I have a game recommendation for you dear reader. I know it might be hard to drag yourself away from your game of Left 4 Call of Assassin’s Age: Origins 2, trust me I am thankful that you even have the time to read these first couple of sentences. If you will indulge me further then take this piece of advice: give Devil’s Tuning Fork, the 30 minute play through it deserves. This free independent PC title reminds me of my experience with Mirror’s Edge because of two key similarities.
- Devil’s Tuning Fork is a first person game that does not need weapons to achieve it’s aim. It leverages the potential for engagement that a first person perspective holds without the explosions.
- The visual style of the game is intimately tied to the player’s engagement with the world.
In Devil’s Tuning Fork you are a child who is exploring his/her own coma state which you fall into at the outset. You must explore this space using a Tuning Fork to send out sound waves which move across all surfaces illuminating their moving textures briefly. It is a simple mechanic that creates some amazing visual set pieces all as a result of the your own actions. The sound waves have a functional purpose in lighting the path you must walk, highlighting false floors that cause you to fall and activating chimes that engage moving platforms allowing progress. Each soundwave reveals a dynamic moving world as if you are trying to kickstart your brain, to shake off the darkness of the coma. The moving walls when briefly illuminated are sometimes disorienting, giving a false sense of movement, the jarring moments as you try to force your way out of this mental prison.
The story elements are thin on the ground which combined with the visual effects provide a nice frame to fill in the gaps and make of this world what you wish. The crescendo of effects in a game such as Left 4 Call of Assassin’s Age: Origins 2 might result in a complex and visceral experience begging to be analyzed and thought about but I feel, dear reader, that a simple game with simple ideas can be a memorable one as well. Devil’s Tuning Fork is one such game, and it is not something I feel I will forget soon.
Take the time to explore Devil’s Tuning Fork, I am sure that there will always be time for Left 4 Call of Assassin’s Age: Origins 2.
The advancing technology of modern game engines is now allowing gamers to interact with game worlds in ways never seen before. Some recent examples include:
- the somehow beautiful looking fires that burn through vegetation and buildings alike in Far Cry 2
- the weighty, airborne and often hilarious response of a pedestrian to the bonnet of your Infernus in Grand Theft Auto IV (driven whilst ‘drunk’ in the game)
- the collapse of a two-storey office as a result of the detonation of carefully placed remote explosives on the back of a transport truck which was recently driven into the heart of said building: Red Faction Guerilla
These interactions can sometimes fundamentally change the mood and experience of a game environment. Any player of Far Cry 2 who has cleared out a guard post using molotov cocktails can attest to this. Such changes to game environments are much more dramatic these days because of the technology available. However such changes have been occurring in games for much longer. Decals that signal the impact of a rocket in any one a thousand different FPS shooters have been around almost as long as the genre itself. They all function to immerse the player and provide cues to what has happen in the space of the game. They provide a dynamic visual history of a players experience of their game and thus can also dynamically affect mood and experience.
This brings me to the point of this post. Deliberately using such a system to undermine the intended mood of a game.
The game: Thief 3
The means: Moss Arrows
For those unfamiliar with the Thief series, the player reprises the role of Garrett, a master thief and all round sneaky guy. He uses his skills and tools to remain hidden from guards and security forces whilst stealing various valuables from their careless owners. One such tool is the moss arrow which when fired lays down a matt of moss on a horizontal surface, muffling the sounds of footsteps. The arrows have a perfectly suited functional role in the game and are quite useful. However their visual effect on the game world runs contrary to the established style and mood of the Thief world. Garrett’s world is a poorly lit mash up of dull gothic / pre-industrial / medieval locales which are notable for their stone and timber floors, not for their naturalistic aspects.
I noticed this and thought I’d go about emphasizing this disjunction. Below are some of the results (all before and after shots are taken of paid actors and might not represent actual results for every individual)
As the images can attest, the world is suddenly changed. The previously cold, dull and hostile world is now vibrant, an almost pleasant glade lit only by a small fire or the moon itself, a city reclaimed by nature. The arrows create scenes that calm and relax, a repose from the stressful moments of thieving that previously had occupied my thoughts.
So remember kids, the next time you think about firing a moss arrow, destroying a building, or lighting a fire, consider how it might change your experience. Maybe try shoot a smiley face of bullet holes to lighten up a digital warzone.