Electron Dance Highlights
Side by Side: Chronobot
Side by Side is a video series on local multiplayer games. This is the fourth series, episode 10 of 11.
Chronobot is a game prototype that was abandoned years ago, so we don't expect to ever see a full release. Still, the prototype is definitely worth a spin. Joel Goodwin of Electron Dance and Gregg Burnell of Tap-Repeatedly send in the robots, wind back time, send in the robots, wind back time, send in the robots... and it's never clear who is going to win the battle until the final moments!
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Discussion: The Not-Door Door
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I wrote about a similar issue in Mafia quite a few years ago when I had to trawl across an area to find an unassuming switch, the FPS equivalent of a point-and-click pixel hunt. Today, developers make totes sure this is painfully obvious using verbal direction, NPC demonstration, visual contrast and - my absolute favourite, readers - augmented reality markers.
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Beautiful
This is the second part of the Subnautica Season. The first part, The Glory of the Infinite Sea, was about Subnautica enabling accidental discovery.
Spoiler warning! This essay contains spoilers for important discoveries and events in the middle of the game.
I had started to receive radio transmissions.
Subnautica’s radio smears on a little extra story but its primary role is a gentle goad to get players out and about, directing them to other Aurora escape pods which made planetfall. Some transmissions come bundled with a location that can be tracked on the HUD but when I received one with a vague “oh it’s over here roughly” I wasn’t sure, in the wide open sea, whether I would find it. This was Subnautica resisting the siren call of a GTA-style open world; let’s see how the player copes without throbbing, bobbing arrows.
I took a stab. The instructions were expressed relative to the shattered hull of the Aurora and I swam out to what felt roughly the right spot... but I found nothing. I kept swimming away from the Aurora in a straight line, thinking perhaps I wasn't far enough out.
This was before I even had a seaglide which makes travel a lot more snappy and I was swimming without any form of support... but the sea bed began to recede. The deep dark unknown sent a tingle down my spine, like it always did. I gritted my teeth. I knew in my heart that I must have missed the escape pod but I kept going out of some madness. How big was the sea? How far could I go? When would danger visit me? Another part of my brain, however, was screaming at me: Stop! These seas are not meant for you yet! Turn back!
And then something happened which changed everything.
Side by Side: Birdsketball
Side by Side is a video series on local multiplayer games. This is the fourth series, episode 9 of 11.
We reckon this is probably the most entertaining game of the series for spectators - and probably our second favourite game of the entire series, our favourite being rolled out in the final episode. Joel Goodwin of Electron Dance and Gregg Burnell of Tap-Repeatedly shoot some hoops, score some goals and flap those little wings in Birdsketball from Waynetron.
Very reminiscent of Pong, Birdsketball is crisp and handles wonderfully. Oh my God. So. Much. Fun. You have got to watch this.
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Watch the video here or direct on YouTube.
Side by Side: Nuclear Reaction
Side by Side is a video series on local multiplayer games. This is the fourth series, episode 8 of 11.
It's a one-button game! Well, technically it's a one-button-per-player game. Joel Goodwin of Electron Dance and Gregg Burnell of Tap-Repeatedly try to achieve victory in nuclear war by any means necessary in the ridiculously amusing Nuclear Reaction from Sven Ahlgrimm.
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Watch the video here or direct on YouTube.
Black Hole Heart
I went into the mobile title Holedown (grapefrukt, 2018) blind, having only heard a constant stream of praise and excitement for it from game dev Twitter. I’m not usually one for the herd so I kept my distance from it until last week, needing something new to fondle during my commute.
Holedown turned out to be the latest spin on Breakout (Atari, 1976) or what is more commonly referred to as a “brick-breaker” these days as I guess Breakout is totes old and some variations like Peggle (PopCap, 2007) maintain only a tenuous link to Breakout. The last Breakout game I really loved was Shatter (Sidhe Interactive, 2009) although I should admit I got a little buzz, more recently, out of Peggle.
Holedown, though, had me by the throat and wouldn’t let go.
Well, for three days, at least.
Side by Side: Hacktag
Side by Side is a video series on local multiplayer games. This is the fourth series, episode 7 of 11.
In the local multiplayer space, co-op does not get as much love as competitive games and we struggled to get co-op on this season's roster. We hoped to include a few other co-op titles like Catastronauts and Deru, but they didn't have builds available ready for filming so enjoy the only co-op episode of the season: the co-op stealth/hacking game Hacktag from Piece of Cake Studios.
Joel Goodwin of Electron Dance and Gregg Burnell of Tap-Repeatedly hack their way through offices and try, desperately, not to get caught while they do it. A tense game which can transform into panic at any moment.
If you enjoy the series, please like our videos and subscribe to our channel.
Watch the video here or direct on YouTube.
Graveyard
This is the fourteenth part of The Ouroboros Sequence, a series on puzzle games.
Riddle me this. Aside from being logic puzzle games, what links the following titles?
- Stephen’s Sausage Roll (Increpare Games, 2016)
- Full Bore (Whole Hog Games, 2013)
- Operator Overload (Benn Powell, 2017)
- Archaica: The Path of Light (Two Mammoths, 2017)
- Tricone Lab (Partickhill Games, 2017)
- WitchWay (Gleeson, Rochefort, Takalainen & Antony, 2017)
- Corrypt (Michael Brough, 2012)
- Recursed (Portponky, 2016)
- Hexcells Plus (Matthew Brown, 2014)
Correct! They are all games I intended to finish but, instead, I never click on their desktop shortcuts, rendering part of my desktop a puzzle graveyard. But are they really dead?
Side by Side: Totemori
Side by Side is a video series on local multiplayer games. This is the fourth series, episode 6 of 11.
We're back in the fast action territory this week with Totemori from Mate Cziner! Joel Goodwin of Electron Dance and Gregg Burnell of Tap-Repeatedly build towers only to get them knocked down - or stolen. Chaos reigns, rocks fall from the sky and points are scored. Take a look!
If you enjoy the series, please like our videos and subscribe to our channel.
Watch the video here or direct on YouTube.
Discussion: Next, Please
From this month's newsletter (sign up if you want to read it):
First collect blue di-hydrogen crystals and craft them into jelly. Next, gather a ton of ferrite dust and set down your portable refiner which will turn them into pure ferrite after a short wait. Now don’t forget to fuel up your refiner with carbon - oh, you don’t have enough? Right, so off you go and kill some trees. Ohhhh, your mining laser is out of juice? You’ll need to collect carbon for that too… er, by punching trees.
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