Gravity Bone

[y00tz]

Please report if already posted but I just thought I'd pimp our Quake 2 brethen: http://www.blendogames.com/

Pretty neat single player experience.

[Eiii]

Aah, this again. I wish this forum had a spoilers tag... Well, decrypt the below with rot13 once you're done playing..

Nyevtug, V jnf cerggl sbaq bs guvf tnzr sbe gur ortvaavat. Vagrerfgvat fglyr, pyrire nfcrpgf, cynlshy zrzrf... gur jbexf. Vg'f pyrneyl n 'jbex bs neg' engure guna n tnzr, gubhtu-- ohg gung'f bayl erirnyrq gb lbh ng gur raq, irrrrel noehcgyl. Urer'f ubj V frr vg:
Gur svefg yriry ybbxf yvxr n genvavat yriry. Gung'f vg. Vg'f checbfr vf gb ybbx yvxr n genvavat yriry. Gurer'f ab eryrinapr gb gur arkg yriry, lbh'er tvira ab rkcynangvba sbe nalguvat lbh qb naq gurer'f yvgrenyyl mreb punyyratr. Ngzbfcurer jvfr, vg'f boivbhfyl fbzr xvaq bs rkcrafvir rkpyhfvir pyho. Jryy qerffrq crbcyr, jnvg freivpr, snagnfgvp ivrj, nvecynarf (?) pvepyvat nebhaq... gur jbexf. Whfg xvaq bs lbhe fgnaqneq obaq-rfdhr fcl frggvat. V qba'g frr gur eryrinapr.
Yriry 2! Lbh gnxr cvpgherf bs oveqf. Oveqf! Jul oveqf? V guvax vg zvtug whfg or orpnhfr gur thl unf n oveq zbqry baunaq-- vs lbh ybbx ng bar bs uvf bgure tnzrf lbh frr gur rknpg fnzr zbqry/navzngvba, fb... vf vg whfg fgenatr sbe gur fnxr bs orvat fgenatr? V qhaab. Gur onfvp whzcvat chmmyr (juvyr abg rfcrpvnyyl jryy-qrfvtarq) whfg znxrf gur jubyr nssnve srry zber yvxr n 'genvavat' yriry-- nf n znggre bs snpg, lbh svyy vgrz fybgf 1, 2, naq 4-- ohg arire 3. Gur tnzr'f fhccbfrq gb srry vapbzcyrgr.
Naljnl, gjvfg raqvat. Gung ovg jnf snagnfgvp, vs n yvggyr ovg rnfl gb frr pbzvat. Jung obbx jnf gur ynql ernqvat ntnva? V srry yvxr gung'f eryrinag. Naljnl, gur jubyr punfr guvat vfa'g snagnfgvpnyyl qbar rvgure. Gur bayl cneg bs gung'f ernyyl vagrerfgvat vf gur cbccvat va-ba-gur-qvaare-cnegl ovg. Ntnva, gur bayl guvat gurl qb vf fgner ng lbh, naq vs V erzrzore pbeerpgyl, gurl'er jrnevat znfxf nf jryy. V thrff guvf pbhyq or whfg gb perngr n svpgvba jurer guvf xvaq bs bhgentrbhf fcl fghss vf pbzzbacynpr, ohg tvira gur nhgube'f (nccnerag) vanovyvgl gb chyy bss nalguvat ernyyl grpuavpnyyl vzcerffvir (yvxr, fnl, gur qvaare thrfgf univat frzv-ernyvfgvp ernpgvbaf) guvf zvtug whfg or qbar qhr gb grpuavpny yvzvgngvbaf. Gur erfg bs gur punfr vf cerggl havzcerffvir, naq gur ynql-ehaavat-njnl zrpunavp vfa'g chyyrq bss va n tbbq jnl rvgure. Eha-ernyyl-snfg-fgbc. Eha-ernyyl-snfg-fgbc. Vpx.
Gura gur raq. Lbh ebhaq n pbeare, naq trg fubg va gur snpr. Gur tnzr raqf nsgre gur genvavat yriry. Ab erny tnzr, lbh tbg purngrq bhg bs orvat noyr gb cynl bar. Gura, n frevrf bs synfuonpxf gung qba'g frrz gb unir nal erny zrnavat, ncneg sebz ervasbepvat gur fcl gurzr. Rkprcg gur '99' ynql pebffvat gur svavfu yvar. V unir ab pyhr jung gur shpxf tbvat ba gurer.

