Quietus: Some Press

Quietus has seen some pretty intense public attention since its release to Kongregate on April 6, 2010.  Some name sites have reviewed the game and it even made it on today's Bytejacker episode (vote for Quietus here).  Here are a few snippets of reviews:

JayIsGames:

Quietus is the kind of game that platformer enthusiasts live on. Developer Time uses his morbid subject matter to cast you into the darkest pits of hell both literarily and physically, and it's a blast.

IndieGamesBlog:

Quietus is a tough platformer which feels like a cross between Meat Boy and the castle levels from the 2D Super Mario games. You play a guy who has hanged himself, then been throw into a gauntlet in Hell by Death.

There's swinging spike balls, things with teeth that spring from the ground, ghostly beings and other sorts of nasty things. It starts off simple, then gets fiendishly difficult, with precision platforming essential.

CanardPC:

À vous de guider cette âme en peine vers la délivrance à travers 40 niveaux de torture et de souffrance, chacun d'entre eux symbolisant, selon moi, un printemps de votre vie professionnelle. Oui, car, comme chacune des années de notre carrière, une fois le tableau bouclé, on se dit toujours, à tort, que jamais le suivant ne pourra être pire.

 Kotaku:

Quietus is a series of discrete single-screen platforming challenges with an emphasis on being quite difficult. It’s not easy escaping from the underworld when spiked balls on chains, enormous chomping teeth and pits of flame all want to keep you there.

 FlashPunk:

The latest FlashPunk game is Quietus, by Time. In this twitch platformer, you’re charged with the task of running a gauntlet through the 40 stages of hell in order to earn your life back. Hint: it won’t be an easy task!

 Bytejacker (Free Indie Rapidfire): (11:05 is where the mention starts)
Bytejacker (Free Indie Countdown - Winner!)
GamePolisher Radio (15:56 - 19:03 features the review)
AVClub:

TimeBlog has made some cruelly devious stages where your frequent deaths are caused by your skill (or lack thereof) and not the inadequacy of the level design, physics, or controls. When coupled with a badass orchestral rock theme and sprites that ride the line between adorable, silly, and creepy, the play sings… B+

Over the past 16 days since its release, Quietus has managed to garner over 30,000 plays on Kongregate alone, not including the other 20+ sites on Google that have hosted the games themselves (without my permission, but hey, who's complaining?)  I really encourage you to try it out, as even if you have already played it as I've added chests to every level, music, a graphical change or two, and a bonus if you beat all the levels with all the chests.  Thanks to Liam Berry (theBerryster) for his wonderful music!

Spring Break Project - Octohead

This is a new project (after the completion of Quietus) that I hope to finish over break.  This is a little platformer with many, many engine pieces all in place, including switches, doors, slopes, slamming blocks, enemies, spikes, lava, rising lava, steam, pushable blocks... Well, just a lot of things.  The alpha has 8 levels before it starts looping; try to get through them all!

Controls
-Arrow Keys: Movement


Download Links
Octohead - Alpha

Quietus - Complete!

I've finally completed Quietus!  After deciding to reduce the level count to 40, I've finally added a small ending cinematic to the game and it is complete!  Controls are as follows:

• Arrow Keys: Movement
• Down: Open Chest
• Space/Enter: Move Cinematics

Download Links:

Quietus - Complete

Robot Climb - Review by turboRamble

Quoted from turboRamble's blog.

Time's first Flash game (ever) has challenged and frustrated almost every gamer who has had the chance to play it. With challenging elements such as bombs, spikes, flying baddies, and "wompers" (my name for them), this game has an interesting twist to it -- none of the baddies can kill you. Instead, they push you around and try to make you fall.

The entire game is based on the idea of scaling a tower to the maximum heights (I've heard of some mythical place high up called "space," but never made it there yet myself). While games have done this before, none have ever (in my opinion) done it so smoothly. The game is completely randomly generated, an amazing feat in of itself with this being Time's first ever game created with FlashPunk. The game is procedurally generated very smoothly (meaning it's created as the game goes by, since technically it goes on forever); and the tileset is nice and clean.


The robot in the game (that you control) has a variety of special abilities. The first, and probably the most used, is the wall jump. Wall jump allows you to slide and launch over and up (and away) using the wall. Thus, as you can imagine, wall jump is very useful for getting past difficult areas. Still, wall jump is pretty common in platform games. That's where 'crawl-hanging' (my official title for it) comes in handy. If you jump up into a block and hold the up arrow key, you will be able to hang onto the block(s) and move left and right to get to the desired area. That, in combination with wall jumping, would seem to be enough. But that's not it. Your little robot also can create an explosion around himself, in order to either kill baddies in the area or clear away some blocks. But be warned, sometimes you can blow up all the blocks underneath you as well, and plummet to your death.

