Forward to the Sky stars a little girl who runs around in a castle-like environment in the sky and kills reanimated skeletons that I like to imagine were once little boys. I had some gripes about the controls; whenever you attack, you attack in the direction the camera is facing, not in the direction the character is facing. It’s also a bit awkward to manoeuver using WASD and the mouse as in a typical first-person shooter, but that’s mostly just the result of using a keyboard and mouse to play a game designed for a game pad.

I had to smack a couple of those red switches to get the platforms in place.

In addition to smacking undead things about with a giant sword, Forward to the Sky has puzzles and platforming, and the two interact quite well. There was a part that involved hitting the right switches to move platforms around so I could get to a new location, although I hope the puzzles get more complex than figuring out which two of the three switches I need to hit. Whenever I hit a switch, I can clearly see what it does because it happens right in front of me. It’s amazing how many games frustrate me by making me flip a switch or press a button and then wander around through the level trying to find the secret door it opened.

The platforming has all the polish of a game in alpha, but when it works, it works like a simplified version of the greatest PS2 platformers. There are no double jump or mid-air attack to stay in the air longer, but it is also devoid of annoying magnetic assistance features and invisible walls. Speaking of walls, all of them seem to be weak against gigantic swords. If I wanted to see what was on the other side of a wall, I smacked said wall a few times and jumped over the pile of rubble left in its place. It was a refreshing change after all the games populated by buildings and furniture that seem unaffected by rockets and grenades.

Forward to the Sky has a bright, cheery, cartoonish art style and soundtrack, but it’s not the kind that makes me sick and long for a darker, grittier game. It gives the impression that you are a young adventurer at the beginning of an epic tale in which the sky is the limit. With its platforming, combat, and bright music and visuals, Forward to the Sky reminds me of a 3D version of Maplestory without the bugs, hackers, fetch quests, and pretty much everything else that made Maplestory suck. I’d like to see different environments because grey stone seems like it would get old fast, so hopefully Magichnology adds some grass, bricks, trees, and more natural-looking stone to change it up. Despite that, the game looks promising.

Forward to the Sky is scheduled for release late this year for Windows, Mac, and everyone’s favourite penguin-endorsed OS. If you’re interested, please check out its Indiegogo page and consider contributing.

© 2014, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

It’s a big world and only you can save it.

Kingdoms Fall tells the classic hero’s story of a young man as the lone warrior who can save his kingdom from an advancing evil. In a twist, our hero isn’t a nameless farmer or peasant, but the son of the king and destined to save the land. As in Zelda, the player guides the hero through on overworld map littered with monsters with the occasional village or encampment interspersed. NPCs give the towns a little more character by providing more information about whatever calamity they’re suffering, whether it be a personal or more global plight. The world itself is largely forgettable, but the suffering of the people is oftentimes portrayed quite well. I would like to have seen even more of that to instill a greater connection to the people and places in need of saving.

To solve those villagers’ problems or avenge their losses, our hero heads into dungeons, each of which is lorded over by an evil general of the invading Necromancer King of the North. Defeating these generals weakens the evil conqueror, but players will unsurprisingly have to earn their way to each boss battle. As with the overworld map, each dungeon room is infested with monsters, and often they’ll all have to be defeated in order to exit the room or gain a key to a locked door located elsewhere. The occasional puzzle is mixed in usually involving switches or pressure plates, but they’re rather simplistic in nature, at least early on. In true Zelda fashion, a special item is acquired in each dungeon that will help our hero either defeat the boss, or at least open up the path to get there. Kingdoms Fall actually does a pretty good job of ensuring that each item remains useful over the course of the game, including in the overworld. In fact, the latter dungeons require many of those special abilities, sometimes used in quick succession.

Deadly traps and monsters are made tougher by the game’s controls.

Unfortunately, the controls are without a doubt the most frustrating part of the game. Movement of the player is performed by dragging a finger in the desired direction. The same is true for changing the character’s orientation. It’s not as simple as it sounds though. One problematic requirement is that attacks must be lined up in the exact direction of the enemy. Despite an on-screen indicator, in the heat of the action it’s not always readily apparent when a player is facing diagonally. Trying to change the direction can be slow and prone to moving the character. The player must constantly move and shift when attacking or defending against a moving enemy. The controls are simply not built for such frenetic and minute adjustments. Even trying to enter doorways, line up to talk to NPCs, and move from screen to screen can prove troublesome. At times it felt more like I was battling the controls than the enemies themselves, and the game screams for a directional pad.

