Link] \ 39
 Toolbox
Advice

 arketing a game is hard. Sometimes I just

M


want to crawl back into my cryo-sleep chamber
after a day of social media management.

Indie reflections:
AUTHOR
JEFF SPOONHOWER
Making Anew Part 6
Jeff Spoonhower is a Developer Jeff Spoonhower shares a few useful
developer, artist, and college
professor who’s been working approaches to marketing an indie game
on triple-A and indie games
for over 17 years.

T
[Link]
he marketing of your game is of working on their second or third project.
equal importance to its design Discoverability is one of the toughest challenges
and execution. Even if your game independent game developers face today.
is fun, unique, and beautiful, it You’re probably part of a small development
will likely fail to find an audience team, which means one of your team members
if it doesn’t receive adequate exposure. Let’s will need to head up marketing. This is doable,
discuss some practical approaches to effective but keep in mind, time spent on marketing
indie game marketing. means precious time away from development.
How do you find an audience for your game? If you can afford to hire a dedicated team
How can you capture the attention of gamers, member to focus on marketing responsibilities,
press, and content creators? As discussed in do so. Be sure this person has some degree of
previous articles, it all starts with a game that marketing and social media savvy, intimately
looks, feels, and plays great, and contains unique understands your game (and the overall gaming
features. Once you have a vertical slice or trailer landscape), and has excellent communication
 iscoverability – standing
D


out from the crowd – is one for your game, you should plan and execute and organisational skills.
of the toughest challenges your initial marketing strategy. It takes time,
facing indie devs today.
patience, and research to effectively market TOOLS OF THE TRADE
a game. There are many marketing tools available.
Conceptually, marketing might seem easy. Learning multiple marketing outlets can be
You create your website, post a trailer to your stressful and overwhelming. Starting out,
YouTube channel, set up a Twitter account, I suggest using these core tools: an official
and you’re ready! IGN comes knocking on your website, Twitter, and Discord.
door, asking to write a feature about your game. To launch your website, first, register a
Well, maybe not. The indie game marketplace domain and purchase a hosting package.
is oversaturated, which means competition for When choosing your domain name, make
attention is fierce. There’s no guaranteed media sure it’s short and easy to pronounce and
coverage – even for experienced developers spell. Lengthy, complex names are difficult to

40 / [Link]
 Toolbox
Advice

remember and will use too many characters its gameplay, visuals, and tone. As we’ve been
in your Twitter posts. Begin with a base-level accepted into festivals and conventions, and
hosting package. WordPress is a popular and won a few awards, we added a ‘laurels’ image
free way to build a clean, professional-looking toward the top of our site. This lends credibility
website, and plugins and themes are available to to our production and informs visitors that Anew
customise your site. Hire a web and/or graphic is worthy of their attention. Once our site was
I f only it were


designer to help if needed; it’s worth the cost for built, we compiled a list of gaming websites, this easy.
your site to appear professional. streamers, and bloggers, and emailed them
Twitter’s essential for building awareness for directly with an announcement about Anew.
your game and allows you to directly engage Our approach to Twitter (@AnewTheGame)
with an audience that’s excited about your has been posting quality over quantity.
project. Building a following on Twitter won’t Our highest-value tweets are animated GIFs,
happen overnight. In order to amass followers, which we try to post every Friday – creating
likes, and retweets, you’ll need to consistently a fun and visually interesting six-second GIF
post high-quality content from your game, such takes a surprising amount of time and effort.
as screenshots, animated GIFs, short videos, We recently hired a social media manager to
and dev diaries. You’re representing your game’s increase the regularity of these posts, which
brand and identity, so avoid posting anything we hope will result in more followers. Thus far,
political, religious, or personal in nature. we’ve built a modest following of people who are
Create colourful, high-contrast, attractive passionate about Anew. We’ve also connected
graphics for your banner and profile images, and with several website editors, streamers, and Additional
keep the description simple other industry partners
resources
yet informative. “Marketing your game through Twitter. There are a wealth of
Discord is an excellent site Our Discord server
is of equal importance additional resources available
for building a community has become an essential online regarding indie game
around your game. Gamers to its design” community hub. We engage marketing. On YouTube and
value direct interaction individually with our [Link], search for
‘indie game marketing and
with developers, which Discord enables and members, chat about the development process,
PR tips’ to learn more from
encourages. You’ll set up a #general channel gather feedback, collect bug reports, and experienced developers.
to post development updates, promotions, and run promos.
chat with folks about anything and everything. While we adore our loyal Facebook followers,
A #feedback channel is a good place to solicit our success on this platform has been
design and feature ideas specific to your game. disappointing. Our main frustration relates to
Consider a #bug-report channel, where your shrinking organic reach, which refers to the
members can log and describe technical issues percentage of followers that see our posts.
they run into when playing demos, betas, and Over time, this has dropped to ten percent or
your final game. less: to reach more people, Facebook requires
Other social media outlets such as Facebook, payment to convert posts into advertisements
Instagram, Reddit, Twitch, IndieDB, and YouTube, (‘boosts’). This has become common practice,
can also be useful. Remember, managing these so many indie devs have abandoned Facebook
requires significant time and effort. in favour of other social media outlets.  et’s talk about how
L


you can get more eyes

Another effective way we marketed our on your indie game.
MARKETING ANEW game was through a crowdfunding campaign
After developing Anew for about a year, we felt on Kickstarter – which is something I’ll discuss
prepared to begin marketing. We first built our further in a future article. Stay tuned!
website ([Link]) and embedded
our YouTube trailer at the top. We wanted this
to be the first thing visitors noticed. Directly
below the trailer, we included essential facts
about our game such as genre, unique gameplay
features, story premise, and short bios of
team members. Then, we added a gallery of
screenshots from Anew that best represent

[Link] \ 41
 Toolbox
Source Code
Directory

Directory

Make your own

adventure game:
a free online course
Learn object-oriented programming principles by
creating your own text adventure game in Python

What’s the thinking behind the course? What will I learn?

Raspberry Pi’s free online course will introduce By the end of the course, you’ll be
GET
you to the principles of object-oriented able to…
INVOLVED programming in Python, showing you how to
Do you have an online create objects, functions, methods, and classes. •  xplore using objects in programming,
E
tutorial you’d like to share You’ll use what you learn to create your own and recognise the difference between
with readers? Have you
text-based adventure game. You will have the a function and an object
created an online resource
that other game developers chance to share your code with other learners, • Understand how writing your own class
might find useful? Maybe and see theirs. allows you to combine functions and data
you have a local code club If you’re an educator, you’ll also be able • Demonstrate extending other people’s classes,
you’re keen to promote? If
to develop ideas for using object-oriented including inheritance and polymorphism
you have something you’d
like to see featured in the programming in your classroom. • Produce a module to apply your learning of
Directory, get in touch with object-oriented programming
us at [Link]/hello Who’s it for? • Collaborate by sharing your code with
People who are already familiar with Python other people
programming and want to learn a different
programming paradigm, understand and use When’s it on?
existing libraries more effectively, or create Every run of a course has a set start date, but
code which is useful to other people. It will you can join it and work through it after it starts.
be particularly useful for A-level educators To find out more, and sign up, simply visit the
and students. course page at [Link]/adventure-game

 Raspberry Pi’s free

online course will
introduce you to the
principles of
programming in
Python – and in the
process, help you
make your very own
text adventure.

42 / [Link]
 w w w. f i l m s t o r i e s . c o . u k

The UK’s
BRAND NEW
FILM MAGAZINE
TRY
THREE ISSUES
FOR £9.99
with the code ‘RASPBERRY’

k /m a ga z in e/film s to r ie s
[Link].u
 Interface
Couch potatoes

 vercooked ’s chaotic brand of kitchen teamwork forces

O


players to co-operate on delivering orders to hungry customers.

