Why is it that indie games that sell themeselves as being 'really hard' immediately get a free pass from having to include even vaguely imaginative graphics, sound, mechanics and gameplay? Sure, it's hard. It's also very, very boring.
Raylax
3DS Friend Code: 0173-1400-0117 | Nintendo Network ID: RaylaxKai
@Raylax People play this game purely for the game play, and that's what the designers chose to focus on. Anything more, and the game would run the risk of being too visually distracting to concentrate on. Sure, they could have gone the Bit Trip route of using confusing visuals as part of the challenge, but that is not the route they chose to go, so tough luck. No one is giving it a "free pass."
It's a rather peculiar complaint, especially coming from someone who frequents a site dedicated to the consoles that brought us Wii Sports, Resort, Brain Age, etc. The graphics and sound are not imaginative, no, but the level design certainly is. They're trying to distill game play to its purest form, and I'd say it's a success. If you're playing this game, it's for the challenge, and nothing else, so why waste time with anything else?
I personally got past the first ten levels and barely tried level 11, as I didn't feel like pulling my hair out tonight. Cool game concept
This Is The Only Level is a really fun game. I'm pretty sure it's in the top ten on armour (armor apparently...Americans ) games. I will provide a link.
Sean Aaron ~ "The secret is out: I'm really an American cat-girl." Q: How many physicists does it take to change a light bulb? A: Two, one to hold the light bulb, the other to rotate the universe.
@Raylax People play this game purely for the game play, and that's what the designers chose to focus on. Anything more, and the game would run the risk of being too visually distracting to concentrate on. Sure, they could have gone the Bit Trip route of using confusing visuals as part of the challenge, but that is not the route they chose to go, so tough luck. No one is giving it a "free pass."
It's a rather peculiar complaint, especially coming from someone who frequents a site dedicated to the consoles that brought us Wii Sports, Resort, Brain Age, etc. The graphics and sound are not imaginative, no, but the level design certainly is. They're trying to distill game play to its purest form, and I'd say it's a success. If you're playing this game, it's for the challenge, and nothing else, so why waste time with anything else?
I personally got past the first ten levels and barely tried level 11, as I didn't feel like pulling my hair out tonight. Cool game concept
It's not a cool game concept, It's barely a concept at all. Player dodges obstacles and collects all items on level before heading for goal. It's one of the most basic game designs out there, and it's only holding itself up by the promise of being really hard. That's not game design, that's an excuse. Had the game been of an average difficulty and not released as "THE HARDEST GAME EVER" it'd be so far down the ratings you'd have to dig to find it. The only reason people seem to play it is because of the difficulty promise. As for graphics, yeah, if everything was dancing around with superfluous animation and visual sparkle, then it'd be overfacing and just overcomplicate it. But are you seriously telling me that Mr Red Box dodging Mr Blue Circle and collecting Mr Yellow Circle is the best thing for this game? Again, difficulty should be just one part of a game design. Here it's the only part of the game design, everything else is pushed aside for the big THIS IS REALLY HARD thing. These are graphics that Adobe Flash can fart out in a single click. Simplicity can be a good thing but when it's too simplistic it just feels like either beta placeholder graphics or that the designer just couldn't be bothered. "I built an engine, screw the graphics, let's just bash together a few really hard levels together with it and stick on the 'net." I don't see what's imaginative about the level design itself, either. It's just full of the most overused set-pieces of enemy movement out there. Wall hugging, circling, bouncing back and forth. Copy-paste a few times across a level, and job done.
It's basically a "My First Flash Game." Everything is extremely basic, generic, and by the book. Or rather, by just the first chapter of the book. And like so often happens when building your first game, they've got over-excited about the fact that they can make stuff move and decided to dedicate an entire game to it. Building a really hard game is actually really damn easy. When you've built the engine, you know exactly how things work and it's the easiest thing ever to build levels that are completable by getting through the tiniest gaps. Good game design comes in when you can build a really hard game that's actually fun to play.
Raylax
3DS Friend Code: 0173-1400-0117 | Nintendo Network ID: RaylaxKai
How can it be overrated? No one is rating it at all. It's a browser game. No one said it's the best game ever. It's ridiculous to hold a browser game under a magnifying glass when it's not something intended to be played for more than a few minutes. Your absurd overreaction makes it sound like the game has wronged you in some way. The guy doesn't ask you to pay for it. How can it be so terrible? It's fun to waste ten or fifteen minutes on just to see how far you can get. Some people like games whose only intention is to challenge you, and there's nothing wrong with that. That's how games used to be, and the intentionally simplistic design, both in game/level design and graphic design, is perfectly suited to hearken back to such times.
