#what the car?

[febrilepenguin]

This was the first year I played demos in the Steam Next Fest (I didnt even know it existed before), and I will be doing it again, cuz it was pretty fun. I played a lot of games, and I thought maybe I could talk about each of them a little, so that more people know about them, and also to keep a little record of my thoughts and feelings about them for myself.

I'll list them in the order I played them cuz why not.

1. Mech Builder: I've never had any of those cool mech model kits that you have to cut out of the frames with pliers and then assemble yourself, but they've always looked really cool to me and I've always wanted to try assembling one. Well, this is that, but in video game form, and it was pretty fun! It was satisfying to snip the parts out of the frame and then snap them into place according to the manuals. There was also decals, coloring options and more. I just wish there was a way to pose the models a bit after they're done, or maybe see them from behind and the sides? Though I understand that it'd take a lot more work to make all the art for that and it might make it unfeasible but i think it'd be fun to play around with the models a bit after they're done. (Can you even pose the real mech model kits? I cant remember.)

Anyway, good game for relaxing and futzing around with cool mechs.

2. WHAT THE CAR?: This one was just delightful. It's just such a joy to play, being this silly little car with legs going through increasingly ridiculous iterations of movement with their accompanied puns and jokes. I was smiling and laughing the whole time i was playing, even in the harder skull stages, and i tried and got all the gold crowns for all the levels. (Also I still have that "What the caaaar" jingle stuck in my head, and Im not even mad about it). Just about anywhere you looked was a wordplay joke, or a visual gag, and I love it for that, and can't wait for the release. I will also be getting the other games from the devs, Triband. I also checked their website and they seem like really cool people too. (There was also a secret puzzle hidden in the game, that I was too late to solve for the rewards, but i had fun doing it nonetheless)

3. Mind Over Magnet: I've been a longtime fan of Gamemaker's Toolkit, and I've also been watching Mark's Developing series of devlogs, so I was hyped to actually play a demo of Mind Over Magnet, and it was cool to see how polished it had become. Cant wait for the full game!

4. SCHiM: Adorable little game that emulates that feeling of childhood playfulness you had when you used to walk through the sidewalk only stepping on shadows or you'd "lose". Loved the art style and the environments for this, though it was a bit hard to tell where you were meant to go sometimes.

5. Bo: Path of the Teal Lotus: I've been waiting for this game for a long time, since a game that combines hollow knight with japanese folklore is a must play for me. The movement felt really fun, and its focus on staying midair and air control was a cool feature of it, because you basically get a double jump every time you hit something mid-air, and can hover around and over enemies while you hit them. It's basically floor is lava the metroidvania. And when you get the dash it gets even better, cuz you can chain the dash with the blue midair jump, and the momentum from the dash will carry over, (which i think was intentional, cuz whenever you do it there's a small glint of light happening) Kinda like a celeste super dash. The demo made me look forward to it so much more.

6. Tactical Breach Wizards: So, recently I've gotten into tactics games despite myself, (it's all Into the Breach's fault, maybe I'll talk about that too another time) and wow did I love this one! The gameplay was really fun and the abilities were varied, the concept and world were cool (imagine wizards as military strike teams, and a world where magic is pretty common so there are P.I. Storm Witches and Traffic Warlocks) but my favorite thing about this game was the characters and the dialogues and humor. My favorite bit was:

"You can't throw all of life's problems through windows, Jen."

"Maybe not, but we owe it to ourselves to try."

Look me in the eyes and tell me that's not hilarious.

It's like god dropped this game in front of me as soon as he heard I've gotten into tactics games.

So so excited for this one!

7. Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo: really stylish game with fun mechanics and gameplay, a good light-hearted adventure for whenever I get tired of dark and grim stories and games. Also did not expect I'd be able to jump in this lol. Kinda reminds me of Mina the Hollower, another game Im excited for.

8. Demonschool: first off, I gotta say i didnt finish this one, not because I didnt like it, but because I left the game and when i came back it wouldnt open from where I had already progressed, (it kept crashing when i clicked "continue") and I didnt wanna do it all over again, so I gave up. But! I really really liked it. Another cool tactics game, with a beautiful artstyle weird occult world and fun characters. And even though i havent played persona, I could tell that it was inspired by it, what with the school life sections and whatnot. Cant wait to be able to continue on with it when the full game comes out.

9. Cato: i'd played the older demo before and liked it, so it was nice seeing the game had progressed further and gotten more polished. Pretty enjoyable puzzle game, if a bit simple. Also the cat liquiding through tubes never stops being funny.

