2DArray's Text Landfill
“Grief” Demo
So here we are, already a sequel to Company. Kind of. You’re not playing as Jack anymore, and it’s a very different kind of platformer.
Move left and right with the arrow keys. Jump with Up or Space. You can also use WADS. Click to shoot an imaginary gun. Press Shift to take an antidepressant. Some side effects may occur.
Also, press 2 to toggle gloom. It’s like bloom…but dark. Nurrr. Tap 3 to toggle the graininess.
If you want to be in the credits, leave me any sort of feedback. Tell me what you liked, or what you hated, or what you think I should be doing differently. Also give me a name so I know who to list you as. Every tester will be in the credits.
- No trackbacks yet.
#1 by 2DArray on February 15th, 2010
Nope, I hadn’t heard of RZP until you linked it. I can’t play it right now because my computer doesn’t seem to like Unity very much, but I’ll check it out when I get a chance. Far as I can tell, it’s a sidescroller where you shoot boxes and robots.
The similarity ends there, I’d hope. RZP is pretty clearly an action game, and Grief is a puzzle game that focuses on character and story. The crates in Grief are only in there right now as a little personal joke for myself, because seriously, what game with physics DOESN’T have crates? There will be something box-shaped in the final game, but it won’t be crates.
#2 by NastoK on February 16th, 2010
So far so good. Antidepressant is nice, if you make the game scrollable upwards/downwards a tad more as well, the “floating on the box” thing could be used magnificently.
Someone mentioned before that the feeling, or emotion isn’t the same as in “The Company of Myself”, which is true, though not necessarily a bad thing. In TCoM the feeling was loneliness, while here you could make more of ‘em – as you mentioned yourself, There are going to be 5 stages. Why not making each have a different felling, Denial – Fear?; Anger – self explanatory; Bargaining – idk, Hope maybe?; Depression – self explanatory; Acceptance – self explanatory?…
Hope this is of some help. Keep up the good work.
#3 by Polygeist on February 16th, 2010
Pistol needs recoil to be taken seriously.
It should slow down walking speed if firing direction is the same as walking direction; conversely speeding up movement if firing \"backwards.\" You understand. Besides this, the \"reticle\" should climb with recoil. See Thing Thing for an example of this dynamic. It doesn\’t have to be much. But if you want the gun to be as dramatic as a firearm is in real life, it needs repercussions for use.
For an anecdotal reference, from my experience, a handgun chambered in .45 brings the barrel to about a positive 45 degree angle after firing level (0 degrees). .22 caliber handguns have practically no recoil, more pushing the pistol back into the hands than upwards. 9mm/.40 caliber pistols might give 10 to 15 degrees of barrel climb. This is from my experience shooting handguns for the first time. This is using a decent but not extremely tight grip. I think I got the .45c 1911 to rise only 15 degrees with a tighter grip.
#4 by Ethelwulf on February 17th, 2010
I agree wiu Nastok about the antidepressant also the scrolling, you could give the player more freedom in each stage, but then again some people might not like that…
Also having different emotions at each stage is an excellent idea as is gives the game a little more variety which could make it more interesting to play.
I also like how you’ve added a gun, not for killing purposes but to help solve problems too.
All in all I think Grief is a good game to play at the moment and has the potential to be better than TCoM, keep up the good work!
#5 by Austin on February 18th, 2010
I really like the camera width versus The Company of Myself\’s – it feels a lot more personal, which I think you\’re going for. I also really like the physics of the boxes. So far so good.
#6 by tpthehouse on February 18th, 2010
I enjoyed the feeling of freedom to roam around. I also like where you\’re going with the antidepressants/psychological aspect of everything and the eerieness of some of the boxes disappearing (I\’m assuming that\’s one of the side-effects of the drug). Visually, it\’s beautiful, as well. I\’ll echo what a couple other testers have said and say that different emotions in the various stages would be an amazing and refreshing side to this game. Keep up the good work, dude. This will surpass The Company of Me (which was one of my favorite games lately).
