Brian Riggsbee
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Resident Evil Revelations 2: Redemption for the Spin-Off Series

9/11/2018

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Last week I wrote a review of Resident Evil Revelations, and in short, I was disappointed. This week I'm returning with a review of Resident Evil Revelations 2. This being a rather old game by now, I'll keep my analysis short, and focus mostly on why it is so superior to the original.

RER2 shines in so many places the original failed to. Compared to the original, RER2 has:
  • More of a sense of exploration
  • Some scary moments (more is better than none, right?)
  • Better music
  • Characters are much more specialized
  • Richer, deeper gameplay
  • Diversity of environments
  • ​There's no swimming mechanic anymore (thank the gods)
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Overall it feels like a very different game. The biggest similarities are that you are always operating as a pair, although in the original the notion of having a teammate was a total farce. In RER2 your teammate is highly valuable, and extremely specialized. I found myself rhythmically toggling between partners in order to search, fight, and solve puzzles. There’s still a bit of the tedious nature in this dynamic, such as relying on one particular half of the pair to properly search.

There are some areas where, despite being a great game, RER2 falls a little flat:
  • Inventory management is a constant chore. I found myself often going through a routine of passing ammo to the character that can use it, and freeing up space.
  • While this sequel doesn’t hit you over the head with instructions as much as the original, it still does more so than it needs to. For example, I came across a brick wall with a giant X on it. When I explored it I was informed I needed a drill. And when I say explore, I mean in the non-diegetic sense whereas text appeared on screen to slap me in the face. This type of spoiler ruins that aw-ha moment you would have had when you found the drill. Allowing players to make connections is paramount to good design.
  • Scanning for items with your counterparts ability, while still tedious like the scanning mechanic of this games predecessor, at least fits better into the game world. For example, using a flashlight to seek out items is a nice touch. However, constantly toggling to the flashlight character hurts the cadence of the gameplay.
  • Grading, like the original, remains pointless. Unlike the original, RER2 adds a “next time” spoiler that you need to quickly skip. This isn’t a TV show and I don’t see the benefit in pretending it is.​​
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RER2 seems to have been heavily influenced by games like The Last of Us, and mostly for the better. There’s the middle aged man and mysteriously important little girl dynamic. There’s the character that can essential wall hack. There’s stealth zombie kills. And you can sprint. Obviously TLOU didn’t invent any of these themes or mechanics, but the connection is clear.

Overall, RER2 was great fun. I was constantly engaged with the level design, characters, and themes. It still holds up fairly well today. If you are thinking of checking it out, feel free to skip Revelations 1 (just read a quick synopsis).

​8/10
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Resident Evil Revelations: A Muddled Mess

9/4/2018

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My first exposure to Resident Evil was watching a neighbor play the original on PlayStation. At the time, even as a fan of the zombie genre, I wasn’t that intrigued. It wasn’t until the rerelease, Resident Evil: Rebirth for GameCube, found its way into my home that I finally dove into a Resident Evil game. I was hooked, and played it through a few times. I was ready to consume all things RE.

Fast forward and, after wrapping up RE4, I was caught up on all the series had to offer at the time. By the time I had the opportunity to play RE5 I had heard enough about the frustrations of the AI partner and the mixed reviews, and I decided to skip it. Then RE6 came along and snippets of info was enough to scare me away from that one. It just felt like a strange deviation from what attracted me to the series.

Once RE7 was announced I had grown eager to return. This is a game that reminded me why Resident Evil is one of my favorite series. It looked and felt amazing. The environments were truly terrifying, and I actually jumped a few times. It defined what survival horror should always be.

Which brings me to Resident Evil Revelations. Purchased for PlayStation 4, I figured I would give it a shot. Knowing nothing about it, I placed my order.

Here’s where it fell flat:
  • It’s far too linear, with extremely straight forward puzzles (if you can even call them that).
  • The episodic format is just plain annoying. Why does Capcom feel the need to interrupt action with an archaic grading system? Do we really need a “previously on...” after every short level? This isn't an arcade game.
  • The story frequently jumps around between characters, locations, and times haphazardly. Consequently, the story is slow and dry, and you never get to identity with any of the characters.
  • For survival horror, it’s missing the “horror”. Everyone is such a silly Hollywood action caricature and the monsters are so casually tossed in from the start that there is zero suspense, zero fear, and zero sense of danger.
  • The dialogue is cringe worthy and speckled with blatant sexism. And the women are highly sexualized in a way that is absurd.
  • You are hit over the head with guidance, even in the most obvious of situations, in the form of map markers and NPC chatter. This kills the sense of discovery.
  • Having an NPC partner adds little to the game. Enemies mostly ignore them as they fire shots that seem to do little to no damage. There is a formula that is reused throughout the game where the NPCs point you in the right direction, follow you, wait at a place you need an item to engage with, and repeat.
  • Ammo reappears in locations you have already been. It's an immersion killer.
  • The scanning mechanic is tedious. You kill an enemy and scan it, and then scan the entire room, over and over again.

This wouldn't be the first time that a Resident Evil title let me down. Zero and Outbreak were also let downs, just for different reasons.

