On Arty 2D Platformers

[Bek359]

One 2D platformer that I can think of that features loss of innocence (but not a large-headed child) is Eversion. It starts off pastel-colored and happy, but then... I won't spoil it for you entirely, but I will tell you that the warning "Not for children or those of a nervous disposition" is EXTREMELY apt. Oh, and it starts off with an H.P. Lovecraft quote. Have fun!

 

[MisterColeman]

The spiders are capitalism! Of course it all makes sense now!

You all call the spiders what you want I call them awesome.

I agree with this whole thing, except I didn't like Braid that much and what he liked I probably like more but that's typical.

 

[gregitaly]

For some odd reason, I thought Yahtzee would hate Cave Story. I don't know why he would, maybe I was just being prejudiced against him, and automatically think that he hates everything.Good to know that he appreciates a great game.

 

[V8 Ninja]

I have to agree with his opinion on Braid. The game was too confusing with it's whole "Artiness" thing that it tried. I never really played Lucidity, so I don't really have an opinion on that. As for Cave Story, I'm kinda surprised by what he thinks. Though when I think about it, it did seem that everything just fell right in place...

Oh, and this;

You are late, four hours a year late, pull yourself together Yahtzee.

Fixed.

 

[npath]

What? No Knytt [http://nifflas.ni2.se/?page=Knytt]?! I am disappointed.

Pfft. Forget Knytt. Within a Deep Forest is the epitome of artsy 2D platformers. You don't just HAVE a large cute head... YOU ARE A CIRCLE WITH A TINY FACE.

 

[Brotherofwill]

The spiders are capitalism! Of course it all makes sense now!

There's capitalism on mars???

 

[Stabby Joe]

I've been meaning to try Cave Story since it's a modern-made game in a basic retro form. Maybe it's games like the new Mega Man titles that also renew interest in the old.

 

[Vestsao]

The spiders are capitalism! Of course it all makes sense now!

There's capitalism on mars???

Well why do you think they invaded London in 1898? They needed to kill off all the humans and nick our resources to create more goods to sell on Mars!

 

[Callate]

I think you could definitely make an argument that Braid also has elements of "The Death of Innocence" in it.

Spoiler

Firstly, the brilliant ending sequence makes the point that we tend to presuppose that we are the heroes of our stories, when it might be more accurate to describe us as the villains of someone else's. This is one of the sad lessons of maturity, though admittedly one some may never learn: no matter how we might justify our actions, we may not be heroes. Worse, we may not even have as much impact on the narrative as villains... We may, in fact, be stock characters.

Secondly, and yes, I grant the narrative gets regrettably obtuse on this point, there's the notion that the pursuit of the Princess symbolizes the pursuit of atomic science, a boundary that once breached has terrible consequences, but can never be un-learned. (Sounds like a metaphor for maturity to me.)

 

[default]

I'm in the process of making an 'artsy' action platformer myself, actually. It's just such an attractive concept! Simplicity of gameplay, giving far more time to paint and design graphics and write story. However, I think they are for people who care more about aesthetics than gameplay, like myself. Not that they have bad gameplay, just simple.

 

[BlackJackFrak]

They are ten a penny, ive played lots that fit exactly into the description. Most arent even about gameplay, a simple puzzle or bit of platforming and then the abstract idea of a story is strung together before your eyes. Some of them do keep me amused for about 10 minutes though.

Anyway, i know you want it to fade away but im far too interested for "Fun Space Game: The Game" to disappear. The process of learning and creating it is probably the best bit. More i say!

 

[Baldry]

While reading this I couldn't stop thinking about the game "I wanna be the guy"

 

[Partezan]

TERRY CAVANAGH nuff said...

 

[kaijyuu]

Haha, while I like your theory of "little people in big scary world = us afraid of growing up and spiders", I think you're a little off base on the nostalgic graphics. Pixelated graphics are not bad, they're a style choice: Simplistic and leaving room open for our imagination to fill in the details. Long after graphics reach the point of realism, people will still be putting out 2D pixelated games for those reasons. It's somewhat similar to some artists using stick-figure-ish characters with balls for hands, a single block for a body and maybe some stubby legs and a head.

 

[Common Knowledge]

The trouble with a lot of 2D platformers is that they tend to have very poor stories, Braid has one of the worst I've played in recent memory and displays it straight from the "How Not to Present a Story" manual whilst other games like Trine, which had a better story, still felt rather shallow. A games story should act as an all encompassing frame with the gameplay contained within, if the story is divorced from the gameplay it feels awkward and pointless because a game is just an interactive story telling medium.

I realise that 2D games appeal to newer developers because they're easier to make and allow for some creativity but even so, if there's no story there's no game and all these 2D platformers just seems to be a bit of a fad becasuse we've reached the point where the more savvy developers have realised that sacraficing gameplay for realism is idiotic in the extreme. So whilst many of the major developers are working on "realism" (Medal of Honors ultra realistic Afghanistan springs to mind) the ones with a clue are trying to make people realise that a game is something to play for fun rather than a series of pretty pictures to look at.

 

[LordVyreth]

Cave Story represents another commonality in stories (technically spoiler but the game tells you anyway an hour in)

Spoiler

Stories with cute robot boys inevitably end up dark and angsty. Look at a good chuck of the Astro Boy stories. Megaman avoids it in the original series, only to go off the deep end with X and beyond.

As for indie 2D platformers almost entirely made by one dude, as much as I love Cave Story, Iji's even better.

 

[geldonyetich]

As a fellow ancient gamer, I can usually sympathize with what Yahtzee's getting at, but what I'm sympathizing with this time was that there apparently was no overreaching point to be made about arty 2D platformers. They're hit and miss just like any other games, just with a higher level of pretentiousness than usual.

 

[carpathic]

I cannot say I have ever really enjoyed 2 d platformers...mostly because I am just not that good at timing things out. I never owned a nintendo.

Now a 2d flightsim....j/k

 

[TiefBlau]

What about I Wanna Be the Guy, the story of a small child lost in a world where absolutely anything and everything can kill you?