#7 by RazintheGreat on February 22nd, 2010
I like how the antidepressants make it have anti-gravity. Like the others I think it should have different emotions in different stages. That will give a variety of level types and stuff.
I glad this game is different and unique compared to the Company of Me, but I was intrigued with the Company of Me’s story, so I was wondering whether this will have a connection besides depression.
Anyways I wish you good luck on the game!
#8 by robin on February 27th, 2010
im ultimately am confused as to what you’re supposed to do with this.. it just seems like basic shooting and jumping and if there are any levels to this at all, i have no absolute idea how to get to them.. is this all there is?(if there’s not, i seem to be stuck) i dont get how this relates to Company other than the green box part of it.. so if i can be explained anything about this, it’d be nice =/
#9 by FlyingWalrus on February 28th, 2010
Well, one thing I want to say is, make sure you include a roof. The last thing I want is to keep reloading levels because all of the boxes I’m trying to work with are flying into Never Never Land. I hope that the shooting will play more than an “imaginary” function in the future as well.
Kudos on the actual platforms, I like how they have texture but the edges are still cleanly defined, without some silly curve that makes it impossible to judge where the real end is. Keep up the good work.
#10 by HouseOfSnakes on March 2nd, 2010
I remember from Spewer, you had several different pills that did different things. That might be something to explore here, since you will be having different stages of grief, maybe different mental states will allow for the pill to behave differently? Or maybe he gets prescribed different pills at different stages of his grieving? Especially since his condition is supposed to worsen over time, maybe he’ll get different things so help in his illness like painkillers or something. I feel like a variety of effect pills could make the game more dynamic. Just something to consider.
#11 by Worm on March 4th, 2010
Love the concept of emotions and the general mood, very multi-dimensional (haha). My only complaint is the gun, it doesn’t seem to fit the context. Is there any way to explain why he now has a gun or find a more relevant propellent? (double haha)
#12 by Mcdestructor on March 7th, 2010
Well, it looks like it will be really good. I got to agree with everyone else really, not sure if the guns needed, but my guess it will be explained when finished.
#13 by The Black Shadow on March 7th, 2010
I totally agree that TCOMS was an epic game. The it didn’t just kill some time, it told the story. In fact it was such an epic story i was inspired to create my whole GCSE drama production loosley around it.
I loved the narration and the way you looked on at this poor soul, and at the end when you cleverly linked it back to the real world was just stunning.
But i feel this is not up to this standard. I wouldn’t release it as a sequal, simply as a “side brand” because – while i know it is still missing so much in this demo – i don’t this it is enough to warrent being a sequal.
If you do ever decide to make a sequal, don’t do it from the perspective of jack – but please do keep it within the bounds of human. I was a bit dissapointed by the green square.
For me, a sequal would have to live up to it’s original – a very hard thing to do in this case. My ideal game would continue with the lonly theme and have similar music – to echo his life. But would be a different but similar story.
Keep it up!
#14 by chandler on March 7th, 2010
man crap soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
#15 by Nick Brown on March 7th, 2010
Wow this game is amazing!
I love the graphics there great for a flash game…
I don’t like the fact that you play as a green block.
I love the fact you can take anti-depressants and I love the game in general.
What programs do u use to make these games? I’d like to learn since I am interested in flash design.
So far I have learned a little of C++, HTML, PHP, and my SQL
you should send me an email sometime
#16 by Nick Brown on March 8th, 2010
I noticed u visited my site… sorry for the crappy condition its in, right now its loaded full of ads just because not many people visit it and not many people buy things… its also slightly falling apart, some of the navigation bars need to be re-edited but I’ve been working on other websites…
Like i said shoot me an email sometime, if u want
#17 by Nick Brown on March 8th, 2010
sorry for all the comments but I am actually a huge fan of yours. I love all the games, especially the company of myself and spewer