Freeware Game Pick: depict1 (Kyle Pulver & Alec Holowka)
For those of you caught unawares, this weekend lots of gaming enthusiasts all over our blue and green planet took it upon themselves to create a ridiculous number of games - apparently it was called the Global Game Jam... or something. depict1 is such a game.
Created by Kyle Pulver (with Alec Holowka providing the ditties), depict1 is a platformer which will hurt your head lots, but probably also make you smile too. An unknown announcer barks orders at you, which you need to follow... maybe. The whole game is pretty much an incredible mind-bork. Put it this way - you're asked to 'Press Nothing to Start', then told the arrows keys will control your character, which a second later you'll realise is a complete fabrication.
In a word, wonderful. Just go play it, you'll see.
Comments
I recommend to read the "readme" first, to avoid going crazy allready in the first level :)
Posted by: Hawkey | January 31, 2010 11:52 PM
Figuring the keys wasn't so hard at all. But believe me: I am in a stage called Deceive... I am frustated and challenged! There are some impossible jumps to be made!
Posted by: Terrivel | February 1, 2010 1:02 AM
The stage is called Deceit actually... sorry for the double post...
Posted by: Terrivel | February 1, 2010 1:04 AM
I just cleared the game.
But now i'm thinking...
Was i supposed to "beat" it?
Or there was another way around it?
Posted by: Hyper Emerson | February 1, 2010 1:07 AM
Yeah, the Deceit level is too hard, given the controls.
Posted by: Sean B | February 1, 2010 2:07 AM
There's a way to beat it!
Posted by: Anonymous | February 1, 2010 2:23 AM
Hey guys -- deceit has been toned down slightly in the latest build. (I took out the gems that require some crazy dodging to get around, totally abusing the fact that there's purposely no variable jump height in the game.)
Thanks for playing! :D
Posted by: Kyle | February 1, 2010 3:16 AM
The end of "Deceit" is annoying because you have to restart at the beginning of a relatively long level if you make a single mistake.
If you use the (item you get) sparingly at the beginning of the level, you can use some of them at the end part to make it a bit easier.
The effect at the bottom of the screen is a bit annoying.
Posted by: david | February 1, 2010 3:30 AM
I managed to 'finish' the game before it was toned down, but i agree it was a crazy difficulty curve, but i liked the challenge, if only was 2 stages or a checkpoint i think it would be a very fun challenge, as everthing else, perfect
Posted by: bob | February 1, 2010 3:35 AM
Well good news, my awesome friends, I am splitting Deceit into two levels as I write this comment.
Posted by: Kyle | February 1, 2010 4:03 AM
Aaand the new build is version 0.98. Noteable changes include:
Deceit has been split into two levels.
Have fun!
Posted by: Kyle | February 1, 2010 4:35 AM
Ah! Now I can beat it.
Cool game. Nice with the blinking eyeballs and all, but not much of a sense of closure at the end. :)
Posted by: Aaron | February 1, 2010 4:58 AM
I enjoyed it, very nice. Reminded me of those suicide salaryman games.
Posted by: Anonymous | February 1, 2010 6:10 AM
I wanted more closure! But overall a neat little game.
Posted by: Chetyre | February 1, 2010 6:37 AM
There are already games that have done the unreliable narrator much better. Ever heard of Portal?
Posted by: bob | February 1, 2010 7:43 AM
I liked how I was still slightly reluctant to collect spikes, even at the end.
Posted by: Robert Yang | February 1, 2010 8:53 AM
Very nice. Also, reminded me of Time Fcuk.
Posted by: x_x | February 1, 2010 9:37 AM
Love it - got to end, very fresh and original, nice atmosphere and great fun. Don't know what more I can say! ^^;
Posted by: Alistair Aitcheson | February 1, 2010 10:42 AM
Definitely recommended. Sure, some elements are borrowe from Portal, but I thought it was nice touch.
If you over-analyse the game, it's nothing special, but it has a kinda compelling atmosphere. Very glad I tried it.
Posted by: Ooops | February 1, 2010 6:23 PM
Is it only me, or does this remind me abit of Portal in some way?
Posted by: bakkelun | February 2, 2010 12:27 AM
(Without the portal gun of course)
Posted by: bakkelun | February 2, 2010 12:29 AM
Are you guys sure about the Portal comment? Appearing at the top of the screen when you fall off the bottom has been around since Bubble Bobble. And having a questionably trustworthy entity leading you along was done long before Portal.
I liked the game, it was a pretty cool experience although I wish the ending was more...fulfilling.
Posted by: The Guy | February 2, 2010 2:22 AM
Thanks for the tweaks, Kyle, I was able to beat it this time.
