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The Last Door Interview with The Game Kitchen

July 18, 2013

The Game Kitchen are an indie studio responsible for the point-and-click horror adventure game The Last Door. Released in chapters, the project was Kickstarted back in the tail-end of 2012 and has seen the release of its first two instalments: ‘The Letter’ and ‘Memories’. The following is our interview with the Spain-based team.

So, tell us a little about the history of the studio and how you guys got started in game development.

The Game Kitchen is a small indie studio born in Seville (Spain) in 2009. For some years, the studio focused on developing video games on demand for third parties as Nivel21 Entertainment. Some of those games reached some success; we even got national recognition winning different awards. Some examples of our previous works are: Slalom, El Gambatrón (a facebook app used by a national broadcasting channel to interact with their public), Iredia, and – one of our most award-winning products – Rotor’scope.

We are quite a homogenous group, are all in our early thirties and have lived the golden years of gaming, so we have a mutual understanding when approaching video games. Most of us have an academic background related to video games or IT so having this common background is useful in order to agree with plans and ideas when designing a game. I guess that the popular saying “birds of a feather flock together” could perfectly be applied to us.

How did the idea come about for ‘The Last Door’?

At some point during 2012, we decided to undertake an ideas contest internally, since we wanted to try something different, less business-related and more fulfilling. The very first embryo of “The Last Door”, is a pitch that Enrique – one of the team’s artists – introduced to us as a simple game prototype made with PowerPoint. His concept was based on pursuing the same feelings caused by classic horror books, where you rely heavily on your imagination to depict the scenes and situations.

What were your specific influences in conceptualising the game? Would it be safe to assume that you are also fans of films such as Hitchcock’s ‘The Birds’ (with the heavy motif of Crows)?

Well, to be honest there is no specific works which we have been particularly inspired by, but it’s true that the story revolves around cosmic terror or gothic novels from authors such as Lovecraft and Poe, who we love. Our intention was to reproduce that atmosphere of the dark ages, full of light and shadows, uncertainty, obscurantism and mysteries – characteristic factors of that age of change during the second industrial revolution in Great Britain. Regarding the crows, this is actually a nod to Lovecraft, who usually used this literary resource to create a restless ambience. Hitchcock’s ‘The Birds’? might be… conscious or unconscious, since that film left an imprint on our collective imagination and you never know where the ideas come from.

Why did you choose the 8-bit graphic style?

We prefer to describe the game as ‘low-res’ instead of ‘8-bit’ because it doesn’t actually use a limited color palette and, in addition, it mixes hi-res gradients and shades. But yes, we can’t deny that it has a great influence from 8-bit aesthetics. In fact, when we were designing the game, in wanting to replicate that role of building the scene using imagination (as creepy as your brain is capable) we tested the low-res graphics and we realized that it worked. The lack of graphic details stimulated the imagination in a special and different way as opposed to when using very detailed graphics, so we decided to take that path.

Is horror a genre that you would like to continue to explore?

As mentioned above, we are fans of horror literature authors and their literary universes seem to be the leifmotiv narrative of the game, since its very conception. So consequently, we feel quite comfortable with the horror genre. We love it and it plays a big part when developing a story that attempts to leave no one indifferent. We really enjoy when our community members send us a message through social media saying things like: “Dusk is coming, time to start playing The Last Door” or “I couldn’t get any sleep last night after playing The Last Door… love this feeling”, “A crow just knocked on my window and I almost had a heart attack” and many more. It’s amazing. A lot of people like getting scared and we are happy to help! 🙂

What was the process like of getting the game Kickstarted?

It was the first time we were crowdfunding a project and everything was new and vibrating, but it’s also very time-consuming and stressing. Since Kickstarter has a fixed period to reach the funding objective (a month), when we decided to start running the project in December 2012, we also started a race against time to set a good communication flow with the community, creating as much content as possible as the backers want to have a deep knowledge about the project they are going to support (common sense). Videos, social media, a functional website, art, team introductions, PR activities, etc. All the ideas were welcome to explain the game and to tease and convince potential backers. So, after a month of madness and frenzy, 285 backers supported the pilot chapter of our ‘The Last Door’ and this adventure took its first step.

