Space Giraffe

[miffy495]

Is anyone else as conflicted about this game as I am? A quick rundown:

I love:

- The art style

- the times I get sucked in

- the general arcade-y goodness

I hate:

- when the enemies and shots are indistinguishable from the background

- the levels that are designed in ways that keep you from seeing enemies (I'm looking at you, May I Have a Drop of Fire)

- The frequency with which I seem to be able to die in the middle of a respawn :(

Essentially, I can see the artistic merit and really enjoy the game based on those qualities, but while that is fantastic, the game itself seems a bit fundamentally broken. It pains me to say it, because I wanted to love this game so much. There's a difference between everything blending together into a beautiful cohesive experience and a visual clusterfuck. Space Giraffe seems, to me, to flip between these two points on a level by level basis. When it's good, it's amazing. When it's bad, I need to stop playing and walk away before I get pissed off about missed potential. Anyone else been playing it? What's the word from the Thumbs?

[SiN]

Let me preface this by saying that I haven't played Space Giraffe yet.* However, I'm a big Minter/Llamasoft fan, and as I've been following what Minter has been saying closely, I feel I should comment.

* End of the semester though, I'm so getting a 360 along with this (and Bioshock).

First, this isn't your typical wussy hold-my-hand-through-half-the-game game. It's *hard*. It goes back to "the old days" where arcade games were genuinely difficult. If you want to get into this game, you're going to have to dedicate some time to it.

Next, and this is an issue that has been brought up many times, is that well yeah, it is a bloody "visual clusterfuck". Minter himself doesn't disagree. But the idea is that you shouldn't be watching with your eyes ... you should be watching with your senses. I know that sounds like a bunch of wank, but everything has a cue. Everything. I've been playing Tempest2K a lot lately, and even then, Minter stuck a video/audio cue in for every little event.

So you need to have all your senses "active" and ready. SG should be playing like Rez should in this sense (alone, dark room, loud speakers, etc). Watch/listen out for cues and remember them, map them in your head. Soon you should be able to know what's happening on the board unconsciously. I know it sounds a bit crazy, but it's true.

All this comes down to "give it some more time". Play some of the early levels again. Try to get a higher score. Get a better feel for the cues, and for the mechanics. Speaking of which, do you understand all that bulling/powerzone stuff? (the tutorial I watched wasn't very clear).

Basically, it just might take a while for it to click with you. A friend of mine who has been a Minter fan since the 80s got SG and didn't really like it. A couple of days later, it just clicked with him. It might be the same case for you. Or not. Who knows? All I know is, give it a bit more time and dedication, and you just might end up loving it.

SiN

[miffy495]

I'm not saying I'm not giving it a lot of time. I'm conflicted about, not anti, SG. I'm playing it quite often, honestly. Sometimes it clicks, sometimes it doesn't. All I know is, I can't get past level 13.

[ThunderPeel2001]

I'm also unsure. I was surprised that Consolevania started to rave about it. It was nice to hear that the chaos of the game actually leads into something you can play. From the tutorial alone I my eyes were hurting, plus I had no idea what it was talking about. I still don't fully understand how to play it!

I preferred Tempest 2000, I think. Still... I WANT to like Space Giraffe, so I'll probably keep plugging away at it so I can start making out the sense from the chaos.

[toblix]

All I know is, I can't get past level 13.

But did you cry?

[miffy495]

Nah. Almost threw the controller though.

[elmuerte]

But did you cry?

That's not until level 17

[Wrestlevania]

That's not until level 17

He's not wrong. :\

I've been playing it a fair bit, on and off, and it's definitely a "stoner" game. SiN* is 100% correct: you really need to zone-out with a game like Space Giraffe in order to get the most from it. At its height, for all intents and purposes, it's highly meditative.

I can't play for longer than about 30-45 minutes though, as I seem to fall out of the necessary mental groove about then--especially if I've gone from my typically sublime early high score run to just dying a lot, whilst trying to increase my starting bonus on the earlier levels.

The visuals are chaotic, but when you reach total absorption in the game you can basically predict where visual occlusions are going to disrupt the grid and compensate accordingly.

Most importantly, however: I'm in the top 1,500 globally.

* I originally cited SpiderMonkey, so apologies.

[ThunderPeel2001]

First, this isn't your typical wussy hold-my-hand-through-half-the-game game. It's *hard*. It goes back to "the old days" where arcade games were genuinely difficult. If you want to get into this game, you're going to have to dedicate some time to it.

Next, and this is an issue that has been brought up many times, is that well yeah, it is a bloody "visual clusterfuck". Minter himself doesn't disagree. But the idea is that you shouldn't be watching with your eyes ... you should be watching with your senses. I know that sounds like a bunch of wank, but everything has a cue. Everything. I've been playing Tempest2K a lot lately, and even then, Minter stuck a video/audio cue in for every little event.

So you need to have all your senses "active" and ready. SG should be playing like Rez should in this sense (alone, dark room, loud speakers, etc). Watch/listen out for cues and remember them, map them in your head. Soon you should be able to know what's happening on the board unconsciously. I know it sounds a bit crazy, but it's true.

