Indie Video Game Highlight - Poltergeist: A Pixelated Horror

Hey ho readers. What's happening and what is good with you all. The year has flew like nobody's business but we are here to brighten up your mid year crisis and what better way to do that other than playing as a ghost who's job is to scare people. After all it is that time of year where superstition reigns supreme, and for those of you who are ignorant to international festivals, it is the Chinese Mid Autumn Festival (Hungry Ghost Month). The Hungry Ghost Month is basically when the walls of Hell and Earth are thinnest and when the deceased can phase into the living world to visit their 'haunting grounds' when they were alive. I apologize for the digression, so lets jump into the game.

                 Footage via the ever industrious Jesse Cox

You know how games usually put you in charge of the so-called good guy, well you aren't going to find that here in Poltergeist. In fact you play the the poltergeist, the evil abomination that gets off by putting people through horrifying experiences. That is the basically the whole premise of this puzzle game, your solemn goal is to chase any living thing ( be it dog or human ) out of the level. With a large array of powers at your disposal, you have to use each carefully and in a specific order to allow the poltergeist to scare the be- jabbers out of your victims. Last but not least, the game devs actually won the Square Enix Latin America Game Contest 2012 for the quirky idea which became the precursor to this game.

Let's here what the creators have to say about their own game as there is nothing better than hearing it from the horse's mouth :

Have you ever wondered what it feels to be a ghostly being?

You have always lived happily in your manor. A manor that you managed to obtain with a lot of hard work and many personal sacrifices. Naturally you don't want anyone else to take care of it, not even in death!

But now, after your demise, many tenants have taken over it, and this is intolerable to you. Luckily, your love for your manor has granted you powers that will help you get rid of those pesky individuals.

Watch them run and scream, scaring them using your intelligence, wit, and with the use of powers like possessions, spectres, altering objects and more.

Have fun and play with the occult... and become a Poltergeist!

Poltergeist is a puzzle game for PC/Mac/Linux in which you are a ghost named Henry B. Knight. In which you will scare the tennants currently living in your house, so you can have some peace at last in the afterlife.

As a game, it will feature:

• A total of 60+ levels. These levels will occur in different time periods of the history of the manor.
• A variety of powers for you to control in each level: Lifting objects, possessing objects, invoking spectres and more.
• Enemies, like priests and ghost hunters that will getting in your path of getting rid of everyone inside your manor. This will also include special "boss" characters in each time period.

Poltergeist, as a puzzle game, will be divided in levels. In each level you will have a limited number of powers for you to use. You must use these powers with intelligence and precision, so you can haunt all the tenants the are in the level.

But be careful, if you use all of your powers in a level, and not all of the tenants were haunted, you will lose. You must be careful to choose your power and where/when to use them!

Usually powers will work in a specific "room". The execution of a power in a room will not affect characters who are outside of that room. This is important, because there are some powers that can affect various rooms with just one use.

There will be also enemies. Priests, Ghost Hunters and other "Boss" characters are tougher than normal ones, and they can and will block certain powers. If you use a power near one of these special characters, they will block it and it won't scare anyone.

The objective of Poltergeist is not of "seriousness". It is a very light-hearted take on the ghost concept by becoming the ghost itself.

It is designed to be fun, to feel more mischievous than actually evil. Pretty much like "mustache twirling evil" type. More of a playful little child that smirks every time he/she makes a prank on his neighbor.

It is also not a game of mad skill and twitching. You will carefully execute everyone of your actions carefully to finish each level. Think of "Lemmings", but without the extra pressure that game has (n_n).

1. Alert: Call the nearest character to an area. Animals and special characters will always take heed before other characters.
2. Alter Object: Alters the selected object. Removes one scare point to everyone who is in the same room.
3. Launch Object: Launches the selected object to another room. Removes one scare point on start and end rooms.
4. Possess an Object: Possesses an object for a short time. Will cause two scare points.
5. Possess a Human (new for the current version fo the game): Will possess a human! The human will scare a lot and will also travel to a specified room, scaring everyone in its path! When the power vanishes, the ex-possessed character will run away in panic.
6. Invoke Spectre: Creates a spectre in an specific area. Removes two scare points.
7. Invoke an illusion (new for the current version fo the game): Creates an illusion that scares a character and forces her to move to the selected area.
8. Create a Portal: A portal. Very powerful, and we know you want it!

Normal characters: The normal characters just wander around the manor, waiting to be scared. They can talk and get distracted, but otherwise they are completely vulnerable to your powers!

