Prisoneers - Review

Imagine you've been incarcerated - for anything. Then imagine that you and your cellmate have planned an escape - and succeeded - except for one nagging detail: you and your cellmate are shackled together by a heavy chain at the neck, with proximity grenades attached to your collars that will make YOUR HEAD EXPLODE if the two of you get more than six feet apart from each other.

Welcome to Prisoneers, the game that Ottawawawawawawawa developped during TOJam 9 last year. It's an enjoyably difficult cooperative game that makes use of dollar-store sandals and an aluminum catering lid as the controller, which is originally what caught my eye on Twitter in the first place.

CONCEPT: 2/5 - Marginally related to the theme "After You!"
CONTROLS: 4.5/5 - Would have been better if not controlling sandals with hands. That was a bit awkward, though still fun.
STORY: 2.5/5 - I don't recall actually seeing any story in the game itself, however what I wrote above was inspired by the developers' explanation they gave me in person.
GRAPHICS: 3/5 - Blocky 3D figures that are reminiscent of first generation PSX games, and certain games for the Wii. (I was originally thinking of Muscle March, but those are more detailed graphics than I remembered.) However the simplicity holds a certain charm, and who really wants to see detailed gore when your head explodes... really? A great job for a weekend's work.
SOUND: 1/5 - Unfortunately, I don't recall any sound besides explosions, if any.
QUIRKINESS: 5/5 - This game gets full quirkiness points for the idea of the controller alone!
ENJOYABILITY: 4/5 - Difficult, but I could see it being beatable with practice and/or a better partner. Simply put, FUN.

FINAL SCORE: 22 GOATS

I've said it before and I'll say it again; Prisoneers is a brilliantly wacky, fun game. The controls are intuitive, as was the minimalistic title screen. It's the kind of game I'd hope to see in a theatre or Japanese arcade. Perfect for getting in arguments with your siblings over, then later succeeding and bonding over the realization of your mutual accomplishment. Prisoneers is not recommended for those faint of cooperation or patience. If you're a control freak, there is also the option to play it by yourself with your keyboard at home. Even then, it's a challenge. I've tried it.

Great job, Ottawawawawawawawawawa.




                          ...wa?



You can follow Jason Nuyens, one of the developers @generaltao.

A Short Word

Hey fellow players!

I just wanted to say a few things before I posted this week's review.

Firstly, please keep in mind that all games I review here are JAM games, most often made in 48 hours or less at TOJam*. I'm not expecting perfection, so you shouldn't either. Sometimes, we can both be pleasantly surprised when something is polished. Whenever possible, I will be linking to the game in it's Jam incarnation, and a more current version (if any).

I have a bit of an unconventional writing and reviewing style. Personally, I look for QUIRKINESS in a game, so that attribute will feature heavily in my reviews and is its own category to be rated. I feel that uniqueness is something to be celebrated, rather than mocked or looked down upon. I seek out and thrive upon the weird.

Also, I tend to be a very critical person, so some of my ratings may come off harsh, even when viewing the games through a 48 hour lens**.

Finally, this is all intended to be in good fun! Really, I'm just hoping this will make people more aware of what amazing independent developers, artists, musicians, and creators we have here in Toronto and Canada*** at large. This is something to be CELEBRATED!

So let's get out there and play and make more games!


(And don't be afraid to leave comments!)








*Unless otherwise stated.
**I'm apologizing in advance. Hopefully there won't be any issues.
***Do Americans or other international people participate in TOJam? Jim?****

****Hey, if Terry Pratchett can do it, so can I!*****

*****Footnote a footnote, that is. Sad thing about his passing, truly. Discworld books are great satirical works of fiction. Read them. Seriously.

TOJam 10!

Hey fellow players!

TOJam 10 is just around the corner. Are you ready for the most epic Jam of 2015? It's going to be one hell of a party.

Right now, as I type this, the TOJam website continues to tease us with a giant 10 on the page, staring back at us. Staring into our souls.
Because we are creators, we stare back at it and think "What is that 10 thinking?" "What will the new theme be?" "Who will I work with this year?" "What language am I going to code in?"...
The questions keep coming and swirling around and around.

But let's take a moment to think about the past.

Name one thing you're proud of doing at a previous Jam.
Someone you've enjoyed working with.
Something you've learned.

I'll start.

I'm proud that in 2013 I went solo and created a hilarious (and still unfinished) text-based adventure (with pictures) using Twine. Hey, Listen! That was my first time programming a game with anything other than BASIC since I was 7-10 years old. (Normally I do the artwork and story for our Jam games. Sometimes I work on level design too.)

I have enjoyed working with my friend Mike, every year besides 2013.

At my first TOJam (Sixy Times, aka 6 or 2011), I learned that all the people doing art in front of me and making me feel completely inferior were all professionals. Once I had learned that, I was able to breathe again and get going. I learned a new system (Twine) in 2013. Since 2011, each year I've been getting better and better and managing just how much of a game is physically possible to create in 48 hours. (I still haven't gotten as far as I've planned - yet.)

See, that was pretty easy, right?

You still have plenty of time to come up with (or wait for) the answers to all the other questions. Feel free to think about them, but try not to worry about them, okay?

To make that a little bit easier, I'm going to countdown to TOJam 10 with some reviews about last year's games from Party Like It's 19 TOJam 9!, starting this Friday. So keep your eyes on this here blog as well as TOJam.ca for the big announcement (the date, and registration, of course!).

Happy creating!