Freeware Game Pick: Gravitation (Jason Rohrer)
From Jonathan Blow: "Gravitation is another art game. It’s good. It’s also easier for new players to 'get' than Passage, which hopefully will help more people realize how interesting these games are.
It’s great that Jason is managing to create such good games in such a short time period. It makes me wonder if I’ve been going the wrong way working 3 years on Braid."
Use the cursor keys to move, and press the space key to jump. Similar to Jason's previous release, very little instructions are provided and it's up to the player to figure out gameplay mechanics from discovery through trial and error.
The F key can be used to switch between full screen and windowed mode. Press the Q key to quit at any time. The creator's statement can be found on the same download page.
Name: Gravitation
Developer: Jason Rohrer
Category: Art
Type: Freeware
Size: 1MB
Comments
"It makes me wonder if I’ve been going the wrong way working 3 years on Braid."
I have that feeling sometimes as well; I tend to spend 6 months to 2 years on a game, and people like Cactus and JPH and even MDickie release them so quick that I feel like a lot of the time spent polishing every detail might be better spent on a new game. But It's a matter of style I guess.
Posted by: Paul Eres | March 1, 2008 12:10 PM
I take it this is also better than Portal.
Posted by: YouRiCk | March 1, 2008 12:44 PM
Really good game. I liked it much more than Passage, but maybe that's because I can relate to it so much. For someone who, as he says, has never experienced depression, he does a decent job of portraying it.
Posted by: Anonymous | March 1, 2008 2:34 PM
the best part about passage was pressing right. i look forward to pressing right in this game too!
Posted by: gustav | March 1, 2008 2:34 PM
I'd love to see Rohrer do another write of about what this game means. I loved it, like I loved Passage, but there's a lot of elements that I think he could shed some light on. I look forward to reading it, if he does.
Posted by: Waffles | March 1, 2008 5:58 PM
At least you do more in this one than holding down right.
Posted by: Anonymous | March 1, 2008 8:21 PM
I was actually sad when the ball was just sitting there alone...
Posted by: Kenzya | March 1, 2008 9:46 PM
Now this game just pisses me off.
Posted by: Kenzya | March 1, 2008 9:57 PM
When I first played this, I mistook the game to be about single parents.
After reading Jason's note I felt that the game's actual message was slightly obscure (and a bit underwhelming compared to Passage).
Passage was very effective and clever, and I could relate to it's concept. But while I can relate to the message here, it doesn't really stir up any emotion for me or give me a new perspective on things.
I do like the game's style and feel, though. And it's quite possible that I've missed a crucial clue to fully appreciate the intention of this little thing.
Posted by: cactus | March 1, 2008 11:36 PM
I like this, but with the climbing / falling thing it reminds me bizarrely of Punishment 2 by messhoff... I guess I'm alone in that!
Posted by: Vom | March 2, 2008 12:12 AM
gustav read my mind
Posted by: PoisonedV | March 29, 2008 10:37 AM