I just got around to playing Randy Balma: Municipal Abortionist (I had been intent on getting Braid done when it was originally released, but Chris Dahlen’s blog posting reminded me to play it today).
If you like art games, I recommend you try it, and stick with it through the very difficult first stage; spoilery commentary occurs after the fold.
I first mentioned the Kotaku Game Club here a year ago. After being active for a short time, the game club went on a long hiatus. But now, Brian Crecente has revived it. This week they will be playing Beyond Good and Evil, a highly-acclaimed game that you can download from Steam for $10.
If you’re interested in participating, you’ll want to download and play the game soon; they’re discussing the game in four parts, and the first discussion happens on July 7.
A pleasant surprise! This music-oriented 8-way-shooter by Jonathan Mak was originally released on the PS3 last year.
Here is the Steam page for the game.
I highly recommend it.
In other news, Jason’s NYU speech has been rescheduled for Friday, May 2, at 3:30pm.
In case anyone is reading this blog right now, we see on Game Design Advance that Jason Rohrer’s talk at NYU today has been postponed due to illness. Get better soon, dude!
Reverend Anthony at Destructoid wrote up a preview of Braid. He said:
The preview build of Braid comprises one of the most interesting, satisfying, beautiful game experiences I’ve ever had…
Except that he didn’t say that. (Read the article to see why!)
Braid was also discussed in a very positive way in the latest Destructoid podcast, #48. This podcast also discusses art games in general, and contains specific discussions of The Marriage, Stars Over Half Moon Bay, Passage, and Gravitation. Warning: This podcast is also chock full of crudity.
Sean Bell wrote a very positive preview over at Darkzero. A quote:
Let it be known that, at the time of writing, I envy every single person who reads this preview. Why? Because I’ve just started up … Braid for the first time, and I’ll never get to do it again. I’ll be able to play it again, sure, but it won’t ever be the same as it was just now. I can’t, unlike the game’s protagonist, rewind time and have the same experience again.
Corvus Elrod wrote up his impressions over at Man Bytes Blog. He likes Braid, but not as much as the previously-mentioned previewers; but he’s also still early in the game, so maybe that will change. Or maybe he will totally hate it in the end!
The 1Up Show guys interviewed Jonathan Blow and David Hellman about Braid. Sadly, the interview doesn’t lay too much context about the game for people not familiar with it. But we still get into some interesting topics. The 1UP guys genuinely like Braid and are looking forward to its release; we were glad to do the interview with them.
Here’s the video:
Here’s a link to the entire podcast.
The other games in the show are Super Smash Brothers Brawl and Dark Sector. The Braid piece starts about 10 minutes in.
Jason Rohrer has just started a new column at The Escapist called “Game Design Sketchbook”. Once a month, he’ll be making a prototype game, putting it up for download, and writing about it.
Here’s a link to this month’s column.
The first game is called “Perfectionism” (pictured above) and it’s very interesting. You can easily figure out how to play it from the game itself; you don’t need to read the article.
I’ve been told that the date is actually Friday, April 11th — a month from now, not this week! See the previous posting for full details.
Jason Rohrer, creator of the games Gravitation, Passage, and Cultivation, will be speaking at NYU on Friday April 11th, at 1pm, on the 9th floor of Tisch Hall, in the lobby (?!?). Somehow I sense there is more of a story behind this arrangement.
According to Game Design Advance, where I found out about this, he will be talking about “art games” and “game mechanics as metaphor”.