There is a bright side to Revelations, however. At least, I think so. I just played the first hour of Revelations 2, and I'm amazed at how much of an improvement it is in so many ways. I was gripped from the start, and felt the horror that was missing in its predecessor. The team mechanics are sensible, the monsters more terrifying, and the environments are engrossing. While it still is more linear than I prefer my RE games, it gives a better sense of being free roaming. My only beef with the sequel, thus far, is that it clearly was influenced with many of the mechanics and feel of games like The Last of Us. To be fair, those mechanics weren't all original on their own, and have become commonplace. All in all, I have high hopes for this sequel.

5/10
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Home, Sweet Home

8/19/2018

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For me, like most that had the opportunity, my first experience with the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) was at a young, impressionable age. Sure, we had an Atari before that, and a couple of games. But it was the NES that by far in away had the largest and most lasting gaming impact on me. I was probably about 5 years old when my neighbor, Miles, beckoned me into his home, touting that he had a new game system, with promises of a dragon. Inside I was introduced to Super Marios Bros, and I imagine my jaw remained unhinged for the length of my visit. It wouldn’t be long before an NES reached my home, and many years followed where I would journey, sometimes alone, sometimes with friends, through a rich expanse of worlds.

Fast-forward to around 2002 or 2003, during my college years, where I decided to unpack (and dust off) my old NES. It felt like it had just been long enough whereas coming back to it felt meaningful. By this time, multiple systems had already come and gone, and the NES, for most, had been forgotten, often only surfacing in a garage sale put up by a parent cleaning an attic.

This is also when I learned about the unreliable and degradation of the 72 pin connector. A few dollars and a few weeks later, a replacement arrived from a vendor on eBay. I recall opening up the system with a feeling that was akin to an archaeologist unearthing a sacred grave. In some ways, it felt like an invasion, and in another, it felt like exploring a newly discovered planet.
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After getting the NES operational again, I casually played a few games. It wasn’t long before I was back at it with games like Grand Theft Auto III: Vice City and Counter-Strike. My NES was quickly forgotten, re-boxed and packed away. Perhaps it was simply too soon.

It’s now 2018, thirty-three years after the North American release of the NES. At work, we have a #retrogames channel in Slack, where we discuss all things related to retro gaming (including the definition of what retro gaming is). It was in this community that the emotions I have deeply ingrained with the NES resurfaced. Quickly I plunged into all things retro gaming. I binged listened to countless episodes of the Retronauts podcast. I grinded through books like I Am Error, Legends of Localization Book 1: The Legend of Zelda, The Anatomy of Castlevania: The NES Trilogy, and NES Works Volume I and II. I played modern takes on 8 and 16 bit style games, such as Axiom Verge and Owlboy. I also found myself back in a place I hadn’t been since the early 2000s: eBay. My collection of original NES carts quickly doubled.

In the last 6 months I learned more about classic gaming than I had ever known. I gained layers of appreciation and understanding that simply didn’t exist prior. While in doing so, some of the charm of my memories may have been tainted, yet overall, my lasting impressions of what retro gaming means to me has been greatly enhanced. It reminded me a bit like my experience in studying film in college, as once I understood what the man behind the curtain was doing I could now love these things deeper, but the man could never be unseen, and thus some of the illusions were forever lost.
As I prepared my original NES for its return performance I came prepared with the knowledge that hooking an NES up to a 4K television was not going to be an ideal experience. However, I couldn’t even get that far, as just like in the previous round through memory lane, my NES failed to load any games. After a deep clean and another new pin connector I was back on track. This time around my goal was to experience games I had never played before, or those that I had only a glimpse of in their infancy. I decided to start with Crystalis.

As feared, the combination of the NES on a modern TV was a mess. The colors were off. Any movement on screen was distorted. And I could see the preloaded artifacts on the right side of the screen, which was an area that would have been obscured on a CRT television. I knew this just wasn’t going to work. Thankfully, there are heroes in this world that have produced gems like the AVS, which plays original NES (and Famicom) carts and outputs to HD. I went ahead and ordered one, and felt back on track.

I’ve since played a number of games, and not all to completion. I dabbled in games like The Battle of the Olympus, drawn to the Zelda II: The Adventure of Link style (or to be blunt, it’s a total rip-off). And played a few levels here and there with Batman: The Video Game, Commando, and The Legend of Kage. With so many games brought into my home all at once I had too much to choose from, a luxury that didn’t exist back in the 80s, which resulted in my fickleness. Thus far, at the time of writing this, the only two I have completed end-to-end are Crystalis and Metal Gear (both great). I do plan to play many more, and write about some of those in the future in greater detail.
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Playing games as old as these, so many years later, after experiencing games evolve, and having those games be ones I had never played, resulted in a nostalgia-cocktail. It’s an experience that has been rather intoxicating. I often feel transported back in time, as if I just received ones of these games as a gift. Ignoring everything I have learned and experienced since then, however, is sometimes a challenge, and it’s not something that I feel one should even bother to block out. There is enjoyment to be found in comparing these games to those that followed, to feel the evolution and see what inspired the future. Granted, a hidden door in Metal Gear that is part of the critical path made me want to pull my hair out a little, and it was something I ended up looking up online, but this was the NES! Random, hidden doors was a sign of the time, and I can accept that.
Warning: Sweet Home spoilers ahead
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Which brings me to Sweet Home. If you haven’t heard of Sweet Home then you are not alone, as it was only ever officially released in Japan. The version I am playing is a translated reproduction cartridge, meaning it isn’t an original NES game, but you wouldn’t know that by the looks of it. Sweet Home, produced by Capcom, is considered a precursor to the Resident Evil (Biohazard) series. Similar to Resident Evil, it’s a survival horror themed game that takes place in a creepy mansion filled with creatures and zombies. The mechanics draw similarities as well, as you progress by collecting items, backtracking, and using those items to progress in the form of light puzzles. Notes left behind offer clues to both your advancement and the grander story. Even the ability to toggle between characters is later found in Resident Evil Zero.


