3D Mailbox has released a new email client that lets you view your email as if each message was a character in a game world. You can feed your spam to sharks and apparently watch hot women swim? Now I believe that by incorporating game design elements into business software the productivity of the user can be improved. However I’m not sure this is how to do it. Either way it’s certainly hilarious. The even have a free version you can try out here that lets you access only the first level.
Well the internet sleuths are in full force and Destructoid reported that someone has stumbled across what was the initial concept work for Echochrome and it is called OLE Coordinate System. The best part is you can play it right now by downloading it here.
Of course since this was one of the most interesting games to come out of E3 I was quick to jump on it and give it a try.
The project page explains that OLE stands for Object Locative Environment which certainly describes what we’ve been seeing from Echochrome game play so far. The author also explains the goal of allowing us all to play in Escher like worlds.
“While M.C. Escher is famous for his “trick of the eye” works, this piece enables users to create and experience their own Escher-esque worlds.”
The page then goes on to describe the various mechanics of the game:
Subjective Translation - Where the player can change their view so that a character can navigate across gaps between objects that are not continuous in their old view
Subjective Landing - Where a character can fall from an object and land on the same object at the same height as what they fell from
Subjective Existence - Where the player can obscure the view of a gap to make it not exist such that the character can cross the gap unimpeded
Subjective Absence - Where things the player cannot see (such as holes) no longer exist to impede or effect the character
Subjective Jump - Where a character can jump and land on things that would not appear to be within the arc of the characters movement
What’s available for play is mainly a level editor where you can create your own Escher like levels and try out the mechanics of the game. Sadly there’s now way to save your levels from what I could find but I’d love to see screen shots of what other people came up with. Here’s a video showing off the OLE Coordinate System in action for those who don’t aren’t into checking it out first hand.
All of it seems very metaphysical and definitely gets the mind jogging. We’ve seen a couple of the mechanics before such as in Super Paper Mario having the ability to flip to 3D mode and move around pipes and such blocking the way. The holes also remind me of the upcoming game Portal in Orange Box and the portals in Prey a bit. But certainly all of these things haven’t been put together into such a mind bending package before and I really think that’s where the fun will come from once Echochrome drops. I’m definitely looking forward to Echochrome being released as I can see this making a fantastic puzzle game.
One of the more intriguing games to come out of E3 this year has got to be Echochrome. It’s being described as a puzzle game inspired by the works of M.C. Escher and in the same vein as Intelligent Qube. The game is set for release on the PSP and Playstation 3 Playstation Network sometime in the future (I couldn’t find a listed release date on this one.) Ironically enough those are the two systems I don’t currently own, that however will probably change especially with the current stream of intriguing games being announced for the Playstation 3. Some game play footage for this was just released as well that looks to do a good job of showing what the games about. The footage also features a classical music soundtrack that feels very natural with this game, I can only hope that is the soundtrack they end up using in the game and not just for the demo footage.
In true Escher style, game play appears to involve rotating the camera to move the objects in the world so that the player can interact with them in different and more useful ways. It’s certainly an exciting concept and I always enjoys games that like to tease the mind into seeing things in many different ways. This looks to be quite an intriguing game and probably one we’ll keep tabs on here at Zen And Games.
Welcome to Zen and Games, a blog about the design and creation of games. Articles on this site will focus on analyzing game designs and other topics relevant to games and game creation. Also I’ll probably be discussing game development in general and specifically independent game development. Most any game related topic will be fair game but I’ll try to come at it from an interesting and thoughtful perspective. I’m just getting things set up now so please feel free to bookmark me and come back in a couple weeks when everything is ready to go.