44 / [Link]
 Interface
Couch potatoes

COUCH POTATOES
WRITTEN BY
JACK
We look at some of the ways that developers are encouraging
YARWOOD players to communicate in couch co-op games

W
hile most social experiences
in gaming nowadays are
designed to happen online,
with the aid of a hissing
microphone, there’s still a
wave of creators acting as staunch defenders
of local co-op experiences. Studios like Ghost
Town Games, Asteroid Base, Steel Crate Games,
and Bit Loom Games all maintain that we, the
people, play better together – and up close.
But what connects these studios’ games isn’t
just the addition of a friend or family member
in order to enjoy them to their utmost potential.
It’s also how their designs constantly force
the player into situations where they need to
communicate and coordinate with each other
while occupying the same space in the real
world. This is encouraged through a number
of areas, like their control schemes, puzzle
designs, or map layouts. Ghost Town Games’
Overcooked series is an excellent example of this,
with both games putting a huge emphasis on
communication; players having to very clearly
coordinate their movements around a kitchen to
prepare dishes to hopefully achieve that coveted
three-star rating.
“The origin for us was the co-operative angle,
really, rather than the cooking thing,” says Phil
Duncan, co-founder at Ghost Town Games.
“We used to meet up at lunchtimes when we
worked at Frontier Developments, and we’d play
whatever local multiplayer games we could get
our hands on… I remember us talking about it
and not really finding a game that fitted the kind
of experience we were going for. Like the kind of
game that was co-operative, but it required you
to communicate and actually work together.”
“There’s a very limited pool of games to play,
and you exhaust that pool quite quickly,” adds
Oli De-Vine, fellow co-founder at the studio.
“Also, they’re very combat-heavy and tend
to be… like you’re racing each other, and we
just called this ‘first-to-fun’. It’s this idea that
you are racing each other to actually get to
the gameplay.”

[Link] \ 45
 Interface
Couch potatoes

into the game – as well as time-sensitive

obstacles like conveyor belts – to disrupt
the player.
“We have some levels like where… the
movement of the counters block players into
sections,” explains De-Vine. “And if they don’t
coordinate – ‘OK you’re going left, and I’m going
right at this point’ – they can both get stuck on
the same side, then end up having to go some
convoluted route, or in some levels they are just
trapped there and have to wait until [they’ve]
been unlocked again.”
Every interaction in PHOGS! has It sounds punitive and, frankly, it is. But it all


repercussions for your partner, be it

swallowing water from a spout or
weaves together the fine co-op tapestry that
clinging onto a luminescent object. is the Overcooked series. Taken on face value,
it might seem quite dull – barely a step up
from classics from the archives like Tapper or
Burger Time – but with these vaguely nefarious,
‘forced’ problems ladled on top, it’s a recipe for
wonderful, gorgeous, hilarious co-op disaster.

DOUBLE DOG

Another title similarly stressing the importance

of working together is Bit Loom Games’
A lot of puzzles in PHOGS! are based


around physics and trying to make upcoming PHOGS!, where two players are in
forward progression, in spite of the
elements and your clumsy, often
control of a different dog head on the end of a
uncoordinated movements. single long, noodly body. Whereas Overcooked
was all about taking an already complex process
and gamifying it, PHOGS! focuses on taking the
KITCHEN FRICTION familiar task of guiding a 3D character through
a level and complicating it further, splitting the
A lot of specific design decisions went into work between two people.
Overcooked and its sequel in order to get players “We spent an entire day throwing around
to communicate. The most notable of these ideas in a tiny, hot room, mashing words
are the orders, which players have to fulfil. together until we latched on to something,” says
Each recipe is random and requires just a few James Wood, director and programmer at Bit
ingredients, but players are often confronted Loom Games. “The name ‘dog sports’ led us to
by more recipes than there are personnel. This countless silly scenarios, including one involving
means tasks need to be delegated, and at all teammates sharing a controller in similar style to
times you have to be sure members of your Sportsfriends. After some prototyping, we created
team aren’t making the same order twice, or the titular double-ended dog and shifted
wasting time on something irrelevant when focus to co-operative gameplay rather than
they could be working on important tasks. competitive. We’re all big fans of co-op games
Like washing the dishes. Seriously, it’s important. like Overcooked, Snipperclips, and BattleBlock
Another way Ghost Town achieves this Theater, and wanted to see something new and
enforced communication is through its map a bit different.”
designs. Early on in development, the team Much like Overcooked, all obstacles in PHOGS!
found playtesters would often pick a role and are designed around the idea of co-operation.
stick to it. This meant that communication was For instance, the game features a monkey bar
limited, and characters were often acting as puzzle requiring one player to fasten themselves
static worker drones. To solve the problem, the onto a pole and swing the other person/dog
developers introduced dynamic environments half across a gap. If the second player fails to

46 / [Link]
 Interface
Couch potatoes

attach themselves securely to the other side cannot see the manual, and the players outside
before the first person lets go of their grip, then of VR cannot see the bomb. If they fail to co-
both players will simply collapse onto the floor, operate or just misunderstand each other, the
and they’ll have to start all over again. Thus, bomb will explode, and the mission will fail.
players need to constantly be aware of what the “We came up with the idea at Global
other person is doing. Even movement requires Game Jam 2014,” says Taraneh Dohmer,
players to work in tandem, to some degree – if communications lead at Steel Crate Games.
each of the two heads is pulling in a different “We were interested in the VR space. We noticed
direction, the body will simply remain in the that playing VR with friends and family usually
same place and achieve nothing. consists of one person wearing the headset, and
To facilitate these kinds of co-operative everyone else waiting for their turn. We wanted
mechanics, the developers had to simplify some to make it a more inclusive experience, and
 he manual players are asked to
T


of the tasks players would be taking part in. that’s what sparked the idea initially. At its core, pore over in Keep Talking and
Nobody Explodes – proof that
Hardcore platforming and parkour you’d see in our game is about setting up fun scenarios that game ideas don’t have to be
other third-person titles went out the window force people to communicate with each other technical to be great.
and, in their place, Bit Loom created short, – a concept that we refined throughout the
snappy challenges and other unique scenarios development process.”
for the player to enjoy.
“We learned early on that navigation needed “We spent an entire day throwing
to be simple and easy,” says Wood. “Adding
any kind of challenge to the simple act of
around ideas in a tiny, hot room”
moving through a level was frustrating to new
players. And due to its physics-heavy nature The key to getting people communicating
and that each player only controls half the in Keep Talking are the puzzles, specifically the
character, precise platforming also never felt individual modules players have to figure out –
terribly satisfying. Consequently, we provide and deactivate – through their co-operation. For
plenty of leeway during the more complex co- this, playtesting was necessary in order to find
op scenarios, and make sure the platforming out how exactly players were interacting and
sections focus less on the challenge and more what specific behaviours could be encouraged
on the inherent silliness of a long wobbly dog.” through focused design.
It’s not about the curse of ‘git gud’, and it’s “It allowed us to see where players were
certainly not about punishing players for wanting getting tripped up,” says Dohmer about the
to enjoy the game – it’s more about the inherent team’s experiences. “Each time we demoed
silliness involved in PHOGS!. But to really make our game, we gained more insight into what
it something more than a wobbly dog joke, the
challenge did have to be modified from what
Communication is key in Keep Talking


you might usually expect, and tailored to fit the and Nobody Explodes – and that’s what
makes it both hilarious and difficult.
specific circumstances of the game. Basically,
you have to communicate more.

BOMB THREAT

One of the best demonstrations of a local co-op

game forcing players to work together is definitely
asymmetrical VR experience, Keep Talking and
Nobody Explodes, from Steel Crate Games.
Here, one person must wear a VR headset
and enter a virtual room with a bomb inside it.
They then have to describe certain details about
the bomb – specific panels or symbols it features,
for example – while their cohorts outside of the
VR world feed back specific instructions on how
to defuse it from a manual. The player in VR

