Insignificant as an Ant: The Magic of Disempowerment

Okay, so I'm not doing a creator spotlight this week, nor probably for the rest of June.  This doesn't mean I don't want to, it means I have something else I want to talk about.  This week and the week after I get back from New York, we will be spending doing a talk about power fantasies in video gaming.  The two sides of power fantasy.  Empowerment and this week's topic, disempowerment.

Insignificant as an Ant: The Magic of Disempowerment

            Extra Credits brought up an interesting bit of discussion during one of their segments recently, talking about the Cthulhu mythos and how so few people understand what it means.  It's not about monsters or beasts, it's about the abject horror of being so small, so infinitely weak that the monsters we face are beyond our understanding and that we are as insignificant as an ant to them.  Or even less so.

            This got me to thinking about disempowerment in video games.  There are whole genres of game design which seem to want to disempower the players, such as Outlast or Silent Hill, and many games which use disempowerment as a tool, such as Sang-Froid, where you are disempowered for the purpose of storytelling or character growth.  But why do we like disempowerment?  Why do we play games that may make us feel afraid, insignificant, or powerless?  Well, lots of reasons.  Many people are control freaks and the idea of losing control is appealing to them as a way to relax and let go of the stresses of the day, even if they have the ultimate power, the power to turn the game off.  Others Like to start off weak so they feel much better when they become strong.  Others still like the adrenaline high...the feeling of struggling to stay alive in spite of all that is stacked against you.  Count Jackula actually put it best for me.  We all need to feel fear, to understand what it is to be weak, because then, when we are faced with true horror in our real lives, we will not flinch.  In many ways, they teach us to cope, to handle obstacles, and to find hope.

We put ourselves through fear to better prepare ourselves for the coming nightmares.  Or perhaps because we just enjoy it.

            Whatever the reason, there is an art to disempowerment.  It can be handled in a number of ways.  One way is to not give the player any power to begin with.  To place them in a position of danger and give them no way to cope with it, other than to run.  This gives a modicum of control to the player, namely the ability to run and hide, but prevents them from acting like...well...a human being.  Because, no matter how scared or weak we are, some of us, when cornered, will grab a pipe and start bashing away at the cosmic monster or the psycho killer trying to destroy us.  While flawed, I believe this method has some interesting applications.  The ultimate goal is to make the players feel helpless, but to not make them feel like a pawn of the game.  These experiences are generally very, very linear, since your actions are so limited.  These are story driven experiences, not sand box games.  These games give players the illusion of choice, and thus the illusion of hope, when in reality they are just pulling you by the nose towards a goal, with the atmosphere around you and your own mind starting to play tricks.  Outlast and Amnesia are games like this.  You cannot fight, your inventory and ability to run/heal are very limited, and you will always follow the same path each time you play.

You have no power in Outlast.  All you can do is run.  Try to outlast your hunters.

            I heartily disagree with this method of disempowerment because while these games can be quite horrifying, I think they make a cardinal mistake.  Outlast, Amnesia, and Slender, are all games based around running, hiding, and light puzzle solving in order to try and evade some horrific monster or psycho killer.  One way that disempowerment fantasy works is that you are put under a threat and a fear and you wish to avoid it.  Typically the fear is about death.  However, Outlast, Amnesia, and Slender usually kill you right at the end of the game anyway.  Now, this isn't necessarily bad, as the point of these games is, as I said, story driven.  To make you feel horror and fear in regards to the story being told.  However, the flaw is that if you just die at the end...what is the point?  Why are you being pushed forward so much if once it is all over, you simply die?  Why do those other deaths matter any less?  The answer is, of course, so you can enjoy the journey and see more horrific sights.  At the end of the day, I feel it's a bit of a cheat, however, because they don't really give resolution.  You may get to a point where you cannot run any more or where there is nothing else left to do, however we don't get an end to the overall story, usually.  It just ends.  Worse is that during these death scenes at the end, your ability to run or struggle is taken away, robbing you of your control and removing you from the body of your avatar.  This kind of takes away the disempowerment, because you're no longer playing, you're watching.  There is a disconnect between player and avatar, as what the player may want to do is not what the game is ALLOWING them to do.  At least some players will want to try and fight, no matter how futile it is.  Taking away the control to fight, or hell, even run, removes some of the fear, horror, and disempowerment.  And I think they should be allowed to fight if necessary.  Why?  Because another way to disempower the player is to give them power, but show them that their power is ultimately meaningless, weak, or that they are truly insignificant.

Problems with games like Slender or Amnesia or Outlast are...if you're just going to die anyway, what makes this death at the start of the game any more or less meaningful than the death at the end of the game?

