Bandango
01-28-2010, 06:54 PM
http://www.flexamail.com/GetImage.ashx?id=2145
Some of you may recall Ravenlock mentioning the release of a game called VVVVVV by Terry Cavanagh at the end of a free game round-up a couple of issues ago (http://www.colonyofgamers.com/cogforums/showthread.php?t=14996). If you didn’t take his advice and play the demo over at Kongregate, do so now. If the game were free, I’m sure he would have written it up here. He did, however, write a wonderful evaluation of it on his blog (http://www.erraticgamer.com/blog/2010/1/18/time-well-spent-vvvvvv.html), which I invite you to check out now. The reason I mention all this is because this week’s subject, VVVV by Markus Persson, is a sanctioned de-make of VVVVVV (so many V’s!) for the Java4k competition (http://www.java4k.com/index.php?action=home), an interesting site where developers are invited to make the best game possible within a 4 kilobyte limit. I’m not too familiar with the details of game making, but making a good game under such constraints must be a challenge. Music and complex graphics may be sacrificed for the sake of file size, but gameplay certainly is not. VVVV captures the spirit and the aesthetics of VVVVVV, but remains distinct in its relative simplicity.
http://www.flexamail.com/GetImage.ashx?id=2149
It begins with your grimacing stick-figure cosmonaut standing in a room full of the game’s only adversaries, grisly red spikes. These spikes spell instant death, but fear not, death means nothing more than an instant respawn at the last reached checkpoint, of which there are many. Your task is to rescue 6 fellow cosmonauts scattered around the open world, each holed up at the end of mazelike passages peppered with the aforementioned spikes. Avoiding these spikes is what separates this game from other platformers. Instead of jumping, the ‘jump’ button reorients... gravity I suppose. When you ‘jump,’ you change which direction your character falls, up or down. If there are spikes on the floor in front of you, press the spacebar and fall towards the ceiling, walk along it past those spikes and press space again to fall back towards the floor. This mechanic will force you to overhaul your hardwired gamer instincts of how to play a platformer. It’s a hell of a lot of fun. Add to the mix dissolving platforms; surfaces that switch the direction you fall when you touch them; pits that drop you into themselves forever ala Portal, and you’ve got yourself a regular brainteaser.
http://www.flexamail.com/GetImage.ashx?id=2147
I’m not sure if those above descriptions are clear, but they’ll make sense once you start playing. The gameworld is a large map broken up into screens, complete with a minimap that fills itself as you explore. Even though the map is small, each section that houses a lost cosmonaut looks and plays distinctly from the others. Exploring the world and filling in the map is as much fun as actually rescuing these guys, and playing through the game again is just as enjoyable as the first time through. Satisfaction comes from overcoming each diabolical screen with precise timing, memorization and a little luck. And frustration is kept at a minimum; whenever you die, a well placed checkpoint will always respawn you within seconds of the obstacle that killed you.
VVVV is decidedly simpler than its older brother VVVVVV. Finishing it should take no more than twenty minutes. If it leaves you wanting more, though, remember— more can be had. Just pick up the game that inspired it.
VVVV is:
- a simplified version of a relatively simple game.
- a no frills platformer. All gameplay here.
- browser based. You could be playing right now!
Play it here:
http://www.java4k.com/index.php?action=games&method=view&gid=288
Some of you may recall Ravenlock mentioning the release of a game called VVVVVV by Terry Cavanagh at the end of a free game round-up a couple of issues ago (http://www.colonyofgamers.com/cogforums/showthread.php?t=14996). If you didn’t take his advice and play the demo over at Kongregate, do so now. If the game were free, I’m sure he would have written it up here. He did, however, write a wonderful evaluation of it on his blog (http://www.erraticgamer.com/blog/2010/1/18/time-well-spent-vvvvvv.html), which I invite you to check out now. The reason I mention all this is because this week’s subject, VVVV by Markus Persson, is a sanctioned de-make of VVVVVV (so many V’s!) for the Java4k competition (http://www.java4k.com/index.php?action=home), an interesting site where developers are invited to make the best game possible within a 4 kilobyte limit. I’m not too familiar with the details of game making, but making a good game under such constraints must be a challenge. Music and complex graphics may be sacrificed for the sake of file size, but gameplay certainly is not. VVVV captures the spirit and the aesthetics of VVVVVV, but remains distinct in its relative simplicity.
http://www.flexamail.com/GetImage.ashx?id=2149
It begins with your grimacing stick-figure cosmonaut standing in a room full of the game’s only adversaries, grisly red spikes. These spikes spell instant death, but fear not, death means nothing more than an instant respawn at the last reached checkpoint, of which there are many. Your task is to rescue 6 fellow cosmonauts scattered around the open world, each holed up at the end of mazelike passages peppered with the aforementioned spikes. Avoiding these spikes is what separates this game from other platformers. Instead of jumping, the ‘jump’ button reorients... gravity I suppose. When you ‘jump,’ you change which direction your character falls, up or down. If there are spikes on the floor in front of you, press the spacebar and fall towards the ceiling, walk along it past those spikes and press space again to fall back towards the floor. This mechanic will force you to overhaul your hardwired gamer instincts of how to play a platformer. It’s a hell of a lot of fun. Add to the mix dissolving platforms; surfaces that switch the direction you fall when you touch them; pits that drop you into themselves forever ala Portal, and you’ve got yourself a regular brainteaser.
http://www.flexamail.com/GetImage.ashx?id=2147
I’m not sure if those above descriptions are clear, but they’ll make sense once you start playing. The gameworld is a large map broken up into screens, complete with a minimap that fills itself as you explore. Even though the map is small, each section that houses a lost cosmonaut looks and plays distinctly from the others. Exploring the world and filling in the map is as much fun as actually rescuing these guys, and playing through the game again is just as enjoyable as the first time through. Satisfaction comes from overcoming each diabolical screen with precise timing, memorization and a little luck. And frustration is kept at a minimum; whenever you die, a well placed checkpoint will always respawn you within seconds of the obstacle that killed you.
VVVV is decidedly simpler than its older brother VVVVVV. Finishing it should take no more than twenty minutes. If it leaves you wanting more, though, remember— more can be had. Just pick up the game that inspired it.
VVVV is:
- a simplified version of a relatively simple game.
- a no frills platformer. All gameplay here.
- browser based. You could be playing right now!
Play it here:
http://www.java4k.com/index.php?action=games&method=view&gid=288