It's a simple, short, free, browser-based game that does exactly what it intends to do, and no one is saying it's anything amazing, just that it's a pretty fun diversion. No one is submitting it for game of the year; it's not being reviewed by any gaming website. It is what it is. I think you're reading into this something that isn't there, maybe?
How can it be overrated? No one is rating it at all. It's a browser game. No one said it's the best game ever. It's ridiculous to hold a browser game under a magnifying glass when it's not something intended to be played for more than a few minutes. Your absurd overreaction makes it sound like the game has wronged you in some way. The guy doesn't ask you to pay for it. How can it be so terrible? It's fun to waste ten or fifteen minutes on just to see how far you can get. Some people like games whose only intention is to challenge you, and there's nothing wrong with that. That's how games used to be, and the intentionally simplistic design, both in game/level design and graphic design, is perfectly suited to hearken back to such times.
It's a simple, short, free, browser-based game that does exactly what it intends to do, and no one is saying it's anything amazing, just that it's a pretty fun diversion. No one is submitting it for game of the year; it's not being reviewed by any gaming website. It is what it is. I think you're reading into this something that isn't there, maybe?
I never said it was terrible, nor that it should be the best game ever. Nor did I say it was overrated. However, there's little more humiliating online than realising you're massively wrong and have basically been acting a bit of a cock for the last few posts. Which... I kinda have. Yeah, it is what it is and I've overreacted quite drastically. I still think that it's full of an absolute ton of untapped potential that it's ignoring, though. I guess it just annoys me, having seen a couple of truely great indie games worked on by just one or two people get completely and utterly ignored, when they've done everything with tons of effort not expecting or wanting to profit from it. Normally because they're coded in a language which requires them to be downloaded rather than be playable online, because Flash is a stunningly overpriced piece of software (current price for Adobe Flash alone stands at £619.85, what the eff? My damn laptop cost less than half that). And then a game consisting of a red box for a player (let's be honest, it's not a red box for a player because it's harking back to old games, it's a red box for a player because that was quicker to draw. The retro is almost pure side-effect) and pretty bare-bones coding and mechanics gets both a strong online popularity and publishing by Armor Games. It seems unfair, somehow.
But yeah. I overreacted, the game is what it is and does what little it does well. So I apologise and jump of my high horse.
I'll climb back on it when you're not looking though.
Raylax
3DS Friend Code: 0173-1400-0117 | Nintendo Network ID: RaylaxKai
Hahaha, I don't think you were being rude or anything, I just didn't understand. And my "overrated" comment was in response to your saying this: "Had the game been of an average difficulty and not released as "THE HARDEST GAME EVER" it'd be so far down the ratings you'd have to dig to find it." No one here "rated" it, so I thought it was an odd thing to say. Either there is some context I am missing, or you were assuming that someone here was praising it above other games.
I stand by the fact that it is a retro throwback. Perhaps the guy isn't a good artist and could do no better, but he chose a "genre" (if we can call it that) where the primitive graphics he was capable of fit the bill. The idea was to distill challenging game play to its purest, simplest form, and I think as a brief, time-waster experiment it succeeds. It is not a game that really ought to be "rated," though, as it can only be thought of in what it sets out to do, which doesn't lend itself to comparisons with what we normally think of as games, games that strive for polish and challenge, if not just polish.
But yes, a lot of good indie games do get glanced over, and it's a real shame. I'm continually surprised by people here who are waiting for Cave Story on WiiWare and didn't know it is a freeware PC game! Seriously... yikes.
Also, @ the high horse comment. Just watch yourself. If you do climb back up, I'll be ready with a high unicorn (though whether it'll be high in height or high in some other way, I can't say).
It's a particle simulator, where you can use several to build, make pixel art, or whatever you want! You can also upload your creations for others to see. Not on facebook, but still pretty entertaining!
I try to avoid visiting AddictingGames at all times. That place is littered with adver-games, you know? Ewwwww. Nothing more to expect from a webgame site hosted by a subsidiary of the giant Viacom.
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