For those of you looking to fly across rooftops and solve puzzles in the dead of night, this new puzzle game may tickle your fancy. It was released earlier today with same-day Linux support and I have a few brief thoughts.
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Note: Key provided by developer
Cityglitch places players in the role of an urban witch, trying to complete rituals on rooftops all the while being opposed by ghosts and impeded by cats. A bit silly? Sure. It’s not like the premise is very important beyond providing an excuse for the dark and neon color palette used in each level.
You control your witch by making her slide over tiles much like you would a queen piece in chess. Movement is limited by obstacles and enemies, the latter also snuffing out lit runs should they pass over them. It’s a fairly straightforward premise, mechanically, and the small grids that you play in get progressively more challenging as you clear stages. I found that in my brief time playing through them that they can be cleared in a few minutes, tops, but often you’ll have to stop and think about what your next move will do to the other things on the board.
It’s alright for what it is and the two dozen or so levels I did also featured more challenging “boss” encounters to wrap up the particular bit of city you’re in. The only thing that sticks out as an obvious negative about the game are the graphics. They’re way too blocky for 1080p and even shrinking down the window still makes things look, frankly, ugly. Not to mention that the bloom and other effects when the graphics details are turned to ‘high’ degrade visibility even more. It’s hard to make out the details of the things you’re supposed to look at as a result.
Still, I think that if you’re willing to look past that, the gameplay itself seems to be compelling enough. Being able to play stages in bite-sized chunks is something that appeals to me in puzzle games as I don’t always have the time to sit down and really think about problems.
You can get Cityglitch on Steam or on itch.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
I have disabled it in every single game since (where possible) and am just amazed that there are still devs out there thinking there's any value to it.
Last edited by TheSHEEEP on 24 February 2018 at 7:52 am UTC
Quoting: TheSHEEEPBloom, the bane of graphics quality since early 2000s.Bloom actually adds to realism if it's subtle enough and done correctly. If you're trying to simulate a photographic look that is. I agree it used to look horrible in most older games, but so did SSAO until just recently. I haven't felt the urge to disable bloom in many modern titles.
I have disabled it in every single game since (where possible) and am just amazed that there are still devs out there thinking there's any value to it.
The glow in this game it over the top though.
Quoting: tuubiNo, it doesn't. It just doesn't.Quoting: TheSHEEEPBloom, the bane of graphics quality since early 2000s.Bloom actually adds to realism if it's subtle enough and done correctly.
I have disabled it in every single game since (where possible) and am just amazed that there are still devs out there thinking there's any value to it.
Nothing in reality looks like bloom does. Brightness doesn't "bleed over" to adjacent imagery like that, making you unable to see contours of what is next to the light source. You'd have to look directly into the sun to get that - in games it is always applied to every light source, no matter how small. It's just applied globally.
Just like nothing in reality looks like motion blur (we'd all throw up constantly if it did).
By now so many games using wrong techniques have conditioned quite a lot of people to believe it looks real, when it simply doesn't. It is really sad.
You are right about SSAO, and HDR if used sparsely as well (especially if not combined with bloom). Or god rays. All have their place, if used correctly.
But bloom is just the "look, mum, I got shaders in my game!"...
Quoting: TheSHEEEPBut bloom is just the "look, mum, I got shaders in my game!"...
Don't you mean shatters ? :D
Quoting: TheSHEEEPNothing in reality looks like bloom does.Of course they can't accurately simulate the way your eyes work and the way your brain fills in the blanks. That's why I added "If you're trying to simulate a photographic look". Check the theory section in this article for a brief explanation. Sometimes in film this is actually deliberately overdone to give a "dreamy" look to the image. In any case, I maintain that a subtle bloom effect can make a highlight pop out and actually seem bright, not just white.
Quoting: TheSHEEEPBrightness doesn't "bleed over" to adjacent imagery like that, making you unable to see contours of what is next to the light source. You'd have to look directly into the sun to get that - in games it is always applied to every light source, no matter how small. It's just applied globally.Yes, bloom is applied to all highlights. That's the point. Also, please don't look directly into the sun. You'll go blind.
Quoting: TheSHEEEPJust like nothing in reality looks like motion blur (we'd all throw up constantly if it did).Fully agreed on motion blur. It's a console trick to make a low framerate seem less jerky. It always does more harm than good.
Quoting: TheSHEEEPBut bloom is just the "look, mum, I got shaders in my game!"...In nine-and-a-half cases out of ten I agree. I'd look for examples of the remaining half, but I'm not that committed to "winning" this debate. :)
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Oh and the name doesn't mean anything but coincidentally could be pronounced as "Buttery" which suits me just fine.
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