I often found myself missing the correct button when tapping the action abilities on the right side of the screen. A recent update made those buttons larger which somewhat helped with the problem, but it’s simply no replacement for a controller’s standard button layout for ease of use and tactile feedback. Long story short, an adventure game of this design requires precision and timing with the controls and unfortunately, that’s not present here. There are simply some technological limitations with today’s touchscreen gaming devices that are difficult, if not impossible to overcome.

Overall Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

What does this score mean?

A copy of this game was provided by the developer for that purpose. This game was reviewed on the iPad using version 1.0.4. Kingdoms Fall is available through the App Store.

© 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

Brandon: Let’s talk about your current project, A Dream of Life.  How would you describe the game?

Jesse Etzler: A Dream of Life is, from my point of view, a hack and slash RPG that could be compared to games such as The Legend of Zelda.  It takes place in a dream world where the main character’s soul is taken by a dark and evil man who puts it into a puppet’s body.  From there you are thrown into a giant box that is your new world.  You must fight through dungeons and battle epic creatures to return your soul back into your body.  It’s a very basic concept, but I really like to be creative in order to develop something that works for my fantasy worlds.

Brandon: I’m really intrigued by the visual style of the game.  Are there other games or subject matter from other mediums that have inspired the artistic design?

Jesse Etzler: I’m very inspired by all the old school games I grew up with, such as The Legend of Zelda or any N64 game for that matter.  I also use to play a lot of World of Warcraft.  I fell in love with all the dungeons and environments.  It pushed me to take my creations to the next level each time I create something new.  Other places, like Deviant Art, keep me inspired by displaying some amazing stuff that people draw up.  I personally love art and do a lot of creature drawing and painting in my spare time.  Also, I have to add that the entire indie world creates some very exceptional games that inspire me to make something just as good, if not better.

Brandon: I heard that you’ve been working on A Dream of Life by yourself. What has the development process been like?

Jesse Etzler:  It has been a very tough road trying to create everything by myself, but it’s totally been worth it.  I feel like I have more freedom to create the games I want to make when I’m the only one making them.  I don’t like telling people that their work isn’t great or that they may have ideas that totally take away from the game experience.  I like working with people who are very imaginative like myself and have amazing ideas that would benefit the game more than bring it down.  I’ve been working on this game for about two years on and off, taking time from my other countless projects.  Most of the work was performed in college for video game design classes, so it was almost like I worked on different parts of the game at different times, depending on the class I was in.  I worked very hard and still do now that I graduated.

Brandon: Did you already have most of the skills required, or have you picked up a few of them with the challenges you’ve faced?

Jesse Etzler:  I learned skills like modeling and texturing over the years.  They are just second hand to me now, so there’s not to much more to learn.  Other skills like programming, character development, and sound design, are things I was forced to learn because I was working on this project by myself and had to pick them up as I went along.  Several courses in college taught me these skills, but I hadn’t gotten around to mastering each one of them yet.  The Unity3d engine is a great tool that makes learning programming (and in turn making games) a lot easier.  It’s something everyone should try.

Brandon: You’ve created a Kickstarter project to get funding for development, some of which seems to have been earmarked for the purpose of bringing in help.  What are you looking for in terms of outside development assistance?

Jesse Etzler: I’m only one person and I feel that some of my skills are not at the level I need them to be to create a quality game; specifically, fields like character modeling, animation, advanced programming, etc.  So, with this funding I’m hoping I can find some skilled people who would be more interested in this project if there is a profit involved.  A lot of people don’t like working for free and/or are busy with other projects.  If I do manage to get the funding, I can hire people to make this project go a lot faster than it has been going.

Brandon: Have you considered bringing in other indie developers to help with the project?  The indie development community seems very supportive of one another, so perhaps you can bring in some volunteers?

Jesse Etzler:  I’ve posted on multiple forums and am always trying to find new talent to join my team, but they all turn out to be sound designers.  I’ve already found an amazing sound designer who is doing the audio for A Dream of Life, so anyone out there who thinks they have the creativity or skills, feel free to contact me.

Brandon: You’ve stated that even if you don’t get the required Kickstarter funding you will continue to see the project through.  What’s your drive to get this game out to the public?  Is it to showcase your development skills, to make the game you and others really want to play, or perhaps something else?  What is it that fuels that commitment?

Jesse Etzler:  Right now everyone who I’ve showed this project to has loved it and can’t wait to play it for themselves.  I think my drive for the game is that it’s really something I enjoy doing.  You don’t see a lot of games with the feeling or game play that this project is going to be offering.  Games like The Legend of Zelda, or any old N64 game, remind me of the good old days when games didn’t need to be beautiful to be fun.  These days the major studios don’t use enough creativity in their games and it seems like the same old stuff.  With my game, I’m going to keep the same fundamental concepts, but be much more unique.  I want to show other indie game developers that if no one else will help you, do it yourself.  No one’s stopping you.

