Colorful Games are SO Last Year

Those of you who read The Independent Games Source have already heard about Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet, a shooter from French animator Michael Gagné. Actually, you may have heard of it elsewhere, as I've heard tell of it whispered in the corridors of other strange digital landscapes, among the mutterings of hooded figures whose heads bow together like a murder of crows, secreted in the enclaves of the Internet's annals. --Sorry. The trailer is just so, y'know, shadowy and spooky, I can't help it.

I'm not a fan of shmups, I say so all the time, but I'll try any game that has a cool angle. If this trailer strikes your fancy, though, I've got somethin' else you might like. Next up, we've got Limbo, an Arnt Jensen platformer, which like Insanely Twisted, is still in the development stage.I'm providing a (crappy) screenshot, because there's no way to embed the trailer, but you can check it out at the official site -- sooo cool, especially the sound. Platformers and scrolling shooters are one of the oldest formats in video games, but it's nice to see that there are designers who understand you don't have to throw 'em out the window just because we have 3D now (see also: Knytt).

Using a simple, yet tried-and-true format is actually, I think, a great venue for experimentation, for several reasons. One, your game retains an element of the familiar, making it accessible to everyone, including non-gamers and the ubiquitous "Oh, I used to play NES, but games are too complicated now" wayward lambs. Two, when you don't buy into the "let's revolutionize game mechanics" mentality and rely on something that "ain't broke," you open the door for innovation in other areas, like art, sound, theme and story. Third, cleaner, tighter design always, always makes for a better game than overcomplication, which is often the result of being over-ambitious in terms of gameplay.

I like great big complicated games. I don't mind, necessarily, if all of a game's promises weren't delivered or some elements of an ambitious design attempt came up short. Shoot the moon, y'know? But whenever I see signs of things that seem interesting, lush and polished while still being enormously simple, I get happy, too.

[Via TIGSource and Clickable Culture]