10. Metal Slug Tactics: I loved the old Metal Slug games as a kid, and we used to play them a lot with cousins at sleepovers, and I have fond memories of it. So im really excited for this game, with all the nostalgic characters and sounds, and now with a (again, someone must be stalking me) tactics coat of paint. The shield and cover mechanic and also the sync mechanic are pretty clever and fun to play around with. Im sure I'll enjoy this one a lot when it comes out.

11. Tiny Glade: A relaxing and lovely little game that made me feel creative and like a kid playing in a fantasy sandbox. I've been waiting for this one impatiently ever since watching the trailer ages ago, and it's so wonderful. I didnt get to play around with it as much as I wanted to, but im definitely going to make a whole bunch of different little towns and castles when I get my hands on the full version. The camera mode was also so detailed and nice. Best I can describe this game is Vibe.

12. One Btn Bosses: Clever idea, and cool minimalist artstyle, but it wasnt really for me

13. Tavern Talk: This feels like being a bartender in a D&D world, and I enjoyed it a lot. The art is lovely, and the characters are all interesting (Fable's anxieties were too relatable, man.) (And Caer...Lin was so cool) (i cant wait to meet the whole cast who's on the posters) the mixing part was also pretty fun and Im sure it's gonna have more drinks and variety to it in the full game, all in all a nice and cozy fantasy visual novel type game for when I wanna chill.

14. Caravan SandWitch: kinda solarpunk/hopeful sci-fi game, with a cool van. Seems like it's gonna be a wholesome cozy time. Roadtrips through gently postapocalyptic-looking places? Im not sure what the correct vibe is for this game, because I dont know a whole lot about the setting or the story, but it was pretty cool. Also watch the trailer, the french song is stuck in my head, it's so good.

15. Mira and the Legend of the Djinns: Im gonna start this one with things I liked and then things i disliked about it. I love the art style, and I think the game as a whole looks gorgeous. I like that it's inspired by moroccan culture and how it infuses every aspect of it. I loved the instrument playing, even though there was only one song to learn in the demo and it didnt get a lot of time to shine. (I havent played ocarina of time, but im pretty sure I'll enjoy it for the same reason of it having the ocarina playing, among other reasons) i liked the pickaxe too, and how it allowed you to climb and mine.

Now for the dislikes. I did NOT like the combat. The fact that all of your momentum just dead stops when you swing your sword was pretty jarring to deal with, and it made those floaty eye pricks so annoying to deal with. Especially because of the way they space themselves and distance themselves from you so fast, and also the fact that there's no upwards slash (not in midair anyway, there's one you can buy that only works from the ground) which means you have to jump in very close and level with the enemy, so it doesnt have much time to fly away, during which time there's a high probability of it shooting you and making you fall, also if you're a little below it, the third attack which is very horizontal misses, so you have to do it again. The final boss of the demo was also pretty much a slog, due to the one-pattern attacks and the huge health pool. And you had to first break away the shield to be able to damage him, (and it would not register multiple attacks on it at once, if you hit the shield it became intangible until the boss changed position again) so it just became a repetition of: dodge through projectile, *ding* hit the shield. Dodge, ding. Dodge, ding. Dodge, ding. Dodge, ding. Dodge, ding. Shield broke. Stab stab stab stab stab. Dodge big attack, and start over. Rinse and repeat for like, seven more times. It became a chore almost. There was a general stiffness in the combat that made it hard to enjoy.

Also a minor nitpick about the UI is that it was a bit hard to tell how much mana it took to heal how much. If there was a small line or indication in the mana bar to show if you have enough for a heal, it would be really helpful in combat to know at a glance if you can heal in the moment or not.

All in all, this is not to say i disliked the game itself, I actually really liked it, and think it has a lot of potential, given a bit of fixes and improvements.

Anyway, these are some of my thoughts on all the demos I played during Steam Next Fest. I hope you'll check out some of the games in here and wishlist them to help out the games you like!

[dandelionsprout42]

3D platformers should and must be 60fps.

I've played through What The Car? in both 30fps (Apple TV) and 62fps⁽ˢⁱᶜ⁾ (Windows), and it's safe to say without any ambiguity that although the game is playable in 30fps, it is substantially better at ≥60fps.

Same with Fall Guys. The Nintendo Switch version that is locked at 30fps felt like controlling a jelly blob snail compared to all other versions.

And I'll likely never forget the atrocities against mankind that were the console versions of Crash Bandicoot N. Sanity. On top of all the other problems with the console versions, the PC version at 160fps with motion blur removed is the only good way to play it.

Or the time Insomniac Games had a brain mushing+melting+stroke and made Ratchet & Clank: Nexus and All 4 One locked at 30fps because the CEO was convinced it'd give the game better graphics scores in reviews.

So imagine games like Princess Peach: Showtime! running at 60fps. A drooling dream.

