Status Update

Quick update on what I’m doing right now.

TRAUMA

I haven’t said anything about that for a while now. That’s because I’m not sure how much I’m allowed to disclose at this point. Besides my own website, the game will be released on a major digital distribution platform. I’m basically waiting for them. The communication is a bit bumpy since the process is fairly opaque and I don’t have the time to figure everything out on my own. But besides that, almost everything is primed for launch. I wanted to code a small mailing list app, which will take maybe half of a day. Also, I wanted to edit a Trailer which I will need at least a weekend for. Sadly, I didn’t have a free weekend since a Month. But the upcoming one looks promising. No matter how things will turn out with the platform, I’m planning to go ahead and release the game around the Notgames Fest anyway.

Games I’m playing

I finished Portal 2 recently. Don’t have too much to say about it, except from that one thing. It’s a well-made game. It’s very restrained in the complexity of the puzzles and in the way it handles the hype around it’s predecessor.

I finished Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker recently. I already wrote a couple of articles (on it’s sexism and on the wi-fi fucntionality). The game tries to be a lot like Monster Hunter. It works very much like it at the beginning but fails in the long run. I’m struggling to pinpoint exactly what the problem is. I think it has to do with game mechanics that implicitly break down the space of possibility into just one or two strategies. The wealth of availible weapons becomes meaningless when all you do is to use that one stun pistol anyway. Also, a lot of the mechanics like Metal Gear Zeke are utterly pointless. It seems like they didn’t think things trough or didn’t have time to implement the ideas properly. So they just swept the unfinished parts under the carpet of the very far end-game.

Finally, I’m finishing Crysis Core now. I’m about halfway done with the story and 75% done with the side-missions. As already mentioned Crysis Core shows problems similar to Peace Walker. I’m constantly collecting materia I will never use because I already have a ridiculously overpowered attack. Funny enough, the more difficult side missions have also ridiculously overpowered enemies. So the gameplay become very finnicky and unstable. You either wipe out everything or die instantly – it comes down to split-second decisions and that one piece of equipment the game expects you to wear. I’m curious how far it goes. I’m want to try to beat the hidden hardcore boss – Minerva. It’s apparently the strongest boss in all of Final Fantasy games. She has 10 Million health points. That’s crazy. I’m looking forward to it.