Where Sweet Home differs from the Resident Evil lineage the most is two-fold: 1) it’s an RPG, and 2) what makes this game so unique is how you partner with the five playable characters. With regards to the latter, the dynamic of grouping (and ungrouping) with your fellow trapped survivors is what makes the game unique and special. You are restricted to no more than three characters in a party at a time, and each character can only hold two items, in addition to their special item. This forces the player to make strategic decisions. Do I have a good set of items for what I anticipate ahead? If I need items from the group of two I left behind will they be able to safely catch up to the party of three? You’re constantly making trade-offs, and while on occasion it feels somewhat tedious, it mostly feels engaging.

And at times, safety in numbers can backfire. I find myself often toggling between holding a stance that the clues are too literal, and thus, too easy, and wishing the game was more challenging. And then, just minutes later, my entire party of three will fall into a pit, hanging for their lives, and because I wasn’t careful enough my remaining party of two isn’t able to get to them in time to save them. It’s actually moments like these that really up my appreciation for this game. It’s these types of creative surprises that adds flavor.

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While I save often in this game, in fear of permanently losing a character, there was a moment that occurred early in the game where I decided to not reset and, instead, decided to accept and carry on. I had crossed a pit to obtain an essential item, by placing a log to form a bridge. My party of three doubled back after gathering the item, and this is when the character in the center of the line broke the bridge and hung to the edge. I was able to pull the character back up, but this meant that one of my other characters, Asuka, was now stranded on the other side. I ended up leaving Asuka on that lonely island for a huge portion of the game, always knowing, or at least hoping, that I would come back. It was a promise I made both to myself as a player as well as between the characters in the context of the game world. Eventually I found more logs, returned, and saved my friend. It was a sense of relief to finally be reunited. That was also when I realized that Asuka, all along, had a log in her inventory that she could have used to cross that gap. I laughed to myself.

The survival horror theme is bolstered even further by the ways in which characters become separated. If you’re like me, you occasionally take unnecessary risks in games (especially if you just saved your progress) in an effort to push the boundaries of the game. For example, there are spirits that will pull a character away from their group, plopping them in a room many screens away. The wisest decision in this moment would be to take the remaining two characters that are still bound together, and to have them navigate to their lost friend. However, like foolish teenagers in countless horror movies, I will often take my solo character and journey on, acting as if I am confined to the perspective of that person. Ask yourself, if you were taken from your friends by ghosts, would you sit still in a strange room? Probably not. Now, a solo trek like this can be disastrous, as you might break a flimsy plank that stretched across a pit, with no one to pull you up. Or you will face enemies alone, and with a finite number of healing items available in the game, this isn’t wise (assuming you even have an item to heal yourself with). This is actually where another ingenious mechanic comes into play: the ability to call for help. In this mode, another character (or set of characters) has limited time to run towards their comrade and assist them. It’s a heart-pounding moment.
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Further on the topic of encounters, as mentioned before, this is an RPG, albeit a rather atypical one. Battles are randomly triggered, with the exception of the fights that ensue when you come into direct contact with enemies that traverse across some of the screens. The battles are rather simple, made up primarily of attacks and prayer (think magic). Many of the traditional systems found in RPGs, such as collecting coins, purchasing weapons and items, and resting at inns to regain health, do not exist in Sweet Home (nor do they have a place here). Rather, there is no currency, weapons and items are discovered, and hit points and prayer points are replenished only with tonics.

The environments powerfully convey the mood. In this vast mansion you twist and turn down hallways, up and down stairs leading you to great heights and depths, and explore the outer areas surrounding the property. Each section is truly unique, ranging from underground labyrinths to a lakeside forest. The top-down view is contrasted by more detailed scenes of paintings and monuments, and the occasional open door animation.

Most areas, in addition to having their own visual complexity, are accompanied by a variety of music compositions that fit snugly in the horror genre. A rolling low tone base line is accented by squealing highs. There is a deliberant tempo juxtaposition between the moderate beats-per-minute (BPM) of the exploration music and the upbeat, panic inducing songs that quickly loop and build anxiety when you battle enemies and suffer from poison.
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Even with the limitations of the NES, Sweet Home managed to nail the theme of what survival horror should be. You’re scared. You’re often alone. Your resources are limited. Danger lurks behind every corner. The atmosphere is terrifying. A sinister backstory slowly reveals itself, making the world that much more frightening. Death is final.

Not only did Sweet Home bring me back to the joy of experiencing a new NES experience, it also reminded me of the pleasure of solving mysteries through the use of taking notes. Note taking, for many, in and outside the context of gaming, is considered a chore. Growing up in the days of the NES, however, it was not just helpful at times, but often essential. Drawing maps, scribbling down clues, recording passwords...these are all staples of the NES experience.

