Who is B-Ma

Photo

Sun, 03 Jun 2012 00:30:32 +1000

Charcoal portrait.

Tue, 29 May 2012 09:40:00 +1000

Charcoal portrait.

A good character. talewise: grizzled boor

Sat, 12 May 2012 23:26:46 +1000

A good character.

talewise:

grizzled boor

GASP hyrulechozo: saveroomminibar: Ico. Sketches. Here, have...

Tue, 08 May 2012 15:47:20 +1000

GASP

hyrulechozo:

saveroomminibar:

Ico. Sketches.

Here, have some Ico design documents on a Monday night.

Photo

Sun, 06 May 2012 11:06:41 +1000

Beautiful interpretation of Arnold Böcklin’s Island of the...

Tue, 01 May 2012 17:23:16 +1000

Beautiful interpretation of Arnold Böcklin’s Island of the Dead (1883) in Cryengine 3.

Photo

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 23:22:44 +1000

Hack, Slash, Loot I’m very fond of HSL, so I wish I could...

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 22:43:00 +1000

Hack, Slash, Loot

I’m very fond of HSL, so I wish I could recommend this game more highly. Its appealingly nostalgic looking, fairly accessible, and charmingly simple - cutting back on a lot of roguelike conventions without losing the main idea. Looting and getting stronger is predictably addictive.

Unfortunately it still feels unpolished and balanced poorly, and the worst offender is the fact that there are just relatively few meaningful actions for the player to consider and take throughout a playthrough. Questions a player faces are usually two: whether or not to engage, or whether or not to equip/imbibe - and the answers to those questions are often strikingly obvious. I also haven’t found a single practical reason yet to focus on melee over ranged weaponry. That fact combined with a relatively common boost makes the experience very simple to game.

In some was HSL feels like an iOS casual game, with a veneer of hardcore trappings, minus the in-app purchases. But I am fond of it, and will keep playing a bit.

Edit: Apparently ‘a bit’ means 40 hours. WHAT?! Take from that what you will.

Bastion A lovely modern classic. The gameplay, though...

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 22:40:58 +1000

Bastion

A lovely modern classic. The gameplay, though nostalgic, is unremarkable; but the art direction, score, and approach to narration really turned this into something special. The level design was done well given what must have been some limitations with the 2D plane, tiles, and sprites, although I almost wished at some points that I had a larger overworld to work with. The ‘ground rising up under my feet’ sort of lost its novelty after a point. The plot was surprisingly and pleasantly heavy. Don’t think I’ll be coming back to it soon for New Game +, but I enjoyed this one.

Jamestown Jamestown is a wonderful homage to the genre, up...

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 22:39:21 +1000

Jamestown

Jamestown is a wonderful homage to the genre, up there with Locomalito’s Hydorah, and features a setting that quickly became one of my favorites - a 17th century alternate history that repositions “the New World” in the literal sense, while avoiding steampunk cliches. The music is fantastic, reminding me of the best of PS1 era orchestration in games like Final Fantasy Tactics, the pixel art is pretty much spot on, though a bit messy-seeming in places, and I only wish I had some people here in front of my macbook to play 4P with.

The Binding of Isaac I can’t believe I’ve already...

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 22:37:10 +1000

The Binding of Isaac

I can’t believe I’ve already spent hours on this game in the dozens. This type of rogue-like-like is something that my completionism and perfectionism get dangerous with. I find Edmund’s art style a little grating - a little too angsty elementary-school-nerd-doodles for me, though it works well and is well executed, and I can appreciate the aesthetic direction if not the style per se. The shooting mechanic is a bit touchy and the controls are floaty, but endless, dynamic Zelda 1-inspired dungeons are enough to compel me to apparently spend hours upon hours upon hours in them.. Dark and fun, to a point.

FFVI.

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 22:34:35 +1000

FFVI.

First in a new micro-review series. Am cross-posting the...

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 22:22:00 +1000

First in a new micro-review series. Am cross-posting the recommendations I give on Steam. They’re short, sweet and not extremely insightful, but serve as a personal record of what I’m going through on the platform.

Cave Story

Just fantastic. Can’t believe its taken me this long to get to it. However its amazingness is deeply rooted in some certain nostalgic game design values - simple shmuppy-type gameplay, “didn’t talk to the right guy yet” gating, etc. But the look and feel is elegant and honestly its something of a modern classic of a shooter/adventure game - made all the better by the fact that the game was originally made entirely just by one dedicated, inspired guy.

Photo

Sun, 08 Apr 2012 12:35:59 +1000

5-10-15-20: Pendleton Ward

Sat, 07 Apr 2012 01:01:15 +1000

5-10-15-20: Pendleton Ward:

My interview with Pendleton Ward is up on Kill Screen.

“…That’s why events are always reinterpreted...

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 16:58:00 +1000

“…That’s why events are always reinterpreted when values change.

We need new versions of history to allow for our current prejudices.”

the beast

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 08:41:13 +1000

the beast

maxcapacity: Carl Sagan X1872 (by Max Capacity +)

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 18:25:04 +1100

maxcapacity:

Carl Sagan X1872 (by Max Capacity +)

Photo

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 17:07:12 +1100

So lovely. Looking forward to how this progresses.

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 09:33:19 +1100

So lovely. Looking forward to how this progresses.