Here's a little Contrast

Apparently the next generation is finally here as if anyone remotely involved in gaming didn't already realise...

And free on the PS4 (with one year of PlayStation Plus subscription at £39.99), comes a little game called Contrast. This puzzle platformer from Compulsion Games, plays with the use of light and shadow to progress between levels. I've not had a great deal of chance to play with it so far but from what I've played, the concept is intriguing. The character you play is able to shift between a shadow on a wall and a physical person which opens up the world to some incredibly innovative perception. Whether it be to traverse across seemingly impossible gaps or avoid threatening enemies, the way the light/shadow play is used is neat and (for lack of a better and non-repetetive word) charming. I've been looking at creating that 2D side scrolling platformer but was struggling to think of a quirky enough gameplay mechanic that would fit nicely onto an iOS device so I think I've stumbled across a winner here (or at least the idea of one). Take a look at some examples of Contrast here:

Surprisingly this isn't a far cry from another new title this month, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, where Link is able to turn into a 2D painting to move along walls and slip through gaps in bars to reveal new areas. There'll be more on that soon though, I'm currently compiling a list of games that have similar mechanics to Contrast and that's made it on the list so far.

More Research

These last couple of posts have been a case of going through my list of research and posting up what I had at the time. I've altered the dates so they show roughly around when I was looking into things so at least there's a bit of a thought process. This post, however, will look completely off topic.

I found this article online a few days ago while rummaging around in my bag of Google hyperlinks relating to the search term 'charming game'. It's a review of the game Foul Play, which is possibly the most British game. Ever. I can't fully explain it without showing you so head on over to YouTube to take a look at the hilarious and yet incredibly entertaining gameplay of Foul Play.

Having spent the past few weeks failing miserably at modelling and texturing in Maya (I know it's not that hard but I'm new here okay?), I started to eye up simpler solutions to my woes. Here is Foul Play, a side scrolling brawler, where the gameplay revolves around a one Baron Dashforth in his attempts to regale the stories of his Daemon hunting days to a theatre audience. This entertaining game is a little break from the norm when it comes to the typical conventions of charming but it still has some wonderful elements. An interesting narrative, describes the story to the player as they progress through each stage whilst beating up baddies and racking up 'Splendid!' combos. Also the simplicity of having the backdrops and scene props fall into place and drop down really adds to the feel of the game.

Here's some screenshots for you to have a butcher's at:

So linking this into work I want to be doing, I'm thinking of maybe a side scrolling game so it's easy enough to control and build without having to develop a full 3D environment should be a good springboard from here. Whether this is something I'll apply to other games to try and change the tone of them or whether this is just something I'll work on from scratch is a story for another day I suppose.