At this point, from what I can gather from the progression of the story, I’m close to the end. As for what comes next, I will dip into the backlog of titles I still have waiting for me, and keep playing, for as long as it still feels like home. And who knows, maybe in another 10 years I’ll dust off my NES games one more time for another go.
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Rapid Reviews: Part I

7/3/2018

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In the coming weeks and months (perhaps forever) I'm going to take a different approach to game reviews. Rapid Reviews, as the name suggests, is a set of quick, concise reviews of several video games. 

Here, in part 1, I have games ranging from iOS to PS4 (oh, and Breath of the Wild for the Switch). 
Hyperlight Drifter - PS4
Drenched in the warmth of 80s sci-fi synths I breath in the nostalgic, minimalistic visuals and paint in the details with my mind.
9/10

The Walking Dead: A New Frontier - iOS
"Now I am become" Telltale, destroyer of batteries. It lacks any real improvements from the previous iterations, and still suffers from performance and audio mixing, in addition to battery draining like a energy thirsty vampire. The gameplay remains overly simplistic for my taste. The writing shines, and only occasionally suffers from “catch all” responses and animations that don’t always match with your choice in words (e.g. I just made a choice that doomed a character from finding “her baby”, and seconds later she is smiling like a smitten teen).
6/10

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Nintendo Switch
Yes, this game is as good as the hype. Yes, the horses are a little wonky, but if that’s the biggest critique I can think of then I’m really digging for negatives. The best parts: Exploration is always rewarded, whenever I think “maybe I can…” the answer is always yes, and it’s extremely well polished. Great DLP too.
10/10

Super Mario Run - iOS
I ran. I had fun. I beat the levels. I collected all of the colored coins. Then I uninstalled, feeling satisfied.
7/10

Mobius Final Fantasy - iOS
My 10 minute experience: “What the hell is going on here? Never mind, this is stupid. I quit”.
2/10

Sword of Xolan - iOS
2D retro side-scrolling goodness. Just, not greatness. 
6/10

Goblin Sword - iOS
Refer to Sword of Xolan review.
6/10
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The Return of The Dead Outnumber the Living

4/22/2018

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Some time back I let the domain name for The Dead Outnumber the Living expire, and I have finally gone ahead and uploaded a zip of the game for people to download and play. Enjoy.
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Shadow of the Colossus - PS4

2/26/2018

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I recently completed the remake of Shadow of the Colossus for PS4. I did not play the original. I did my best to not compare it to current games while playing or hold the dated elements against it (which is difficult to hold from doing).

At first I found the game to be rather frustrating, for the same reasons as The Last Guardian:
1 - Janky Camera
2 - Janky Controls

For the first few battles I struggled to understand why I fell when getting too close to the joint of a colossus. The feedback when climbing felt disjointed. Controlling the horse was a bit awkward. 

Over time I fell into the controls and mechanics, and didn't really have a problem with them. Climbing wasn't a big deal. Charging up the sword attack for critical hits on the weak points of the colossus kinda/sort of made sense. I learned the horse would auto navigate. And I ignored how lame it looked to swim with your sword out.

Side point about controls: I literally had no idea what the yellow meter was until I was on the 2nd to last colossus. I guess that is the drawback of not including instruction manuals these days.

The camera, on the other hand, remained an unfortunate frustration from beginning to end. I was constantly struggling against the camera that would demand to be in a position it favored. The camera would dip below the water level or collide awkwardly into a wall. It would rubberband away from what I wanted to focus on. It was, in the end, the most difficult enemy in the game.

The architecture, monster design, and landscapes were the highlight for me. They were totally beautiful. 

At first I felt the empty world to be strange, when I looked at it from the perspective of it being "wasteful". In other words, why not fill the large areas with smaller enemies, more things to discover, achievements to complete, etc? I was in the mind set of Breath of the Wild. But when I allowed myself to relax, and look at it from a different perspective, I saw the vastness as a key element to the story: this was a cursed land that had not been seen by man in a very long time. I started thinking of it as a a fairy tale or ancient myth, where the key elements to the story are the most important, and the fluff in-between isn't. It allowed me to look at the environments and simply enjoy the look of them, rather than stressing over the thought I had in BOTW: "have I looked over every inch of that area yet"?

The story was simple yet interesting. It was a bit lame and repetitive to hunt, kill, return, and get your next mission over and over again. I think there was a big loss in not building up more story of the elder that storms in at the end. There was one cutaway mid-way that showed them on the outskirts, and I would have liked to have seen that built up a little more...just something to break up the repetition. 

The ending was....exciting at first, then weird, then confusing. I really don't know how to feel about it.

In summary, the mechanics are simple and dated, and the camera is a bit wacky. The environments are beautiful. Overall I enjoyed it quite a bit. I hit some frustrating snags that were worth getting through in order to complete what was a fun game.
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The Last of Us: Multiplayer Tips Not Taught in the Loading Screen, Part II

12/30/2016

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Back in April of 2015 I wrote a post titled 11 Tips Not Taught in the Loading Screens for Multiplayer Mode in The Last of Us. With the announcement of the sequel to The Last of Us, excitement is once again brewing around this title, so I spent some time revisiting the multiplayer mode, and today am listing out some additional tips and strategies. Tips are in no particular order.

