To put it simply, NightSky is a ball-rolling 2D puzzle-platformer. Every stage you roll your character (a black sphere) around, maybe solve a puzzle or two, get to the right side of the third screen and move on to the next area. It's not some epic journey with all of these events and bigger set-pieces with every change of scenery. I think that's why I like it though; the game is trying to impress you by what it is, not what it's attempting to do.
Let me explain; there's a difference between impressing people by who you are and what you're trying to do. While a scientist may have discovered something that may change the world, the scientist is still a scientist who does long, complicated equations and probably spends all of his day in a sealed room. The scientist, as a person, is unimpressive. Now, look at a passionate chef that manages to juggle cooking three meals and would gladly re-make an entire dish if he thought that it wasn't up to whatever high standards a person would have; who would you rather have a chat with? While I'm sure either choice would be interesting, I feel that a majority would find the chef a more engaging person.
I believe that above analogy can be used in terms of the video game industry. Many big-budget games (and even some small-budget ones) impress you with specifically what's happening rather than what's there. While I'm sure Call of Duty is a solid game, I can't think that people play it because they're looking for some feeling or weight to the world; they're playing it because events are unfolding and kill-streaks are incoming. I also can't see any other reason why the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game series is so popular and is considered a cult classic besides having a world that screams "I want you dead" at every minute.
Now, back to NightSky. The reason it fits in the "I'm impressing you by being what I am" category is that the whole game lacks a sense of straight-forwardness. There isn't any precursor that suggests that what happens next is what should be happening; it just happens. This is one of the reasons why Minecraft is popular; there's no coherency to the world, things are just as they are, giving that sense of an unpredictable future. NightSky follows this mentality, going from dark caves in one area to a high-above-the-clouds city of Victorian architecture. This sense of unpredictability that I had playing NightSky for the first time is what really enhanced my experience. Of course, I'm not really surprised by this since the game was made by Nifflas, a one-man team that's known for making very unique and unsuspecting games. Either way, I enjoyed this game. I guess that's the end result.
Let me explain; there's a difference between impressing people by who you are and what you're trying to do. While a scientist may have discovered something that may change the world, the scientist is still a scientist who does long, complicated equations and probably spends all of his day in a sealed room. The scientist, as a person, is unimpressive. Now, look at a passionate chef that manages to juggle cooking three meals and would gladly re-make an entire dish if he thought that it wasn't up to whatever high standards a person would have; who would you rather have a chat with? While I'm sure either choice would be interesting, I feel that a majority would find the chef a more engaging person.
I believe that above analogy can be used in terms of the video game industry. Many big-budget games (and even some small-budget ones) impress you with specifically what's happening rather than what's there. While I'm sure Call of Duty is a solid game, I can't think that people play it because they're looking for some feeling or weight to the world; they're playing it because events are unfolding and kill-streaks are incoming. I also can't see any other reason why the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game series is so popular and is considered a cult classic besides having a world that screams "I want you dead" at every minute.
Now, back to NightSky. The reason it fits in the "I'm impressing you by being what I am" category is that the whole game lacks a sense of straight-forwardness. There isn't any precursor that suggests that what happens next is what should be happening; it just happens. This is one of the reasons why Minecraft is popular; there's no coherency to the world, things are just as they are, giving that sense of an unpredictable future. NightSky follows this mentality, going from dark caves in one area to a high-above-the-clouds city of Victorian architecture. This sense of unpredictability that I had playing NightSky for the first time is what really enhanced my experience. Of course, I'm not really surprised by this since the game was made by Nifflas, a one-man team that's known for making very unique and unsuspecting games. Either way, I enjoyed this game. I guess that's the end result.
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