Where does the €10,000 budget go into for each chapter’s development?

We think it’s quite a modest budget taking into account that to develop a chapter we spend about 2-3 months and within the team we have four full-time resources: three programmers (Dani, Javi and Mauri) and one artist (Enrique) and on the top of that, three more part-time resources: our music composer (Carlos Viola) another artist (Mateo) and a person in charge of PR and community management (Raul). And obviously, we have many other fixed costs so it’s a matter of doing the maths; we don’t intend to make money with the game, but we’d love to live off of it. That would be a dream come true.

You guys have actively encouraged interaction and feedback from your donators and fans. How has that experience been, and what are the advantages of such a relationship with the gamers? Have they given great ideas that make you go ‘why didn’t we think of that?!’

Since the beginning we were clear about wanting to develop a staunch community. We believe in collaboration as a way of creation and we are making progress in that direction. In the last chapter, for instance, we organized a kind of contest where our community members had the chance to suggest descriptions for many objects we left intentionally undescribed within the game. The “Leave your Mark” initiative was highly successful and we are thinking about new actions to interact with our fans and make them participant in the success of the project. Following that direction, we are currently developing community translations support so the game can be localized into any language with the help of our community.

Indeed, a project like ours wouldn’t be feasible without the help of our community. They are highly helpful in finding and reporting bugs, suggestion improvements, etc. Everyday we find new posts on our website with heaps of comments, ideas and so on. All these inputs really help in the creative design and fine-tuning of the game, not to the extent of changing our original ideas, but supplementing and improving them. For instance, a couple of days ago we had a Scottish guy who recommended us some inspiring locations in his homeland for the setting of Chapter 3. Amazing.

How many chapters do you see yourself making if funding permitted it? Right now, Chapter 3 has been confirmed, but could this be a further on-going series?

The Last Door is designed to be a web series and, as such, it hasn’t got a predetermined number of chapters. As long as the community continue supporting us, and provided that the series makes sense from the point of view of the story, we will keep on producing episodes. If the project stretches on, we could even divide the game in different seasons, as the TV series do.

Is the browser-based flash model a direct result of limited funding, and do you have a different release format in mind? If so, when can we hope to see a standalone release?

Undoubtedly the choice of the model was an intricate and strategic decision. The limited funding forced us to shape the game into an episodic format, to lower the amount of money required to kickstart the development to a minimum. Iterating upon this concept, we finally gave the project the format of a web series, where new chapters would not only bring the story forward, but also add new gameplay features. And once viewed from this angle, we really liked what we had in our hands. Regarding the standalone release, we are seriously considering this option since there are quite a few people who have asked us about this, perhaps as an extra reward for our backers. We have to think it over but it’s certainly on our “to do list”.

And finally, do you have anything you’d like to say to potential consumers; maybe a final pitch? (I really enjoyed the game being a fan of the different genres involved and hope to see bigger and better things from you guys in the future.)

A final pitch? Hmm, we can only guarantee our future players that they’ll love the game if they are enticed into feeling jumping frights, experiencing fear, resolving puzzles or unfolding a great and mysterious story. Not exclusive for “low resolution-pixel level” imaginative and adventurous minds, but a real gem for those who love classic adventure games.

See you at TheLastDoor.com. Thank you very much!

Thanks for reading and please support these guys if the game is of any interest to you…the future of its continued development depends on the donations of its great fans. Visit the above link for all important information.

Disney Infinity Incredibles Playset Details Emerge

Andrew Day

July 18, 2013

Disney Infinity Incredibles Playset Details Emerge

With Disney Infinity’s launch only a few weeks away, Disney have been steadily releasing promotional videos for the game. Most of these videos have been focused on the highly anticipated Toy Box Mode, but today they have taken a step back and showcased one of the many Play Sets in the game.

Aside from the game’s Toy Box Mode, the Play Sets are the next biggest component of Disney Infinity and allow you to play through stories featuring your favourite characters and worlds. By putting a Play Set Piece on the Disney Infinity Base, a brand new world is unlocked for you, and a brand new adventure awaits.