1. Mark while firing - If you are firing on an enemy, always simultaneously mark them, if not marked already. It's no extra work, and you not only get parts of marking, but you also get parts if a teammate kills the marked target, even if you are already down or dead at that point.
2. Baiting downed allies - This doesn't make you a bad person...honestly. Sometimes baiting a downed teammate in order to down an approaching enemy is the best thing you can do for your team, especially when playing in Interrogation mode. Don't just go charging out in the open to help a teammate up, if it means you are going to get shot down in the process. 
3. Run baiting - When you sprint, you appear on the enemy radar. This can be used to your advantage. Try sprinting in one direction, then pivot in a different direction and wait for an unsuspecting enemy to approach.
4. Changing load outs mid-game - Try this out: start with a crafting load out, so that you can quickly craft items from the materials you pick up from lockboxes. Then, after your first death, switch to a more favorable load out. If you upgrade a weapon and then switch to a different load out that has that same weapon, don't worry, because you won't lose the weapon upgrade.
5. Ideal place to die - With the exception of situations where you think you can be helped up or when you are hiding from a potential interrogation, crawl out into the open. That way, if an enemy wants to loot your leftovers, they have to do so without cover.
6. Self terminate - When downed, it's often to your advantage to die quickly, with the exception of when you might be helped up or when playing in Survivor mode, so that you can respawn faster. If this is the case, and you see some enemy molotav fire or an enemy bomb, crawl on top of them. And by taking out that bomb, that's one less bomb for your team to worry about.
7. Trigger enemy bombs while crawling - Similar to the previous point, try crawling over an enemy bomb when an enemy is nearby. That way, you can trigger the bomb and take out the enemy...along with yourself.
8. Block vault objects while down - I know, I have a lot of tips related to crawling around. For this one, the idea is to crawl next to vaulted objects, such as low walls and windows, in order to prevent enemies from jumping over to your side. This can be handy for preventing an enemy from getting an interrogation, or just to throw them off and leave them exposed.

Here is the original list from 2015:
  • 1. Craft a modified 2x4 as early as possible - When you pick up a 2x4 and die, you lose it, but if you upgrade it and die before using it, the upgraded melee weapon will cary over to your next life.
  • 2. Save one-time use boosters for challenges - Unless you have stored up a hefty reserve of one-time use boosters, save them for challenges.
  • 3. Save easier missions for later in the campaign - Challenges get harder the farther into the weeks you get, and while you can redo a previously used mission, the requirements go up if you do so.
  • 4. Avoid the large headwear - Sure, you look great in that large cowboy hat, but you are also easier to spot.
  • 5. Locate enemies while dead - When dead and waiting for your chance to respawn, press R1 to toggle through the various fixed cameras, and locate enemies.
  • 6. Don't sprint next to crouching teammates - Avoid sprinting next to your stealthy teammates, because as you charge around you will make your location appear on the enemy radar, potentially giving up your teammates. However, the opposite can also be used as a way to bait enemies into an ambush or planted bomb (sprint to attract enemies into a trap).
  • 7. Avoid putting yourself out in the open - It's tempting to execute an enemy from afar and then retrieve your loot, but make sure it's safe first. You can always collect the drops later in the round, so don't feel rushed. It's also tempting to run into a pile of unaware enemies while throwing haymakers, but if you have the ammo and don't have a melee weapon, it's probably better to just shoot them in the back.
  • 8. Learn the maps - This is a pretty obvious tip, I know, but an important one. It takes time to learn not just the layout of each map, but the vantage points and cover as well.
  • 9. Don't stray too far from the team - Sure, it's fun to be the lone wolf that sneaks up behind an enemy for a shiv kill, but more often than not riding solo is not a favorable team tactic. And, in the case of interrogation mode, it often leads to an easy interrogation for the enemy team. Instead, try working in a loose cluster formation, and ensure you have all vantage points covered (i.e. don't just have everyone staring ahead). But don't cluster too close, or else you will find the enemy taking the bulk of your team out with one molotov. 
  • 10. Revive teammates in safe areas - Often times you will do more harm than good when you rush out to revive a fallen ally, because in doing so the enemy will destroy you both. It's tempting to pop out from cover to help your comrades, especially when you see that big triangle icon staring at you, but think before you expose yourself. Sometimes letting your teammate crawl to your cover point makes the most sense for the situation, whereas other times letting the teammate die, as harsh as it may sound, is actually the tactical choice. And when your teammate is crawling for cover, actually let them make it behind the cover before you initiate the revive sequence, otherwise you may be blocking them and leaving them open to fire (with exception to a teammate that is a second from dying, in which case it's worth the risk of leaving them partially exposed).
  • 11. Don't sit in one place for too long - Unless you are guarding your lock box, or are sniping and know your area is secure, it's probably not safe to stay crouching behind that rusty car for very long. Staying still for a long time makes you an easy target for enemy flankers. 
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Interview with Amir Rajan of A Dark Room, A Noble Circle, The Ensign, and Future Projects: Sasha, The Builder.

6/19/2016

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​Amir Rajan is the creator of A Noble Circle, adapter of the #1 hit iOS game A Dark Room (originally created for the web by Michael Townsend), and creator of the prequel to A Dark Room: The Ensign. His games conjure deep, swaying, and often conflicting emotional responses in the players through the use of original storytelling techniques. The worlds he creates are visually simple, yet intensely profound and complex.