There were a lot of 30fps apologists in the late 2010's who claimed eyes couldn't process more than 30fps (An extremely incorrect claim) or who got pissed at people who didn't want to buy locked-at-30fps games. A majority of those apologists were weebs who played visual novels at like 9.3fps.

[dandelionsprout42]

disturbed man drives a boat

[icewindandboringhorror]

(also feel free in the tags to clarify Why you made the choice you made!! :0c)

[savingcontent]

"Car-Mong Us Update" for WHAT THE CAR? crosses over today on Steam and Apple Arcade

Continue reading “Car-Mong Us Update” for WHAT THE CAR? crosses over today on Steam and Apple Arcade

[hottubsandwiches]

working on life series winners designs again

[blodwyrm]

𝔠𝔯𝔬𝔴𝔣𝔢𝔞𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔯 𝔞𝔦𝔫’𝔱 𝔢𝔳𝔢𝔫 𝔱𝔥𝔞𝔱 𝔠𝔲𝔱𝔢

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

hero/villain showdown but one of them has a spontaneous medical emergency and the battle gets put on hold while their archnemesis drives them to Urgent Care

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Hey now, Let her cook!

[mynnthia]

was talking with a friend about how some of dunmeshi fаndom misunderstands kabru's initial feelings towards laios.

to sum up kabru's situation via a self-contained modernized metaphor:

kabru is like a guy who lost his entire family in a highly traumatic car accident. years later he joins a discord server and takes note of laios, another server member who seems interesting, so they start chatting. then laios reveals his special interest and favorite movie of all time is David Cronenberg's Crash (1996), and invites kabru to go watch a demolition derby with him

[zeropro]

Can you make up how Thundercracker got Buster after the cycle of abuse post and making Thundercracker feel comfort or whatever you can make?

Buster: Origins

[dandelionsprout42]

"What The Car?" is like what TrackMania was back when it was good in the 00's

When I've played What The Car?, first on Apple TV with Apple Arcade at 4K@30fps with stereo, and then on Windows at 4K@62fps⁽ˢⁱᶜ⁾ in what sounded like 7.0 surround, I'm reminded of back when the TrackMania franchise was actually good.

TrackMania United Forever was one of the best racing games ever made, but something began plummetting faster and faster from TrackMania 2: Valley onwards. All of a sudden the TrackMania franchise was retooled to fit Twitch streamers who raced Formula 3 on the side, and all the fun was gone.

So when I looked for Apple Arcade games to try out, I bumped into (so to speak) What The Car?.

A platform racing game where the objective is to simply reach the finish line, and then unlock the next level, and so on. There's not even any actual need to get there as fast as you can. It's also a guarantee to feel smiling about a game whose levels have names like e.g. "Car on Skateboard But Giraffe" and "Backflip's Back Alright". There's also a whole lot of what I can only describe as transformations in the game, such that I'll gladly compare it directly to Princess Peach: Showtime! as well.

Once a player gets to Episode 2 in What The Car?, then it's full party from there on out.

[kaereth]

Human realm date funtimes

[brainrotcharacters]

the easy grip on the knife. the leg over the seat. the hand over the other seat. the sassy "come get it" move. you know the bitch is smiling behind that mask even as he said the line.

[savingcontent]

WHAT THE CAR? There's COWS IN SPACE! in new update today on Apple Arcade and Steam

Continue reading WHAT THE CAR? There’s COWS IN SPACE! in new update today on Apple Arcade and Steam

[captainjonnitkessler]

The second you start talking about some mysterious "they" that are controlling society in some fashion, you are engaging in dangerous conspiratorial thinking even if you're being woke about it. "They" did not institute the 40 hour work week specifically so you would be too tired to revolt. "They" did not invent the sleek minimalist aesthetic in order to crush the spirit of art in the common people. "They" are not pushing mediocre media into the mainstream in order to poison people's critical thinking skills.

Your best case scenario after that is you talk to someone who actually knows what the fuck they're talking about and you get embarrassed because you can't answer basic questions about your own ideology because you never learned anything past "the ruling class/capitalists/politicians are making things bad and if we got rid of them the bad things would all go away!"

Your worst case scenario is obviously the woo-to-fascist pipeline and you end up believing Jews are poisoning American food supplies with GMOs in order to turn us all into beta cucks, so like . . . maybe just stop blaming "them" before you fall down that route.

Obligatory round of disclaimers: Yes, sometimes people do bad things. Be specific about exactly who is doing what instead of ascribing it to some vague group of shadowy elites. Yes, sometimes things in society are bad. Learn to identify the root causes of complex social issues instead of assuming that they're actually extremely simple to fix and we're just not doing it because of some vague group of shadowy elites. Yes, minimalism isn't for everyone. Learn that some people don't share your tastes and get the fuck over it for the love of god.