[PAX Prime 2012] The Cave

Lekon · 09-10-2012, 06:26 PM

Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion were two of the best, strangest, and most oddly funny adventure games of the past few generations of gaming. The Cave however takes adventure games into a new dimension... the second! Somewhere along the development process, someone said "Let us take Maniac Mansion, flatten it, add some platforming elements, and make it look awesome." And Lo, it is good.

It looks even better in motion

The Cave starts out simply enough, namely with The Cave itself talking to you. You'll be hearing a lot from the Cave, who functions as narrator, and occasional insult generator for when you mess up. After a few moments, the campfire comes up, surrounded by seven strange characters: A Monk, an archaeologist, a fellow in a straw hat, a lady in a labcoat, two rather pale twins, a knight in full armor, and a time traveler complete with floating animation and glowy bits. Just moving your cursor over each one lets you hear a short story about them, and at any time you can move any of this group around to get a feel for their abilities, quirks, and general animation style. Each character has one special ability, and I'm told an entire area of the cave just for them. The time traveler can teleport through walls, the twins can leave behind ghosts to hold levers, etc.

Some come to the cave for glory, others come for prizes!

After picking the character and wandering around, eventually a rickety wooden bridge shows up, with a sign warning about the weight limit. Once you've moved three of the seven characters to this area, the bridge collapses, and the game starts, with those three characters now your party for the rest of the game. It seems a small touch, but Ron Gilbert explained that they wanted to keep everything organic and in game, instead of just having you pick options from a menu. Not far past this point, you meet the crux of the early levels, the Cave's gift shop, which is sadly out of trinkets to sell. Thus, your intrepid band must go find things for him to sell. Capitalism, Ho!

The demo area past the gift shop consisted of a bit of exploration, and a chain of events involving a sausage, a ufo catcher, an annoyed monster being winched, a broken soda machine, and a number of deaths from me jumping badly while Ron Gilbert watched and snickered. I have to admit, the Cave itself was finding my antics amusing after the third or so missed jump. Once I figured out the timing on jumps, everything went much more smoothly though. The Cave is primarily an adventure game, not a platformer, the platforming elements that are in are usually pretty easy.

Not everywhere in the cave is dark and dreary

I'd like to thank Mr. Gilbert for running the demo of the game. He's an awesome fellow to talk to, and it is quite clear he's proud of The Cave. He also has ever right to be. I'd heard next to nothing about the game before PAX, and after the demo, I'm eager to pick it up as soon as it releases. For those looking for an easy comparison: This is a Maniac Mansion Metroidvania, with a lot less emphasis on pixel perfect jumps, and more emphasis on exploring this wonderfully strange place called the Cave. Death itself is little concern, as anytime you are killed, the character you are controlling is simply whooshed back to the nearest ledge so you can try again. No loading screen at all, just an exasperated sigh from the Cave.

It also has Grog. Fortified with pure battery acid and pepperoni!

The Cave is scheduled for release early 2013 on PC, PS3, and 360.

Ink Asylum · 09-10-2012, 07:33 PM

It's a delight to see this game being made. It does indeed feel like a spiritual successor to Maniac Mansion. It warms my heart to see a Grog machine after all these years.

Lekon · 09-10-2012, 11:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ink Asylum

It's a delight to see this game being made. It does indeed feel like a spiritual successor to Maniac Mansion. It warms my heart to see a Grog machine after all these years.

That was the thing. When playing it, I never thought "Hey, this is a neat platformer". It was always "Oh.. hey.. this is a new way to do an adventure game, I like this!"

Spigot · 09-11-2012, 07:23 AM

Awesome little preview, Lekon.

I've been seeing tweets about The Cave from Gilbert and sometimes Schaefer, but had never really checked out exactly what it was. This looks awesome and I can't wait to play it.

MosBen · 09-11-2012, 09:17 AM

Nice. I hadn't heard about this one, but I'm definitely going to pick it up now.

crazyD · 09-11-2012, 10:47 AM

I love that Double Fine is turning into an Adventure game company. I mean, they have Stacking, this, and the upcoming Project Reds all as twists on the Adventure genre. Hopefully, their approach will click with me better than Telltale's.

Spigot · 09-11-2012, 10:54 AM

Which is the game they're developing for the Kickstarter? You'd think I'd have actually looked at one of my backer e-mails, but I'm lazy.

crazyD · 09-11-2012, 10:55 AM

Well, its code name is Project Reds. No official name yet.

OldJadedGamer · 09-11-2012, 10:56 AM

They officially confirmed a WiiU version as well.

Spigot · 09-11-2012, 10:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crazyD

Well, its code name is Project Reds. No official name yet.

Ah, thanks. I suspected that was the case, but I didn't remember seeing it being given that name when I skimmed some of the e-mails I got back a while.

For a while, I thought that The Cave was the KS game, but realized a month ago or so that I was wrong ;(

OldJadedGamer · 09-11-2012, 11:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crazyD

Well, its code name is Project Reds. No official name yet.

All of Double Fine's games are named after San Francisco ChinaTown dive bars before they get official names. This one is:

Lekon · 09-12-2012, 08:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OldJadedGamer

All of Double Fine's games are named after San Francisco ChinaTown dive bars before they get official names. This one is:

What were some of the other DF Code Names for games? Now I'm all curious.

crazyD · 09-12-2012, 08:37 AM

In one of the backer videos, they go to all of the bars from their previous games and have a drink. I don't remember the names, but they listed them all out, even for canceled projects.

