!Xorpl

Jumpman Haiku

Submitted by TheDustin on Wed, 09/02/2009 - 16:51.

Type:

Free Download

Developer:

Time Wraith

Knytt was one of the first freeware titles I ever downloaded; Niflas's atmospheric mood piece was a deciding factor in my burgeoning interest in indie games. The game was an exercise in minimalism that eschewed complexity and difficulty in favor of tone and 'feel.' Whether or not you cared for Knytt will determine how you'll feel about !Xorpl. If Knyttis a Brian Eno mood piece, !Xorpl is this song
minus the vocals.

Sparse is the first word that comes to mind when you play this thing, and it reverberates throughout the entire three minute experience. The game has no exposition; you're just a mushroom thing amongst other mushroom things in a static city. You move and jump through various areas with the occasional alternate path to meander down. That's all. There are three endings to discover that are based off of the paths you choose, and they are as stark as the rest of the game. Given that there is no text and even the title is indecipherable, any in-depth analysis would be bullshit. However, I have a feeling it has something to do with isolation, leaving society to wander the unknown by your lonesome -- how the protagonist handles this is determined by how the player explores the landscape. This impressionistic minimalism will either be understated or underwhelming, based on your preferences.

Not impressed

Submitted by Naurgul on Wed, 09/02/2009 - 17:34.

Bah, not that good, I think. The gameplay is monotonous and cheap. Sure, it kinda looks like Knytt visually, but ultimately that means little.

I agree...

Submitted by LlamaFarmer on Wed, 09/02/2009 - 21:37.

...Knytt was a much more beautiful game with lovely little moments, which this game lacks. It's been a while since I've played Knytt, but it's definitely ingrained faintly in my mind; I'll have forgotten about !Xorpl by tomorrow

Reminds me of some of the

Submitted by destoo on Thu, 09/03/2009 - 01:55.

Reminds me of some of the games that were showcased at Kokoromi's gamma256 expo two years ago.
It's still interesting. I don't like the "ending score" idea (it's in the comments on the download page).

Yeah, what I usually like

Submitted by XXITheWorld on Fri, 09/04/2009 - 21:19.

Yeah, what I usually like about these games is that it's all focused on exploration, with the "dying doesn't matter that much" aspect. But I found this was somewhat destroyed by the fact that you have to not die once if you want the "good" ending. It should've focused on exploration more, and "score" less

PeaceMaker

PeaceMaker

Can a Game Make You Cry?

Certainly... At least if its subject is enough to make you cry.

PeaceMaker begins with a cut scene--brief video clips from the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, beginning in 1948 and ending with the present day.

In any game, the purpose of an initial cut scene is to set the emotional context; for most games, this means bombast and violent triumph. For PeaceMaker, it means--sorrow, and perhaps despair.

Created by a mixed American, Israeli, and Palestinian team, PeaceMaker deals with the Israeli-Palestinian crisis. Playing as either the Israeli Prime Minister or the Palestinian President, you must try to satisfy the urgent needs and demands of your own people, while establishing a degree of trust on the opposite side--and, with (a great deal of) luck, an agreed resolution to the conflict.

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