[Link] \ 47
 Interface
Couch potatoes

favouring online experiences and games as

 vercooked 2 ratcheted
O a service, these independent developers are


everything up from the

original, including how able to make smaller games, covering subjects
much players would shout interactions players were having the most fun and mechanics that are of personal interest to
at each other. JUST CHOP
THE CUCUMBER! with. Once we saw that communication was those making them, thus satisfying niche areas
where the magic was happening, we focused that have mostly gone ignored. So why are indie
on developing modules that forced that type of developers the ones who are taking up the
player interaction. mantle? According to those we asked, it’s mostly
“The names of modules also reflect what to do with basic elements such as cost and scale.
aspect of communication they are trying to “We have the opportunity to make the games
stress on you,” she continues. “’Memory’ tests, that we want to play ourselves,” says Dohmer.
well, your memory, and ‘Who’s on First’ plays on “Having a smaller scope allows us to test
the fact that you only have voice communication stranger ideas faster. It gives us more flexibility
to [get across] visual information. It wasn’t just that we may not otherwise have.”
about making the modules achievable, but “I think part of it is like an economy of scale
ensuring that the process was fun to do.” thing,” adds De-Vine. “I think that games have
inevitably got larger and larger teams, and
therefore required larger and larger profits
“Having a smaller scope allows us
to maintain them. And I think it’s a space that
to test stranger ideas faster” indies can occupy. It’s this, ‘No, we’re going to
assume that our player has somebody locally
One of the real masterstrokes in Keep Talking that they can play with and make an experience
and Nobody Explodes is how the difficulty is for them.’ Whereas so many games have to
carefully ratcheted up – starting out, you’ll be tailor themselves around the idea that the single
swapping out who’s in and out of VR, and the player has to be king, or you’re going to be
game slowly introduces new elements to take online and matchmake with people all over the
stock of and learn about. Were it a simple case world to support this experience.”
of bomb 1: hard, bomb 2: harder, bomb 3: While Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes and
proper hard, the challenge would be off-putting Overcooked 2 can actually be played remotely,
in a multi-person situation. But it’s considered in either through online modes or chat programs,
its approach, and is one of many elements that the developers of these games maintain the
make this VR bomb disposal sim a genuine great best way to experience what they can offer in full
in the co-op world. is still local co-op. Being able to communicate
using non-verbal cues and body language is
TRIPLE-A SHYNESS something that can only be done in person,
for example, and the ability to empathise
But what’s interesting about this new wave of more closely with another through proximity is
co-op games is that they are almost exclusively something that both helps while you’re playing,
coming from the independent space. While and raises the experience in your memory after
bigger developers have largely shifted to the fact. The human element, you could call it.

48 / [Link]
 Interface
Couch potatoes

5 MORE CO-OP EXPERIENCES

“I think local co-op games provide that
same feeling that you get from playing board
games with your friends on a Friday night,” says FOR CONSOLES
Dohmer. “Local co-op games scratch an itch
for people who love to enjoy games with their
1
friends in a social setting. Online play has many
benefits, but it has its trade-offs, too. Our game
is designed to create interaction between
several human beings. With online play, you miss
out on the raw emotional expression of your
friends and their body language cues, and our
game really shines in that situation. Even if you
are not currently playing, you feel the tension
and experience what’s happening.”
For Overcooked 2, the decision to add online
play was in many ways one based on popular
demand. After the success of the original game,
Ghost Town had received numerous messages
from people who loved the game, but could no
2 3
longer play it locally with their family. So, with
publisher Team17’s help – and the sequel’s
higher budget – the experience was able to be
introduced without altering the core design
established in the previous game, and without
diverting resources away from other key areas.
“We’d get messages from people saying, ‘Oh,
I love the game – we played it over Christmas,
4 5
but my brother is serving overseas and we can’t
play this game together,’” says Duncan. “And we
realised that, you know, there’s a lot of people
out there who will just never have that option
to play it locally.”
“Team17 also offered to help us out with a lot
of the development aspects of Overcooked 2,”
adds De-Vine. “One of the things they did was
take all of the online implementation out of our
hands and just go, ‘We’ll do that.’ And it’s just
1. A Way Out Starve Together lets players work
like, ‘Yeah, great’, because that is a massive task.” locally as a team, delegating different
Play together with a friend as Leo
A big part of the appeal of these co-op and Vincent, two prisoners trying to chores and co-operating to fend off the
games is the experiences they create. It’s escape from prison to get back at creatures of the night.
shouting frantic orders at your fellow chefs in the person who put them there.
Overcooked while chasing higher scores. Trying 4. Snipperclips Plus
to synchronize your noodly dog to clear an 2. Degrees of Separation Exclusive to Switch, Snipperclips
obstacle in PHOGS!, and failing. Or desperately Playing as the characters Ember and Plus has you and a partner solve
Rime, who have mastery over the shape-based puzzles through
feeding information to your friends as the timer
elements of fire and ice respectively, the use of a simple yet ingenious
ticks down to zero in Keep Talking and Nobody
you will have to work together and snipping mechanic.
Explodes. Though local co-operative games can
combine your abilities to make it
feel hard to come by, this recent resurgence 5. Lovers in a
through to the end of each level in
demonstrates exactly what was so endearing Degrees of Separation. Dangerous Spacetime
about them in the first place: creating shared Up to four friends can play together
goals to play through with friends and family. 3. Don’t Starve Together in Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime,
And shouting at each other when someone Bringing the terrifying survival with each player responsible for one
forgets to chop the cucumber. experience to multiplayer, Don’t or more aspects of their spaceship.

[Link] \ 49
 Interface
Developer Profile / HAL Laboratory

Developer Profile

HAL Laboratory
The Japanese developer survived its darkest hour,
and gave the world Kirby, Smash Bros., and more

I
HAL “Aim for love at first sight”


when designing their games. It’s

n another, darker version of Smash Bros., and EarthBound (the latter plain to see in the Kirby series,
reality, HAL Laboratory might co-developed with Ape); all games that still going strong after 27 years.
have shuffled off this mortal coil emerged in the early nineties, and still
long before it had the chance highly regarded all these years later.
to create some of its best- Even before that financial wobble, Fight and F-1 Race were all programmed
known and enduring games. By 1991, HAL Laboratory – founded in Tokyo by by Iwata at HAL.
the Japanese publisher and developer Mitsuhiro Ikeda in 1980 – enjoyed close There was a good reason for HAL’s
was already a decade old, and the cracks links with Nintendo. Future Nintendo programming expertise when it came
were beginning to show in its edifice; president Satoru Iwata famously worked to the Famicom; while still at university,
game sales were slowing, and the at HAL while still a computer science Iwata had already developed several
catastrophic failure of an ambitious (and student, and when he joined HAL full- games for the Commodore PET,
expensive to produce) RPG named Metal time after leaving university in the early a comparatively obscure piece of
Slader Glory threatened to bring the eighties, programmed several games for hardware in Japan, but one that shared
entire company to its knees. Nintendo’s then-new Family Computer the same 6502 CPU as Nintendo’s
Fortunately, Nintendo stepped in to system, later released as the NES in the later Famicom. This meant that, while
rescue the firm from bankruptcy – which rest of the world: although they bore rival firms were still getting their
meant that we got the likes of Kirby, Nintendo’s name, Golf, Pinball, Balloon heads around the hardware when the

50 / [Link]
 Interface
or or Developer Profile

When developer Ape struggled with EarthBound ’s



production, HAL stepped in to assist with its

programming. The result was a cult classic.

Famicom emerged in 1983, Iwata (and by when it came to game development.

extension, HAL) was already adept at It was in this rejuvenated climate
programming for it. that 19-year-old graduate Masahiro
Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto
Sakurai joined HAL, and began working


initially resisted HAL’s crossover
SMASH HITS on what would become Kirby’s Dream concept for Smash Bros.
Bolstered by its reputation for technically Land: released in 1992, the gentle,
polished work, HAL’s growth continued pastel-coloured platformer was an
through the eighties, as it steadily put unexpected success, spawning an
out assorted golf games, original titles entire franchise of distinctly kawaii
(the likeable Eggerland series of block- sequels, spin-offs, a cartoon series,
pushing puzzlers), adapted arcade and assorted merchandise. With Kirby,

“HAL’s games are marked out by their The late Satoru Iwata HAL Laboratory’s



went on to greater current president,
bold design, accessibility, and warmth” fame at Nintendo. Shigefumi Kawase.