The latest video from Disney showcases one of these Play Sets; The Incredibles. The Incredibles (along with Mr. Incredible himself) is one of three Play Sets that will be coming packed in with all copies of Disney Infinity, so you will be able to save Metroville from the diabolical Syndrome right out of the box.

The video, which you can check out below shows the Play Set in action, as well as how the other Incredibles characters (sold separately) all operate in the scope of it all. Lastly, the video shows off some of the Metroville and Incredibles-themed pieces in the Toy Box.

Disney Infinity launches in stores across the US on August 18th, and in Australia on the 22nd, so be sure to pick up. Remember that for all the Disney Infinity news as it becomes available, stay tuned to Capsule Computers

Face Noir Review

Joshua Moris

July 18, 2013

Face Noir
Publisher: Phoenix Online Studios (Localization)
Developer: Mad Orange
Platforms: PC
Release Date: July 18, 2013
Price: $19.99 – Here

Overview
Mad Orange has been hiding in the Italy based developer market and has started their franchise with the launch of a point-and-click adventure called Face Noir. By collaborating with developer and publisher Phoenix Online Studios, Mad Orange has localized the title’s content to broaden their potential marketing nearly a year after its German debut. While Face Noir II is currently in the works, Mad Orange is pleased to reach out to newer players of their first indie title.

Story
If sarcasm and pessimism had a child, that would be our private detective Jack del Niro’s demeanor throughout the story. I doubt it is all his fault for the way he acts since he was wrongly accused of a crime, kicked off the police force, and then locked-up for it. And to put the icing on top of the cake, the time period occurs during The Great Depression. I suppose Jack has good reason to be a wise-ass.

Progressing from one puzzle to the next, I began to think that there was a light at the end of the tunnel with a clear “bad guy”. Well, I am going to point out right away that I could not have been been more wrong. A crime invested organization known as the “Black Lily” has been growing immensely on the west coast and reached its hands out towards New York. During Jack’s time being a cop, Black Lily had developed an entity in the area controlling not only businessmen but also the same police force he worked for. Unbeknownst to Jack, his partner Sean had seen involvement in the organization and took the fall for some of its members’ undoings. Unfortunately, this is how our private detective saw jail time – being indirectly involved with a crook.

Finding out about the betrayal years later isn’t the only thing that stinks. A police captain pushes limits and accusations about Jack’s involvement in Sean’s murder. It sure smells like a cover up. But when it is all said and done, the finger you want to point to place the blame has no owner. The only finger that remains pointing is at yourself and your own ‘destiny’.

Gameplay
Face Noir follows the typical point-and-click adventure gameplay where players identify objects in a scene by interacting with them in multiple forms. This can encompass looking, confiscating, or even altering an object. While all three forms are crucial to completing the game, a detective should allows be on the lookout for new information (looking) and for new items to collect (confiscating). By utilizing the previous forms of interaction, the final form of altering can be accomplished by creating a new item from multiple objects within the inventory, adjusting environmental objects, or combining an item with an environmental object. One such instance includes the use of a shot glass to hear the correct combination of a safe.

While the development team claims non-linear gameplay with the title jumping to and from flashbacks, Face Noir is highly structured towards the storyline and does not allow a player to deter from this path. Such aspect is great when considering the effectiveness and ambition towards the story but provides less of an unique opportunity to be felt by players. As far as the re-playability factor, the nature of the game prevents any replay value as you will need to go through it with a fine tooth comb in order to complete. Not all tidbits are necessary to discover (posters, benches, fire hydrants), and these extras will not have retaining value for the story.

Plenty of puzzles are scattered throughout the game that can be explained better as ‘mini-games’. One such mini-game prompts you to create a doll in effort to calm a little girl. By correctly organizing/rotating doll parts within a crate, you will be able to place the parts together with an item and be able to give it to the girl. I found out quickly that by not having the parts rotated correctly – yet be in the correct placement – the doll could not be formed. Another instance offers the player to decode a cipher to reveal information behind the Black Lily organization. By adjusting alphabet letters around, the similarities across the document become apparent.

