Stanley Parable Demo + Giana Sisters

STANLEY PARABLE DEMO

This demo was one hell of a strange, yet pleasing experience. The game messes with the player’s head with clever remark that builds up the game, making the player wanting more and more… only to not give them what they want, but something else that might prove to be more engaging. 

So to talk about the "demo", the best way to describe the experience is to imagine playing a game that was not the game you were expecting, nor the game you were supposed to be playing, in order to get a taste of the game you are about to play without knowing what the game is all about. I admire the creativity of this demo right to its core. The "demo" had nothing to do in the game; and yet it gives you a feeling of the quirkiness and uniqueness of the game. Imagine being promised to eat a new type of food without eating the said food, but eating another food that has nothing to do with the food you are supposed to eat.

To be honest - I could easily mistook this game as a huge trick the developers play on the player. If I had played the demo back when it was released in 2013, I would probably not expect a real Stanley Parable game. The demo is the game that was being developed.

One of the most critical aspect of the demo is its 4th wall breaking/self aware element of the game. 4th wall breaking/self aware elements can easily work against the creator of the content, but if used well, it can be their strongest weapon.

To be honest, I was sold on the demo, but at the same time I’m not sure what to expect on the actual game – which isn’t really always a bad thing as I was left with a pleasant feeling. I can only look forward to it.

GIANA SISTERS: TWISTED DREAMS

Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams lets the player to switch between dimension in their gameplay. It allows great variety in platforming, boss battle, and general gameplay, but I can’t help but thinking that it’s a lacking element when it’s a main mechanic. This mechanic had been used several times in many games, especially in the indie games community. That said, Giana sisters have done something that made it stand out from the rest of the ‘dimension switching’ mechanic games – Fully utilizing this mechanic within narrative and aesthetic context.

Game such as Mighty Switch Force allows the player to change the world with a push of a button, but it was never explained why or how. Giana sisters needed this mechanic to complete certain puzzles. The transformation of the dimension doesn’t stop there - The “Cute” Giana can glide through the air to protect herself from danger while after transforming to the “Punk” Giana, she can attack enemies and perform other action related to offense. Giana can travel between her dream in order to find her sister. The transformation is her way of manipulating her dream, which the hazards are representing her internal conflicts.

While the symbolism of the world and its inhabitants actually help the narrative and gameplay mechanic, making the entire thing to be some sort of a lucid dream seems to be lowering the intensity and the urgency of the story. Even so, one can appreciate the attention to detail they put in to keep the player immersed.

World Design 5 - Portal

Portal takes one of the more "basic" element of a concept and somehow made it into a really innovative mechanic. I say "basic" with quotation marks because while on paper it has a simple and easily understandable concept, I can imagine it being a very difficult idea to execute well. The game generally revolves around one mechanic and have the narrative and level design based around that single mechanic. Almost everything is really well designed in this game. Tutorial was not jarring, level design is interesting, characters were interesting, and it managed to piqued the interest of someone like me who does not have an affection towards puzzle game.

When I played the demo, I could feel that the game has a really nice flow and atmosphere which let itself to be one of the most memorable game of all time. The game starts with a sense of danger and mystery set in what seems to be a laboratory. The player then would be introduced to GLaDOS, aka the Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System. GLaDOS could be said to be the face of Portal and what makes the game what it is with her memorable voice and quirky personality.She introduces the player to the game's mechanic, while managing to not break the immersion thanks to some excellent writing. She also unfolds the story slowly, as the player progress more and more with the game.

The puzzle design in Portal gives some sort of sense of accomplishment due to its nature: it's not a piece of cake (ha) yet it's not jarringly difficult to the point of frustration which might make the game a tedious chore. The tutorial, narrative, and flow of the game was not intrusive, which is quite important to make the game much more immersive.