            The Silent Hill games are a beautiful bit of disempowerment fantasy, where the player is actually given a decent assortment of weapons, from pipes and clubs to various guns.  These can be used to defend yourself against the enemy, however it is ultimately. futile.  Why?  Because the true horror does not come from the fear of death.  The true horror is not about physical bodily harm or a monster getting you.  The true horror is about living with the monster.  About being surrounded by an unholy feeling of dread that although you could be killed at the whim of whatever you are facing, you are left alive only to suffer, for the amusement of whatever you are facing.  The Silent Hill series does this better than almost any other game, with the possible exception of Lone Survivor.  The atmosphere around you is incredibly heavy and the enemies, while dangerous, seem to have a kind of apathy towards you.  They care very little about you...not even to the point where they even need to attack you.  They will if they see you, however you know that if they all charged you at once, you'd die...but you are kept alive because Silent Hill itself doesn't care about you.  Not even enough to kill you outright.  In all the Silent Hill games, you CAN die at the end if you act in a certain way, however most of them offer a solid resolution, showing either a falling deeper into horror or finding a way out, which I believe is nice for disempowerment fantasy...it helps bring the players back to reality, so to speak, while still being a bit obscure...leaving the player wondering and making connections with their own life.

The true terror of a game like Silent Hill 2 is living with the monster that is the town.  It hates you.  But it doesn't care so much to kill you...it will let you kill yourself, little by little, because you really are insignificant.  This is what makes the game so disempowering...and so brilliant.

             Another way to handle disempowerment fantasy is to try and give someone something truly unknowable that they are facing.  It might be given an explanation or a synopsis on some wiki, but the creature itself is still alien to you and acts in a way no human could ever act.  This is truly horrifying, as we don't understand the reason for its actions.  It is beyond us.  Even if armed with powerful weapons, like in Prey, you can feel weak and disempowered because you cannot fathom the purpose of the enemies around you, or even if you can, you cannot reconcile it.  SCP: Containment Breach is a charming little freeware indie game that does this better than any game I've ever seen.  Using the monsters on the SCP wiki, it has creatures that are gifted with power beyond your understanding and a dark purpose that is never explained.  The horror comes from trying to survive them, such as a porcelain statue with an unblinking, painted face, which will only move when you don't look at it, like the Weeping Angels in Doctor Who.  While the Angels can be figured out and were even given a voice, the statue has none of this and haunts you, perhaps for no reason other than its own amusement.  Other monsters abound in SCP containment breach, such as the plague doctor, a creature that can pass through walls, or even a simple painting which compels you to slit your wrist and finish it in your own blood.  These are nightmares that cannot be reasoned with, figured out, or in many cases, even fought.  They are contained because of the danger involved.  These horrors would make you cringe and feel weak even if the game gifted you with a gun, which it does not, and in many ways are one exception to my rule of not letting the player fight.  When you are facing human monsters, or human-esque monsters who kill you with physical force, that's one thing.  But when you are facing a creature that kills you by infecting you with a disease, forcing you to slit your wrist, or simply hiding in your peripheral vision...what can you do?  How do you fight something that kills you by simply being?

Blink or take your eyes off the statue and you die.  It will move so long as you're not looking in its direction.  How do you fight something like that?  More to the point...what the hell is this thing?!

 

Did I forget to mention...in SCP: Containment Breach, the doll from hell isn't the only monster out there.  We have many, MANY more...

           And of course, many games try to disempower using tried and true horror cliches, such as the jump scare, the sound of people dying within your ear shot to make you feel that you're responsible or too late or what have you.  They can use gross out moments, such as filling a room with roaches or they can use gore, such as bodily dismemberment.  However, the instant you take away control from the player, I personally believe that it stops being a disempowerment game.  It stops being that horrific experience of facing demons and trying to come out unharmed, both as the character and as the gamer.  So, many times I feel these techniques are wasted.

Fear is demoralizing and disempowering...and body horror is a great way of inducing fear and making the player feel weak and scared.

            So, now that we've looked at different ways to disempower, how can we take it that one step further?  How can we improve on the subject?  Well, there are a number of ways. 

            SCP: Containment Breach, I believe has great potential because it does one thing that most horror games don't.  It adds an element of randomness.  You see, the death of horror and disempowerment is rote memorization.  The longer a player experiences a game, the better equipped they are to deal with it later.  The game stops being disempowering because you now have the power of pre-cognition.  You know what's coming and are therefore able to handle it, even if the character in game cannot fight.  When I played Dark Souls 2, I beat the game 3 times before starting a new game+.  When I got to one section of the new game, a GIANT MONSTER climbed out of the ground and began to attack me.  I was shocked and a little scared.  I felt helpless, as I wasn't expecting it.  It wasn't supposed to appear.  And it does disappear quickly enough, but the shock and surprise, not unlike a jump scare, got me.  That element of newness, of the unexpected, actually got me.  SCP: Containment Breach does this quite well.  It has randomly generated maps so that players dealing with the monsters within have the potential to find new monsters in places they thought were safe.  The game always starts and ends the same, however where it proceeds from there is different each time, and that keeps people on their toes.

Seeing something new, horrific, and scary will demoralize and disempower the first time you see it...but once the newness wears off, so too does the fear.  You have to keep things fresh...keep people on their toes...to keep them disempowered on a regular basis.

