Screenshot Saturday - Taking Shape
Screenshot Saturday is the reason your Twitter news stream fills with pictures of games in development. Below, we present you the most intriguing ones we've found during the last feverish 24 hours of screenshot sharing. You can participate yourself by tweeting a screenshot with the #screenshotsaturday hashtag.
The story behind the new Shape of the World screenshots. #screenshotsaturday
http://t.co/RBQURQ40xM pic.twitter.com/wP7JjS6cn5
— Shape of the World (@shapeoftheworld) January 17, 2015Shape of the World conjures a bucolic fantasy: trees doused in gold, pink blossom canopies, flusters of white leaves like the dust of magic. It's also a rare exploration of the outdoors in how it reflects the ephemeral state of nature. The world constructs itself as you walk inside it, trees taking root and reaching to the skies, bushes popping open into existence. Then it all degenerates into nothing before sprouting right back out again.
In this week's screenshot, it's revealed that there will, in fact, be some permanance to this world in the shape of gates. From the distance, they're humongous outlines of glowing pyramids. But, up close, they're much smaller. They give you something to aim towards, and reward your arrival by building a circle of monuments that will last throughout the ever-changing environments around them.
" These are your marks on the world, and since you will definitely get lost, these will help you on your way again," write the artists creating the game on their blog.
#screenshotsaturday #altgames pic.twitter.com/PyOZyZoeaX
— Kent Sheely (@ksheely) January 18, 2015Have a wonderful Sunday drive right here
Everything's better with rainbows.
#gamedev #indiedev #screenshotsaturday #gaming pic.twitter.com/l6M0ZHNjCb
— Star Champion (@StarChampionDev) January 17, 2015The defining feature of a "bullet hell" shooter versus any other type of shooter is the curtain of polychrome it throws at you to dodge. Sure, some bullet hell shooters may be duller looking, but a good bullet hell shooter uses bright and bold color to help the player percieve where the gaps in the myriad of bullets are.
It's this wild, psychedelic mish-mash of colors that Star Champion most notably inherits. It's described as a 3D bullet hell shooter that has you playing as a "sci-fi hero" who must run through the guts of an imposing spaceship. The loud screenshot above speaks for itself. After looking at it, it should come as no surprise to find out that its creator cites Rez, Ikaruga, and EDM as inspirations.
DarkTrain - pagan rite... #screenshotsaturday @indiegamescz #indiedev #indiegamedev #gamedev pic.twitter.com/RHYLHa8sGS
— paperash (@paperashstudio) January 17, 2015Dark Train is interesting both for its detailed reconstruction of railway engineering, and its dynamic gothic world.
It's said to be a skill-based game in which you must keep a steam engine pumping away to power a train along its tracks. Paper Ash, the game's creator, has gone so far as to create blueprints in order to accurately portray a working machine for you to interact with. There are control panels to mull over, methods of safe combustion that must be learned step-by-step, energy that must be transported to pistons and batteries in controlled currents.
All of this atomical, technological detail that must be researched and micro-managed is what lies at the heart of the challenge. That is, to drive this train from its starting location to its finish.
Making matters a little tougher going, if not also adventurous, is the heterogenous locations you encounter. Graveyards, icy black rocks, and raven-infested forests are realized with a tangible papery aesthetic. And, like the train, there's a biological integrity to how each one is formed behind the imposing set dressing.
places of #Pixwing https://t.co/zMOw6Zu7l9 #madewithunity #gamedev http://t.co/HME2xpzYYz #screenshotsaturday pic.twitter.com/nJjBKf3g1G
— Dominik Zielinski (@LeanderCorp) January 17, 2015The combination of geometric 3D models and brightly colored pixels of Pixwing has the same allure of early 3D games of the '90s. It's a look that's more concerned with depicting an abrasive feel that, you can imagine, would be rough to the touch. A focus on texture rather than the shape and finer details of objects used as part of an effort to hide the flatness of the game's world.
It's a look that's always appealed to me, most likely due to being a kid when this was the prominent method of realizing 3D worlds in games. But, I'd wager that it's more than blind nostalgia, as this focus on textures has stayed with me as being among the most effective ways to give sense of a world. I can feel its roughness against the virtual body as if it were a phantom sense.
Anyway, Pixwing is about shooting blimps and finding secrets around its fuzzy textured world while flying a bright red aeroplane.
Experimenting with the settings for the dynamic monster bites on our latest digital toy #screenshotsaturday pic.twitter.com/yOoqiUevWx
— Moppadop (@Moppadop) January 17, 2015
Heart of Metropolis #screenshotsaturday pic.twitter.com/XbjPRtAjTe
— Titouan Millet (@Titouan_Millet) January 17, 2015
More wonderful sketches from @niconokko ; The Royal Bed Room! #screenshotsaturday #gamedev #gameart pic.twitter.com/K3rrmFrb2l
— Flying Carpets Games (@FlyingCarpetsG) January 17, 2015
Old-school Adventure/RPG The Legend of Hand - coming late 2015! #screenshotsaturday #gamedev #retrogaming pic.twitter.com/nxbhb0FbEj
— Shaun Aitcheson (@shaunaitcheson) January 17, 2015
#screenshotsaturday #unity3d #indiedev #gamedev
More circuit training :) pic.twitter.com/JwG3BXiHOM
— Cogent (@CogentCoder) January 16, 2015
Flying carpet side shooter. Working on boss so here's sth different instead. #gamedev #indiedev #screenshotsaturday pic.twitter.com/37aV08kVWy
— Michał Rostocki (@von_rostock) January 17, 2015
skinday is a day of worship #altgames #gamedev #indiedev #screenshotsaturday pic.twitter.com/R7eoSDflkc
— м๏tђєг ¢г๏ฬ (@kittyhorrorshow) January 17, 2015
#screenshotsaturday pic.twitter.com/PxWMzm4581
— arthouse games (@arthousegamesss) January 17, 2015