I already took the time to tell you about my favorite game from the IndieCade section of this year’s E3 show floor, but it was far from the only game on display. I have an unhealthy love for independent games — you tend to see some of the most creative and least “safe” ideas in gaming when you’re not answering to a publisher. This isn’t to say that every independent game is a winner, but IndieCade is dedicated to putting indie’s best foot forward at various high-profile gaming events, so there’s typically some choice selections on display. We got to play a few, and we share these innovators with you, after the break.
Here I am, wearing a squid on my head. Did EA have any squid-head games? Did Nintendo? I think not! What I’m actually doing here is playing Darkgame, a prototype by Eddo Stern, which seeks to utilize players’ senses other than sight. Hence, the head-mounted feedback device, which adds touch to the list. The game is simple enough, playing as a simple top-down competitive shooter with dual-stick Robotron/Geometry Wars controls. Nobody is able to shoot at the start of the game; a mobile pick-up in the game world will confer that ability to one player only. From there, all other players must evade the shooter until someone else collects the respawned pickup, and becomes the shooter themselves. The twist is that upon becoming the shooter, the player’s screen will go blank, forcing them to rely on their other senses to hunt down the other players. A constant stream of audio will provide aural clues, such as “You are the predator. Your prey is to the East. You are in perfect health.” Also, the squid on your head will begin pulsing from one of its tentacles, corresponding to the general direction of your target, giving you clues by touch.
Look, they said nobody would buy a peripheral for Guitar Hero, either, so don’t judge.
Next up was levelHead, an extremely clever camera-driven game based on spatial reasoning by a fellow named Julian Oliver. Basically, the game requires a few black-and-white printouts that the player has attached to a cube, which the camera is able to decode and display as 3D rooms. Then, based on the player’s physical manipulation of the cubes in front of the camera, an avatar inside the rooms will navigate the environment. The player needs to find the exit, which will involve frequent rotation and swapping of the different cubes. It’s difficult to describe levelHead without showing it to you, so I will.
levelHead v1.0, 3 cube speed-run (spoiler!) from Julian Oliver on Vimeo.
I was able to get my hands on this game, and the program was honestly quite remarkable — the rendering was very simple, but as such, the camera was able to keep on top of every little movement and rotation I made. Having such a physical connection to the gameplay made for a truly unique experience. What’s more exciting is that Oliver has made levelHead an open-source project, so in time, anyone ought to be able to print out and play the game — or even design their own room-cubes. I could see spending hours with this game — the novelty of the physical gameplay alone is worth a try.
Finally, I got to play through a level of ibb and obb, a cooperative platformer by Richard Boeser. There aren’t nearly enough well-executed co-op platformers out there (I’m looking eagerly forward to LittleBigPlanet). ibb and obb, furthermore, mixes things up with quite a few well-placed gaming staples: Take the character co-op puzzle solving of The Lost Vikings, sprinkle in some light/dark gameplay from Ikaruga, and coat the whole thing in the variable-gravity-based objectives of Super Mario Galaxy, and you have a game that’s an absolute delight to play. The game’s mechanics are wonderfully inventive, but I was able to pick them up in mere minutes. ibb and obb would make a perfect game for XBLA, PSN, or Wiiware, so somebody needs to give Mr. Boeser a call.
You can check these games out for yourself at IndieCade’s next appearance; they’ll be at PAX at the end of August, so I suggest stopping by if you’re going to the show.
0 Comments For This Post
1 Trackbacks For This Post
August 3rd, 2008 at 1:50 am
[...] Hmmm yes a video interview starring me… 1UP Specials: E3 2008 Indie Games Coverage The video starts with an interview with Matt Korba from the Odd Gentleman about their game “The misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom”. A really nice game about eating pie and messing with the space-time continuum. Sounds good right? and some more writing on: Kotaku GameCyte [...]
Leave a Reply