            Sadly, however, even random elements can be predicted to an extent.  No matter how random the layouts, play SCP: Containment Breach enough times and you'll eventually get used to the monsters and they'll stop scaring you and making you feel weak.  A more lasting way to get into people's heads, in my opinion, is to make their fear personal.  Now, this is limited by the hardware.  You can't have a game slamming doors or rattling walls in real life.  However, there are ways to make it feel personal nonetheless.  Silent Hill 4, for example, takes place in a person's 1 bedroom apartment.  Slowly, the apartment becomes more corrupted and your haven becomes your prison.  Since I live in a 1 bedroom apartment myself, this really freaked me out.  Likewise, in Gone Home, the idea of your family home being exactly as it should be, but without your family and with a painful story to tell can be unsettling.  A home matching yours covered in Slender man scribblings can be downright terrifying.  These personal touches can make games far scarier, because you never get used to them, at least while you're in the place that it makes homage to.  So, one way to create lasting fear in spite of being able to predict or get used to the disempowerment is to make it personal.  This is naturally quite hard, due to everyone being different, however I believe some things are universal.  If you can tap into that, then you can make something truly horrifying.

My apartment looks similar to this in terms of layout...but not nearly as much blood or rust.  Seeing this in a game...seeing my home become a nightmarish prison...it really got to me.  THANKS, SILENT HILL 4!!!

            Also, I believe that the key to disempowerment is tricking the player into feeling weak, when in fact they can do whatever they want.  Once again, Silent Hill does this very well by giving you the ability to fight, but by making you feel as if your fighting is futile.  A way to improve this is to have tighter controls.  Silent Hill usually has very clunky controls, even with the more combat focused games like Homecoming.  If the gameplay allows the player to do anything, but still makes them feel weak...then you've successfully disempowered them in the best way possible.

The trick to making a game truly disempowering is to give players perfect control...and still make them feel helpless.  If you can do fight or trick enemies but still feel weak and helpless...then you've got a good horror/disempowering title on your hands.

            A key way to get around the problem I talked about with games like Outlast or Slender is actually to make death and rebirth an integral part of the game.  Imagine the horror you might experience of finding your zombified/petrified/mutilated corpse on a subsequent playthrough?  ZombiU does this, by allowing you to spawn a new avatar with each death and forcing you to reclaim your supplies by killing your zombified former self.  Unfortunately, where ZombiU stumbles is in the storytelling, as the new character is different, thus the horror is diminished, since death no longer becomes that big a deal.  After all, if all that you can be threatened with is death, then why be afraid?  Death is merely an inconvenience.  Neverending Nightmares and Gyossait found a brilliant way around this, in my opinion, each approaching the problem in a different way.  Neverending Nightmares is a game about dealing with horror, monsters, and tragedy, but also puts instakill enemies and traps in the game.  However, when you die, you wake up in bed, panting and covered in sweat, as if it were a dream.  Even when you advance, it is always like waking up, only to be still trapped in the nightmare.  The beds act as checkpoints and each death only leads into another nightmare.  Conversely, Gyossait states after your first death that you are here to be tormented and that you will be reborn time and again only to suffer.  What's more, I believe your corpses linger in these games, even with the new lives.  How horrific is that?

Death is not the end.  It only leads to more nightmares.

 

You live to feel pain.  And each time you die, you will be born again, just so I can watch you suffer...

            Along that same line of thought, I'd say that all games, even Outlast, Slender, and Amnesia should feature the ability to attack monsters.  Now, don't misunderstand me.  Just because you can attack a monster, I don't think you should be able to beat it.  Give them infinite HP, while still making the weapon sound like it touched them.  Players may die a few times while trying to fight off their foes, but it will just add to their sense of helplessness and sooner or later, they will try to run, realizing their own weakness.  This is something that will disempower greatly.

Could you or I really beat a monster like this?  Maybe not, but we don't know until we try...and if you let us try and fail, imagine the horror and weakness we'd feel the next time...

            Finally, the most effective way of disempowering a player is selective loneliness.  Removing any figures of compassion or understanding.  Putting them in a world that hates them.  This is hard to do, even with the best of games because they typically need at least one or two figures who will give the player hope or push them forward to try and survive.  This is where "selective" comes into play.  You should not have anyone to give support to the player while they are actually playing.  Have enemies and monsters as even with a great atmosphere, if you feel truly alone, then you have nothing that can hurt you.  Even Amnesia had to throw a monster at you after an hour or two of atmospheric teasing, lest the player start to lose their fear.  With no one to rely on, despair can set in, as human beings are social creatures.  With no one to fight for or to help you, you may begin to lose hope, no matter how capable you are, pushing forward only because you fear death or want out of your nightmare.  This is where true disempowerment lies.  Neverending Nightmares sets this up with a brilliantly dark opening, featuring a young woman being stabbed, apparently by the player, right before we wake up and meet the same young woman, our younger sister, who is nice to us and tries to guide us forward.  Once she vanishes, our apprehension and fear return...more so than before, because we fear we will hurt this person...we fear we will be alone.  We despair of saving  or being saved.  We feel weak.

In Neverending Nightmares, you are alone...that which is here, hates you.  That which you love is gone.  God...why have you forsaken me?