Unyc?

EDIT: Bu, naq rqvg bhg gur rfgvzngrq gvzr vs lbh pna. Whfg gb xrrc gur fhecevfr va gurer sbe nalbar jub'f rfcrpvnyyl bofreinag. :3 Nyfb, va pnfr ab bar tbg vg, 'Tenivgl Obar' frrzf gb or n ersrerapr gb ubj lbh qvr. Snyyvat. Tenivgl. V'z fher gurer'f zber oruvaq gur jubyr 'obar' guvat, V whfg qba'g xabj jung vg vf...

Grotto King... clearer idea, and better executed im. Barista 2? Stay the hell away.

[jitspoe]

Eh... the blocky models didn't do it for me.  Barista 2 was much better.  I haven't tried Grotto King yet.

[Eiii]

Please explain Barista 2 to me.

Or at least why you liked it

[jitspoe]

The graphics were better, for one.  It had more game play, and more variety.  The little pieces of paper strewn about as clues were kind of cool, too.

[Eiii]

More... gameplay? As far as I could tell it was just walking around (and finding the papers). Basically an extended interactive cutscene.

Man, what game did you play? What game did I play?

[jitspoe]

Gravity Bone was just walking around, too.

Talking to the skull was mildly amusing.

[Eiii]

Gravity Bone was just walking around, too.

Yeah, and I don't really like it, either.

Talking to the skull was mildly amusing.

It was cute, but really didn't do anything for the game itself. So where's the game? If there's no game, where's the point?

[DrRickDaglessMD]

I just played the 3 games you mentioned and quite enjoyed them all. I don't think any of them really had much 'game' to them (apart from maybe Grotto King). To me they seemed like pretty cool and quirky tech demo's, there are lots of features in them that I'd like to see available to us in DP. I don't think any of the stories made much sense though.

- Dag

[Eiii]

Barista 4 is pretty clearly a tech demo, but interviews with the author on Gravity Bone seem to suggest that he sees some meaning in it, whatever it is. I guess I could see 'tech demo' in Barista 4 (which had one or two genius moments, imo), but the second one just seems too fleshed out and full of almost-related crap for that.

Also, what was technically interesting in Barista 2? I can only think of the in-game cutscene, picking up the logs, and the skull guy. Also slomo.

[DrRickDaglessMD]

As a mapper, I rather liked how some scenes were built. The clearing bit in Barista 2 was very well constructed, the r_speeds are impressive and it looks great. Things like the butterfies aren't really possible in DP yet (I don't think) - I think models are statically lit at runtime based on the light value on where their origin is placed, while in Barista they seem to lighten/darken depending if the butterfly is in light or not. I think it must work by actually moving the model around the map with some preset path (as opposed to making the range of motion and path as part of the animation in the 3D modeller itself), something I don't know if it is possible in DP. Similarly, in Gravity Bone, there is a tram which goes overhead when you're in the outdoors-platform-jumpy bit which suggests that they can change the orientation of func_trains at path_corners.

I think these things would let those mappers with a mind to making a pretty nicely polished map to use some clever implementations of such techniques to give an extra level of ambience to their maps.

I just played through Barista 1, which was basically just a marathon clone (but quite a fun one). These games kind of remind me of the weird nature of some of the background stuff in Max Payne 1 and 2, which could be really strange and abstract (like the Address Unknown stuff with the weird flamingo).

- Dag

[jitspoe]

I kind of want to make my own little single player game now.

Oh, to have free time...