Visuals
When discussing Face Noir’s visuals, there are a few considerations that might blow your mind. In essence the entire game was created by two people: Gabriele Papalini and Marco Sgolmin. Gabriele was the lead designer concerning story, design, graphics, and animations. With that being said the character models appear to have more of a rough edging placed against continuously well-crafted backdrops. To better grasp the visuals, Face Noir presents itself with 2.5D visuals giving a top-down perspective on the characters. When the game camera is close up to the models the edge distortion becomes worse, yet when a larger map is present the distortion is nearly invisible.

An inclusion of a 3D inventory was a nice touch, but I felt that the classic 2D inventory better suited in efficiency and purpose. While visually seeing Jack hold up each item could give the player a better look at the object’s purpose, the ease of using the 2D inventory heavily outweighs its counterparts cosmetic value. By placing the cursor at the top of the screen, players can choose to look or use each individual item without scrolling 3D imagery or going to an alternate screen. For those that require additional help, the 2D inventory also offers a hint button that provides a layout to all interactive objects on the given screen.

Audio
I have come to notice that Jack del Niro’s voice actor sounds remarkably similar to David Hayter who voiced Solid Snake in the Metal Gear series. When looking at both character profiles, they have a lot in common: recon missions, organizational deception, love interest kidnapped, and more deception. No wonder why these guys seem grumpy all the time! None-the-less the persona delivered by Jack’s voice actor provides both humor and a ‘don’t mess with me’ attitude.

Other characters like the disgruntled Chinese taxi driver – Chon Jia Shi Yuan – are suppose to offer a small bit of comic relief to the story. And I am pretty sure they purposefully wrote the subtitles to include the Chinese to English accent. Here’s an example: “… I alweady told you I on bweak.”

On a similar note of voice acting, the voice to visual animations are noticeably off. It could be entirely possible that the animations were to reflect the original language, but if the localization process also changed the inflections – it could have looked better. The English version allows for the language to be changed; however, only the subtitles change and the normal voices remain.

Overall
Face Noir is able to deliver on several fronts. Mad Orange was dedicated in providing an unique story while continually driving plot twists to further intrigue the player. Also in their effort they illustrated beautiful scenery to allow an appreciating experience while investigating objects. Last but not least, a small group of people gathered together to make this indie title with limited resources. However, the game does lack in areas like replay value, voice to visual animations, and sleek character models. Of all of the lacking items, replay value ranks as the most important for the development team to consider in future installments. By allowing different choices to be made, a new outcome could result and create variety each time the game is played.

For the asking price of $19.99, I personally believe that better deals are to be had. The gaming market can be unforgiving when it comes to indie games, and I can foresee that being the case with Face Noir. Too many games are becoming free-to-play or have rapidly reduced prices for Face Noir to act as a competitor. However, I would definitely advise gamers to keep this title in their scope as discounts will make this point-and-click adventure a good buy.

Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.

Madman’s July 2013 Release Roundup

Sergei Lazarev

July 18, 2013

Madman has a few new releases this month that might just interest you. On the anime side you have the likes of From Up On Poppy Hill by Studio Ghibli to the long-awaited Code Geass OVA, and on the real “3D” front there’s a comical take on the sport of cricket, something for cat and dog lovers and heaps more!

Anime

From Up On Poppy Hill – Set in Yokohama, From Up On Poppy Hill is a high school love story that take place in the year before the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics. As the country begins to pick itself up from the devastation of the Second World War, the new generation struggles to move towards a prosperous future whilst trying not to lose the essence of their past.
Code Geass: Akito The Exiled – The Wyvern Arrives – A brand new side story with all-new characters in the fan favourite, best-selling world of Code Geass.
Kenichi – The Mightiest Disciple Complete Collection – Can this weak-kneed boy become the greatest fighter alive?
Nabari Complete Collection – The ninja world is at war. Whatever.
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (Season 2, Volume 2) – Parties & Pets – Six of the coolest ponies in Equestria learn all about friendship in this cult favourite.
The Amazing World of Gumball – Gumball navigates through life in Cartoon Network’s multi award-winning series.