            When it comes to gaming, I'm not sure if we can ever fully simulate the feeling the Extra Credits crew was talking about.  Cthulhu, to them, was not an entity, but a concept.  It was an idea, or a presence.  The very existence of it breaks our understanding of reality, of our importance in the world.  The only reason we live in a world with Cthulhu is because we are so small that he does not care about us.  We could be stepped on or spared, and the elder god would not care.  In this aspect, one of the few things we can hope to do is survive the nightmare...to hide and if we're lucky, avoid the foot of god.  This presence, this feeling that we are always and forever weaker than we think, the idea that the universe is so infinitely large and that we are so pathetically small, could make for an interesting corner stone of disempowerment in video games.  It just hasn't been tried that much.  Games like Silent Hill or Lone Survivor do it on a small scale, where the presence of the world around you exacts a pull on your psyche, however on a truly cosmic scale?  Nothing quite that ambitious has been done. 

To truly know how small we are on a grand a scale as this is hard.  To truly feel like an ant under the boot of an eldritch god, who cares nothing for our existence, for good or ill...that kind of horror is still waiting for us to discover in gaming.

            I believe that as horror evolves, it may be tried, as disempowerment is a part of our development.  We have to feel weak sometimes to understand the value of strength.  We need to be tested with helplessness in order to temper our resolve and not lose hope.  Or perhaps we just like being scared and the adrenaline high does it for us.  Who knows?

            I am not a horror gamer by trade.  I have Silent Hill 2-4, Homecoming, and Clock Tower 3.  I generally DO NOT LIKE playing horror games.  That being said, it doesn't mean I'm not fascinated by the stories they tell or by the odd approach they have to game design.  Making someone feel weak runs contrary to basic game design.  And yet, it can still be compelling for the reasons I stated above.  So, I have gained a growing interest in horror games.

Perhaps I too gaze into the abyss in fear, in hope, or to test and see...if something is going to gaze back at me.

            I hope you have enjoyed this exploration of disempowerment fantasy and ways that it might be improved through game design in the future.  Check out some of the horror titles I've mentioned for a terrifying good time and come back in two weeks for when we discuss the exact opposite.  We're going to talk about how to make you feel like a bad ass.

Still on cooldown. Updates, nonetheless.

Hello, all!  I swear, I had a rant prepared for today, but...hasn't quite coalesced yet.  Still working on what I want to talk about next and some indies to spotlight.  Either way, I wanted to let people know that I DID survive Animazement.  I debated buying some games, but was poor, so settled for a few movies.  I wanted to get the Guardian Legend for NES, but...again, poor.

Can we get a VC release, Nintendo?  Pleaes?

I sold about 400 dollars worth of my gaming perlers, which is pretty decent, if I do say so.  However, a fair bit of things happened while I was gone, so I just want to post a few updates about gaming, then I'll hopefully be back into regular update mode next week.  First, while Animazement was going on, we finally have the release of the Retron 5 by Hyperkin...the delays and price hikes have made many people skeptical, but as far as clone consoles go, it seems PRETTY DAMN IMPRESSIVE.  Save states, built in cheats, and almost 10 different systems that are playable(NES, Famicom, SNES, Super Famicom, Sega Genesis, Sega Megadrive Japan version, Game boy, Game boy color, and GBA.)  Gamespot did a much more comprehensive review than I could, seeing as I don't have one because, poor.  Check that out here.

It ain't perfect, but it is pretty damn cool.

Zeboyd games, one of my previous creator spotlights, has started up the Kickstarter Report again and I couldn't be more thrilled, as they have showcased some truly interesting kickstarter ideas.  Extra Credits recently finished an inspiring examination of how video games could be used as educational tools.  And Dark Souls 2 continues to be awesome, thanks to lore enthusiasts like Vaati.

Also, right after I returned home from my convention, an artist and graphic designer I know showed me something awesome.

A billion points to people who actually get this reference.

She's an artist, pokemon enthusiast, and overall awesome person.  Goes by the tag Aquarius Magick.  Check her stuff out, if you're interested.

That's all for me.  I'm still cooling down from working over 30 hours last weekend, yes still, shut up, I'm tired.  I'll also be heading out to New York in two weeks, so this might be a light month for me in terms of updates, but I don't intend to abandon this blog by any means, so...just be patient, alright?

Thinking next week we talk about either Legend of Iya or Neverending Nightmares and their creators.  We'll see...

Brief Hiatus and Con Announcement

Sorry guys...I really wanted to try and keep up this weekly schedule, but I warned that there might be some down period in May.  And frankly, I am close to hitting burn out with my life.  Too much work, too much stress, not enough time...so, I'm taking the rest of May off.  I might get another post made up a little before the end, but I need both a break and time to get some of my projects together.

I will be appearing in person at Animazement from May 22-25, where I will be selling my perlers, video game bead crafts, in the artist's alley.  The store is called Realm of Perlers, so if you're a fan and in the area, give me a look.  I'm working hard on getting my stock ready while balancing my life and work...which is hard.

Sorry, I don't want to sound like I'm making excuses.  I just need a break before I collapse.  So, no video game posts until at least the week of the 28th.