games for home consoles (Defender Sakurai resolved to go against the

II, Millipede), and published games grain of other platformers, with their Sakurai left HAL in 2004, apparently
from other developers (like Kabuki: one-touch deaths and precisely timed because he was afraid of getting stuck
Quantum Fighter, created by Human jumps; instead, he wanted to make an in a creative rut of churning out sequels
Entertainment). HAL’s near-bankruptcy approachable take on the genre that to these hit titles – though ironically, he
in the early nineties, however, saw the players of any age could play. The same continued directing Smash games at his
studio rethink its strategy; Satoru Iwata philosophy arguably informed Sakurai’s own studio, Sora.
took over as president, its publishing next big success, Super Smash Bros. – a For almost 40 years, HAL Laboratory
arm was closed, and the firm began multiplayer brawler designed to entice has successfully navigated a changing
taking a ‘quality over quantity’ approach newcomers as well as hardcore players. Japanese games industry. Successive
presidents, including Masayoshi
Tanimura, who took over from Satoru
Iwata when he headed to Nintendo, and
current head honcho Shigefumi Kawase,
Dogs’ eggs? HAL’s logo explained have managed to maintain a modest
While the meaning behind HAL Laboratory’s name is more easily understood
yet distinct studio spirit. HAL’s games,
— taken from the sentient computer in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, HAL
is one letter removed from IBM – the company’s logo is rather cryptic. Why whether they’re Kirby platformers or
does it feature a dog incubating eggs? Speaking to Forbes, HAL’s director downloadable puzzlers like this year’s
Satoshi Mitsuhara explained that the ‘Inutamago’ logo (a portmanteau of BoxBoy! + BoxGirl!, are marked out by
the Japanese words for ‘dog’ and ‘egg’) is all to do with surprise and creativity. their bold design, accessibility, and
“Our ‘Inutamago’ logo is quite symbolic because the dog is a mammal and doesn’t lay eggs,”
warmth. As Kawase sums all this up on
Mitsuhara said. “However, it is looking after these eggs, and that means you don’t really know what
is inside those eggs. That implies that whatever comes out of these eggs is completely unknown HAL’s website, “With care and love, we
and utterly surprising. That’s where the inspiration for the logo is from, in that HAL Laboratory is a make our products one at a time for you,
company that will surprise people and creates something unimaginable.” It seems obvious, really, our customer. We bring you happiness
put like that.
through our creations, and that becomes
our happiness, too.”

[Link] \ 51
 Interface
Developer Profile / HAL Laboratory

HAL of Fame
10 highlights from the Lab
A selection of HAL Lab’s prime cuts from the past four decades

01 02

Golf Adventures of Lolo

NES 1984 NES 1989
It might not look like much now, but Golf was A block-pushing puzzler, Adventures of Lolo
quite a programming feat in its day: Satoru balances deviously intricate stage designs – all
Iwata managed to cram an entire 18-hole course switches, locked doors, and barriers – with
into just a few kB of memory – something rival sweaty-palmed action, as enemies pursue you
developers had attempted and failed on the like relentless killer cyborgs. A surprise hit,
NES. HAL’s reputation for its technical prowess the series – known as Eggerland – was even
began here, as did a string of other golf games bigger in Japan, with around a dozen games
from the firm: see also Kirby’s Dream Course. released across multiple platforms.

03 04
Trax Metal Slader Glory
Game Boy 1989 NES 1991
Had this top-down shooter been released a Leaving aside its potentially ruinous sales
few years later, it could have been marketed – the carts were expensive to produce, and
as a Kirby spin-off: its rotund tank looks legend has it that the game barely shifted
uncannily like the pink hero (albeit with a gun enough copies to cover its advertising – Metal
turret attached), and the game’s general tone is Slader Glory was still a bold, expansive, and
light and cartoon-like. Although it’s short at just refreshingly different RPG, bringing a human
four levels, it’s still one of the Game Boy’s more angle to its sci-fi yarn that was relatively
entertaining action titles. unusual on console adventures at the time.

52 / [Link]
 Interface
HAL Laboratory \ Developer Profile

05 06 07

EarthBound Kirby Super Star Pokémon Snap

SNES / GBA 1994 SNES 1996 N64 1999
Co-developed with Ape, this legendarily For our money, the finest entry in the Kirby Sure, it’s a licensed title, but there’s a surprising
eccentric gem needs little introduction. Offbeat series so far: the standard formula of amount of thoughtful design in Pokémon Snap.
where most mainstream RPGs stuck rigidly to platforming and enemy inhalation is joined by In essence, it’s a rail shooter, except you’re
fantasy or sci-fi genre staples, and packed with a wealth of imaginative sub-games of varying photographing monsters rather than blasting
charming characters and unforgettable story sizes: there are races, time trials, a boss rush them out of existence. Regrettably, it’s no longer
moments, EarthBound is more than deserving mode, and twitch-based minigames. The sheer possible to have your best pictures printed out
of its classic status. Now, if we could only get variety – and pixel art craft – on display here is as stickers at your local Blockbuster outlet.
an official translation of its sequel, Mother 3… pretty astonishing. The core game remains a cute N64 highlight.

08 09 10

Super Smash Bros. Brawl BoxBoy! Part Time UFO

Wii 2008 Nintendo 3DS 2015 Android / iOS 2018
The brawler series went online for the first time What’s so impressive about BoxBoy – and its Created by spin-off company HAL Egg, Part
with this Wii entry, and while matching with sequels, including this year’s BoxBoy! + BoxGirl! Time UFO is a beguiling yet infuriatingly
online opponents could be shaky at the best on the Switch – is how imaginatively it uses its addictive smartphone title. Your task is to pick
of times, it was still a light and enormously mechanics. Levels are traversed and puzzles up objects and stack them in a predefined
entertaining button-masher. Later entries solved via its hero’s ability to extend clones of order using a fiddly robot hand that functions
(developed outside HAL) would, of course, itself in cardinal directions, like a blocky snake. like one of those mechanical grabber machines
improve the formula further, culminating with From this, HAL manages to forge a varied and you get in arcades. Trust us, it’s far more fun –
last year’s Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. absorbing platform-puzzler. and witty – than it might initially sound.

[Link] \ 53
 Subscribe
today
SAVE
49%

[Link]/subscribe
54 / [Link]
13 issues
for just £20
Subscriber benefits
 Free delivery
Get it fast and for free

 Exclusive offers
Great gifts, offers, and discounts

 Great savings
Save up to 49% compared to stores

Introductory offer
Rolling monthly sub
 Low initial cost (from £4)
 Cancel at any time
 Free delivery to your door
 Available worldwide

Digital subscriptions from

£1.99
Subscribe for 12 months
Receive all 26 issues
£40 (UK) £75 (USA)
£65 (EU) £75 (RoW)
Offers and prices are subject to change at any time

Visit [Link]/ subscribe or call 01293 312192 to order

Subscription queries: wireframe@[Link]

[Link] \ 55
 Rated
Review

Review

GENRE
Outer Wilds
Info

Adventure
FORMAT Death and translation in the final frontier
PC (tested) / XBO

T
DEVELOPER
Mobius Digital he first thing you see in Outer that honestly has nothing on the real thing.
PUBLISHER Wilds are planets. You open your Even with this quasi-tutorial under your belt,
Annapurna eyes and there they are, twinkling Outer Wilds will be confusing for a while as you
Interactive in the night sky like the stars that fiddle your way onto your first planet. There’s a
PRICE surround them. Today is your big not inconsiderable chance you will literally and
£19.99 day – you’re going to leave your home planet figuratively bounce off the physics in this game,
RELEASE Timber Hearth and its four-eyed inhabitants but stick with it – you’ll soon get a feel for how
Out now
behind for the first time. Others like you have everything handles. I chose Giant’s Deep as my
left and gone to chart the stars for decades, but first destination, a planet fantastically unsuitable
your people are particularly fascinated by the to make your first landing on, because most of
Nomai, an ancient alien race that has left traces its surface is water. In true video game fashion,
all over Outer Wilds’ small solar system. You have I opened my ship’s hatch to see how long I could
a better chance of finding out what the Nomai swim for, which turned out not to be very long,
REVIEWED BY
Malindy Hetfeld were all about than anyone before you, thanks and died.
to a portable translation device allowing you That’s how I found out about Outer Wilds’
to immediately make sense of Nomai writing loop. It turns out you can’t die without starting
no matter where you find it. And so, equipped where it all began, Groundhog Day-style. But
with a number of hints on where to start your while everything around you resets, your
investigation and a ship that has frankly seen memory stays intact. You die exactly every 22
HIGHLIGHT better days, you set off.
After a long time alone, it As a game about exploration, Outer Wilds
can feel great to find one of  pace Fish doesn’t want to be
S


encourages you to, well, explore, and doesn’t disturbed. We will disturb him.
the other travellers camping
out on the various planets.
tell you much. On Timber Hearth, you can get
They’re always good for a to know your tools – how to locate signals
chat and a valuable source of with a tracking device, get a feeling for moving
hints, too. You can find them around in zero-G in your space suit, and practice
by following the sound of
landing your ship with a tiny spaceship model
their instruments across the
solar system.

Outer Wilds doles out



information slowly, and

with little hand-holding.