madman-press-july-2013-02 — The Imposter

Film & TV

Save Your Legs! – A comic cricket odyssey from the suburbs to the subcontinent.
The Imposter – The greatest mystery in the disappearance of Nicholas Barclay began the day he got home…
Barbara – A chilling drama and winner of the 2012 Silver Bear for Best Director.
Upside Down – Kirsten Dunst and Jim Sturgess star in this visually spectacular sci-fi story of star-crossed lovers.
Doomsday Book – An apocalyptic anthology from the directors of THE LAST STAND and HANSEL & GRETEL.
Who Do You Think You Are? – Series 5 – Australian celebrities play detective as they go in search of their family history.
Don’t Forget To Write – The Complete Collection – Much sought-after BBC comedy about the perils of writing – starring George Cole (MINDER).
Marriage Lines – Richard Briers (THE GOOD LIFE) and Prunella Scales (FAWLTY TOWERS) explore the perils and pitfalls of love and marriage.
National Geographic: The Science of Cats & Dogs – The truth about cats and dogs.
Skins Series 6 – The third-generation SKINS gang returns in style!

Launchpad McQuack is Back in New DuckTales: Remastered Trailer

Dustin Spencer

July 18, 2013

Launchpad McQuack is Back in New DuckTales: Remastered Trailer

Launchpad McQuack is back! In a brand new trailer for DuckTales: Remastered, Capcom have the familiar pilot narrating a first look at the Himalayas stage within the game, and yes – it is a beautiful sight. The clip mainly shows us the snowy stage in action, but get a look at the animations in action. Quite a sight to see that is sure to tackle your nostalgia bone to the ground.

You can check out the new clip below, and DuckTales fans should remember that this little gem is still set to hit the PSN, Wii U, and PC this August, with the XBLA release following in September.

R.I.P.D.: The Game Now Available

Dustin Spencer

July 18, 2013

Today, Atlus have released R.I.P.D.: The Game for the Xbox Live Arcade, Playstation Network, and Steam. For those who are new to the brand, R.I.P.D. (Rest In Peace Department) comes from a new movie featuring Ryan Reynolds and Jeff Bridges, where two undead cops must go after the zombie-like foes that have invaded the human world. The game offers the same action, enemies, and humor from the flick, but is played as a third-person, wave-based shooter.

Features Include:

Film Authenticity – Working directly with Universal, Old School received ongoing access to the movie materials so that players could experience a faithful adaptation of the unique world of R.I.P.D., including environments, enemies, weaponry, effects and humor from the film.
Partner with Your Friends Online – Two-player online co-op allows wannabe gunslingers to use teamwork as they battle their way through the game. Your enemies won’t have a chance against the right team strategy.
Over-the-Top Action -Gunslingers will blast, impale, explode, and arrest enemies just as the heroes do in the film.
Unique In-Game Betting System – Co-op partners can put their in-game currency where their mouth is with a new feature that allows them to bet on who’s a better R.I.P.D. officer. Measured by which player can capture the most enemies, who can stay standing the longest, and other action-packed challenges, the virtual betting system allows players to always keep the stakes high.
Challenges Galore – Being an R.I.P.D. officer doesn’t mean blasting enemies all the time. Random challenges will appear during each stage to allow players to test their mettle for extra gold pieces.

You can pick up R.I.P.D.: The Game on your preferred platform today for $9.99, and check out the movie when it launches this weekend.

DC Necessary Evil Official Trailer Released

Tiarni Abdulovski

July 18, 2013

DC Necessary Evil Official Trailer Released

Everyone has a favorite villain. Personally, mine is the Ice King from Adventure Time. Everyone finds a way to sympathize with villains, and DC Comics knows this. Earlier this year on the 23rd of March, DC announced a new documentary – Necessary Evil: Villains of DC Comics, and yesterday, DC tweeted the release of the official Necessary Evil trailer.

Best selling author and DCE’s Chief Creative Office Geoff Johns says that it’s time DC deconstruct the complex and sinister antagonists and celebrate the roles they play as the engine and energy of some of the greatest storytelling in comics.

