Indie Games: Gravity Bone

This is one of my favourite independently made games. Just putting it out there. Gravity Bone, made by Brendon Chung of Blendo Games, isn’t a very long game at all, maybe taking up to 15 minutes on your first play-through, but those are 15 minutes well spent. I also advise playing it first, then reading the rest of this. The link has already been put in the name of the game earlier, but here it is again.

See, the beauty of Gravity Bone is that it shouldn’t be 15 minutes long. Gravity Bone is the first couple of levels of a longer game that was never made. These are the tutorial levels at the start of a game, showing you the world and giving you instructions. But then it stops, and that isn’t at all a bad thing. In fact, it’s brilliant.

Gravity Bone’s story is hard to really explain as I’m not entirely sure there is one. There might be, but I’m not too sure. Suffice to say, it may be about a spy or a hit man or someone like that being given contracts to carry out specific work for some reason. It’s not entirely clear, but you create the story within your head, connecting the dots and possibly understanding the game. That is, unless it is complete nonsense.

But I seriously don’t think the story is important. Gravity Bone appears to be a game attempting to break apart video game conventions. Those tutorial levels I mentioned? Yeah, that is the entire game. The game is two stages of tutorial and this creates an air of safety that is broken down later on in the game. We slowly get fed a world which we never fully experience and there’s some sort of beauty in that when you get to the ending.

I might not have given too much information to really get you to play the game, but Gravity Bone definitely needs to be experienced. It is an utter joy and a game I think everyone should play. Give it a go if you’ve got some time on your hands. Yes, it’s a bit artsy, but it’s worth it, I swear.

Indie Games: Pilot Light

Another Blendo Games project, Pilot Light is a point-and-click adventure that is a simple homage to the old Sierra and LucasArts games. The game follows our hero as she delivers a package across space. That’s pretty much the plot of the game and I’m OK with that. Point-and-click adventures don’t need any in-depth plot, they just need fun pointy clicky gameplay.

Indeed, the gameplay is pointy, clicky and fun. It’s a fairly basic affair, however, with you combining objects or using them on other things to get to attain your goal. Whilst it is fun it is too simplistic, with things pretty much being laid out for you with very little challenge. No crazy thinking is required, just put this in that and you win.

However, most of the fun comes from the writing. There’s no real story, but there are lots of events that take place. Whether it’s stopping someone robbing a space fuel depot or trying to get a man’s engine back from a monkey, the game has a lot of laughs and an enjoyment factor outside of the core gameplay. I found myself chuckling a fair few times, which made up, I feel, for the lack of challenge.

The art for the game is also pretty good. The rough around the edges style is cohesive with the gameplay and writing and really helps you get a feel for the world. This art style also works well with the animation, which I have to admit I really liked and would liked to have seen more of.

Something that could have improved this game, however, would have been better sound design. The only sounds are these little sound effects that only really play when you pick something up. Having some music in the background or sound effects during the cutscenes, or when doing other things, would have improved how the game felt. The lack of sound made it feel somewhat vacuous at times, which was disappointing.

Overall I’d say give this game a go. It’s pretty short, but it’s a nice little diversion if you have some time to spare. Whilst the gameplay is something to be desired, the writing will keep you going through it.

Indie Games: Grotto King

Recently I’ve been playing through a fair few independently made games. When playing these indie games you often find you play a fair few from a certain developer. One such developer is Brendon Chung, lead of award-winning independent games company Blendo Games.

Grotto King is a free game that comes from this company. The game is pretty short, coming at maybe 8 minutes overall. You are on a quest to kill a monster in its lair and your reward is a massive bounty. So you venture forth, into the dungeon/well. Glory awaits!

The actual gameplay mechanics are fine. The inability to look up or down I found to be irritating, but there really isn’t any need to look up or down. The gameplay at the very least is built around this limitation. You fire arrows at the three monsters in this game (or four birds that will explode) and at targets. The targets are there to trigger moving blocks or doors to open, but there are no real puzzle elements.

That’s about it for the game, actually. There’s nothing specifically interesting about the game other than exploding wildlife. You kill a few beholders/eye-monsters in simplistic fights, and then it finishes. The ending to the game is abrupt and somewhat disappointing and the gameplay is adequate, but nothing spectacular. There’s no specific story to speak of to carry you through, so nothing really shines through.

Saying that, though, the general aesthetic is great. I did like the look of the game, though the eyeball monsters were somewhat disappointing. The environment was very good, yes, but it was nothing to really make the game great. 

Overall, the game is fairly bland, but I can tell work definitely went into it. If there were better fights or maybe a better/funny ending then I could enjoy it more, but all I can do right now is say “Meh...”