56 / [Link]
 Rated
Review

I t’s always nice to



meet a fellow traveller.

minutes in a manner I won’t spoil for you if you lot of sand, which gave them the Discovering untranslated


writings makes you feel
haven’t heard about it yet, but until then, the name Hourglass Twins. A badly- like a true explorer.
solar system is your oyster. In the face of games timed jump with my jetpack
like No Man’s Sky and its endless universe, a left me stuck in one of Ember’s
system of six planets doesn’t sound like much crevices, where the sand pulled
to explore, but there’s astounding depth to in from Ash slowly drowned me.
Outer Wilds that makes every bit of progress Outer Wilds isn’t morbid or
feel like a revelation. My first translation felt unfair, but it does ask you
like an enormous find, because finally I was to take risks in the name of
able to hear the Nomai, rather than hear exploration, and you can go
about them, and instead of speaking in riddles, through a frustrating amount
they discussed their work and their findings of loops before a particular
in a manner that was refreshingly normal. jump works out or you have the
Uncovering more translations didn’t make me planet memorised enough to be
revere that mysterious civilisation, it was more able to efficiently go about your
like checking in on what my pals the Nomai business. The time loop did cause me unwanted
were up to; it’s a unique tension, if rarely so, making
approach with a completely “The way Outer Wilds me aware that after a crooked
different tone to most other landing and orienting myself,
rewards curiosity
exploration games. only so much time remained VERDICT
Even small successes, kept me going” for actual exploration. A beautiful but occasionally
like landing your rickety ship More often, it was the frustrating gem, cleverly
without breaking something or discovering a need for jetpack fuel or oxygen that ended playing with time and
good deal of leads in a single time loop, feel an excursion prematurely, or hitting my head hiding many secrets.
really good – your ship logs your progress for during a jump. While I understand the need for
you, including new rumours and locations,
and I watched the log grow with a satisfaction
bordering on smugness. To turn rumours into
some realism and challenge, these elements
did hamper my enjoyment. Nevertheless, the
palpable sense of progression and the beautiful
80%
finds, you need to employ a true explorer’s way in which Outer Wilds builds and rewards
mindset, since Outer Wilds never goes out of curiosity kept me going to discover a solar
its way to disclose a location. It doesn’t even system – and a people – rich with character.
describe what exactly you’re looking for most
of the time.
Each planet is a distinct entity in every way.
From its landscape to its gravity, no planet quite
feels like the other, and each is continuously
on its way around the sun. Their relationship
to one another, as well as to the sun, can lead
to new discoveries if you time it right, which is
a great way to make use of the 22-minute loop.
The icy crust of a planet called The Interloper,
for example, will melt when the planet gets close
to the sun, allowing you to access the caves
beneath. Another symbiosis also leads to one of
my more memorable deaths – two planets called Every aspect of the game is


Ash and Ember share a gravitational field and a rendered in pleasing detail.

[Link] \ 57
 Rated
Review

HIGHLIGHT
Blood & Truth ’s level of detail
is impressive up close, and
you’re never too far away from
an interactive object, whether
that’s a vape pen with a variety
of flavours, a CCTV system,
or a record to scratch while
doing your best Revolver Ocelot
impression with your free hand.

Review

Blood & Truth

Explosions are plentiful in Blood


& Truth, while bullet time affords
you a few precious seconds to
nail satisfying headshots.

Lock, stock and two smoking move controllers

B
lood & Truth is a bare-faced innovation is in making the minutiae of action VR
homage to the movies of Guy haptic and fun, from picking locks and swapping
GENRE Ritchie, a guns-blazing power mags to clambering through vents with your
Info

FPS fantasy teeming with male ego. sweaty palms.

FORMAT You step into the Jacamo dress Unfortunately, Blood & Truth is harangued
PSVR (tested) shoes of Ryan Marks, an elite army veteran out by the ancient peripherals it has to still rely on.
DEVELOPER for blood when a potty-mouthed Nigel Farage The PS Camera and accompanying Move
SIE London lookalike seizes a crime family power vacuum. controllers are begging for an upgrade, and
Studio
It’s by the book stuff, but we’ve not seen anything it shows. Tracking can often go haywire in the
PUBLISHER like it in games since the days of The Getaway. middle of a firefight, and the clunky size of the
Sony
The novelty of the cinematic genre doesn’t controllers means that you get in your own way
Interactive
Entertainment wear thin across the game’s when you’re trying to jam a
PRICE four- to six-hour story “Proof that VR can magazine in the bottom of
£34.99 mode, which is packed with a pistol or switch between
deliver first-party
RELEASE enough production value and precarious handholds. With its
Out now adrenaline-pumping set pieces cinematic set pieces” cinematic inspirations, it’s a
to keep you absorbed. There’s shame the immersion has to
a lot of satisfying pay-off in Blood & Truth, both be broken so often – a few moments of fuzzy AI
through physical actions and narrative build-up. forced me to crane my neck to find pesky bugged
REVIEWED BY Antagonists are set up just as well as the C4 you goons, who were busy watching paint dry.
Jordan Oloman rig at the start of one mission, only to let it blow Soundtracking your 15 minutes of action hero
at the bombastic crescendo of the next. fame is a clever mix of orchestra and grime
And while a lot of the on-rails shooting boils which – in its finest moments – achieves Baby
down to blowing up red canisters and spongy Driver-esque heights of soundtracked chaos,
goons, it’s consistently frenetic fun. Squinting to as the crunch of your double-barrel shotgun
get the perfect headshot as you hang from the sends a shellsuited hoodlum hurtling towards a
VERDICT monkey bar scaffolding of a London tower block garage door. Blood & Truth isn’t just a VR system
A hectic romp through is euphoric escapism – Blood & Truth is always seller; it’s proof that virtual reality can deliver
London’s criminal trying to up the ante with its gunplay by throwing first-party cinematic set pieces with tactile flair.
underbelly, Blood & Truth is dangerous situations at the player and toying Praise goes to the voice acting and performance
PSVR at its cinematic best. with expectations. capture here too, from tiny tidbits like table-
It’s best played at your most energetic for tapping interrogators and the endearing gait of

83% this reason – when you’re awake enough to

duck and dive into cover and channel the holy
spirit of Jason Statham. It’s most surprising
your delinquent brother to some genuinely funny
one-liners, the game is a box-office blast that is
well worth the ticket price.

58 / [Link]
 Rated
Review

HIGHLIGHT
Trover and the Chairorpian
travel the world in a
spaceship filled with little
details. In one corner there’s
a basketball hoop and balled-
up paper to shoot, which
gives you something to do
while the characters witter on.
A time-waster, yes, but there’s
a trophy for shooting 100.

Review

Trover Saves the Universe

 he game’s wacky
T


story beats give
some insight into
Roiland’s mind.

A crass cartoon caper for canine companions

I
t begins with your dogs being stolen. find him funny, you’re berated. It’s not hard to
No, not just stolen. A giant alien with imagine Roiland himself doing the same thing.

Info
GENRE
empty eye sockets swoops in to dognap The game does give you a vibrant cartoon
Platformer
your two fluffy puppies and use them world to explore. Your journey to save the
FORMAT
as eyes. Reader, my jaw hit the floor. universe (and your dogs) takes you across
PSVR (tested) / PC
This is, of course, all part of the game’s absurd multiple themed planets with bizarre characters
DEVELOPER
cartoon humour. Trover Saves the Universe comes and set pieces. Played in VR, it’s genuinely Squanch Games
from Justin Roiland, best known as the co-creator immersive, and your perception is rewarded PUBLISHER
of TV’s Rick and Morty. Your enjoyment of that will as you discover hidden power babies – used to Squanch Games
likely reflect your enjoyment of this game. increase health – off the beaten path. PRICE
And that’s not just for its multiple references In fact, the use of VR is cleverly done. There’s a £29.99
to the show. Roiland voices titular Trover, and narrative reason for it: you’re not actually playing RELEASE
the script is full of his trademark puerile humour, as the titular, Morph-like eye-hole monster, Out now
with all the swearing and testicle jokes you can but a ‘Chairorpian’ who controls Trover using
stomach. Better still are the gaming references a conspicuously shaped controller. This allows
and cheeky comments about your ability to you to teleport around the world at set points,
play the game – jokes that are at least wittier reducing motion sickness, and allowing for some REVIEWED BY
than having faeces flung at your face (which fourth-wall-breaking jokes. It also explains all the Ed Nightingale
genuinely happens). characters with monsters in their eye-holes.
But boy does Roiland like to talk, even if it is to Strip away the comedy and the headset,
cover up loading times. What begins as amusing though, and you’re left with a simplistic
soon grates as Trover interrupts almost every experience. Combat sees Trover whacking
action with some sort of quip, tirelessly narrating enemies with a laser sword as you mindlessly
when you just want some time to consider a button-bash. Puzzles are amusingly weird, if not
puzzle. There’s even a character called Comedy exactly taxing, and platforming is only challenging
Guy; if you tell another character you don’t thanks to the awkward camera angles and VERDICT
sometimes finicky controls. Love or hate Roiland’s
Trover Saves the Universe is certainly a unique humour, it certainly
 lesh World is a grotesque land of nipple
F


switches, anus doors, and stomach acid experience, and short enough to enjoy over a adds character to
pools – typical of the game’s humour. weekend at a relaxed pace. In some ways, it’s this VR adventure’s
the Conker’s Bad Fur Day of VR, but without the simplistic mechanics.
engaging, well-designed mechanics of Rare’s
game to go along with the silly, prepubescent
humour. And worst of all? You can’t even pet
the dogs.
59%
[Link] \ 59
 Rated
Review