Today we chatted about his experiences as an indie developer, his thoughts on his projects, another prequel to A Dark Room, and his next game Sasha.
Brian: What I found to be so striking about my experience with A Dark Room was the way the progression of the experience made me feel compelled to push forward despite the slow but steady realization that the community in the game, the community I started and oversaw, was being crippled by my advancement (literally enslaved). As more people joined my village, my resources expanded, and more features were unlocked, the stronger the urge was for me to drive ahead. It reminds me of how, in real-life, when people gain status and wealth in the world, they start to lack sympathy for those around them, blinded by their own ambitions. In short, the feeling of guilt was present, but it was overshadowed by my desire for growth and exploration in an expanding universe. Was this part of your intent, to have users experience these types of emotions? Knowing that this made some people quit the game, does that feel like a success for having evoked such strong emotions?

Amir: The game started as a web game and I (I'd like to say) "re-envisioned" it to a mobile medium. The web version didn't have any of the builder commentary or the slave transition. The builder was simply an NPC that was used to build stuff. Mentally I really connected with the builder, and wanted to answer my own questions: Who was she? Why was she helping me? So the emotions in the game were definitely deliberate and vocalized through the builder.

It's funny actually, someone reached out to me on twitter about the slaves transition and how "it wasn't his choice". He was pretty angry about it. His Twitter profile background was that of Fallout New Vegas, where you can literally [be] part of a slave driving army. 

I think the emotions are exasperated by the fact that there aren't any pictures. In fact, these kind of emotional responses (specifically not having control) were what drove me to create the moral events in The Ensign, where you had a direct choice of whether you would "take food from the family" or not.
...the emotions... were...deliberate and vocalized through the builder.
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Brian: In A Dark Room (and likewise in The Ensign), the player has minimal knowledge of what the game is before starting. You take it so far as to only have one screenshot in the App Store, and it is of the very start of the game. Doing so doesn't spoil, but rather, excites attention and curiosity. Do you think that this sense of curiosity is what drew people in? Likewise, do you think it may have scared others away?

​Amir: Yes on both accounts. Michael and I did that deliberately so that the experience wouldn't be spoiled. After we hit the number one spot, and did an update to the game, [one] of the people on the Apple app approval process actually rejected our update because our description was "too short". I was really, really pissed about that, but we got it overridden and [were] allowed to update. It's tough balancing the "business" aspect of selling games, but we had faith that word of mouth recommendation would trump a long drawn out sales pitch on our app description page. We have a few accolades on there now. Still trying to find a good balance. [Having] good reviews certainly helps.

​Brian: What did it feel like to see A Dark Room hit #1 in the App Store? Did you ever think it would gain such popularity?

​Amir: When it hit the number one spot I was in complete utter shock. Definitely was not in a good state of mind, surprisingly.

This expert from my blog explains it well:
"This is the best way I can describe what I’m feeling right now: I’ve bought a lottery ticket, and the lottery commission has revealed 5 of the 6 numbers. And so far, I’ve gotten those 5 numbers right. I know I’ve got at least the winnings for those 5 numbers in the bag. But now I’m waiting for the 6th number… that jackpot number that changes your life forever. The lottery commission hasn’t revealed the 6th number yet, they haven’t even told me when they’ll show the 6th number. So I’m stuck in this weird limbo, where others see success and all I can do is temper expectations, be “responsible”, and move forward as if that 6th number will be wrong…. still number 1, just checked."

I didn't sleep well for almost a month. Every hour or so I'd wake up and see if I were still number one. Still never got used to it
When [A Dark Room] hit the number one spot I was in complete utter shock...I didn't sleep well for almost a month.
Brian: I can only imagine what that feels like.
Amir: ​Yea, we aren't prepared for that kind of success. When all was said and done Michael and I made about 700k that year we hit #1. 200k during that 18-day period at the number one spot. The rest was long tail trickles. Sadly, after taxes, Apple’s cut, and splits…both of us came away with about 270k. So that part was also not fun to realize. [I] was able to buy a house and pay it off though ^_^. Now I live mortgage free and don’t need to chase the mighty dollar so much anymore.
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Brian: You spoke to some of the differences between the original web-based version of A Dark Room in the in-game commentary. Which difference did you find to be the most critical for the mobile experience?
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Amir: ​Pacing and the builder's commentary/storyline. I felt that's what put the game over the top. The mobile version is about 3 times faster than the web version. The game is a bit more challenging too. The DPS for soldiers, snipers, and feral terrors was nearly doubled in the mobile version... rage inducing I'm sure. I didn't expect the builder's interactions would be so powerful. But I do feel that's what "made" the game…Your thoughts on this?

​Brian: Pacing is so key in gameplay, and I find that in a mobile experience players would have struggled with a slower pace. As for the difficultly, I actually found it to be rather well balanced, but I tend to enjoy a bit of a challenge. For me, "dying" wasn't too frustrating, but more so, I blamed myself for venturing too far, too soon.

​Amir: ​The Ensign was definitely an extension of that "your fault" mentality. I wanted to make sure it was 100% fair. And yea, the early moments of the game when the forest opens up was key. Didn't want people to play for 30 seconds and leave a bad review. That plus the ability to pick it up, play a little bit, then put it back down was extremely important too.
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Brian: A Dark Room starts with darkness when you meet the girl, and comes full circle with darkness returning when the girl leaves. It’s a powerful, emotional moment in the experience, and for me, a point where everything felt like it was crashing down and at the point of no return. This isn’t a question.

​Amir: The fire going out when she left was deliberate. Not sure how many people caught that.

​Brian: You mentioned how you have never actually met Michael Townsend, the original creator. Do you think you two will ever meet?