On top of all this, there's the fact he didn't just use room wrapping (walking off the left side of the screen to pop out on the right); instead he used "parallax" scrolling, which, put simply, makes the game wrap without stopping the camera when it hits the border. It may seem like a small thing, but because of it you get the illusion that the tower truly never ends. Indeed, though -- it doesn't.

The effects, although simple, are well done and make the game just that much more interesting (effects being the falling leaves, the storm blowing baddies around, etc). However, there are a few things I think could still be changed / added. The first one is the storm. It pushes the baddies and leaves around, but the main purpose should have been to increase the difficulty by pushing the robot (player) around. Also, I think that the game could look much better if some of the corner tiles had a smooth edge in order to look a bit more realistic and less boxy (and not as aligned to a grid).

A couple more things I think should be changed: the black outline around the tiles also makes them look too blocky, and the background tiles for when blocks have been blown up is too light colored and doesn't have enough variety. If they were darkened a bit and maybe some texture was added (cracks, rust, etc) the visual would be much better. Also, another minor thing that could be added would be everything (blocks, background, the robot, baddies; everything) could darken during a storm, adding another small but nice visual to the game.


I enjoyed playing Robot Climb to the max, despite being pretty horrible at it (you can see my low scores in all the screenshots). The unique elements, and even the not so unique ones, make for a fun little game to pass time. The only real complaint I have, besides some graphics which I mentioned earlier, would be that the hanging grass tile loads late at times, jumping onto the screen awkwardly. I highly recommend that you play this game for yourself, as I doubt you will be able to put it down for a long time to come.

-turboRamble 

Thanks turboRamble!  I'm going to be adding one more version to completely finish off the game once I get my hands on some music, and I planned on doing a little tweaking which this will definitely help with.

Read more from turboRamble on his blog or Twitter account.

Quietus - Alpha IX - Level Select and Saving

I've taken the advice of a friend of mine in my French class who suggested that I add the ability to save, since apparently her boyfriend had gotten angry with her over the fact she closed out Quietus when he'd gotten to level 7.  Expanding on earlier mentions of a level select screen suggested by turboRamble, I proceeded to pound out a level select screen with automatic saving; if you close out the window and restart, you will still be able to play the latest level from the level select screen.  Also, I've added two more levels, bringing the total count to 22.  Below is a screenshot (scaled down 2x) of the level select screen.

There is also a slight controls addition: press at any point in-game and it will immediately return you to the level select screen.
Download Links
Quietus - Alpha IX

Quietus - Alpha VIII

For this update, which is significantly smaller than the previous, I've made the addition of two much harder levels to go with the eighteen from before to make up an even 20 playable (and beatable!) levels.  Also, I've made a huge edit to the opening dialogue, making it much more explicit as to what the storyline is about.  I think this is as far as I will go with the storyline and main-screen from here on out, unless there is something brilliant that comes to mind or is suggested.  Below are two screenshots: one of the opening dialogue, and the second of the 20th level.



Download Links:
Quietus - Alpha VIII

Quietus - Review by turboRamble

Quoted from turboRamble's blog.

Most indie gamers and developers have heard and played Matt Thorson’s games before, which consist of difficult reflex action and jumping to avoid hitting the spikes. Time’s newest project, a Flash game titled Quietus, is here to rival some of Mr. Thorson’s best works. With 18 levels at this time, and many, many enemies to avoid (spikes, lava, worms, ghosts, demons, stompers, etc), this game is made to challenge even those who consider themselves hardcore reflex gamers.

The graphics are a stunning retro – not too much, but at the same time enough to show off some cool style. The effects (when the flying red creatures splash; when the worm jumps) are nicely done and show off a polished touch that most developers fail to think of creating, or even succeed in adding. The little details that are visible in each and every wall block, displaying interesting runes, added some depth and uniqueness to the game. The rustic feel of actually being where you’re character is trying to survive is undeniable.

One thing that some may argue about, but I believe to be the best part of the entire game: the gameplay difficulty. There aren’t enough games on the internet at this quality that also requires this level of precise timing. There are some levels, a couple of them being levels 6 and 9, that required such precision it’s crazy that Time could even calculate that all in. In level 6 you need to hop down quick, bounce off the green blob, avoid the little worms, wait for the spike to go by, and then run before the other spike comes around and the flying red demons jump and trap you. In level 9, which, being farther along in the game is much harder, has an even longer portion where you need to constantly be aware. You can’t just focus on bits of the level, you have to examine the entire thing so when you get passed a hard part to another part, you don’t just die and go “What happened?!”. Although the level order (according to difficulty) is still a little bit wacked, the game itself delivers and not too many people should care right now about the organization, since the game isn’t completed yet.