Rest assured, though.  I love this industry, I love video games, and I love sharing my ideas with you.

I WILL be back.

Promise, I won't be gone for long.  I'll be back.

Creator Spotlight: Zeboyd

            I tend not to do this, as this is a team of two developers at once, and these guys are pretty well known as far as indies are concerned...I mean, the titles of their games are too insane to ignore, but...these guys are just brilliant.  So insightful, so intelligent, and yet, still humble.  These are the models that every wannabe JRPG developer, that every piece of RPG Maker shovelware who gets onto Steam, should look up to.  This...is Zeboyd.

Retro does not even begin to describe this company...and yet, still more modern than a lot of other JRPGs.

            Zeboyd consists of Robert Boyd and William Stiernberg, with the duties for each neatly divided down the middle.  Boyd is the programmer and handles most of the storytelling and gameplay aspects, while Stiernberg is the artist, who creates characters, environments, and effects.  To me, it's amazing how well this works.  Neither side seems out of the loop, which helps because it's only a team of two, but...they work so well together to create such unique titles.

The men behind the company.

            Before we get too in-depth with the praise, however, let's go on a little trip back in time.  It's 2009.  Xbox Live Indie Games becomes available on the Xbox Live Marketplace, but only reaches a...minimal audience.  Robert Boyd decides to leave his day job and, being skilled with programming languages and having a love of JRPG and visual novel games, decides to try his hand at XBLIG.  He and Stiernberg's first title sold less than 1000 digital copies and was a visual novel style game parodying science fiction tropes.  It was called Epiphany in Spaaace!  Despite the minimal sales, Zeboyd tried again.  This time, it released a game called, Molly, the Were-Zombie.  Also an interactive novel game, it also sold less than 1000 copies.  Apparently, this lack of success made Zeboyd change their strategies just a bit.

Not exactly riveting stuff, but Epihphany in Spaaace! still maintains the trademark off humor of Zeboyd.

 

Have I mentioned that Zeboyd loves their cameos?

            Zeboyd's next title is one of the big ones it's known for.  Breath of Death VII: The Beginning.  This title is remarkable, and not just because Breath of Death I-VI don't exist(even the title is a parody...).  Breath of Death is built as a throwback to old 8-bit RPGs with a somewhat animated intro mimicking what might have been seen on the NES.  It plays very much like Dragon Quest and features as main characters, a skeleton warrior, a ghost priest, a vampire mad scientist, and a zombie prince.  This game takes place after the end of the world where the undead have taken the place of humanity, built cities, and are occasionally plagued by monsters.  This game is insane.  It's rife with parody, as the main character communicates via thought bubbles, since he is a skeleton and has no tongue, but while the players can hear him, others take him as a silent protagonist, and we are subjected to some clever humor lampooning the notion.  It plays very stiffly, but this is by design, as it mimics the controls of Dragon Quest.  However, Robert Boyd wasn't shackled by that design mentality.  Rather than making a straight up copy of Dragon Quest, he thought of ways to improve the experience for players.  First, the experience is relatively streamlined.  The only real items carried are potions, which one can use to revive a fallen comrade.  Other than that, there are basic equipment slots for everyone, though it usually consists of weapon and armor.  However, it wasn't just made simpler.  The game also had a number of improvements to the old formula.  There was a change to leveling.  When a character leveled up, they got an option of what skills to learn, usually either strength based or magic based, so players could pick and choose to build a balanced or specific stat heavy character.  Combo attacks were added, where some characters can forfeit their turn to do a single, powerful move to either heal or inflict tons of damage.  Enemies grew stronger as turns went by, encouraging encounters to be speedy, lest the whole party get wiped out.  Most notable amongst the changes to the standard JRPG formula, however, was the addition of the "Fight" option in the menu, eliminating the need to look for random encounters AND the fact that the number of encounters in an area was limited, and once that number was reached the only way to get more was to use the "Fight" command.  It was a brilliant way to balance the grind of the JRPG with the fact that people get tired of having to slog through weaker enemies if they need to back track.  Breath of Death sold 40,000 copies during its time on XBLIG and made enough money for the team to try another game.

 This opening...sooooo many warm fuzzy memories

            Following Breath of Death, Zeboyd made Cthulhu Saves the world.  Yes, you read that right.  Cthulhu.  Saves.  The World.  It's a game about the elder god from the  Lovecraftian mythos, re-imagined as a humorous RPG character.  Why is he saving the world?  Well, because the only way to regain his dark, evil, wicked power...is to become a true hero.  I am not kidding at all.  This game was closer to a 16-bit RPG and kept many of the innovations that Breath of Death pioneered, including the leveling systems, limited random encounters, and streamlined approach.  The game stands out for it's humor, which is genuinely funny, and the tributes paid to Lovecraft and the world he built.  What's remarkable about the game is the attention to detail paid in the art assets.  While characters aren't displayed on screen, attacks have more effects to them and every single enemy in the game has two different sprites.  One for normal and one for insane, since turning enemies insane is part of the mechanics of the game.  Stiernberg went out of his way to make characters, even hideous monsters, lose their minds when turned insane.  It's pretty amazing.  Cthulhu Saves the World is a fitting sequel to Breath of Death and was released with a bit more fanfare.  A parody song was made for it and after its release on Xbox Live, it was eventually bundled with Breath of Death for sale before being released on Steam.  This bundle was immensely successful, selling well over 100,000 units only four months after its subsequent release on Steam.