Special characters (priest, ghost hunter): These characters are tough! They exist to make your haunting schemes more difficult, they are serious in their jobs and will block some of your powers whenever they can!

"Boss" characters (new for the current version fo the game): In every era of your manor's history, there will be one level with an special character. They are tougher than special characters and can also block powers. Beware, they can be tricky!

"Epoch" characters (new for the current version fo the game): Many more characters will exist in the house, according to the current historic era they ara living in!.

The game is currently at the funding stage so if this piques your interest, you are more then welcome to support them at http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/poltergeist-pixelated-horror-a-puzzle-videogame-for-pc-mac-linux. Time is running out soon so get those wallets out if you love to play a ghost-themed puzzle game.

Until then this has been Alex Plum with IGH, reminding you that University life drains more than just your energy. Till next time readers, remember to floss after every meal.

Battlefield 3 Field Notes: We Must Be Supersoldiers

Hello readers, welcome back to another installment of Field Notes! This time, we're headed back to the bright and ridiculously lens-flare prone Battlefield to examine what the player-character in multiplayer actually is. To help break up the monotony of text, there's a video in the middle somewhere, enjoy!

Have you ever considered that the troops in Battlefield 3, on both the US and Russian sides are basically supersoldiers? Let me give you a run down of why I think this might be the case. First, these guys absorb bullets like the various types of rounds are made out of rubber or some sort of material that hurts you but doesn't kill you. Second, when they do get shot, they have healing factors that can be accelerated by standing around an unopened box of medical supplies. Then there's the issue of explosives apparently doing very little damage to the player other than taking down their health if there's enough distance between the player and the explosion. If I remember correctly, explosions typically involve shrapnel which could hit a major artery and lead to heavy bleeding or at least ruin the use of limbs and a rather powerful shockwave that has the capacity to turn people deaf without proper ear protection (I suppose this is mitigated by the fact that most soldiers wear a form of hearing protection) and occasionally break some bones.


Then, there's the ridiculous weapon proficiency that each soldier seems to have. Arguably, a gun is a gun and there probably won't be too much of a problem wielding various firearms if you're trained in using one already but each gun tends to have different characteristics that would probably take some getting used to. For example, in the Assault class, you can use a conventional assault rifle like the Colt M16A3 or a bullpup like the FN F2000. While most weapons operate on roughly the same principles (i.e. point the gun, pull the trigger, lead spits out the barrel towards where you point), I suspect it would be difficult to operate one weapon from the other especially when you were trained for one design and not the other. Keeping with this example, reloading would be a confusing mess for a pretty long time since your muscle memory from using the M16 would influence you to load the magazine up front when the well is at the back on the F2000. Then, there's the issue of compensating for fire rate and recoil, which isn't too bad in terms of recoil for the M16 and F2000 but the fire rate would be a different story since the F2000 fires significantly faster that M16. Imagine the difference in recoil though between a 5.56x45mm rifle like the M16 and a 7.62x51mm battle rifle like the G3A3, I suspect it'd be a bit harder to handle the 7.62 when firing full-auto even though it has a significantly lower rate of fire.

Alright, maybe that last bit was a little too much of a gripe and realistically, you could use most guns if you know how to use one in general. However, the fact that you are apparently trained in using all sorts of vehicles is definitely ridiculous. Apparently, the player-character has received training in piloting helicopters (transport, attack and scout varieties regardless of the faction), piloting planes (fighters and ground-attack varieties, again regardless of faction), driving and manning the weapons system on tanks, driving and using the weapons systems on IFVs/APCs, driving land transport (fast reconnaissance vehicles and personnel carriers) and driving water transport (boats mostly). Man, the US Marine Corps and Russian Army are made up of some really talented, or ridiculously well-trained people, especially since their troops apparently have the capability to use all sorts of vehicles and weapons systems.

I realise that Battlefield 3 is nowhere near realistic but it's still pretty hilarious if you think about how insane all the mechanics in the game work if you apply some semblance of realism or logic to it.

