“Oh look! Grand Theft Auto 5 has grossed more than any film ever! We made it! Videogames are officially great!” I don’t very much agree with the narrative surrounding the significance and importance of videogames among other media. Videogames get a bad rap and I think that to a great extent they definitely deserve it. […]
I’ve been meaning to speak my mind about the relationship we’ve had with film. Videogames are nascent and they didn’t come this far without having taken some queues from other media. I enjoy movies a lot, I’ve even tried to make my own. When I see movies, I see a medium that’s acutely self aware […]
Press X to start playing. Cutscene. Buff dude with big beard, staring blankly into space. Realtime tesselation for maximum biceps. Motion capture actor is feeling silly wearing tights. Nobody cares! Three million copies first week, keep going. Marketing team is excited. Press X again to swing axe. What if I don’t? Existential crisis. Buff dude […]
Although this might read a lot like a haphazard cover-up to my previous blog post where I explained how I don’t like videogames anymore, I’ve been meaning to follow up on it, especially since I’ve had plenty of time to think on things. After distancing myself from games to some extent, I’ve had the luxury […]
There, I said it. I’ve been meaning to write this one for a very long time. All this while I just couldn’t bring myself to say it. It was difficult to come to terms with this realization. All I’ve done most of my adult life is make and play videogames. So this definitely made for […]
Much like the controls we discussed in the last post, Super Lovely Planet doesn’t over complicate things with all the mechanics complementing the core platforming experience. Every level is a linear get to the exit challenge. It has a start point and an end point with traps and enemies conspiring to push you back. Much […]
In its platforming, Super Lovely Planet is more Castlevania than Mario. If there was one thing unique about this game that sets it apart from other games in the same genre, it’s that it takes inspiration from the kind of 80’s 2D platformer that got mixed reviews on its controls. Think Ghouls ‘n’ Goblins and […]
Ever since I started working on this game, most of my efforts were focused on the world and progression system. It was the one aspect that I saw being revised more often than anything else in the entire game during development. In the last post I talked about an inflection point where this aspect of […]
Not too long ago, before it was given its new alias, Super Lovely Planet was known in some circles as Lovely Planet Adventure. The word “Adventure” was suitable for the experience I was trying to deliver at the time. A lot of things changed and playtesting showed the adventure aspect of the game was the […]
I was pleasantly surprised to find that Super Mario 64 had found itself a cult following that remains strong to this day. It has its merits given it was the first of its kind, but for plenty of reasons, it never saw the success of its predecessors. Nintendo went back to take another crack at […]