 Yes, this is a real thing used to promote the game.  Wow...

            This was how I was introduced to the game.  Zeboyd, however, has managed to do more than merely be successful by mimicking old school JRPGs.  They've earned a huge amount of goodwill from fans like me.  You see, all Zeboyd games are released at extremely low prices.  The Breath of Death/Cthulhu bundle on Steam was released for $2.99 without any discounts.  And these games also have a staggering amount of extra features, including new game+ modes and alternate story modes, where Cthulhu is replaced by another character, with cameos from some unexpected places.  Cameos from previous games are also a hallmark of Zeboyd, so players can always expect to meet some old friends.

$2.99 or less.  What's your excuse for not playing these games?

            So, after flying high, releasing their games on Steam to huge success, and still being humble, how does Zeboyd follow it up?  By being entrusted to finish up the Penny Arcade video games.  Zeboyd created Penny Arcade: On the Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness 3 and 4.  These games are...pure madness.  What's more amazing is that people need not have played the previous games to enjoy them or even be a fan of Penny Arcade's comic.  They are magic.

Never really been a PA fan, but alright, Zeboyd, show us what ya got.

            Zeboyd decided to break up the formula as well as update the graphics on their game engines.  Penny Arcade 3 featured a class system, with such classes as crabomancer, hobo, gardener, soothsayer, etc.  It allowed players to mix and match up to two classes, along with their own abilities for some truly unique combos.  Players could summon the apocalypse, turn into a T-rex, and summon a swarm of honey bees all in one turn.  Speaking of turns, the game features an active time battle system that is more akin to Final Fantasy 10 than any other.  Players can see when they are coming up in the que and when the enemies are and, interestingly, can disrupt enemy movements to alter the order.  Also, enemies can be seen on the map, so random encounters are not a problem.  The combat is fun, fast paced, and allows for some bizarre ways to play the game.  There are also bonus dungeons near the end of the game and different filters to apply to the game, such as turning all the characters into girls or furries.  It's pure insanity.

Yes, that's a T-rex and a skull in a jar fighting the Thinker.  This game is crazy.

            For Penny Arcade 4, the same battle system was used, though the class system was replaced by a pokemon-esque system of raising companion monsters.  The humor from all their previous titles are intact, however there are some odd touches that add a bit of darkness to the humor.  More than that, the graphics for this title are simply beautiful, with players visiting some of the most unusual of places, such as a giant tree with a zoo inside it, the inside of a monstrous train that is literally alive, with guts and everything, and a temple run by different incarnations of the same guy.  Stiernberg really had some fun with this one.  The game lacked some of the extras of previous titles and the lack of random encounters made this and Penny Arcade 3 harder, since grinding was not an option, but on the whole, they were great games.

Yeah, have I mentioned these games are gorgeous yet?

            Ironically, for all my praise of these games, I dragged my feet with playing them.  For me, Zeboyd games are always good.  Not necessarily great, but good.  They are solid, innovative, wonderful...but none of them have really captured my heart the way Chrono Trigger or Final Fantasy 6 have.  I've always enjoyed my time with them, because they are fast, fun, and quirky, but...well, I suppose it's unfair to compare a game built by two people to the best of Square in its hey day.

            Interestingly, Zeboyd does not produce the music for their games in-house.  They do not have a dedicated composer, so they take to the interwebs and use music from indie musicians.  What is perhaps more amazing is that all the tunes work.  They all fit the game and the settings and are often quite beautiful.  Kudos for their choices.

            Zeboyd seems like it's here to stay.  The only cost for the team is their equipment and their own upkeep.  With two developers, that's not terribly much.  And it allows them to continue selling their titles for dirt cheap and getting more good will with the gaming public.  Of the few companies I trust for quality, there are only 3 at present who I would buy any game from on release day.  Vanillaware, for making some of my favorite games ever, Mistwalker, for creating spiritual successors to Final Fantasy, many of which stand side by side with their older brethren...and Zeboyd.  Zeboyd games may not move me like Mistwalker games, but...they are always, ALWAYS good.  Always worth my time.  And always dirt cheap.  Zeboyd is a product of good will and effort.  They have earned my trust.

Zeboyd may not be Last Story good, but they are still damned impressive.  Hell, almost NO ONE is Last Story good...

            What does the future hold for Zeboyd?  Well, they recently went to Kickstarter to fund a sci-fi Phantasy Star-esque space RPG, which looks to have sprites and graphics very close to those of Chrono Trigger.  Perhaps they are going to try and butt heads with giants.  All I know is that I helped fund it and that they're working, even as this post goes up, to get it ready.  Be on the lookout for Cosmic Star Heroine.

You can't tell me that doesn't look sweet.