Creative Writing: An Exercise in Repetitive Pattern

The Experiment

The rusty lever creaks creepily

The brash lightning flashes momentarily

The mad scientist laughs hysterically

The steel corpse awakens revitalized

The steel lightning creaks revitalized

The rusty scientist flashes creepily

The brash corpse laughs momentarily

The mad lever awakens hysterically

The mad scientist creaks hysterically

The steel corpse flashes revitalized

The rusty lever laughs creepily

The brash lightning awakens momentarily

The brash corpse creaks momentarily

The mad lever flashes hysterically

The steel lightning laughs revitalized

The rusty scientist awakens creepily

---------------------------------------------------------------------

I used a pattern to rotate each word of the sentence either up or down in the paragraph for each sentence to form the next paragraph, akin to a rotating wheel. The transformation of each set of words to the next has different effects on meaning and imagery and hence, it is a double connotation on 'The Experiment' - referring to Dr Frankenstein


                                  (replaced by 'lightning')
Static (The) Down (rusty) Up (lever) Static (creaks) Down (creepily)
                 (replaced by 'steel')                                                       (replaced by 'revilatized')

->Becomes-> The steel lightning creaks revitalized

The Last of Us Field Notes: Swift, Silent, Deadly

This game. This game is really something else. The single player is fantastic and deserves a proper review but I neither have the time nor talent to flesh out how brilliant this game is. Instead, let's have a little skulk around Factions, the rather interesting multiplayer component for The Last of Us. Before we start off, let me just say that there are a lot of issues surrounding Factions, the most annoying of which is the huge connection problem that every Naughty Dog has had since Uncharted 2. Factions is undeniably fun, when you can connect to it. I know not everyone gets the "Error downloading config file" or "Error syncing levels" problem but if you Google it, you'll see it's a fairly big problem and there's been not a peep from SCEA or ND about what's actually going wrong and how to fix it and that irks me to no end because I love Factions and I would play it more but I cannot because of some crappy connection issues that have plagued me since Uncharted 2.

Now that that's out of the way, let's talk Factions. This game mode is a fascinating and rather unique blend of stealth-based third person shooter gameplay combined with a challenge-based mission structure that affects off-screen survivors that you have to keep alive for "weeks" which is just through 7 games of Supply Raid or Survivor. The main objective of the game is to keep your little band of rag-tag Fireflies or Hunters alive for 12 weeks and, man oh man, is that a challenge. Keeping them healthy and well-fed isn't too hard. You just have to scavenge a lot during matches to get "supplies" or "parts"(converted into supplies at the end of the match). The supplies ensure that your clan is healthy and continues to grow while parts are used during a match as currency to upgrade your weapons or buy armour. As well as supplies and parts, you can also scavenge for crafting items just like in the single-player portion of the game.

Along the way, you are given "missions" which are basically just a front for getting you to complete certain challenges within 3 matches (or "days" using the game's terminology) with the penalty being losing members of your clan by a certain percentage, usually 60% or 100% and with each level of the challenge you complete, you mitigate the damage done to your clan. Now, I have a serious problem with this mode because there are very few challenges and most of them involve either killing or executing enemies which is damned hard in the first place. But worse, these missions require killing or executing enemies with particular weapons and it's not possible to keep using your same favourite weapon because the challenge criteria goes up with each time you pick it regardless of success or failure. Furthermore, these missions never bring you a positive result, just a mitigation of a negative result. I understand that this is keeping in the survivalist aspect and overall theme of the game but it is utterly ridiculous that 100% of my clan can get wiped out because I fail to complete a challenge considering that the missions usually involve getting attacked or attacking a rival faction. Realistically, not everyone's going to die because if you were really a smart survivor which you would have to be in this post-apocalyptic world, you'd be smart enough to mitigate your losses by bringing only those necessary to complete the job and packing off back-up and less able survivors to a safer location. But, no, even if I'm attacking a Firefly camp, I'm attacking them full-on with all my forces in one mass attack even though they're probably entrenched and have defences at the ready.

Other than the really annoying mission structure that makes no sense whatsoever and basically threatens to kill all my clan and force me to start all over for not completing some silly challenges, this mode is otherwise extremely fun. The two game modes available in Factions are, as previously mentioned, Supply Raid and Survivor. Both are basically team deathmatch with the twist being you only have 4 players on each team and fairly large maps to skulk around to find and eliminate each other. Survivor is exactly the same except you don't respawn during the rounds so if you're killed, bad luck, sit it out until the next round. The objective is the same, eliminate the enemy team and win as many rounds as possible in that way. Both game modes are extremely fun but it is a little disappointing that the multiplayer aspect of the game only offers team deathmatch style modes and no objective based ones like collecting as many parts as possible or some sort of domination style match. Furthermore, it seems a little strange that there are no Infected whatsoever. I think they should have tried including a game mode where one team is survivors and one team is Infected but I'm not a game developer so I don't know if that would be possible or keeping in line with what the development team wanted to do with the game. Maybe add in NPC Infected that hound you as you try eliminating the other team? Adds some challenge to the whole thing and maybe give an opportunity for both teams to cooperate before wiping each other out.