Christopher Lee, who has played over 200 roles as villains, graces the documentary with his unique voice. As the narrator, Lee will be exploring, in depth, DC Comics hallowed rogue’s gallery, interviewing the famed creators, storytellers and those who crafted the profiles and personalities of the many notorious villains in comic book history. The production began on March 3oth, and yesterday, DC released the official trailer, offering an exclusive first look at the interviews and footage from the documentary. Not only did the trailer release exclusive footage, it announced the official release date.

Check out the trailer below:

From October 25th, Necessary Evil can be yours to own on DVD and Blu-Ray.

The Bureau: XCOM Declassified Gets “Last Defence” Trailer

Joe Morgan

July 18, 2013

The Bureau: XCOM Declassified Gets “Last Defence” Trailer

2K Games, the folks behind WWE 2K14, Borderlands 2, and Bioshock Infinite, released another trailer for their upcoming XCOM-based shooter, The Bureau: XCOM Declassified.

The trailer, entitled “Last Defence”, gives us all a sneak peak of the in-game play mechanics and tricks in motion. What originally sounded as though it may end up being a boring, run-of-the-mill shooter appears to be shaping up into a truly unique, fun experience.

Cover based? Check. You never want to make yourself an easy target in an XCOM game. Beyond that, though, you and your squad can team up for some awesome tactical combinations. Want to take out a crowd on the other side of a congested 10-car pile up? Throw down a turret and use telekinesis to lift it into the air. The possibilities are quite appealing.

To see the trailer in action, be sure to check out the video in the player below this article. Also be sure to check out the game’s website here.

The Inquisitor: Book 1 – The Plague Review

Sergei Lazarev

July 18, 2013

The Inquisitor: Book 1 – The Plague Review

The Inquisitor: Book 1 – The Plague
Developer: Microids
Publisher: Anuman Interactive
Platforms: PC (reviewed), Mac, iOS, Android
Release Date: July 9, 2013
Price: $14.99 – Available Here

Overview
Living in the 14th century would have been arduous to say the least. Death lurked around every corner. Wars flared up at the whim of a stubborn king, disease could hardly be prevented and, of course, the Church brought down the hammer of the Inquisition upon any hint of blasphemy.

This is an indie adventure title that follows the exploits of Inquisitor Nicolas Eymerich and is based on the historical figure of the same name. We delve deep into this dark mystery and emerge alive and unpunished, so read on!

Story
Nicolas Eymerich is summoned by the head of his order to oversee an unnatural case. Heresy is suspected to have taken root in a nearby village, with a fellow inquisitor disappearing after being sent on the case.

It is evident from the start that your old but cunning elder is hiding vital information from you, and thus the player begins a fairly lengthy detective mission in the starting area to discover the truth. The narrative is driven by the main character’s musings and realisations, with the occasional confrontation revealing more of the plot.

In case you forget just what this is all about, you can always consult your journal and hear Nicolas recount all the events thus far. As you delve deeper, Nicolas discovers that the village was hit by the plague. But it is no ordinary plague either, and he is forced to exercise his experience in dealing with satanic apparitions.

The story works well enough to suit the game’s mechanics, but it’s the amount of background detail that’s most impressive. Being based on literary works and real history, the writer has plenty of room and material to work with to bring out a real atmospheric touch.

Gameplay
If you’re familiar with point and click adventure games, you’ll ease right into the gameplay mechanics of The Inquisitor. For everyone else, it’s simple: hover your mouse over the environment and click to interact with items, move and access areas.

When in doubt, skim your mouse over the whole screen and keep clicking. You’re bound to trigger something eventually. There is also an option for keyboard input commands, made for those who want a more intimate affair with the controls.

When it comes to the puzzles they are varied enough to keep you engaged, whether it’s trying to uncover a heretic, coax a guard to talk or activate an intricate mechanism. The game provides you with a journal, inventory and a hand-drawn map to aid you. But you’ll find you’re mostly on your own in the cold, lonely areas of the game, forcing you to stop and wrack your brain to figure out where to go sometimes.

There is a solution button, however, that automatically takes the player to where they need to go and solves the puzzle if you’re stuck. Being a novice in the adventure genre, I admit I used this a couple of times when I couldn’t for the life of me work out what had to be done. There is a slight recharge delay for the button, so you can’t exactly mash it repeatedly to breeze through the game.

