The Secret Feature

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So I've begun work on my IndieCade / Dream Build Play build in earnest.  I've found that the one thing major game magazines want when they contact you is a playable build:  this will also be their build.  Of course, I am nervous to show such an early version of it - there's one major mechanic in particular, a Secret Feature, if you will - that isn't implemented yet, but which is so . .  . awesome? . . . that I'm afraid that without it, Axiom Verge could be received as "just another retro game".

I won't have the Secret Feature ready in three weeks.  But I'm moving it forward in my schedule so that I can show it sooner than later.  And at some point - before or after, I'm not sure - a Kickstarter page will appear.

Axiom Verge will be made with or without Kickstarter contributions, but with them, it could be made much faster.

So, the Plan: 

  1. Submit a build to IndieCade and Dream Build Play, May 15th-ish.
  2. Submit the same playable build to journalists.
  3. Make a Kickstarter page and finish implementing the Secret Feature.

In other news, my bud Max and I just went on a good hike with my friend Mike Amerson and his dog, Zeus.  We have the same dream of being able to create something that people will want because it's intrinsically good, and not because of trickery or dishonest manipulation.  The end result?  We can spend more time with our dogs.  So here's a shout out to him, his dogs, and his own mobile indie games, My Virtual Girlfriend and My Virtual Boyfriend, which will not drain your wallet.  And lucky guy that he is, his wife is also a game developer; she recently released Persian Recipies, featuring the titular delicious dishes of the middle east.

And now I'm back to work.  This is a good thing!

-Tom

 

 

GameSpy and GameSpot!

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I was on both in the past couple of days.

GameSpot:

http://www.gamespot.com/axiom-verge/previews/a-mix-of-contra-a-dash-of-metroid-what-do-you-get-axiom-verge-6372321/

Throughout the trailer, the gameplay reminded us of multiple old-school games, such as Contra, Metroid, and Castlevania, but with an updated flare. 

 

GameSpy:

http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/axiom-verge/1223427p1.html

 As far as I'm concerned, 2013 can't get here fast enough.

 

 

On Destructoid!

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I adore the art direction here, which calls to mind Life Force and R-Type while very clearly drawing a ton of inspiration from Metroid. Also listed as an inspiration is one of my favorite games ever, Rygar, so Happ is clearly speaking my language.
Now if only Jim Stirling would give me one of his famous sarcasm laden bashings, my life would be complete!
Hopefully this weekend I can post a blog that's not just a press mention.  But they keep mentioning!  And it is awesome.

IndieGameMagazine gave AxiomVerge a mad shout out!

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There’s not many things in this world that arouses enough passion within us to send us rubbing our legs in some creepy state of anticipation but Axiom Verge is certainly one such thing. If you’ve ever played a sidescrolling metroidvania or perhaps just a console game from the late 80s/early 90s, you’re about to be sent into a head-spin by Thomas Happ’s efforts. We haven’t seen such luscious-disgusting (yes we just invented that) boss designs for years. YEARS WE TELL YOU! That slug fella at the top is almost pornographic for anyone who can appreciate it. He’s not the only one dribbling at the mouth.
Actually do people use the phrase "mad shout out" anymore?
Many thanks to Chris Priestman for such, ah,  xenoerotic? praise!!

Classic Games: An Air of Mystery

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There is definitely a pressure on indie developers to create works of avante-garde, artistic, or experimental aspirations, but when I'm being most honest with myself about what I actually find enjoyable, it's old-school classic gaming, hence Axiom Verge's decidedly 8-bit vibe.  So, to explain myself a bit, I thought I'd make a blog entry or two about classic games and why I'm so drawn to them.  It turns out there's quite a lot there, so I'm going to narrow the focus of this particular entry to one topic:

Mystery

Can you guess which tree has a secret passage under it?One thing that I keep coming back to was the compelling aspect of mystery to those old console games, partially derived from the relatively cryptic nature of the hardware itself the limitations it placed on designers. In the case of Metroid and Zelda in particular, there was the feeling that every room could hold a secret - tiles that could be destroyed or walked right through looked the same as other tiles, and it wasn't obvious where you were "supposed to" go - if there was a "supposed to" at all.

In modern games, by comparison, overt golden glows and prominent crack textures are necessary to distinguish hidden items and secret passgeways from the non-interactive background props that comprise the majority of what you see, with the result that you're perpetually reminded that the game world is a constructed thing.  Now, I'm not saying that there should be no guidance at all, or that a game should be impossible to play without a hint book (does anyone else remember turning to Nintendo Power to find out what "hit deborah cliff with your head to make a hole" meant in Simon's Quest?), but I'm convinced that there must be some happy medium wherein the game, by virtue of its intrinsic design properties, can direct players unobtrusively, and rest assured that they are capable of figuring out the rest on their own.

Some Things are Better Left Unsaid

Another thing adding to the overal impression of enigma to classic games is the fact that classic game designers really weren't afraid to delve into the surreal on a regular basis. Over time re-exposure to them has dulled the effect they had, but when you think about it, some games had truly weird elements that, whether intentional or not, created an impression that an unbelievable, exotic world lied beyond their playable bounds. Take the "indoras" of Rygar, for example - the mystical guru-like old men hidden in rooms throughout the world, always sitting on an inaccessible ledge and usually spouting cryptic advice.  What are they doing there?  Are they the only sentient inhabitants of the Rygar universe?  Their presence and purpose is never explained, unlike in modern games, where an encyclopedic description such characters and their origins would certainly be available in some form - if only in a revisionist remake - but, by their accessibility, deprive players of the profound sense of mystery that accompanies such unexplained oddities. Sometimes I think it's best if, even if elaborate histories exist in the developer's documents, they not be exposed to players directly; instead I'd rather see them poking through to the surface from time to time, hinting at something that's alien and ancient and other, but leave the rest up to my imagination.

Just a Glimpse of Something Greater

Not your typical Metroid screenshot.And then there are the glitches. Super Mario Brothers' Minus World is probably the most famous, but Metroid's secret worlds were, in my opinion, one of the greatest wonders an eight year-old child could encounter. For the uninitiated, these were rooms you could enter by exploiting a bug allowing you to walk through walls and go places that the programmers hadn't explicitly programmed. In modern games, if you could manage such a thing, there is usually empty space in those places. Not so in Metroid. These forbidden cavities were like a distorted dream version of the rest of the game world - the impression this left was that the world wasn't designed so much as appropriated from something vast and unfathomable; the parts that you were meant to play balancing precariously on its edge, like a village arising on the slopes of a million year-old volcanic island, the inadvertant the product of processes more ancient and powerful than its inhabitants ever imagined.