In terms of actual gameplay, this game requires a lot of patience and the ability to stay stealthy for extended periods of time. Like the title suggests, for you to win, you must be swift, silent and deadly all at the same time. If you're too slow, the enemy will be breathing down your neck with armour, upgraded weapons and crafted items like Molotovs (the bane of my existence in this game) or nail bombs. So, you have to move fast enough to gather supplies and crafting items to ensure that the enemy doesn't have a sharp advantage over you. You must be silent because noise reveals your location on the radar and moving too fast will lead you to an inevitable death if the enemy is smart enough to use listen mode to echo-locate your position. Lastly, you must be deadly because there is no time to mince about and take your time stalking your enemy because they are stalking you all the same. Both parties are equally hunter and hunted. Teamwork is another key component of this unique game because you need to work together and stick together if you want to survive. At the same time, you must be ruthless, leaving teammates to die when they are bleeding out because the enemy is probably using them as bait, drawing you in to heal him then popping out and popping you both. Lone wolfing isn't out of the option but being separated and ambushed by an enemy that knows how to work together is the worst possible position you can find yourself in. But sticking too close to each other is a bad idea as well because a well placed Molotov can kill an entire team.

In short, this is one of the best games I've ever played and I recommend you to get it and jump on Factions (if you can).

Indie Video Game Highlight: Fran Bow

Point and click adventures were the shit back in the infantile days of gaming. When computer processing power was a limitation such gameplay became one of the only few ways that game of quality and play-ability could be manufactured. While it offers less liberal game-play I do enjoy a good puzzle game done in this manner ( Point and click's allow you to be more immersed in a story-telling experience ). Add that with a horror element, you got me throwing money at the screen. Ladies and gents, let me present to you Fran Bow.

Gameplay demo and commentary form the ever entertaining Jesse Cox

Below is the game description via the KillMonday team ( The Dev Team for the game)

"Fran Bow is a Horror Point and click game that tells the story of Fran, a young girl struggling with a mental disorder and an unfair destiny. It is a trip to the deepest and darkest side of human psychology, delivered through blood and tears.

After being witness of the gruesome (and mysterious) loss of her parents, found dismembered at their home Fran runs away into the woods, together with her only friend: Mr. Midnight, a black cat that Fran had previously received as a present from her parents. In the forest, Fran loses senses and when she recovers, she is at Oswald Asylum, an oppressive mental institution for children, with no trace of Mr. Midnight.
After having a dream about her beloved cat she decides to escape the institution to find him and go back to aunt Grace. Aunt Grace is her only living relative who she is very fond of.

Nothing comes easy for Fran. There is also a strange creature, Remor, who wants to prevent Fran Bow from going home at any cost. But she is determined to find her cat, return to aunt Grace and together find out who is responsible for her parents murders."

Watching the game, you would notice the very innovative feature of imaginary realms and reality. By taking some kind of pill, Fran Bow is able to see the hellish realms in the hospital. This adds a new dimension of puzzle solving  and horror to the game ( meaning there are two layers to see in every room ). The medication aspect of the game does create a higher level of difficulty and intrigue to the puzzles and does instill a sense of paranoia ( at least in me) that the twisted imagination realm might soon displace Fran's reality. There is not much to say about the gameplay cause come on, what else are you going to say about a point-and-click game other than you point and click around the screen for clues. I will say it is immensely addicting and fun though.

There never seems to be an IGH where I do not croon about the art sense of the game. Let's face it, visuals to some degree, make or break a game. I'm happy to say that the world in Fran Bow is both murky and depressing. The hand-drawn characters and settings really drive the point in that you are playing a bizarre and twisted game. If i were to compare this game visually and story-wise, I would say that Fran Bow greatly reminds me  of Alice: Madness Returns ( One of my favorite games visually, sonic-ally and story-wise ). In both games, both characters are committed into mental asylums and both characters have to to deal with monstrosities and aberrations not off this world.

The game is still in an unfinished state but it looks really polished from what I can observe. Fran Bow is ambitiously trying to reach multiple platforms ( Linux, Mac, Android, IOS and Windows). If you like what you see why not give them a hand at funding here and vote for their game on the GreenLight. For more information, screenshots and bios on the creator please click here.

This is Alex Plum delivering you the latest installment of your Indie Game Highlight. Have a great day everyone and do not forget to look both ways before crossing the road we call life.