Brandon: For our readers who are interested in A Dream of Life, is there anything else you would like to share with them?

Jesse Etzler:  I want to let the whole indie video game world know that I love both playing and making video games.  I have several more projects on the way for people to check out.  Specifically, I have two MMORPGs in the works that have been halted to finish A Dream of Life.  I also have multiple iPhone and iPad games that have not yet been released.  Hopefully more people will see my games for what they are and will enjoy playing them as much as I’ve enjoyed making them.

Brandon: Well it’s our hope that we get to see A Dream of Life sooner rather than later.  Thanks for your time Jesse and best of luck in getting your work out there.

Jesse Etzler:  Thank you Indie Mine.  I’ll be sure to keep everyone updated with the project as it progresses!

© 2012 – 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

During a first playthrough, the game’s debt to The Legend of Zelda is obvious.  You guide our hero (initially Isaac himself, but you can unlock other characters) through a dungeon built from one-screen rooms.  Each floor holds a special item to claim and a boss to defeat.  The interstitial rooms might be empty, but are more likely to house a handful of enemies that you must defeat before you can leave the room.  Enemies leave behind familiar items: keys, bombs, coins, or hearts.  All that’s missing is the Master Sword – Isaac eschews melee combat in favor of twin-stick shooting reminiscent of Smash TV (or any number of modern XBLA games).

If this doesn’t look familiar, you wasted your childhood.

But after you die a few times – and that’s a “when,” not an “if” – the game’s roguelike pedigree becomes clearer, as you realize just how much of the experience is randomly generated.  Every dungeon is guaranteed to house a boss, an item room, a shop, and a secret or two, but the layout of the rooms is different every time you play.  The bosses and items you find on each floor are equally random, giving you constant surprises rather than the strict progression of “get item X, use it to defeat boss Y” so prevalent in the Zelda franchise.  Standard enemy placement is also random, making it so that you never know what challenges lie in the room ahead.  Even some items change their effects from game to game – popping a new pill (the game’s equivalent of NetHack’s potions) is always unpredictable, as the red pill that increased your damage two-tries-ago might poison you this time instead.  Although you could always consult a walkthrough or a wiki to help make sense of this randomness, part of the fun of the game is experimenting for yourself and learning from your mistakes.

Through all of this, the defining aspect of a roguelike keeps you vigilant: if you die, you must start over from the beginning.  The death penalty would get old quick if the game wasn’t so good about rewarding multiple playthroughs.  Countering the problem that even “random” gameplay can be exhausted over time, Isaac’s item and boss lists grow as you unlock more content.  Sometimes, these unlocks are tied to story progression – beating a certain boss might unlock the ability for a new item to spawn, or beating the game might unlock a few new bosses to plague you in the future.  Other unlocks are more unexpected, tied to repeated use of certain items or random acts of destruction.  You can even unlock the ability to play as other characters, each of whom starts the game with a slightly different array of powers and traits.

The result is an addictive sort of organized chaos.  Sometimes, the game will seem stacked against you from the start, and your time in the dungeon will be nasty, poor, brutish, and short.  But those lows are balanced by the highs of success, when a combination of luck and your growing skill in the game transforms you into a veritable god, destroying all in your path as you make your way to triumph (or, perhaps, a heartbreaking NO WAIT STUPID WHAT DID I DO death in the home stretch).  Sure, I can pick nits – the controls are more floaty than I’d like, and the reliance upon randomness means that the game can’t require any of the item-based problem solving common to both Zelda games and roguelikes.  But the promise that there might always something new to find in the depths, coupled with the hope that next time either luck or logic will see you through, makes it very easy to say “ok, just one more try” again and again and again.

Judged just against its elevator pitch, then, Isaac would seem to be a huge success.  But while the mechanics of the game are great, the presentation side of things comes off as muddled and schizophrenic.  For me, these tonal problems centered on three general issues: religion, gore, and “lulz.”

First, the game is full of religious references, and I simply have no idea why.  The story is a modern riff on the biblical tale of God asking Abraham to sacrifice his son, only here Isaac is a child trying to escape his god-touched mother, driven crazy by too much exposure to Christian television.  Many of the characters and items, in turn, have a religious bent to them: play long enough, and you may find yourself running through the dungeon as “Judas” while wielding “The Book of Revelations” as your special weapon.  But while others have claimed to find some clever commentary in the game’s invocations of religion, to me they never became more than mere trappings – I never saw any real purpose to them, nor did they serve to make the game more enjoyable.

