Star Guard
Platform: PC/Mac
System Requirements: Adobe Flash Player 10
Price: Free
Star Guard is a Flash-developed platformer developed by Vacuum Flowers, and is available from their website.
This game contains excellent design and animation. It is distinctly retro, and the pixelated graphics are a major shift from the 3D models we are now comfortable with. The developer also makes great use of passages of text to describe the story. We are told that an Evil Wizard and his minions have invaded the Hero’s land in his absence, and it is up to him and his fellow soldiers to thwart the Wizard’s scheme. The small passages serve as a stark contrast to the player blasting his way across levels:
“The Last Assault must succeed, or all is lost.”
The simple yet successful sound effects reminds one of the classic sidescrollers of the CGA era, especially Mega Man 3 and 4, right from the offset.
The controls stay true to the game’s simple formula, using Z to jump, X to shoot, and the direction keys to move, like a true 8-bit platformer.
The plethora of checkpoints and the option of unlimited credits make the game one of those rare options for those easily frustrated, and will easily tend to a casual gamer or novices.
The game’s weakness however was the large difficulty spike at the beginning of level eight. The first seven levels seemed to be a breeze, but level eight and nine were quite tricky, and the final boss fight was seemingly impossible. Perhaps a building degree of difficulty, with the final battle being something that requires a fiendish puzzle to solve is something to for the developer to address. It is a shame that the many great ideas introduced earlier on were undone by the moments where it seems that every step requires a near-kamikaze death. Perhaps this was what the developer intended? It is hard to say.
However, despite its flaws it is refreshing to play a free download that harkens back to the days of arcade games, especially in days where video games are designed with mindblowing graphics and incredible visuals.
Some of will play for 5 minutes, and then return to their XBOXs. Others will revisit to try to beat their high score and have a blast. And they’ll be bloody lucky.
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Synaesthetics in Modern Games
Two articles have recently got me thinking about the interactions we are seeing between the visual elements of games and the aural. In this article on Osmos at Create Digital Music [via Critical Distance], Peter Kim discusses with its creators the process behind the sound design of Osmos and how the game’s mechanics continuously affect it. The other article is on the synaesthetics behind Audiosurf [also via Critical Distance].
Along with the works created by Brian Eno and Peter Chilvers’ project, Generative Music (Bloom, Trope and Air), Audiosurf and Osmos make interesting comments about synaesthetics in modern games. By way of extrapolation we can see them positioned across a sort of spectrum:
The game and thus gameplay is determined according to the music (music determines player’s actions): Audiosurf recognizes that music is as much a part of the game as the visual and mechanical side.
The music indicates aspects of the game and gameplay and vice-versa (music affects game and gameplay, game and gameplay affects music): Pacing in Osmos is suggested by pacing in the music. Conversely, visual elements alter the music. As Osmos creator Mat Jarvis says to Kim:
“I’ve always liked music visualisers like the Processing and Cymatics stuff, they’re quite compelling to watch how they react to the music, so it would be interesting to go the other way; by manipulating/ sculpting abstract shapes which then modify or even create sounds and music, especially using the new controllers like the Wii, [Microsoft’s] Project Natal and Sony’s Motion Controller instead of the mouse.” — Music, Physics, Space in Perfect Fusion: Interview, Creators of Game Osmos.
The player’s in-game actions determine the music (player’s actions determines music): In Generative Music’s software as well as in works like Electroplankton, what the player does determines the music. Whether or not these works constitute games will not be discussed here, but they are relevant as, no matter what, they inevitably fall under the same banner as traditional games.
Following this line of reasoning, we can deduce the following chart:
Simply put, this is a clear synaesthetic relationship being formed between long-standing components of games. I think it is quite wonderful how seamlessly music and gameplay are being integrated in this way. I know there are other games out there that attempt to form these environmental relationships, but the games chosen here demonstrate my point clearly. In sum, some questions:
- Could this relationship be the result of more musicians taking active roles in game development? Generative Music, for example, has Brian Eno at the helm. Eno is a highly influential musician particularly with regard to the types of aural experiences we’re seeing in games. Wiki ‘generative music‘ for a summary of this.
- What directions might these synaethetic relationships take games in the future?
- And what other relationships might be built in to games in similar ways?
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