            Zeboyd also announced their next sequel, Untamed Armaments!  On April 1...so, yeah, no.  However, that does lead me to one of my closing discussions about them.  Both Boyd and Stiernberg manage their home website, as each is co-owner of Zeboyd, and their discussions on the industry are insightful and amusing.  Even when not making games, these two are willing to offer gorgeous art and common sense on the madness that is the games industry.  For example, with Phil Fish's retirement, they discussed the nature of being in the public eye and, without pointing fingers or making anyone feel bad, kind of agreed that it's better for everyone to just be nice(Everyone.  Not just developers.  Journalists, reviewers, fans, EVERYONE.)...which may sound childish or simple, but the way they put it was simply amazing.  Also, there used to be a kickstarter report, where Robert Boyd would give thoughts on certain, special kickstarters that he thought were worthy of attention.  I rather miss it, as it helped me find some amazing projects to fund.

Not sure what's sadder...that Zeboyd actually made me think, for a while, that they were making this game...or that I know and own the game this title is lampooning.

            Zeboyd is the whole package.  Insightful, mature, intelligent, and yet still humble.  They do not ask for a fortune for their games, but instead want others to be able to play them.  They treat the RPG genre with respect, while still modernizing it in ways that will please rather than enrage fans.  And they do it with only a shoestring budget and two developers.  I'm including the links for the Breath of Death/Cthulhu bundle as well as Penny Arcade 3 and 4 here, because you SHOULD buy them and play them.  They are dirt cheap guys...c'mon...we can find like 3 bucks in our couch cushions...  Also, this is the link to the main website.  Zeboyd is a great place to look for insight on the industry as well as updates on their games.  Give them a look.

            While you guys haven't breached my gaming top 10 list, you are a beacon of light in the darkness and everything that a game developer should be, now or in the future.  Zeboyd Games, I salute you.  If you continue giving us great JRPGs till your day of retirement, you'll hear no co

Diminutive Diatribes: The Power of Polish and Cunning of Commitment

            I don't want to go into a whole brain hurty discussion this week, so let's keep it simple.  I love Warhammer 40K: Space Marine.   I probably should NOT love Warhammer 40K: Space Marine.  I probably should not love Splatterhouse on the PS3.  I probably shouldn't care for a LOT of games.  And yet, I do.  Why?

Dear lord, I love this game.  So committed to being in the 40K universe and so polished besides.  This is how you do a Space Marine.

            Because these games are not only polished(okay, Splatterhouse has some technical glitches, but gameplay wise they are all super polished) but also because they are committed to what they are.  Warhammer 40K is committed to being a love letter to the 40k lore.  It is committed to being a celebration of the beauty and the horror of war and carnage.  It is so dedicated to these elements, that many other parts of the game that would be easy to complain about are actually overlooked.  In that same vein, Splatterhouse is a loving remake of the original.  It isn't a watered down T for Teen game with some cute throwaway references to the original Splatterhouse, it is full on remake.  Blood, guts, carnage, style over substance, heavy metal infused game.  In my opinion, this will actually help a game stand out and achieve a level of appreciation, even if they are lacking in other regards.

Say what you want about the game, look at this visceral detail and tell me they weren't committed to making a game called "Splatterhouse."

            Warhammer 40K: Space Marine is a third person shooter that is about space marines shooting aliens in a post-apocalyptic future world.  Sound familiar?  It should, because it's been ripped off and used by countless other more uninteresting games, like Turok, Haze, Syndicate, or any other titles.  These games failed largely because they were generic and uninspired...they didn't commit full way into their source material or into what they were trying to create, instead trying to have it both ways in many aspects to try and get as many buyers as possible.  Turok, for example, first appeared on the N64 and featured not only interesting alien species, but also dinosaurs being hunted by a Native American.  Was it stupid?  I'd say so, it featured you shooting a T-rex with a magic bow and arrow, however it was so committed to its lore, mythos, and purpose, and so polished besides, that it didn't matter if it was stupid.  it was still fun.  In the "remake" you are on an alien planet, blowing up human mercenaries and some dinosaurs as a grizzled space marine with guns...yeah, which one would you rather play?  It was trying to be a modern military shooter, like Call of Duty, but at the same time trying to cull members of the original fanbase.  It wasn't committed to the idea and it wasn't very polished besides.

Probably done this before, but...Better 1?

 

Or Better 2?  Cyborg Dinosaur vs alien gun wielding Turok...or regular Turok kicking a raptor.  Which one seems more committed to the stupid, but awesome premise?

