![]() The 25% industry tax breaks for games with a British “cultural value”, finally awarded last year after a seven year legal battle, should encourage more newcomers to the games industry. The intricacies of the game’s plot – to travel round the world in 80 days, like Phileas Fogg – creates a world that can be explored repeatedly not just to improve on a score, but in order to continue discovering new elements missed on previous run-throughs. ![]() Oliver’s journey in 80 Days involves some unlikely characters. It reminds us of the simple pleasures of classroom craft but enhanced in ways we could only dream of as children. The painstaking effort to cut and construct a paper-based set provides a truly refreshing environment. Lumino City by Camberwell-based State of Play is a great example of a novel approach to graphic style. Some of the nominations this year challenge the orthodoxy in a beautiful way. Big budget games may be technically impressive with their realistic physics engines and lighting, but it’s often the smaller studios with tiny budgets that deliver real innovation. With far lower costs to develop games for mobile platforms, the opportunity is there for smaller studios and independent developers (often individuals) to enter the market with interesting, unusual, or downright idiosyncratic games. The explosion of computing power in our pocket via mobile phones and tablets has prompted a new wave of creativity throughout the game industry. So I’m pleased to see much smaller games from indie developers among the shortlist. Minecraft’s retro appeal has found stella success. This is as much to do with audience expectations of the game they’re getting as it is testament to the development costs required to exploit the technical power of the latest consoles. Each new iteration of an established title is often little more than a re-skin, a buff-and-polish. ![]() Franchises such as FIFA football, the Call of Duty first-person shooter and the Forza racer are commercial goldmines that are revisited annually to generate predictable profits. Yet there is much that is familiar in these nominations. These are massive, detailed open worlds to explore, with expansive multi-player options. On the list of nominees for the British Academy Games Awards this year are many “AAA” titles such as Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, Alien: Isolation and Far Cry 4, each demonstrating extraordinarily realistic visual representation involving soundscapes and inspiring technical ambition. It puzzles range from mundane to fantastic but you will be so preoccupied wondering how the developer built each environment that, even at its lowest moments, you remain enraptured by its charming style.With the spectacle delivered by increasingly photo-realistic video games with budgets running into tens of millions of pounds on a par with that of the film industry, it seems only right that video games should be offered awards by the same organisation, the Baftas. Cute and charmingįrom start to finish Lumino City keeps you captivated with its breathtaking, paper craft world. Here Lumino City respects your intelligence - a contents page that leads you to relevant spot, providing you can solve a simple math problem related to the puzzle. Each problem has its own entry which offers clues to the solution, but there are hundreds of pages that offer no help at all. If puzzles ever prove too complex you always have you granddad’s technical manual to hand. But there is one through line across all of these problems - they can all be solved using the intuitive interface. Another wants you to place mirrors correctly to reflect light in to a series of rooms, all so you can see the different parts of a code to open a door. One just has you talking to a selection of disgruntled neighbors in the right order so they stop arguing. Lumino City's puzzles vary significantly in complexity - and quality. ![]() It’s a feat made all the more impressive once you realize many of the effects are practical and developer, State of Play Games, actually build a 10 foot high model city in which to set the action. The world gently rotates as you move from one puzzle to the next, shifting seamlessly between 2D and 3D, all looking stunning. Instantly setting off to the Lumina City, you begin to meet its many entertaining inhabitants, all of whom have their own mechanical problems that must be solved to progress. From the opening scene, in which you explore your grandfather’ house, every screen and puzzle oozes a distinctive tactile style that begs to be explored and touched.īut - before you get a chance to really appreciate the world the developer has created – a noise comes from another room, and Lumi runs out to discover her Grandfather has been kidnapped.
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