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[mirosurabu]

I haven't tried Alone in the Dark 2, will look into it. But I wasn't actually saying that games should not use text or should always rely on exploration of an interesting world -- other forms of games also exist and are just as good. Many of my favorite games are heavily reliant on text, like Xenogears and Planescape: Torment.

Nah.. I was just talking about vague atmospheric games. I find it interesting that older mainstream games such as AITD Trilogy and Clock Tower are not really seen in that kind of light or are just not recognized by indies.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

You consider those "older games"? You must be a lot younger than me. For me nothing in the PS1 generation or later is "old".

[AlexWeldon]

As long as it's not as dull as the indiegames.com/blog review I found that it didn't do the game justice at all, and was a very technical look at something that's not about jumping and shooting but about dreams, wonder, and mystery.

I've also reviewed the game on my blog http://www.benefactum.ca/wordpress/

I hope you don't find it too dull. It's hard to get too deep into explaining the game without spoiling anything, that's the problem... and why I simply invented a scene that doesn't exist in the game, but could have.

[mirosurabu]

@Paul:
How should I call them in comparison to Tale-of-tales games? And fwiw they are not PS1 generation; they are rather SNES/Genesis generation. But again, were there polygonal 3D games before AITD from 1992?

[Hideous]

This game is incredibly boring.

[Kneecaps]

The first two chapters of this game weren't that neat to me.  It picked up quite a bit after that, and executed some cool ideas really well.  When I first saw the visuals of the fourth platforming section, I thought, "Oh great, another indie game with generic silhouette visuals."  By the end of the level, with the stained glass visuals and well-made silhouettes (much better than what I've seen from Night Game so far), it became my favorite world.  The gameplay in that section was pretty cool too.

My biggest gripes with the game are the slow beginning, and occasional failures to communicate cause/effect relationships to the player.  In particular, the very start of the game, the clouds that follow your mouse, and the ghost had me stumped in a game that seemed like it was more about ideas than challenge.  Besides those problems, this game was totally great and Paul gets big props for letting us know about it.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

@Paul:
How should I call them in comparison to Tale-of-tales games? And fwiw they are not PS1 generation; they are rather SNES/Genesis generation. But again, were there polygonal 3D games before AITD from 1992?

I'm not sure adjectives are needed at all. I also don't really consider snes/genesis games old either. Look at it this way: people have been making computer games for about 50 years. It makes little sense to call a game that's merely 10 or 20 years old "old". We don't call people in their 20s old, we don't call novels that were released 20 years ago old, so why games? The most ridiculous thing is the 'good old games' website, which did have a nice Fallout 1/2/Tactics offer which I took advantage of, but none of the games on that site are by any stretch of the imagination "old" -- they even have a game from 2005 there!

[muku]

I think the idea that art should produce feelings and emotions is kind of overemphasized. What matters more in art to me is not feelings or emotions, but sensations: colors, sounds, sights, and all that, not thoughts and not feelings. I.e., usually, I think art primarily communicates with one's senses, not one's emotions or one's mind.

I'd like to know how you can understand literature as an art form then, if you do at all? Surely the purely sensory impression of examining one letter after the other leaves a lot to be desired.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

In literature, you still stimulate the internal senses (the imagination). Note how lusciously descriptive good novels are. They create images in the reader's mind. Internal images of settings, characters, events, and so on. Similarly, the words themselves are internally spoken, and that is pleasurable in the same way that poetry is. When a novel's better written than another novel, it just *sounds* better (internally) to read.

[Valter]

I don't think this is a game that benefits from obscuring the controls from you. I don't think it's ever a good idea to purposefully hide the controls (unless they're not necessary, or you're willing to explain them later), but it's especially out of place here.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

But the controls are actually explained in the first few levels, though. I'm not sure what you mean. For instance, in the first (rain) area, it tells you which key moves you forward; after you move forward it tells you which key moves backwards. As you go along it tells you which keys enter portals and so on -- at no point does it not tell you the controls. Are you sure we played the same game?

[Valter]

Maybe it's the incredibly translucent text. I didn't see the controls for moving left and right, and I didn't see any explanations for the left/right mouse clicks.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

It's a bit dark, but I saw it fine. Are you running the game in that small screen surrounded by black mode or windowed mode instead of full screen? I prefer full screen to those, everything's a lot crisper.

[Alex May]

It's less crisp for me in full screen due to stretching, but at least you can see stuff. I do not like the look of stretched pixels where the stretching is not nearest neighbour. I would prefer to play at 2x2 nearest neighbour than stretched to full screen.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

Are you using a widescreen monitor? It seemed to stretch fine for me.

[Alex May]

No, 4:3 - but the aspect isn't the problem, it's the blurring on the pixels I don't like. If it were a CRT then it'd probably be fine...

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

Ah, understandable. I usually use a CRT to play games on. I've a 21" CRT and 19" LCD dual-monitor setup. I was very lucky with that CRT, I got it for around $100; I don't even think they make CRTs much anymore.

[Alex May]

They're way too big and bulky for me to keep one, sadly.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

They are pretty big, my 21" one is around 60-70 pounds, about half my weight D:

[linger]

I just noticed that Cosmind does have a page for reporting problems with the game:

Game bugs, error logs, crashes, and other problems

Please report any game bugs, error logs, crashes, or other problems to the email address below.
Email bugs and other problems to CosMind at this email address.

http://www.glumbuster.com/?page_id=96

So if you have any problems to the game, send them to him so he can improve/fix it. Better than just complaining on forums, right? I feel like Glum Buster has a great basic core, just some small problems in the implementation, possibly because it's his first indie game.

I'm on the 5th, and final I think, world. The one with the giant robot in the background. This is definitely my favorite world. Maybe just because it reminds me of Dresden Codak, but it has a really nice atmosphere and the backgrounds are some impressive pixel work. I'm actually really hesitant to play more because, I guess, after I finish the last world there won't be anything left to explore.