OldJadedGamer · 09-12-2012, 09:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lekon

What were some of the other DF Code Names for games? Now I'm all curious.

Brutal Legend was the Buddha Bar and Psychonauts was the LiPo Bar.

09-10-2012, 06:26 PM	#1
Lekon Indie Prophet Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Las Vegas Posts: 2,621	[PAX Prime 2012] The Cave Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion were two of the best, strangest, and most oddly funny adventure games of the past few generations of gaming. The Cave however takes adventure games into a new dimension... the second! Somewhere along the development process, someone said "Let us take Maniac Mansion, flatten it, add some platforming elements, and make it look awesome." And Lo, it is good. It looks even better in motion The Cave starts out simply enough, namely with The Cave itself talking to you. You'll be hearing a lot from the Cave, who functions as narrator, and occasional insult generator for when you mess up. After a few moments, the campfire comes up, surrounded by seven strange characters: A Monk, an archaeologist, a fellow in a straw hat, a lady in a labcoat, two rather pale twins, a knight in full armor, and a time traveler complete with floating animation and glowy bits. Just moving your cursor over each one lets you hear a short story about them, and at any time you can move any of this group around to get a feel for their abilities, quirks, and general animation style. Each character has one special ability, and I'm told an entire area of the cave just for them. The time traveler can teleport through walls, the twins can leave behind ghosts to hold levers, etc. Some come to the cave for glory, others come for prizes! After picking the character and wandering around, eventually a rickety wooden bridge shows up, with a sign warning about the weight limit. Once you've moved three of the seven characters to this area, the bridge collapses, and the game starts, with those three characters now your party for the rest of the game. It seems a small touch, but Ron Gilbert explained that they wanted to keep everything organic and in game, instead of just having you pick options from a menu. Not far past this point, you meet the crux of the early levels, the Cave's gift shop, which is sadly out of trinkets to sell. Thus, your intrepid band must go find things for him to sell. Capitalism, Ho! The demo area past the gift shop consisted of a bit of exploration, and a chain of events involving a sausage, a ufo catcher, an annoyed monster being winched, a broken soda machine, and a number of deaths from me jumping badly while Ron Gilbert watched and snickered. I have to admit, the Cave itself was finding my antics amusing after the third or so missed jump. Once I figured out the timing on jumps, everything went much more smoothly though. The Cave is primarily an adventure game, not a platformer, the platforming elements that are in are usually pretty easy. Not everywhere in the cave is dark and dreary I'd like to thank Mr. Gilbert for running the demo of the game. He's an awesome fellow to talk to, and it is quite clear he's proud of The Cave. He also has ever right to be. I'd heard next to nothing about the game before PAX, and after the demo, I'm eager to pick it up as soon as it releases. For those looking for an easy comparison: This is a Maniac Mansion Metroidvania, with a lot less emphasis on pixel perfect jumps, and more emphasis on exploring this wonderfully strange place called the Cave. Death itself is little concern, as anytime you are killed, the character you are controlling is simply whooshed back to the nearest ledge so you can try again. No loading screen at all, just an exasperated sigh from the Cave. It also has Grog. Fortified with pure battery acid and pepperoni! The Cave is scheduled for release early 2013 on PC, PS3, and 360. Last edited by Lekon; 09-10-2012 at 06:37 PM.

09-10-2012, 07:33 PM	#2
Ink Asylum I'll handle this. Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: NYC Posts: 21,926	It's a delight to see this game being made. It does indeed feel like a spiritual successor to Maniac Mansion. It warms my heart to see a Grog machine after all these years. __________________ blog ~ twitter ~ flickr ~ daily sketch

09-11-2012, 07:23 AM	#4
Spigot Turn Me Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Acton, Ontario Posts: 18,668 Blog Entries: 112	Awesome little preview, Lekon. I've been seeing tweets about The Cave from Gilbert and sometimes Schaefer, but had never really checked out exactly what it was. This looks awesome and I can't wait to play it. __________________ Like obscure games? Check out Turning The Spigot for hidden gems!

09-11-2012, 10:54 AM	#7
Spigot Turn Me Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Acton, Ontario Posts: 18,668 Blog Entries: 112	Which is the game they're developing for the Kickstarter? You'd think I'd have actually looked at one of my backer e-mails, but I'm lazy. __________________ Like obscure games? Check out Turning The Spigot for hidden gems!

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09-11-2012, 09:17 AM	#5
MosBen Colonist Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 1,336	Nice. I hadn't heard about this one, but I'm definitely going to pick it up now.

09-11-2012, 10:47 AM	#6
crazyD Nothing to see here Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 5,541	I love that Double Fine is turning into an Adventure game company. I mean, they have Stacking, this, and the upcoming Project Reds all as twists on the Adventure genre. Hopefully, their approach will click with me better than Telltale's.

09-11-2012, 10:55 AM	#8
crazyD Nothing to see here Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 5,541	Well, its code name is Project Reds. No official name yet.

09-11-2012, 10:56 AM	#9
OldJadedGamer Old and Jaded. Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 5,707	They officially confirmed a WiiU version as well.

09-12-2012, 08:37 AM	#13
crazyD Nothing to see here Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 5,541	In one of the backer videos, they go to all of the bars from their previous games and have a drink. I don't remember the names, but they listed them all out, even for canceled projects.