The sound effects are decent enough; definitely retro, but with no music at this time there isn’t much to say about the audio this game has to offer the player. However, I doubt the player will be thinking about sound effects much when they get trapped once again by a couple spikes.

One of the things Quietus has done exceedingly well is tell its story. The story obviously hasn’t been finished being created yet, but already just by seeing the graphic at the beginning and the short animation of the character falling you know the eerie story behind the game.

Overall, Quietus will definitely leave a lasting impression on anyone who plays it. If you haven’t beaten the game, there’s that urge to beat it because … well, just so you can say you beat the game. The difficulty could be raised a bit, as well as the level order moved around, but generally Quietus did what it was made to do – entertain. The gameplay at this point could take an intermediate reflex platform gamer about 45 minutes or so to beat, with the less experienced taking much longer. If Time can succeed in adding some more features—which I’m sure he will—and a lot more levels, this game will reach new heights.

-turboRamble

Thanks for the review and I will definitely be referring to this as a way of finding more methods to improve the game from here on out!

Read more from turboRamble on his blog or Twitter account.

Quietus - Alpha VII (Renamed from Little Skel)

I've finally discovered a much better name than "Little Skel" for my latest development: Quietus.  I've come up with most of a storyline, which has led to some gruesome- and sad-looking graphic art for banners and main screen graphics and such.  The main idea of the game is that you are a man who has hanged himself due to his isolation and, immediately after, were confronted by the Grim Reaper who offered you a deal.  By making it through a gauntlet in hell, you would be returned to your life as a man with everything he desired.  Naturally, you immediately accept and are then thrust down to hell where your skin peels off and you are left as your skeletal self and must defeat trials of great difficulty in order to obtain that which you desire.

Here is some banner art I made up for the game:


"it really does look amazing.  The colour palette, the precision, the style, the atmosphere... Wow." -BroxterAdditions:

• Synced up the rotating spike ball-chains and the lava demons (as well as the smashers, which are newly introduced).
• Smashers (shown below in white with bloody teeth).
• 18 levels.
• Altered starting splash-screen.
• Main screen.
• Opening cinematic.
• Screen shake from large worm.
• New background with blinking eyes.

Screenshot of gameplay:



Download Links:
Quietus - Alpha VII

Little Skel - Alpha VI

I've now finished the tenth level to Little Skel and production is going wonderfully!  I now have added small blocks, fading blocks, and an enemy that travels back and forth, along with four more levels from the previous version that are much harder.  I will continue to add more and more obstacles as needed as I progress through the creation of the game, but I'd love to have any and all ideas you can come up with to help out with the cause! Below is a screenshot of the last level (so far) and the download to the sixth alpha version.

Download Links

Little Skel - Alpha VI

Little Skel - Alpha V

This update includes 5 new levels and a few new obstacles.  I've added some creatures that come out of the lava (see below) along with a ball-and-chain and a lava fountain that you can use as a lift.  To get to the next level, try to find your way to the dark pit to the bottom left or right of the screen.  There are chests scattered throughout which, at this point, do nothing but spew out gems, but later I'll make them worth something.  Enjoy!


Download Links
Little Skel - Alpha V

Little Skel - Alpha IV

I worked on Little Skel today after posting up a beta last night with a nice little surprise.  This one is a pretty small update featuring a graphical change with the blocks, a little green ant that digs up out of the ground walks, then goes back into the ground (you can jump on him and pop him), lava now kills you, a spirit/angel emerges when you die, and the player now has the ability to reach the chest (press [down]  to open).  The chest is, however, very difficult to reach, so I will be surprised to see someone post a screenshot with them next to the open chest!

Download Links
Little Skel - Alpha IV

Robot Climb: Online Highscores (and Little Skel!)

I've pretty well finished up with Robot Climb!  Only a few small bugs and such need to be sorted out along with the addition of a musical composition created by a friend of mine and this game is completely finished.  I will submit to Armorgames.com and Addictinggames.com in the hopes of getting it on one of the websites in the near future.  Here's where you can play and put up your highscores!
Download Links
GameJolt

On a side note, I've started a new project called "Little Skel" in FlashPunk and I've got a little Alpha version out: Little Skel - Alpha II

Robot Climb: Wind and Spike-Man

In this latest update, I've added quite a few small changes along with some rather large ones.  There now exists wind, which doesn't affect gameplay at this point but should in the future, and I've added a new enemy boringly named "Spike-Man."  He simply rises and falls predictably, and if you get too close he gets angry and pushes out his spikes and knocks you back.  Also, a bug in the last version has been fixed where, if you get too high, blocks will appear too infrequently to the point where you can't go higher.  Now, blocks will come less frequently as you rise, but the smallest block frequency will be one in every seven spaces.  Without further ado, here is the link to GameJolt with this latest version, along with a screenshot!