All this comes down to "give it some more time". Play some of the early levels again. Try to get a higher score. Get a better feel for the cues, and for the mechanics. Speaking of which, do you understand all that bulling/powerzone stuff? (the tutorial I watched wasn't very clear).

Basically, it just might take a while for it to click with you. A friend of mine who has been a Minter fan since the 80s got SG and didn't really like it. A couple of days later, it just clicked with him. It might be the same case for you. Or not. Who knows? All I know is, give it a bit more time and dedication, and you just might end up loving it.

SiN

This is a brilliant post that I just skipped (for some reason), first time around. Wow, thanks for pointing all that stuff out, I feel like it's my duty to try and like SG now! I had no idea that the "visual clusterfuck" was part of the intellectual design for the game. That's actually really interesting.

I don't understand the Powerzone/Bulling stuff that you mention, as I found the tutorial to be needlessly confusing. Could you explain it? Here's my basic understanding: The "powerzone" is the thing that falls further away (into the distance) when you kill the baddies? And you can "bull" them off the top of the grid if you've got powerzone by bashing into them sideways? And this is how you get higher points for a level?

I'll try the tutorial again when I get home.

[Wrestlevania]

I don't understand the Powerzone/Bulling [...] here's my basic understanding: The "powerzone" is the thing that falls further away (into the distance) when you kill the baddies? And you can "bull" them off the top of the grid if you've got powerzone by bashing into them sideways? And this is how you get higher points for a level?

Yes. This is referred to as 'extending the power zone' in Space Giraffe, and the further down the grid (aka playing field, stage, level--whatever) you extend the grid, the longer you have to let enemies build up on the "rim" (near-edge of the grid) and then "bull" them off.

Bulling not only gives you points, it also increases your bonus multiplier depending on how many enemies you bull in one go. It's possible to bull your score multiplier from 1 up to 9 in a single charge, if you let enough enemies up the grid and onto the rim. (You also get an achievement for this.)

Word of warning: letting the power zone shrink down to nothing greatly reduces you fire power, but - critically - also prevents you from bulling enemies. So it's important that whilst you let a decent number of enemies build up on the rim, you keep shooting on-coming enemies regularly enough to keep the power zone extended. Otherwise you'll die if you try bulling when your power zone is empty. However, you do get a split second to fire your smart bomb weapon when this happens. So keep your thumb hovering over the 'A' button when going for a bull run.

Aside from all that, did I mention how fucking brilliant the music is? No..?

It's fucking brilliant!

[miffy495]

D'oh. I replayed the tutorial and realized that I could aim my shots with the other stick. I still suck, but less now.

[Wrestlevania]

Good point, which I neglected to mention -- but you can only aim your shots whilst the power zone is extended.

Also, you can bounce your shots off either edge of the grid, for extra tricksy play (i.e. when you're trying to let as many enemies up the grid as possible).

[DanJW]

This is starting to sound like the arcade space shooter version of Mornington Crescent.

I want it.

[Noyb]

I made it up to about level 34ish, and I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about this game. I seem to alternate between loving the game (when I *am* in the zone) and hating it (when I have no idea what's going on). All I know is that I really dislike the enemies that attach to the web and shoot to either side, although I guess that's to force the player to use the jump pods more strategically. I had to look online to find out that they couldn't be killed unless they're moving horizontally. Weird.

[ThunderPeel2001]

I made it up to about level 34ish, and I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about this game. I seem to alternate between loving the game (when I *am* in the zone) and hating it (when I have no idea what's going on). All I know is that I really dislike the enemies that attach to the web and shoot to either side, although I guess that's to force the player to use the jump pods more strategically. I had to look online to find out that they couldn't be killed unless they're moving horizontally. Weird.

Really? So they're baddies who get to the top? They can only be killed when they're moving....?

[Noyb]

The spiked ball enemies move around randomly on the play field, and apparently can only be killed when they are changing lanes. They shoot bullets like the normal enemies (from the demo), but when they reach the web (line you move on usually), they split in two and actually travel along the web to either side. If they reach the web itself, they can't be rammed off, so you have to use either a jump powerup to get behind them to shoot them or the smart bomb tail. Very interesting mechanics, challenging even without the added difficulty of the graphics.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Something amazing has happened.... I had the "shift" and now I can truly play and enjoy Space Giraffe for what it is: Absolute genius!

Jeff Minter is a genius!

Not sure if it's because I chumped up the hefty... wait for it... £3.50 (!) for the full version of the game and so didn't have to play the tutorial (which I found confusing, annoying and repetitive) or whether it was "just my time".

Either way, I'm finding the full game to be miles more fun. Challenging but fair. (I now almost never die without seeing what killed me first.) The music totally rocks, too! It's also oddly relaxing playing this game... no idea how that can possibly be given how chaotic it looks... but it is!

I love it! I highly recommend it!

[ThunderPeel2001]

A little post for those attempting to play, and struggling. There's a very basic move that you get most of your points for: Let the baddies build up next to you, and but keep shooting the ones in front of you until you get a pod. Then keep letting them building along side you, and let the Power Line thing to disappear...

If you touch the baddies next you to now, you'll die, so use your Pod (RT) to refill the Power Line and then quickly bash all the baddies off for a massive multiplier bonus (the 'M' in the top right hand corner).

It's soooooooo gooooooood!