Why the Cloudface?

This was the question posed to me a short while ago, and it’s probably due to the announcement of a 2D platformer oozing with more whimsy and charm than any human could handle. Cloudface – aptly described by the bearded trio of developers at Futurebeard – is a 2D hand-drawn platformer inspired by the Earthworm Jim series.

That game’s bizarre setting has you play as a business cloud – as in, an actual cloud that’s also a businessman – as he quests across the land in search of his important paperwork, stolen by the evil King Konniver who just so happens to be a ‘nefarious & fruity’ piece of bubble gum. The most iconic of all of the bad guys being an adorably cute cat, with the uncanny ability to explode in an effort to wipe that smug grin of off your cloud face. At this stage, might I suggest you re-read the last paragraph to fully understand what’s going on.

As far as gameplay is concerned, the folks behind Cloudface are planning to launch with six unique zones, which in turn are composed of three levels and a boss fight. Eagle-eyed players will also be on the lookout for a number of secrets and bonus levels that are to be scattered throughout the game. From the get-go you’ll be pretty hopeless as a hero, with only the ability to flail your spongy limbs across the level, but as time progresses you’ll soon acquire a number of power-ups to help thwart the evil exploding cat menace that plagues your work day.

Everything about this game screams out towards a fun time. The art, the music, the gameplay all point to a labour of love and it shows in the current footage. The developers aren’t taking anything too seriously, instead choosing to make us smile.

Cloudface is currently aiming for a release sometime at the end of next year, which makes me go crazy at the thought of waiting that long to get my hands on this. Until then I guess we can just repeatedly watch these looping gifs and pretend we’re playing, right?

© 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

Protagonist Emma Jones returns in digital form, this time dropping the firefighting gig for the role of a private investigator on the trail of a serial killer. This time she’s joined by Francine, the eponymous cat with the stylish hat. Players will take control of the duo in a side-scrolling 3D platformer with plenty of noir styling. I had a chance to play an early demo and thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere conveyed through the jazzy music and dialogue.

Lest you be afraid that the game is nothing more than a mere exercise in running and jumping, players will need to explore the city, questioning oddball characters along the way to find new clues. Dialogue trees provide both a source of humor as well as useful information. There’s also a Metroidvania influence with powerups discovered for Emma’s revolvers including knockback and grappling abilities. These upgrades allow access to new areas to help further the plot along.

Part platformer, part adventure game, explore a seedy city to catch a killer.

Glass Bottom Games has spent five months putting together a demo, and estimates that it will take another six or so to complete the game. In order to do so, they’ve launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise $20k. Much of that money is going towards art/audio assets and Kickstarter, but you can get a full breakdown on the campaign page. One Hamilton ($10) nets gamers a copy of the game when it releases, which is a bit of a bargain since it will launch at 15 bucks. Other tiered rewards include early access, digital and physical coffee table books, and the opportunity to get yourself a story into the game.

Check out the trailer below, then head on over to the Kickstarter page or the Hot Tin Roof official website for more info. Glass Bottom Games will be at PAX with the demo, so give it a try if you’re at the convention.

© 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

For those unfamiliar with the subgenre, endless runners (also called auto runners) typically start off with the main character running/flying/racing across a 2D scene. The player has no control over the ability to stop or slow down. Instead, the main objective is stay alive by dodging obstacles and projectiles. In the case of Jones On Fire, our hero Jones is a firefighter outrunning a raging fire. Trip over a fallen tree or land in a burning patch, and an onrushing wall of fire begins its pursuit. Avoid making another mistake for a brief time and the inferno goes away, restoring the chaos to its normal levels. The player is initially capable of jumping over objects on the ground and doing a running slide under obstacles perched just above. There’s a side objective of collecting kittens that are scattered throughout the levels and can be redeemed in the in-game store, but more on that later.

There are some key design choices where Jones On Fire is able to separate itself from other comparable games. For one, it’s not a true endless runner in the traditional sense. Instead of one long run, the action is broken up into separate runs, giving the player a much-needed respite. Each run ups the difficulty or “hazard level” by mixing in jumps and slides more frequently, but offsets the risk by rewarding higher score multipliers for collected kittens. Another big difference is instead of a sudden-death scenario, the player can actually take more than one hit before dying.

As mentioned before, players rescue kittens in both standard and golden varieties. In between rounds, these can be redeemed for a wide variety of helpful items broken down into a few categories. The “Abilities” open up new actions for the player to perform during their runs. “Pickups” introduce a permanent change to the game like random medkit drops that restore health. “Super Boosters” are one-time-use items like a dose of catnip to automatically attract kittens during the next run. We’ve seen pretty much the same system with Jetpack Joyride where there’s a side goal of collecting coins to buy powerups. Here, however, each item also has multiple, purchasable ranks that increase the potency of the upgrade, but also exponentially increase in price. As with Jetpack, there are also bonus goals that reward the player with extra currency for achieving certain milestones.

Mew’ll love those adorable kittens.

If there’s one thing that Jones On Fire really has going for it, it’s the “cute factor”. The developers really pushed the saving kitties theme, and it’s difficult for even the toughest man-dude to not get drawn in by the mewing kittens as they are collected and create a trail behind Jones. Although the game is played in 2D, most of the characters and objects have a charming, voxel appearance which helps distinguish the game from its more spritely-looking counterparts. The music manages to be both whimsical and intense, but fits the feel of the game perfectly. My biggest complaint with those presentation elements is in the lack of variety. I made it to Level 7, but the music only changed once and the background remained the same the entire time. Not that players will really have time to sit back and enjoy the scenery, but it can make repeated playthroughs a bit of a stagnant experience after awhile.

The gut reaction to seeing a game like Jones On Fire is to outright dismiss it or chastise it for being a clone. That would be shortsighted. It certainly borrows too many design cues from market leaders for it be an original experience, and that factors heavily into the overall review score below. The elements it does take, though, are some of my favorites in those other games. The unique tweaks that Glass Bottom Games has made turn Jones On Fire into even more of a family-friendly title that’s likely to appeal to a wide audience that isn’t yet burnt out on the endless runner subgenre. It’s a clone, to be sure, but in my eyes it’s still an entertaining one. And because it’s free, I’d definitely recommend everyone at least try it out.

Overall Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

What does this score mean?

Although this review covered the iOS version, the developers are also working on an Android port. This game was reviewed using a copy provided by the developer for that purpose.

© 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.