Greetings and Salutations,
To explain the absence of posts recently, I refer you to the image below:
Essentially, where the story is now I know how to get the characters where they are going, I know where the characters are going, I know when the characters are going, I know why the characters are going, I even know what will happen next, I just don't know how to make it interesting to you up to the next interesting bit. Hence the Writer's Block. So instead of boring you all with a continued wait until the end of this Writer's Block Siege, I will start a different topic.
As you all might have heard, my degree, my current job, and my planned career course is in video game design as such, I play a lot of games. I mean, a lot of games. And since I'm in college and don't have a whole bunch of money to spend, I play a lot of free games. Well, it seems to be pretty hard to find good free games nowadays, I mean, a person can go onto any number of free flash game sites and try to find good games, and occasionally you might, but there are too many overused ideas with only slight variations or twists that set it apart from the original to make it fun. Therefore, each post will start out with a brief overview of what the game is, and then I will provide a link to the game. This will be followed by a deeper look into what makes the game good compared to all the other games out there, and I will probably have spoilers as well.
Today's topic is going to be Solace, a great, but short, game developed by a four man team from the DigiPen Institute of Technology. It is a Scrolling Shooter, somewhat like an updated version of Galaga, with a little bit more movement involved. The developers labeled it a Bullet Hell, but do to my personal experience with Bullet Hells, there are far too few bullets on screen per second for it to adequately comply with the requirements for that, though the movements allowed are the same. It is a free downloadable game, and although I have only played it once, it will remain loaded on my computer for a long long time. It is mandatory that you turn on your speakers and listen as you play....
Parent Site: http://solacegame.com/
Download Site: http://solacegame.com/?page_id=7
|-Okay, only a little bit of a spoiler here.-|
If you didn't get it from the level names, or the quotes, this game is about the five stages of grief: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance. I think this game does a great job of portraying them, using the visuals, the music, and the minimal but helpful quotes. This is what many people in the game business refer to as "games as art". And for about a half an hour I sat here trying to determine how I would explain what games as art is shortly. I'll devote my next post to that, and believe me, it'll take me a whole post, I'm very passionate about the subject. But anyways, This is a game that any person that has gone through any significant amount of grief can directly appreciate and connect with. I personally felt as if I was experiencing it all again, which can both be good and bad, but I have to say that getting all the way through this game does not simply give you the satisfaction of having beaten another game, it can give a sense of victory over yourself as well. ::Disclaimer:: Personal Satisfaction not Guaranteed. I do recommend this game though, it truly will remain a part of my desktop background obscurers for some time.
Farewells and Valedictions,
Eoin Anndra Davis
P.S. I figured GG was a good title to have, considering its use as the IM term for "good game".