HIGHLIGHT
Judgment offers plenty of
minigames to enjoy, including a
selection of Sega arcade classics.
The highlight, however, is drone
racing, which sees you flying
through Grand Prix events above
the busy streets. Fine control,
 hen tracking suspects,
W
tight course design, and extensive


always be ready to duck into

cover and blend in seamlessly customisation options make it an
to your surroundings. involving diversion.

 agami has two fighting styles and can launch

Y


Review attacks by kicking off walls. Or, just smash
opponents over the head with a bicycle.

Judgment
Would a Yakuza by any other name smell as sweet?

W
elcome to Kamurocho. Again. But Judgment gets away with a lot due to its
Judgment offers a familiar pace and variety. The Phoenix Wright-style case
toddle around the locales building is rudimentary, but creates momentum,
GENRE
Info

of Sega’s Yakuza series, and it’s hard to resent the lack of depth in each
Open World /
Action though this time some of activity when you’re doing something different a
FORMAT the attractions are new. It’s a spin-off that shifts minute later. You might find yourself sucked into
PS4 (tested) perspective to the right side of the law, but a side case en route to the next major plot point,
DEVELOPER otherwise sticks to the old routines. then stop for a game of darts, get into a punch-
Ryu Ga If anything, protagonist Takayuki Yagami, an up, upgrade your skills, go to a café, and make a
Gotoku Studio ex-lawyer turned PI, is a more natural fit for the new friend while you’re there. The mass of always
PUBLISHER formula. His job brings him close to serious crime available distractions helps obscure the banality
Sega and gangland politics while providing a stream of of running errands.
PRICE everyday requests that pay the bills. It also allows The game’s other winning ingredient is that it
£49.99
the game to mix up the usual bouts of raucous retains Yakuza’s unique narrative style. Minor NPC
RELEASE
street brawling with numerous detection modes requests often stand out, being so charmingly
Out now
– trailing or chasing a suspect, drone surveillance, goofy that encounters feel worthwhile even when
hunting for clues, infiltration, interrogations, and your input is limited. As for the main story, while
so on. And it helps maintain the series’ trademark it’s certainly too long for the game that supports
REVIEWED BY tonal duality, switching between the ultra- it, the legal wrangling adds freshness, the support
Jon Bailes macho melodrama of big cases and the comic cast is strong, and no matter how preposterous it
tribulations of ordinary city life. gets, it manages to stay compelling.
At the same time, focusing on Yagami’s What remains conspicuously absent, however,
occupation does highlight the fact that – despite is any form of boundary-pushing. There’s a lot
the thrills and the laughs – Judgment can feel of old ground re-covered here, and the new
VERDICT laborious. When you break down what you game elements are mainly superficial and
An enjoyable expansion of actually do to advance the story, solve cases, or unadventurous. Plus, behind the schoolboy
the Yakuza universe, but complete ‘friend events’, there’s often a ton of humour and knowing winks, Judgment remains
a missed opportunity to busywork. One character makes a joke about resolutely conservative in its ideas and themes,
break new ground. fetch quests, but it doesn’t alter the reality that especially when it comes to gender roles.
you’re doing fetch quests. Side quests play out There’s still nowhere else in gaming quite like

66% with you doing little of note, or involve activities

that are mechanically sound but barely engaging.
Even most fights demand little attention.
Kamurocho, but even as it changes it feels frozen
in time. Judgment might have tried some different
avenues of inquiry.

60 / [Link]
 Rated
Review

HIGHLIGHT
Smile For Me features an interesting
mechanic, where responding to conversations
is done by liberally wiggling the mouse left
to right to shake your head, or pushing up and
down to nod, which advances conversations
with the residents of The Habitat and tethers
you to the characters, forcing the player to be
involved with the dialogue.

Review

Smile For Me  here aren’t many environments in the game,

T


but they’re full of character and unique details.

It might never happen

S
mile For Me is about cheering The game starts off as lighthearted fun,
people up by any means but you’re not even settling in before the evil

Info
GENRE
necessary. And let’s be honest, Dr Habit pops up to remind you that there’s
Adventure
we could all do with more of something sinister going on behind the scenes.
FORMAT
that. The game takes place in There’s a “strict beddy-time,” he says, ominously.
PC (tested)
The Habitat, a wellness resort where, in a place The game’s other characters, including assorted
DEVELOPER
of institutional apathy, you’re tasked with turning paper creatures who flail and stare, also serve as Gabe Lane /
frowns upside down. It’s a 3D point-and-click a stark reminder that something’s not quite right Yugo Limbo
game imbued with the spirit of rebellion: you in The Habitat. PUBLISHER
walk around finding items and solving puzzles to Whereas most games only afford you the ability LimboLane
enable the happiness of others, even as a surreal to hurt other people in pursuit of endorphins, PRICE
and worrying undercurrent pervades the world. Smile For Me flips this on its head, and makes a £10.29
This is underlined by the juxtaposing art puzzle out of creating happiness. It’s about the RELEASE
styles, where hand-drawn role we play in the lives of Out now
NPCs roam a 3D world. You’ll “It’s about the role others, and how small errands
also encounter puppets and we play in the lives and thoughtfulness can turn
doodle creatures, but if you the tide of the most pressing
interact with the environment,
of others, and how internal conflicts. Smile For Me
you realise your hands look thoughtfulness can had such an impact on me REVIEWED BY
realistic and human. turn the tide” that I felt compelled to reach Jordan Oloman
Acoustic guitars and synths out to some of my friends and
layer the experience with a palpable ambience, make sure they were OK – which isn’t something
evocative of Stewart Copeland’s work on Spyro’s we can say about most video games.
more dreamlike worlds. The NPCs’ speech is Unfortunately, the game isn’t very long – it took
a mix of Twin Peaks and Banjo-Kazooie, with me around six hours to wrap it up, with some
garbled noises supplementing conversation. It’s head-scratching moments relating to the item VERDICT
unsettling, but wonderfully atmospheric. puzzles. Yet, to be honest, I think if it was any A surreal, often melancholy
The writing is perhaps this game’s finest longer, the pacing would fall apart. Smile for Me charmer with a sinister
feature – a varied cast delivers true emotional does a fantastic job of keeping you curious about underbelly, Smile For
range via dialogue full of onomatopoeia and the strange world it resides in via a clever drip- Me is a tangled mystery
formatted style, giving each happiness-starved feed of new information at every turn – and the worth unravelling.
inmate a memorable sense of self. It’d be pay-off is oh-so-sweet. It’s one you should pick
dastardly to spoil its magic, but Smile For Me
is packed with wit and substance, as well as
fantastic irreverent humour akin to Undertale.
up if you value thoughtful, memorable games
that stick with you far longer than you might
otherwise expect.
75%
[Link] \ 61
 Rated
Review