The Inquisitor is built on a solid adventure platform, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t niggling issues. Interacting with the UI often struggles to catch up with player feedback, forcing you to take it slow and be very deliberate with how you click on the environment. The journal for instance turns a page back rather than forward if you click too fast making you pause every single time you turn the page.

Player movement works smoothly most of the time and ensures that, despite Nicolas’ slow walking pace, the screen changes quickly enough. In terms of what you actually do in the game, I would have loved to see some more Inquisitorial justice against would-be heretics. Playing the detective and doing fetch-quests is fine for an adventure game, but this guy is based on a historically cruel Inquisitor General. Let us do his real job!

Visuals
On the highest settings, the graphics are surprisingly quite nice with a minimal performance hit. There is an obvious roughness to the character models and the animation which befits an indie title, but it’s backed up by some pretty lighting, intricate backgrounds and vibrant indoor colours. The developer has succeeded in turning a dark and grey world into one that’s packed with detail and pleasing to look at.

Audio
The sound in The Inquisitor is both a hit and a miss. Firstly the team have got themselves some really talented voice actors, with each character expressing all the little nuances in speech suiting the era they’re in. Nicholas in particular has a consistently vengeful tone in his voice that makes him pleasing to listen to. The sound direction, however, could use work. Every line sounds forcefully long. It wouldn’t hurt to speed things up as you’re left waiting for the really slow lines to play out long after you’ve read the dialogue.

The voices also match the environment they’re in, echoing more in a corridor for example. This becomes an issue as they seem to have gone overboard with the effects, ending up with characters sounding like they’re in a fishbowl. These are minor complaints, as the voice actors really do sound authentic.

The music sounds strangely out of place in a game set during the Middle Ages, sounding more like something out of a classic Metroid game. It just feels like it wasn’t a priority from the start, which is a shame.

Overall
The Inquisitor: Book 1 – The Plague works great as an adventure game if you’re itching for that classic adventure fix. It also happens to feature a dark, medieval world tangled in religious intrigue with attention to detail that puts big budget titles to shame.

It’s not perfect, with often strange animations and puzzling audio mixing, but it still manages to grab your attention to the very end. We can only hope future sequels see us dealing out some real, divine punishment.

Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.

Surprise Attack Now a Publisher

Simon Wolfe

July 18, 2013

Surprise Attack was an interesting idea when it was first getting started, offering aid in marketing without being a true publisher thus keeping themselves separate and only there to help. While this strategy seems to have been working for them, a year and a half after officially going to market, Surprise Attack is now becoming an actual publisher for all platforms from PC, Mac, and Linux, to consoles, to mobiles and tablets.

Still focused on the goals of helping local indie developers reach a global market, Surprise Attack is branching off further than just marketing and helping distribution, but in helping indie developers get the funding and resources that they need to finish their games. With the announcement of becoming a publisher Surprise Attack has also listed the first three games it will be publishing:

Particulars (SeeThrough Studios) – A unique combination of arcade action and puzzle gameplay, set in the mysterious world of subatomic particles. You take control of a single quark as you navigate the fundamental forces of physics. Other particles push and pull at you, leaving you on the brink of losing control and being dragged towards annihilation.
Wolfdozer (Anomalous Interactive) – A retelling of the Three Little Pigs fairy tale in the form of a pixel-art survival destruction game reminiscent of the original Grand Theft Auto games.
Burden (PixelPickle Games) – A tower defence game with a living, moving battlefield. Protect your colossus—a giant beast of burden—and your special cargo as you journey across a variety of epic landscapes on your mission to please the gods and stop the devastation in the lands of Burden. Use your engineering skills to construct and strap devices to your colossus to fend off waves of enemies, both on the beast and in the skies.

In addition to their announcement of becoming a publisher and their first games, Surprise Attack will also be heading to PAX Aus 2013, where all three games will be present at their booth. Plus, Chris Wright, the Managing Director of Surprise Attack and Paul Sztajer, one of the co-founders at See Through Studios, will be on the panel about game innovation on July 19th at 2.30 PM.

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