Posted by: Sean B | February 2, 2010 10:36 AM
Wow guys thanks for all the awesome comments! :)
I went back and spent some more time on the game and tweaked some levels and added some sort of ending. Follow the same links in the blog post to check it out.
It's now version 1.00!
Posted by: Kyle | February 2, 2010 1:40 PM
Does this have multiple endings?
Posted by: Anonymous | February 2, 2010 3:14 PM
There are two endings.
Posted by: Kyle | February 2, 2010 5:02 PM
Ah. Thanks.
Posted by: Anonymous | February 2, 2010 5:38 PM
I guess I should have actually explained this, I would have if I'd known Kyle was going to tweak it more... my main complaint about the controls isn't the forced full-height jump (although that was certainly what was killing me in the original Deceit), but rather the fact that it's very hard to turn around in-place, and the fact you can't jump up through your own spikes.
The former makes it really easy to fall off accidentally while doing spike wall-ascends. The latter makes it difficult to recover if you fall off, if they're spaced too tightly (which, the way I was doing it at least, they usually were).
So that makes the wall-ascends especially stressful, which was part of why the old Deceit was frustrating, since there were *two* of them. (It's fine now, but I'm going into detail because I doubt that's the effect you were going for.)
Posted by: Sean B | February 2, 2010 6:31 PM
I agree with Sean B. The most difficult room for me was Walljump, for the same reason. It didn't help that the bullets sometimes go halfway into the wall either, leaving no room at all to turn, and that the input sensitivity seemed to vary so that even the quickest tap would sometimes send you flying off the wall. The number of times I had to kill myself in Walljump alone was several orders of magnitude higher than the number of deaths in the rest of the game combined.
Apart from that, I enjoyed it.
Posted by: Anonymous | February 2, 2010 7:27 PM
I think I can pinpoint your issues down to the player's x acceleration then, which is a straight 1. Meaning that, yeah, he's going to move at least one pixel when tapping the input.
At this point I'm probably not going to touch the game for awhile, being completely exhausted. I can offer some advice mayhaps: Jumping in the air reduces your x acceleration, so it's easier to make precision moves in the air.
Also, stacking more than one spike can make walljump a little easier in the tough spots.
Thanks for feedback, I appreciate it a lot. And most of all thanks for playing! :D
Posted by: Kyle | February 3, 2010 1:51 AM
So... I found the second exit.
I'm stuck at "This is the end, my friend".
Is there something else?
Posted by: Kris | February 3, 2010 7:44 AM
There is something else. You don't really think he's telling you the truth when he says that's the end, do you?
;D
Posted by: Kyle | February 3, 2010 5:44 PM
I'm also stuck in the second exit...Can you give some clue? >.
Posted by: Iris | February 3, 2010 7:15 PM
You get two spikes. One for jumping up the wall. One for something else.
Posted by: Kyle | February 3, 2010 9:08 PM
I bet it involves shooting it in the air while you're both over the bombs/gems. But that is ridicolously hard to pull off?
Posted by: bakkelun | February 3, 2010 10:11 PM
I tried that before...I shoot and shoot while I'm jumping, but nothing happened... ;__;
Posted by: Iris | February 3, 2010 10:50 PM
You just have to get the timing right, and act quickly. Took me a few tries, but it's definitely possible :)
Posted by: Anonymous | February 4, 2010 12:04 AM
You're right, I tried again and after a some time triying I finish it! x3
I really enjoyed the game, thanks for all the help, and sorry to be so lame...
Posted by: Iris | February 4, 2010 1:14 AM
Dude, amazing game. Absolutely love the tight controls, they aren't slippery and weird. Almost got stuck in "symmetry". Awesome.
Posted by: Josiah Munsey | February 4, 2010 11:31 PM
I like that, in several instances, the mysterious figure isn't *exactly* lying to you.
this second ending is killing me, though. I've looked all over Deception and can't find any other way to progress.
Posted by: Deacon Lowdown | February 5, 2010 2:25 AM
Yeah, I'm also stuck, Deacon - finished the game and got the bad ending twice trying to find the second exit. Sigh.
Posted by: Eric Mill | February 6, 2010 6:38 AM
To avoid the bad ending you just need to have a bit of patience.
Posted by: Vanguard | February 8, 2010 4:51 AM
I got the bad ending and I raged. Any tips on the good ending?
Posted by: Miquel | February 14, 2010 4:46 PM
I've been patient - I've played through the game 3 times. My patience is not in question here.
Posted by: Deacon Lowdown | February 19, 2010 6:02 PM
Oh my God - I've been playing release 0.98 - there is no second ending in 0.98! Joke's on me.
Posted by: Deacon Lowdown | February 19, 2010 7:19 PM