Review

Super Mario Maker 2

GENRE Making a Mario
Info

Platformer /

I
maker-‘em-up
FORMAT n Super Mario Maker 2’s story mode, what creators built in the first game, and how
Switch (tested) players are given 100 levels that they found ways to bend the creation tools
DEVELOPER Nintendo EPD’s internal team has into interesting shapes. Super Mario Maker 2
Nintendo EPD
created using the tools available to leans into this, resulting in one of the best,
PUBLISHER everyone over in the course creator. most accessible, and most fun level creation
Nintendo
Very few of the levels here feel like traditional toolsets around. In the review period, during
PRICE
Mario experiences – instead, they’re designed which media and influencers were creating and
£44.99
to work as examples of what you can go and uploading levels, one player built a functional
RELEASE
create yourself, showing off how levels in Super Super Mario World shoot-’em-up using a Fire
Out now
Mario Maker 2 can challenge you to complete Koopa Clown Car and a heap of Fire Flowers.
interesting puzzles, or build levels based around Another used a crane to make a one-shot
singular unique gimmicks that use the tools in ‘golf’ game. A personal favourite involved an
interesting ways. obstacle course built for the Koopa Troopa Car
REVIEWED BY In one level, for instance, you need to get keys that required precision jump timing and a keen
James O’Connor to unlock doors across a series of screens by awareness of your surroundings.
tricking cranes on an upper level into grabbing Wisely, most of your creation tool kit is
and dropping Goombas into certain spots that unlocked from the start this time (aside from
you can’t reach. The cranes will grab or drop a small number of story mode unlockables),
objects if Mario is standing below them, so including the numerous new additions.
it’s all about timing your movements, with no There are new level themes that can be used,
traditional platforming involved. In another, including desert, forest, and snow levels; you can
Mario and Yoshi are dropped down a long low- set ‘clear’ conditions, so that a level needs to be
gravity tunnel, and you need to take out as many completed while collecting a lot of coins, taking
Cheep-Cheeps as you can on the way down. It’s out every enemy, or even without jumping;
up to you if you equip Mario with a Fire Flower two players can work on courses together now
for ranged attacks or a cape so that you can with a Joy-Con each, and you can play through
bonk them on the head as you go. levels with up to four players. There are a lot
 umping between locations
J


via pipes can make some These unique, fun level designs speak to of additions and tweaks made to the already
levels feel expansive and
open, allowing for
the flexibility of Super Mario Maker 2, but also excellent template set by the first game – too
complicated designs. suggest that Nintendo has been influenced by many to list, but odds are that if you found

62 / [Link]
 Rated
Review

 he user interface is
T


uncluttered, and easy
to get to grips with.
yourself wishing that you could do something in
Super Mario Maker, the sequel will let you do it.
By far the most substantial additions are the Building a stage with your finger on the
Super Mario 3D World assets. While you can touchscreen can feel a bit fiddly at first, and
palette swap levels between the other four using a controller even more so. But once
skins, turning, for instance, a Super Mario Bros. you’ve acclimatised, this is an extraordinary
level into a New Super Mario Bros. level instantly, level builder. If you’re a Mario fan – and if you
3D World levels exist in their own build category own a Switch, you probably are – you have the
– they’re still 2D levels, but they play and feel advantage of already understanding this series’
differently. It’s got unique enemies, objects, vocabulary, and thus knowing how every object
and power-ups, including the Cat Suit that lets is going to operate before you drop it in. This
Mario bound up walls makes Super Mario Maker
HIGHLIGHT
and dive diagonally down “If you wished you could 2 immediately accessible.
into enemies from above, Even in these early days, The Super Mario 3D World
as well as substantially
do something in Super when (potentially) millions tools are fun to play around
Mario Maker, the sequel of talented creators are yet with, but nothing tops the
different physics. Naturally, Koopa Troopa Car. It’s a lot
I immediately set about will let you do it” to flex their abilities, the of fun to experiment with
building a level full of quality of the user-made in the course builder, and
transparent pipes, walls for Cat Mario to levels is already extremely high, occasionally when someone uses one
effectively, it’s extremely fun
scale, and every boss the game would let me on-par with Nintendo’s own offerings. Making a
driving through a level, timing
cram in. It was only after the level was published level that feels good to play takes surprisingly your jumps, and mowing
online that I realised you could skip the entire little time, and the in-game tutorials (run by down Goombas.
meticulously designed second half of it by taking a delightful pigeon named Yamamura) run
a long blind jump instead of going down a pipe, through not only how objects work mechanically,
which, to my mind, is a fantastic Easter egg. but also which design elements will make a level
more satisfying and fun for players.
There aren’t many pilotable vehicles, but It has those odd Nintendo-isms you’d expect


the few that appear throw in a lot of extra

fun when you’re playing around with them.
for an online game. Only being able to save and
upload 32 levels at a time feels like an arbitrary VERDICT
restriction, and it’s a pain that the game doesn’t A better, smarter,
automatically show you levels made by people bigger sequel basically
on your friend list unless you seek them out guaranteed to generate
and ‘like’ their profile. You can’t play with friends amazing levels and fun
online at launch either, although an upcoming times for all.
update will address this. But still, Super Mario
Maker 2 is the ultimate level designer for anyone
with zero existing knowledge – and it’s good for
those with a few years under their belt, too.
84%
[Link] \ 63
 Rated
Review

HIGHLIGHT
Once you get over the cat-
in-a-mech shenanigans, Kiki
remains wonderfully catlike.
Even as the story gradually
develops as you discover
what’s been happening in this
research facility, you’re still
coming from this as a loyal
 ith a cat for a protagonist,
W pet whose only articulation is


of course the villain is a rat. ‘meow’. In a strange way, this

grounds the weirdness.

Review

Gato Roboto
 ho needs next-gen graphics
W
Small but purrrfectly formed


when you’ve got a good kitty?

I
love a good Metroidvania, but when the The game ups the ante around the midpoint,
genre’s a dime a dozen these days, just bearing its claws with some progressively tricky
how does a developer make theirs stand bosses that challenge you to master all your
GENRE
Info

out? In doinksoft’s case, you just double abilities. It’s during these moments, however,
Meowtroidvania
down and combine the genre with the that the controls prove a little finicky, such as
FORMAT
Switch (tested) internet’s most saturated meowing subject matter, how firing missiles also causes you to recoil,
/ PC and Gato Roboto is the result. You take control of making outmanoeuvring projectiles more
DEVELOPER Kiki, the pet cat of spaceship captain Gary, who frustrating than necessary.
doinksoft must save her stricken owner after he crash- Nonetheless, it makes for a fun, bite-sized
PUBLISHER lands in a research facility. Oh, and Kiki can pilot a romp that you can sail through in a few hours,
Devolver Digital lumbering mech suit. Now I’ve seen everything. a ticking timer at the bottom of the screen no
PRICE Of course, once you get over the novelty, this doubt encouraging speedrunners to beat it in
£5.79 self-described ‘Meowtroidvania’ plays just as even less. Although that might be at odds with
RELEASE you’d expect. Its lo-fi visuals the occasions when the game
Out now
don’t hide any innovations, “A bite-sized romp deliberately impedes your
compared to Devolver Digital’s you can sail through progress until you’ve killed all
other monochrome releases in a few hours” the enemies in the room.
like Downwell or Minit, with your As with other Metroidvanias,
REVIEWED BY cat-sized mech going through similar upgrade there are plenty of secrets hiding in the map’s
Alan Wen motions Samus Aran has undergone many a nooks and crannies, with some optional upgrades
time, from firing basic shots in four directions (no you can get through the game without ever
diagonal fire here, however) to acquiring missiles, finding. The only shame here is that, unlike the
phase dashing, and a double-jump spin, which timer, there’s no percentage counter displayed –
allow you access to previously unreachable areas. at least not until you’ve beaten the game – and by
Where it does differ is that Kiki is also free to then you’re already past the point of no return.
VERDICT exit the suit, and there’s plenty of times you’ll Then again, the benefit of this being a short game
Gato Roboto is short need to do so in order to get through tight is that starting again doesn’t feel like a slog.
but sweet; a simple spaces, scale walls, or swim underwater (the latter At a time when most of our attention is on
burst of feline joy. stretching credibility, relatively speaking). You’re next-gen and service games promising more
also left powerless at these moments, and contact content than we even have time for, Gato Roboto

71% with an enemy means instant death. Fortunately,

save points are also generously located, which
respawn your suit back to full health.
may not be pushing the envelope in any regard,
but it’s still a refreshingly compact – and superbly
animated – indie delight.