GameJolt Link:GameJolt: Robot Climb

Robot Climb: Screen-Wrapping and Wall-Swinging

I've just released a new version of Robot Climb featuring some pretty cool additions.  First, I have included seamless screen-wrapping, so now you won't ever reach the end of the tower from left to right.  This is great because now you won't get caught on the outside of the tower and die because there is no outside.  Second, I've added wall-swinging, so now you can grab the bottom of blocks and swing across them.  You can swing above bombs and spikes, which makes it very useful, but if you get hit by anything while swinging you will fall.  You must hold to continue holding on, and releasing will make you fall.

Play the most updated version on GameJolt:
Robot Climb on GameJolt


Note: The "Latest Flash Creation" page has been taken down due to the fact I can't find a good place to put up a .swf file online without uploading it as a downloadable file and not just as an image because Imageshack.us has stopped allowing it.  Luckily, GameJolt provides this, so you can play with the link above (or here).

Robot Climb: Gameplay Changes

I've finally spent some time messing with the gameplay to eliminate that horrible dead-end problem in the game where you work your way up the tower only to have taken the wrong path and must kill yourself because of it.  In order to remove this problem, I figured I might as well add the ability for the player to make blocks explode by creating a blast when you press space.  This makes the player invulnerable to being hit for a short time and blows up the blocks around him.  Also, I've changed the tiles to be stone, so that Babel (the tower) looks more like an actual tower.  There are dark blocks in the background as well, but those are purely for aesthetics.

Large: http://bit.ly/98ddHw
Small: http://bit.ly/bDqGXb

Robot Climb: New Graphics and Parallax Scrolling

I recently just added a version of Robot Climb to the "Latest Flash Creation" page that includes parallax scrolling with trees, a mountain, a skyline, and space. No gameplay has been changed, sadly, but it has a much more colorful experience!


Small Version:
http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/4889/randomsmnew.swf
Large Version:
http://img44.imageshack.us/img44/5528/randomlgnew.swf

Robot Climb: Recent Additions

I've done some work on Robot Climb (as it has now been named) and a Facebook Group has been added for it.  So far, many have enjoyed it even though it is in a very simplistic stage at the moment.  The highscore to date has been 15,330 by my friend Travis, and we've all had difficulty getting past it!  The game creates levels as it goes along, making new, generated levels each time you get higher so the game experience is constantly changing.  Try it out on the latest flash page, or click below.

http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/4582/randomsmall.swf

Flash: N00B!

I've just begun working with Flash and the FlashPunk library.  So far I've done two tutorials and I'm really liking it.  In just a few hours after starting it up, I have a little platformer going with some sprites in Robot Man!  Here it is, and hopefully I will have more flash stuff up in the future!

http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/8716/random.swf

Robot Man: Status Update

I've been doing a little bit of work on Robot Man and I thought I'd give a bit of a status update on production.  There will not be a download in this post, but I will include a screenshot, since I haven't gotten a whole ton done.  With this screenshot you can see what I've included: Rock-Ombs.  These rocks are just brown, unhappy and you can walk on them, but if you get underneath they will fall and explode.  As you can see below, I'm being blasted on the right by one:

With the next update there should be a few random changes (better slope tolerance, higher jumping, better movement, etc.)  Keep your eye out for the next update!

Robot Man: YYG Competition 5 Entry

I worked a bit over this break on Robot Man in the hopes of entering it in the newly declared 5th Yoyogames Competition with a theme consisting of "games that can be played on a handheld platform."  This limits screen size to 480x272 maximum and controls to only the space bar and arrow keys.  Luckily, Robot Man can be conformed to those standards, and thus I've decided to work on it and enter the competition.  Some updates from the previous version include:

• Vents now push you.
• One jump.
• Purple mountains (aesthetic only).
• New enemy (puff-ball that I've nick-named "Floaty").
• Spikes.
• Sand level.
• Smooth room transitioning.
• Large tree in the first level (aesthetic only).
• Scratched billboard (aesthetic only).
• The ability to be hurt has now been added (you cannot die, but you do flash red and get pushed around).
• Floating spirit of Robot Man in the first level to show you how he will look at the end of the game.

Download Links:

MediaFire