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| The White Birch Prototype |
Relevant Links:
Amnesia Fortnight 2012 (Wikipedia.org)
Amnesia Fortnight Games:
Hack 'n' Slash > Hack 'n' Slash (2014)
Spacebase DF-9 > Spacebase DF-9 (2014)
The White Birch
Autonomous > Autonomous (Leap Motion) (2013)
Black Lake
Brazen (Amnesia Fortnight 2011)
Costume Quest (first Amnesia Fortnight) > Costume Quest (2010)
Happy Song (first Amnesia Fortnight) > Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster (2011)
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| Autonomous Prototype |
20141026:
Autonomous Prototype 21min
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So I played some of this game today and it was pretty fun. There was an instruction screen which went by too quickly for me, but I sort of got the gist of the game: build robots, collect energy, and fend for yourself against evil robots. Unfortunately, just as I was beginning to get into the grove of building my third or fourth robot, the game crashed.
While the game was beginning to be fun, I was also ready to move on to the next prototype.
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| Black Lake Prototype |
20141026:
Black Lake Prototype 25min
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I loved the atmosphere, aesthetics, and sensory mechanics. In fact, I loved everything about the game except for the annoying thorns (these weird enemy creatures which attack you, but you don't have any defense mechanism and the only solution is to walk away from them and hope they lose interest. Now, if one does catch up to you, then you just start from some predetermined previous checkpoint (located at the last clue you found). Similar to watching the end of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings, I was sad to reach the end of the Black Lake Prototype, because at that point, I was really hoping for more.
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| Hack'n'Slash Prototype |
20141027:
Hack 'n' Slash Prototype 41min
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Today I played this weird action adventure game called Hack 'n' Slash. While strange at first, I eventually got the coolest ability ever, the ability to hack into enemies and make adjustments to them. For example, you can increase friendly fire damage or reduce an enemy's vision range.
Upon reaching the end of the prototype, I would have happily played more. In other words, I enjoyed Hack 'n' Slash, though not to the extent that I enjoyed Black Lake.
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| Happy Song Prototype |
20141101:
Happy Song Prototype 16min
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I guess this game is about looping music. The options aren't quite spelled out and the interface is a little confusing. I suppose in part this is because I was using keyboard and not a controller. In any case, even if this game was polished in terms of interface, the only thing it has going is the aesthetics of having monsters being animated. In terms of putting together some music, then I doubt it could contend with more serious applications. Again, I'm not sure of the intent, but compared to some of the other games I've encountered, I'm not impressed.
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| Spacebase DF-9 Prototype |
20141101:
Spacebase DF-9 Prototype 109min
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Today I played some of this game. I sort of played for as long as I did hoping there'd be more.
Unfortunately, the gameplay so far was still buggy and perhaps the developers were only able to implement some of the intended features (such as job assignment).
Looking at the trailer of the finished and released version of the game, it's amazing to see the drastic difference between the prototype and the completed release.
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| The White Birch Prototype |
20141101:
The White Birch Prototype 37min
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After Spacebase DF-9, I loaded up The White Birch. While I encountered a terrible bug (I got stuck in one of the surfaces), the game is short and I just restarted the game.
Eventually I found myself at some claw device and couldn't figure out what to do. After a couple of minutes, I went to YouTube to find the answer. After learning the answer, I finished the game and got a butterfly hat - pink butterflies hover around your head, trailing as you move around.
After finishing the game, I watched more of the YouTube video and learned that you can get a pair of antlers, possibly by finishing the game quickly. I did not, however, do this.
20150118:
Costume Quest Prototype 47min
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Today, for completeness, I booted up Costume Quest Prototype. Unfortunately, the prototype has a couple of bugs which forced me to restart the game several times. After the third run, I decided to stop trying, at least for today.
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| Apparently this dragon costume never made the cut. |
The bug with the first and third run consisted of facing an invincible rat (while equipping the fake mustache and dragon costumes, respectively). Both times, I ran the game from Steam. In contrast, the second run was run from the executable with the compatibility settings set to Windows XP SP2 - as recommended by a forum post.
In that run, I collected all the costumes (Dragon, Robot, and Statue of Liberty). Unfortunately, in what might have been the last of all the houses against a werewolf, the character (Wren) defeats the werewolf but the battle never ends. (Steam's running total: 23 min)
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| Werewolf versus Robot (Wren). |
Needing screenshots, I went back in starting the game with Steam and this time I defeated the rat with my sneeze mask, but I couldn't with the dragon. So maybe I can write down where all the enemies are.
In my fifth run, I successfully used the sneeze mask against both rats and the robot against the werewolves. Upon defeating the enemies, the boss was unlocked and Wren saves the day! (Steam's running total: 47min)
If you are hoping to finish this prototype, you can make sure that you also use the sneeze mask against the rats and robot against the werewolves by using the pre-mapped locations below. Or you can go through and figure it out yourself. Happy gaming!
Safe Home Shop Rat_ Safe WWlf Safe W
xxxx xxxx Safe xxxxxx Rat_ xx WWlf W
Tip: Killing a rat takes only two or three sneeze attacks. Any more and it's possible you ran into an invincible rat. Try making sure the executable is set to Windows XP SP2 (your mileage may vary).
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| Brazen Prototype - The Waracle |
20150118:
Brazen Prototype 35min
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Today I capped this post off with playing Brazen. While I still should try the multiplayer mode out, playing through each of the characters was interesting. For me, the Stalwart was most difficult to play. Throwing out consecutive attacks will cycle through a sequence of three attacks, with the commitment to the last attack being rather long. As the monster is difficult to kite, this made moving in and out very difficult. It very possible, however, that I did not realize the full potential of his shield.
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| Brazen Prototype - The Beerzerker |
For the Waracle, I mainly kited and only used her melee at the very end when I was cornered and knew that I could take the monster down with a couple of blows. Note that the first time I played as the Waracle, I didn't realize that I have to release the right mouse button to fire. I was able to beat the monster with the Waracle on the second try.
Finally, the Beerzerker is a lot of fun. He's really fast when you keep a healthy amount of beer in him and he deals a good amount of melee damage. Once during the fight, I managed to drink too much and his stamina bar will deplete as he vomits. It's quite hilarious. In any case, I was able to defeat the monster with the Beerzerker on the first try, that's how powerful he is.
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| Brazen Prototype - The Stalwart |
In any case, all those attempts were on normal mode and so I'll have to try out hard mode some time. I can imagine the game would be fun with four players running around and it's too bad there isn't any indication of the game going beyond prototype form.