64 / [Link]
 Now playing
Sigil

Dancing with Wireframe

Recommends
demons in the
dark (and dying)
With Sigil, John Romero proves he does Quake II RTX
PC
want to make you his… well, not his friend 2019’s biggest ‘can your PC
run it?’ question rests on the

A
shoulders of a tweaked version
nd just like that, John Romero Hell (and a shotgun to tackle them with), followed of a 20-year-old FPS. Because
returns to Doom. Some 25-plus closely by cascading ‘gotcha!’ trap rooms – enter a of course it does. Download
years since the original game room, a wall drops, pick up an item, a second wall Quake II RTX today and kill
that first raised the bar, the chap drops, take half a step forward, a third wall, think your graphics card!
who had a hand in many of the happy thoug-fourth wall drops. It’s… taxing.
most memorable levels in it has sat himself down I’m trying to remain positive here – Sigil shows
and created a whole new episode. It’s called Sigil, some deft level design and is a step above plenty
it’s free, and you play it just like any other WAD. of other Doom – and Doom II – WADs we’ve seen
So go try it yourself, see what you think. in the past almost-three-decades. It’s fiendish
Me? I’m playing it, but I feel in the best sense of the word,
like it’s getting swiftly to the “It’s extremely creative and perplexing in all
point where I’ll have to give the right ways, and generally a Hexen II
cool to be playing PC
up. In the years since Doom’s solid, difficult addition to Doom.
release, it seems my reflexes a new Doom At the same time, it does feel
Raven’s oft-forgotten sequel
took the dark fantasy of
have dulled to the point I am episode in 2019” like it’s lacking something, and
Hexen and spliced it with
getting my backside handed I can’t quite put my finger on it. Quake ’s tech. The result
to me by the devil’s favourite demons. And John Basically, and I know this sounds stupid, it feels was deep, inventive, and
Romero. Well, it could be that, but it could also be old-fashioned. It’s Doom, of course it does, but a lot of fun. Naturally, it
that Sigil is an absolutely unforgiving bugger of an it doesn’t feel like the tricks and advances made failed commercially.
episode. I’m not sure. in shooters – even in Doom, thanks to its still-
Picking up after the events of The Ultimate healthy modding scene – have even been given a
Doom: Thy Flesh Consumed, it was always a safe second look.
assumption Sigil would maintain the previous So that’s a weird feeling to have, given how
episode’s level of challenge. I let myself believe, excited I was to see Romero bring us another,
though, that the challenge would be manageable. proper, completely unofficial, episode. But even
Not endless dark corridors pasted with Barons of with those criticisms and a general – very low
level – malaise on playing it, there’s still no Strife
denying it’s extremely cool to be playing a new PC
Doom episode in 2019, from one of the main It’s not the original FPS-RPG,
bods behind it. It might not feel modern (I but it is a great one that’s
know, I know), but it definitely feels like Doom. overlooked a lot of the time.
And really, what more could we ask for from Sigil? For a fiver or so on Steam,
Just remember though, if all else fails: open it’s worth a pop to see the
console > iddqd. influence Strife had.

[Link] \ 65
 Killer Feature
Wonder Boy

Wonder Boy
It made running fast an exhilarating delight
– five years before a certain hedgehog

ESCAPE / 1986 / Arcade, Various

E
ven in a genre not commonly singled out for its There are other elements to accompany all this – each stage
cerebral qualities, Wonder Boy’s a mechanically contains a doll, which all need to be collected to complete
straightforward platformer. Released in 1986, the game, plus there are sundry other point-boosting items
just one year after Super Mario Bros., it’s markedly to collect – but the main game loop is dominated by running,
simple even when compared to that genre jumping, and throwing tiny hammers at enemies. Fortunately,
touchstone on the NES: Wonder Boy asks little more from the flow of that running and jumping is an absorbing delight.
the player than sharp reflexes and a decent memory for There’s an exhilaration to mastering the precise long and short
level layouts. There’s little of Super Mario Bros.’ variety, nor jumping arcs required to clear obstacles and collect fruit in
the nuance in its controls and power-ups that made Shigeru the most efficient way possible; in essence, Wonder Boy’s a
Miyamoto’s outing such a classic. score attack game, since it’s far more
And yet, in its own, modest way, Wonder “Nishizawa designed fun to practice beating your own high
Boy – designed by Ryuichi Nishizawa at scores than using continues to brute-
Wonder Boy in response to
Tokyo-based developer Escape (later force your way to the ending. Nishizawa
Westone) – has still exerted its own Super Mario Bros.’ jumping once said that he designed Wonder Boy
influence on video game history. physics, which he detested” in response to Super Mario Bros.’ jumping
A product of the eighties arcade era physics, which, controversially, he said
rather than the Japanese console boom, Wonder Boy is built he detested. Whether you agree with his sentiment or not, it’s
with the express purpose of making the player go faster. at least true that Wonder Boy, in both its arcade incarnation
In place of a time limit, there’s a rapidly falling energy bar and the better ports to home systems, has some of the most
that requires the constant consumption of fruit; fail to collect satisfying and precise controls of any eighties platformer.
enough fruit, or take too long to reach the end of a stage, and Wonder Boy would, of course, establish a series that’s still
hero Tom Tom will literally starve to death. Said fruit, in turn, going today; later entries largely abandoned the speed-
will vanish from the screen if you don’t jump and collect it in running format of the first game tnd headed in an action-RPG
time. Meanwhile, a skateboard power-up gives you the option direction (confusingly, many of these games went under
of hurtling through stages with even greater speed, the trade- different names entirely). This was probably just as well,
off being that attempting to tackle fiddlier stages of moving because in 1991, Sonic the Hedgehog came along and made
platforms and bouncing enemies at such speed will inevitably dashing around at a blistering pace all hip and trendy.
result in the loss of your skateboard; like the power-ups in Wonder Boy, we’d argue, got there first – he was just too
Super Mario Bros., the skateboard acts as an extra hit point. modest to make a big fuss about it.

66 / [Link]
Next Issue
Editorial
Editor
Ryan Lambie
Email [Link]@[Link]

Features Editor
Ian Dransfield
Email [Link]@[Link]

ON SALE 18 JULY
Sub Editors
David Higgs & Vel Ilic

Design
[Link]
Head of Design
Lee Allen
Designer
Harriet Knight

Contributors
Jon Bailes, Lottie Bevan, David Crookes,
Rik Cross, Konstantinos Dimopoulos,
Will Luton, Ed Nightingale, James O’Connor,
Jordan Oloman, Jeff Spoonhower, Maggie Tan,
Paul Kilduff Taylor, Howard Scott Warshaw,
Alan Wen, Jack Yarwood

The creator of Assassin’s Creed Publishing

evolves the survival genre Publishing Director
Russell Barnes
Email russell@[Link]

Director of Communications
Liz Upton
CEO
Eben Upton

Don Advertising
miss ’t Commercial Manager
o
Subs ut!
Charlie Milligan

cribe Email [Link]@[Link]

Tel +44 (0)7725 368887
PG 54
Distribution
Seymour Distribution Ltd
2 East Poultry Ave, London EC1A 9PT
Tel +44 (0)207 429 4000

Subscriptions
Unit 6, The Enterprise Centre, Kelvin Lane,
Manor Royal, Crawley, West Sussex, RH10 9PE
To subscribe
Call 01293 312192 or visit [Link]/subscribe
Subscription queries
wireframe@[Link]

Also
This magazine is printed on paper sourced from
sustainable forests and the printer operates an
environmental management system which has been
assessed as conforming to ISO 14001.
Wireframe magazine is published by Raspberry Pi
(Trading) Ltd, Maurice Wilkes Building, St. John’s
 The devs making fighting games accessible again Innovation Park, Cowley Road, Cambridge, CB4 0DS.
The publisher, editor, and contributors accept no
responsibility in respect of any omissions or errors
 º Code your own automatic maze generator relating to goods, products or services referred to or
advertised in the magazine. Except where
otherwise noted, content in this magazine
 Inside Serbia’s vibrant game design scene is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0
Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0).
 Control: why it’s Remedy’s step into the unknown ISSN: 2631-6722 (print), 2631-6730 (online).
UNLOCK YOUR GAME [Link]

JOIN THE PRO SQUAD

RED EAGLE TM
GB260HSU I GB270HSU I GB2760QSU

GET IN THE GAME

BLACK HAWK TM
GE2288HS I G2530HSU I G2730HSU I GB2530HSU I GB2730HSU

IMMERSE YOURSELF IN THE GAME

GOLD PHOENIX TM

GB2888UHSU

ENTER A NEW DIMENSION

2560
x
1440
SILVER CROW TM

GB2783QSU