The game’s pseudo-religious side stands in sharp juxtaposition to the game’s frequent indulgences in cartoon blood, guts, and filth.  Almost every monster you face is some variation on the theme of “hacked-up child,” be it a floating head that spits blood at you or an endlessly-leaping headless body. Where Zelda had you breaking pots or slashing grasses in search of hidden items, here you’ll be breaking up piles of feces. And while your default weapon is Isaac’s never-ending flow of tears, if you’re truly fortunate you may find an item that lets you attack with his urine instead.

This is a thing that happens.

As with the religious elements, I’m not sure whether all this gore adds anything to the game.  Geysers of blood may have had a place in Super Meat Boy (co-creator Edmund McMillen’s last project), where it was a natural comedic outgrowth of the demented Mario-meets-puzzles-meets-masochism platforming gameplay. But here, it feels superfluous, providing cheap laughs at most.

Speaking of cheap laughs…..Isaac’s references to outside media don’t end at Zelda and NetHack, and some are more successful than others.  At their best, these references do enhance the game in the precise way that the game’s blood-and-gore visuals don’t.  There’s something amusing and heartwarming about the moment of epiphany that comes when you realize that the red-hued monster you are fighting works just like skeletons from the Castlevania games, or that the boss you are fighting bears more than a passing resemblance to the titular character from Bomberman or Centipede.  But when the moment of epiphany is instead the realization that hostile bombs are all adorned with the Trollface or that the special weapon you just picked up is the Shoop Da Whoop Lazer, it’s easy for laughter to give way to a sensation of “ok, wait, but, why?”  These more-random references can be funny (I laughed at some of them, your mileage may vary), but they drive even more of a wedge between the different parts of the game’s fractured presentation.

As a result of all of this, I was surprised to find the game making me think as much about Jonathan Blow’s Braid as I was about Zelda or NetHack.  Like Isaac, Braid put a new and successful twist on the framework of an NES classic – if Isaac is “Zelda with the randomness of a roguelike,” Braid was “Mario with time manipulation.”  But I think that the successes and failures of Braid’s narrative should serve as a cautionary tale for developers trying to put a little art into their games.  [If you never got around to finishing Braid but still intend to do so, now’s the time to skip to the last paragraph of this review.]

Braid’s final level, which shows the player that Tim’s effort to save his princess is something closer to “stalking” than “heroism,” was a triumph.  But it worked because it was a narrative twist that evolved out of the game’s pre-existing tropes and devices, a deconstruction of the “hero saving the princess” story that came hand-in-hand with Mario-influenced game design.  (Conversely, Braid’s babbling about the Manhattan Project and the creation of the atomic bomb landed somewhere between “inoffensively random” and “insufferably pretentious,” in part because it had nothing to do with the surrounding gameplay.)  Braid’s biggest successes came, then, when the game’s mechanics and narrative worked in harmony.

When I was playing Isaac, I kept waiting for such a bridge to appear – something to link the game’s crass-but-pseudo-religious side with the rest of the game and, in the process, provide some justification for the tone in the first place.  But that moment never came.  After beating the game several times (and consulting a few YouTube videos to be sure that the answers I wanted weren’t waiting for me down the road), the game’s style remains as arbitrary as the design of the dungeon itself, and the story of Isaac’s troubles with his mother might as well exist in a vacuum.

As a result, as good as Isaac’s gameplay is, the visuals surrounding it do the game no favors.  None of Isaac’s flaws are fatal, a testament to the strength of its Zelda-but-random core – there’s a reason I ended up playing it until 5am the night I bought it and have revisited it (for at least a short while) every day since.  But I couldn’t play the game without being aware that I’m enjoying it despite some obvious failings, and I found myself wishing that its creators had been less ambitious.  Had the game to have stayed closer to dungeoneering roots and abandoned its gore and religious iconography in favor of a more traditional framework of adventurers fighting bats, skeletons, and orcs, then the resulting game would have been more cohesive (albeit less creative).  Alternatively, had the game embraced excess, discarding semi-religious metaphor in favor of a dungeon-crawling response to Barkley: Shut Up And Jam Gaiden, I would have gladly buckled up and enjoyed the meme-influenced rollercoaster ride.  But instead of playing to either extreme, the game landed somewhere in the middle – it’s fun to play, but it never lives up to its full potential.

The Binding Of Isaac, by Edmund McMillen and Florian Himsl, is available on Steam for both PC and Mac.  Reviewed for 11+ hours, unlocking approximately half the content and beating the game three times.

Overall Rating: ★★★★☆ 

© 2011 – 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.