            To me, that's kind of what makes all the difference.  Whether or not you like a game, whether or not it sold well, I think this is what makes a game, from an objective standard, pretty amazing.  Prey is a good example of this.  It features a story about Alien abduction, body horror, and the heritage of Native American mysticism.  It was at times stupid, as we have our hero slipping into a spirit world to attack the soul of an alien with spirit arrows before shooting it with guns, but it didn't wimp out...it featured tragedy and body horror, a conflicted hero, and super polished gameplay...and it was pretty amazing because of it.  And, let's not even look at some of the more unknown or so bad it's good games, let's look at critically acclaimed, successful titles, like, say...Kirby.  On the surface, it seems pretty dumb.  You are a pink puffball on an alien world who can eat enemies to absorb their powers.  Your arch enemy is a giant penguin wielding a hammer and your rival is as word wielding, bat caped swordsman.  Say all that out loud and try to say it's not dumb...but it's the commitment to the premise and how well polished it is that has made the series so endearing.  Kirby is a laid back, kid friendly experience that isn't especially dumbed down.  The mechanics are solid and polished and the commitment to the idea of this little puffball is what makes it work.  That's the truth for a lot of games.  Things as old as say, Bucky O'Hare for the NES to as recently as Bioshock Infinite.  While I may not have liked Infinite, it was committed to the idea of a story based around hyper time, it was committed to Bioshock-esque gameplay that was highly polished, and it went all in.

This rule of polish and commitment goes back to the NES era too.  How do you ground/make a game about a green, alien rabbit fighting toads more 'accessible?'  You don't need to...run with it.  Commit to the craziness.

            I'm not sure this principal can be applied to every game.  Some games seem bound and determined to be mediocre, like tie-in games, such as the Battleship movie game or the Amazing Spiderman...though, I'd like to believe that if you commit to the idea wholeheartedly and give it enough time and polish, it will turn out worthwhile.  The Puppeteer, for example, is a game about a puppet whose head was stolen and whose entire world is in a puppet show, which he can change using a pair of magic scissors.  Sony went into this whole heartedly, committing to the idea and polishing it to a mirror sheen and even if it sounds or looks silly, it's still a great game.

Some games, I just don't know if you can polish or commit to it enough to save it.  Battleship...mediocre movie, mediocre/terrible game.

            That also brings up another good question, though.  Can a game go too far with its commitment?  I don't want to say yes, because some developers would use that as a crutch to only do the work necessary to get a game made for a deadline rather than giving it the love, respect, and care it deserved, but...let's just say, I believe it's a delicate balance.  Splatterhouse, I wish we had more of.  Largely because the game ended on a cliffhanger, but also because it was a game that not only paid homage to the original, but also paid homage to horror tropes of the past...and I'd have liked to see a few more of those.  A monster from the black lagoon, a spectre from the after life, a laboratory full of experimental nightmares...it would have been great.  However, Warhammer 40K: Space Marine?  I want a sequel, certainly, but the game itself was perfectly well paced and contained all it needed to.  Rather than trying to balance multiple worlds and campaings, it was set all on a single planet, with just enough of the monsters from the Warhammer 40K universe to satiate fans.  References were made to other races, like Tau, Eldar, and Tyrannid, but it focused on the Orks and the Chaos soldiers.  It featured a complete story, about a planet under siege and saved by the Ultramarines, and while it may have ended on something of a downer, it was still satisfying.

I want polish and commitment, but I don't think you need to throw everything and the kitchen sink.  It's a balancing act.

 

Slight spoilers, but I for one am glad we did NOT have a daemon prince in this game...because...really...we didn't need it.  Woulda been cool, sure, but the game had enough and was so well put together and paced that it was unnecessary.

            To me, this is what makes a game fun and interesting...if it's committed to the world it's built and polished enough so as to be fun.  Any kind of game can be made, even something like a re-imagining of Dante's Inferno or a dating sim game with giant robots...if you commit and make a polished experience, then it will be fun and worthwhile, even if not everyone likes it.

Sakura Wars...dating sim mech fighting game.  And yet, it worked for me because it was so committed to the anime-esque insanity.

            This is something I'd like others to remember and take to heart.  If a game has passion, even if you don't like it, at least try to recognize that.  Whether or not it rips off gameplay or whatever, if it's fun, polished, and committed to it's story, world or whatever, then acknowledge it.  And for the developers, put passion into your work.  Even if a premise is stupid, don't compromise it for the sake of profit or because you think people won't be able to accept it.  Look at Katamary Damacy, after all...nothing like it on earth, and yet it's become a phenomenon.

I guess the best way to put it is, go hard or go home.  Katamary Damacy was polished and committed to the premise...and it worked.  It worked amazingly well.

            All that being said, forget what I said about how I SHOULDN'T like Splatterhouse or Warhammer 40K: Space Marine.  I like the lore of both games, the story, I like the commitment they put in, and they're both polished enough to be fun.  So...screw being ashamed, screw the idea of guilty pleasures...I like what I like and I like those two games.  There's nothing wrong with that at all.

I love this game.  Not ashamed.  It gripped me and dragged me into it's world...and I loved it, all the way.

            Also, just a short afterword here.  Once or twice in May, I will be unable to make my usual weekly quota, either because I have company, so I won't have the time/energy/focus to write, or because I will be going to a convention to sell wares of mine, for the sake of making some much needed cash.  What am I selling?  Why PERLERS OF COURSE!!!  You can see my back log, here.  Just want people to know, because I will be making an update telling them, but...I like giving advance notice.  I hope to get at least one more creator spotlight in before I have to take my days off, whenever they might be.