​Amir: ​If Trump becomes president I may move to Canada.

​Brian: Not a bad idea.

​Amir: He said I'm welcome to his couch :-) Hopefully we'll meet soon, but definitely haven't met yet. It's on my bucket list ^_^ Do you find it weird that we haven't met? Maybe it's poetic that we never do :-P

​Brian: Actually, not really, not in this day. I collaborated with an artist on a web-based project I created, and we haven't met yet. We follow each other on Instagram though.

​Amir: Cool, cool. The composer I [worked] with for ANC is in Brazil. Haven't met him either. But yea, I agree with you. Don't find it too weird personally.

Brian: In playing A Noble Circle and The Ensign, there is a clear, anti pay-to-win, in-app purchase message. In my opinion, in-app purchases, for the most part, replace what was once the designed challenge of a game into something that is now constructed, often purposely, to be purchased for the sake of completion. Which, in turn, taints the experience, removing the fun and entertainment elements for something that feels like it is run by finance people instead of creative folks. What are your thoughts on the direction mobile games have long been heading and do you foresee a backlash?

​Amir: I've struggled with this myself. I'm hoping there is a backlash... but it's unlikely. Premium games are a "lost cause". I quoted it because I don't think AAA will go that route. As for indie game devs, it may provide an opportunity to thrive (since we aren't competing with shops like EA). And we also don't need as much money either. I'm happy netting $170 a day. And can live comfortably off of that for the foreseeable future. But I do want to build a culture of "gifting" games and "free to start" games like POTUS and Kung Fury do that very tastefully. So my next game might be "free to start". And maybe ANC will become "free to start" too. You may have noticed that ANC - Prologue is a free offering. But I'm not ready to jump ship yet. We'll see how this year goes.
Sasha, my next game, will be about "unrequited love”.
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Brian: From A Dark Room to A Noble Circle it appears that a strong motif of yours seems to be a world that is visually simple, yet with an underlining complexity of somber emotions. And these emotions and layers of details get richer as the player progresses further, learning more of the world around them. What attracts you to this style of gameplay and this form of story telling?

​Amir: I think it works well given the current mobile landscape. Given that most games do exactly the opposite of what I'm doing. When I was a kid, I wanted to get into building video games, simply because it was a way to share an experience. Still remember the shock when Aries died in FF7 (spoiler alert). I feel I have a knack for distilling an experience down to its essence. Which works well for me since I don't have the resources to build a fully 3d or gorgeous 2d game. Only so much one person can do.
 
When I start working on a game, there is a central emotion theme in mind. For ADR it was "the feeling of loss" (specifically the builder). For The Ensign, it was "cognitive dissonance", that feeling when you go against your ideals. For ANC, it’s "a rush of awe". Sasha, my next game, will be about "unrequited love”.

​Brian: I’ve released a lot of free custom maps and levels for first-person shooters, so I can relate to the notion of creating something primarily by yourself. What motivates you when you are devoting countless hours to your craft, knowing it may yield little to no money (what if it gets lost in the App Store abyss)?

​Amir: [I] always worry about how long my philosophies will bare fruit. So far I'm keeping my head above water. My general ideals is that I only want to build things that I myself would play/buy. I've been lucky (very very lucky) in finding an audience that operates on the same wave length that I do. There are 80+ million iOS devices out there. If I can capture even 0.01% of that in perpetuity [then] I'm happy. Cause I get to do exactly what I want to do: create.

