Starwhal’s another example of how polish and execution can make a simple mechanic succeed as a game. Local multiplayer games thrive on tense do-or-die moments, and Starwhal employs a time-slow whenever anyone gets close to dealing damage or knocking out someone else. It’s a bit overdone because it takes you out of the game while your brain adjusts to the different game speed, but it adds a lot to the theatricality and spectate-ability. I wish I could have seen more of the stages because they have a large impact on gameplay.
Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime puts two people in control of all functions of a spherical battleship. One person might pilot while another mans the shields or turrets. In the one level we played, you were tasked with rescuing space bunnies around the map from evil robots. Manning individual battleship components is simple enough, but controlling the entire ship requires tight cooperation between the two players, which is a great model for creating dynamic gameplay!
The polished interface showed where/what the goals were, how much health we had, and how to activate powerups once I got them. The scale of the ship in relation to enemies and other important obstacles/objects was managed well; you could judge how strong a new enemy was based on its size/color, and the camera viewport was just big enough to show your immediate obstacles, but small enough to encourage quick reaction time and exploration. It was hectic and cute and wickedly difficult.
Earth Night is a runner with two commands - an anchor command to fall faster/run slower and a jump (higher as you keep holding). It complements the simplicity of a runner with hand-drawn assets and a whimsical soundtrack. Gameplay was simple and enjoyable, though nothing particularly innovative in grabbing items for points.
There were a couple things to polish. The enemies’ hitboxes were not clear, which was doubly bad because some enemies had no attack animations; I didn’t even know I was taking damage the first time I was playing through. There’s a part at the end of the level that threw off almost everyone, in which you have to time your attack based on an animation. You have to guess at the timing though, cause there’s no other visual/audio cues. It was similar to Shadow of Colossus in that you were targeting the weak spot of the beast with repeated thrusts, but Shadow of Colossus’ implementation, where you charge your thrust and let go to activate, gives a lot more visual cues, and even vibrates the controller when you are fully charged. This would have been a much better way to do it. There’s a lot of information that isn’t presented well; I didn’t know that the sword powerup meant I could kill enemies if I was running fast enough on the ground. When falling from up high, the camera was positioned poorly, so that you have very little idea of where you are going. Since you have some degree of control of where you are, it’s frustrating to just barely miss a crucial ledge, just because the camera is not following your descent fast enough.
Under the Hood
SHIT this was fun. It’s a party game that doesn’t require anything except balloons. So you start off with a floating balloon which represents your head, and you’ve been tasked with slaying all the wolves, who look and talk exactly like other people. Except they lie when you ask them questions. Suppose you talk to them, ask a couple questions, and think they’re lying, you can challenge them to a duel. If they are a wolf, they can’t refuse your challenge. You and your lycan adversary each have make-believe axes, which start sheathed in your belt. You can do 3 things with your axe:
- Unsheath/Sheath your axe by saying “rustle rustle SCHWINK” and making the appropriate motion simultaneously.
- Chop if your axe is unsheathed. Say “CHOP” with an appropriately timed hand chop. If successful, your opponent takes 1 damage.
- Block if your axe is sheathed. Yell “BLOCK” with an elbow-check motion. If you block at the same time they chop, they are forced to sheath their axe, and you don’t take damage.
Additionally, if two people chop at the same time, the axes just plink off one another-the attacks are negated and combat continues. The first to take 3 damage loses, though some wolves can sustain more/less damage. If you win, you get your opponent’s balloons, and are a juicier target for wolves/people alike.
It’s as close as I’ve ever come to fighting someone since high school wrestling. Adjudicated by a facilitator who makes sure enunciation is clear and synchronized to actions, the duel begins by facing each other and bowing. It’s very much reflex based, but it’s also about mind gaming your opponent. I liked to leave out the “CHOP” while still making the motion, so that I wouldn’t have to resheath if they blocked it, or so that they would block early and try to unsheath while I chopped for real. There’s a limited amount of depth to the game, because you quickly recognize the basic patterns that are effective, and it just boils down to reflexes. It’s still a hyper-adrenalized good time.
A limitation on the competitiveness of the game is how to judge a successful block. Judges make sure the gestures match the words, and decide whether a block was fast enough to be successful. Some judges will be more lax about the timing, others less so. It’s a systemic issue with no clear solution, which means relying on a human as the ultimate authority.