Withdrawal symptoms

♫ Trans-X – Living on video

I've been working on my thesis for the whole day and I would have loved to relieve my stress with my favourite pastime, roleplaying, but obviously I won't... P&P or table RPGs would be perfect, but that won't do without a lot of planning – besides, I don't have company for such at the moment (haven't had for a long time). Instead, I roleplay in mmorpgs and forums, but right now one mmorpg is patching, another one is suffering from server failures and my rpg forum is down too!

So basically, I was pretty much forced to write this blog entry. I had been planning it for a while now anyway.

A few years ago I discovered a great game artist called Mateusz Skutnik. Now I've played quite a few of his point&click (and quite room escape like games), or such games in which he's been one of the developers. Room escape games are not really targeted for people who lack patience – like me, but Skutnik's games are fascinating.

Submachine
The Submachine series comprises several chapters, probably nearly a dozen? Point&click games, like already stated, pretty complex puzzles, nice drawings and such audio tracks that create a nice atmosphere. However, this series is not my favourite one. The picture is from Submachine: 32 chambers, which can be found behind the link, as well as the other chapters.

Daymare Town
Daymare Town is a very interesting game because it's black-and-white. It's an interesting solution for any kind of graphics that are supposed to be used. Basically, complex user interfaces rarely work well without highlighting color. However, since Daymare Town is a game, creating it in black-and-white is a design solution, not a flaw! (And to be precise, it's not white but beige.) Anyone with an interest in bizarre things and creatures and nightmarish things in broad daylight should try this one! The image is from the first chapter, which you can play here.

 


Covert Front
Covert Front is my Skutnik favourite! It's also the first one I ever played: back then, roughly two years ago, when only two chapters of the game had been released so far, I took a game design course and wrote an analysis of this game with two friends. Anyway – still point&click with a strong room escape feeling, and with an interesting plot! You're a secret agent / spy investigating intriguing conspiracy issues in the early 20th century Europe (which is not in-keeping with actual reality). Audiovisually very fascinating, exciting and what not! I truly suggest trying! The best thing for people like me is the fact that most solutions make at least a little sense – whereas I've played such room escape games in which the things that need to be done in order to solve the puzzles are totally random and ridiculous. So far Covert Front comprises three episodes – still looking forward to the fourth and last one! Oh, and the episodes contain nice cut-scene animations. A very interesting story! This image is from the first episode, All quiet on the covert front, which is also available behind the link.

Fog Fall
Although this game doesn't have Skutnik's art, but Maciej Pałka's, the style is somewhat similar and very nice! And I like this one a lot too, the settings are epic, like the name of the game probably implies... Two very interesting episodes. Start with the first one here.

However, I've already played all those... I haven't completed the third episode of Daymare Town, but to be honest, I lack patience. :D Perhaps I'll just keep dreaming of getting back to roleplaying (won't happen tonight) or... Well... go to bed? So that I can spend yet another interesting thesis day tomorrow. Or no, it's past midnight – today. So long!