with hernhand I was mostly interested in sound and space. I was inspired by spaces in oldish 3D sci fi games and sort of wanted to have similar places but where you didn't need to shoot the enemies or find gregory's old phone and return it to him etc, and instead you could just stroll through and listen to the various ambient sounds. I like the bad loose look of hernhand. I was very slack with it, throwing a few cubes around with ms paint images on them. it makes everything feel dirty and unappealing which I can thoroughly enjoy and appreciate. I enjoy the blurry texturing and very angular models in dated 3D graphics, so luckily that wasn't hard to create for the Hernhand. Also, Jpeg files added noise to the MS paint images I made for textures, it's like free HD detail on my simple drawings. I was interested in using a variety of sound effects and ambient hums to make up for the simple/rough look of the game. I'm happy with how the game has turned out, I can enjoy walking through it myself which seems like a good sign.
While starting out making the game I had been watching gameplay videos of Star Wars: Bounty hunter and The Neverhood, their sounds and spaces were a strong influence. star wars bounty hunter has cool levels with nice sounds and little creatures running around, but it's constantly disturbed by endless noisy laser firing. Although I do love laser firing, I think the laser firing in that game is a god help me awful design decision, especially against the really good environments. anyway it was still a strong influence for space and ambience + little creatures on the ground. The Neverhood has really nice sound design too. I really like the spooky ambience during the outside scenes, they influenced the open plain areas and ambience in hernhand. Also the ridiculously long background story of the Neverhood really appeals to me, I wouldn't mind writing some ridiculous nonsensical context for hernhand, maybe like an encyclopedia. Anyway, these games and a few other sci fi games were the main influences for Hernhand's sound and graphics and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.
Tom's Bernband was definitely another influence. I really like the style, quite strong in the style department I reckon. when I first saw a video of his game, when he turned the camera to reveal the 3Dness of his game it just looked so good. I also think the sound in his game compliments the visuals really well, everything feels solid. It feels like it's made of stuff. Hopefully hernhand feels like it's made of stuff too. Hernhand is much more of a 'walk this way for ages' genre while Bernband has a lot of corners and turning and small tight spaces. Bernband is quick to race through, you can take different routes and be real quick. I can appreciate the run around the game real quick style, but I also love long boring wastelands to walk through. So I guess the games work well together, maybe?
anyway check out Hernhand and Bernband, give them a rate comment subscribe and click the like button and comment + subscribe
links: Hern http://gamejolt.com/games/adventure/hernhand/34868/
Bern http://gamejolt.com/games/other/bernband/34864/
Hey. I finally got round to playing Bern and Hern.
ReplyDeleteSometimes yours felt like wandering round--what was that game called, the real-life one where you are in a dark maze and you have a laser and you have to wear a vest/backpack thing with flashing lights? The one I used to go to had glow-in-the-dark things painting on the walls. Maybe the aliens in this game are the ones who gave us the technology for Laser Hunt, (or Laser Zone, or whatever it's called) and JPEG files.
Maybe Hern feels more solid than Bern, or the structures feel more hollow or like they're made out of paper. But I prefer that.
The bar in the city is a very good videogame bar. Kinda reminded me of walking into the Tote or something.
did you get my reply to your comment
Deleteok I just got new intel, my reply is a separate comment
Deletehey thanks for the comment, my reply didn't go through last time. i kno the game as Laser Tag but i hated it when i was forced to play it, i'd rather roll in talcum powder and scream. yeah i think Hern feels wooden or cardy or something, and bernband is more like mysterious space glass material
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