And yes, I've been called pretentious multiple times XD (I even make fun of it in ANC). So, in short. I'll keep doing it until the well dries up. Then I'll figure things out then. [I] just don't want to sacrifice my ideals too much.
I've been called pretentious multiple times.
Brian: While A Noble Circle has a similar visual and thematic style to that of A Dark Room and The Ensign, it differs greatly in terms of gameplay and the sounds that are the backbone of the experience.  What inspired you to explore this style of gameplay?
Amir: ​Geometry Dash. Such a fun game! That and it was a spark of inspiration from creating a virtual Go board. When you placed a "stone" on the board. I wanted to capture a sound that would "do the move justice". You get a nice "click" on a real go board, but in a digital medium I wanted to do something different. So it would randomly play a note from a pentatonic scale. You could almost make music while playing the game. So that's when I decided to take the rhythm based idea, plus the random music generation, plus Flatland and Ayn Rand's Anthem and put them together.
Brian: At the end of A Noble Circle, I just bounced around for a while. At first, because I wanted to see if there was more, but then later, just to enjoy the sounds and music I was producing.
Amir: You wouldn't be the first :-) Have you seen this video?
Brian: That's...incredible.
Amir: I made a musical score, and created a small AI to play the musical score for me. Just a silly little Easter egg. I wonder if anyone will actually try to compose the "perfect" piece. Would be cool if someone did ^_^
Brian: I want to circle back to your next game, Sasha, and the theme of “unrequited love”. What can you tell me about it? Earlier you mentioned the composer for A Noble Circle that you collaborated with, Rafael Langoni Smith. Will this project involve others as well?
Amir: Not sure about collaborations yet. It's barely in pre-production. But I wanted to explore the idea of loving something that doesn't love you back. In this case Sasha is a Tamagotchi style character. Almost an OS that you take care of. Things don't go as planned toward the end of the game let's say :-D ...Sasha is inspirited by Notch's game, Drowning [in Problems]. He was able to convey a narrative without explicit "cut scenes" or story line elements. It's really amazing.
I wanted to explore the idea of loving something that doesn't love you back.
Brian: Are you envisioning a 2D, black-and-white world like the previous titles?
Amir: Yep, I'm envisioning a B&W canvas. Sasha will be fully animated though. I think I can swing that (given that it's just one character). She may end up "making" mini games for you too. Parts of the progression will definitely be inspired by Drowning though. So I'd expect a similar game mechanic to further the story.
Brian: One of the things I truly love about your games is the minimalist details in both the visuals and descriptions, because this forces me, as a player, to fill in those details, to wonder, to be curious, to be eager to learn more, and to decide for myself what the meaning is. Am I an alien? Is this my world? What does this deserted town look like? Should I feel bad for these people? Are the defectors crazed like zombies or just disgruntled? Is the dusty path a post-apocalyptic wasteland? Again: not a question.
Amir: ​I hope The Ensign helped fill in those details a bit more. The Builder (prequel to The Ensign) will explore the relationship between Builder and Admiral.
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Brian: If you had unlimited resources, time, and budget, what would you build?
Amir: I'd do a MOBA. Where players are like those from Dark Souls. So emphasis on swordplay, parries, etc. So stick a level 1 DaS character in the game and "go". Then you can level up to 120 by the time the game is over. Of course level would be faster :-P No one has a specific role, and you grow into the role you want to play. I'm addicted to StarCraft and LoL by the way. I tell my wife to hide my mouse during the week so I don't play it all day.
The Builder (prequel to The Ensign) will explore the relationship between Builder and Admiral.
Brian: This next question may sound crazy, considering your games are so beautifully packaged, feeling so complete in their simplicity, structure, and story…But do you ever think about making The Ensign into a larger, longer, more expansive experience?
Amir: It was initially going to be an infinite world, you go until you die. I could see the ADR world being extremely rich. Following the history of the Wanderers. So the final installment of the main story line will eventually come. Specifically the history of the Builder... I guess that's what ADR, and TE have shaped up to be. So another game may come that explores other historical aspects of the race and their universe.
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Brian: What advice do you have to aspiring indie developers out there?

​Amir: Start small, get something out the door in 6 weeks. Then iterate. [I] did this Reddit post that goes into details about it. [Given] all the choices, you can get analysis paralysis. So start with that [post]... build something text based even :-D

​Brian: Other than StarCraft and LoL, what are some of your favorite and most influential video games, books, and movies?

​Brian: I was so happy when FF Tactics was released for iOS. The perfect excuse to play it again.

​Amir: ​Yep! I really want a PvP based game around that concept. The storyline of the game was so great.

​Brian: I want to finish the interview by just reading you a few, nice quotes from the App Store:
  • A Dark Room: “This unique experience will captivate your attention and change the way you think about the world, your life, and the human condition.”  [28490572629596]
  • The Ensign: “A well thought out prequel with stupidly difficult obstacles, was worth every second.“  [Kanaya Maryam]
  • A Noble Circle: “I’ve never been so emotionally connected to a game.”  [A Pale Blue Dot]

​Amir: Those reviews are the strongest reason for me to keep building :-) It's the best thing in the world I tell ya. And I'm hoping with ANC people will be more receptive to "unfinished games for now but I'll keep working on it" kind of approach to development. Seems to work well for that game at least.

​Brian: For me, it worked.

​Amir: [I'm Releasing] an update to that today by the way :-) You finally get to slide "bounce" into the lab.

Brian: I'll check it out! Thank you again for joining me for this interview. I really appreciate you taking the time. And I'm looking forward to your future releases.

Amir: I love this stuff...thanks for reaching out Brian, and please gift my games to your friends and family ^_^ and tell them to pay it forward if they liked it.
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Kickstarter for Dire Vengeance, the Retro 2D Action Platformer

6/19/2016

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Dire Vengeance, co-created by my friend and jiu-jitsu training partner Karl Espiritu, along side Adam Seger, has recently been added to Kickstarter. I play-tested this game a while back, and even way back then I could feel the extreme promise that it has. As it is accurately described on the Kickstarter, "Dire Vengeance is a retro 2D action platform video game inspired by classics like Castlevania, Ninja Gaiden and Ghouls 'n Ghosts". A ton of hard work and dedication has gone into this project, and I'm hopeful it will get the backing it deserves.
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If There Was an Interactive Museum for RPGs it Would be Evoland

5/15/2016

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In Evoland, you experience the evolution of RPGs by frequently unlocking new features (e.g. weapons, radar, and a mini-game), technology (pre-rendered environments, 3D, colors), and design elements (e.g. puzzles, combos, and secrets). Cliches are ingrained in every moment. Yet cliches don't feel like cliches, but rather they evoke the warming sensation of nostalgia. The experience is more akin to a history lesson, or a virtual game museum, than a standard RPG, sprinkled with jokes and jabs at moments and characters made famous by games like The Legend of Zelda, Diablo, and Final Fantasy VII.

The experience is short, making this less of a complete RPG and more of a brief walk through time. Essentially, Evoland is a taste of the integral pieces that have been built over the many years. Yet the foundation is so solid it beckons for a story-driven sequel. 
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    Brian Riggsbee is a producer and designer, living in San Francisco CA. He enjoys practicing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, creating art, blogging, gaming, and spending time with his girlfriend and dog.

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