Back in late 2012, Double Fine had their annual session called Amnesia Fortnight where everybody in the company stops working on whatever project they’re doing and gets together to create new, smaller teams to build a number of prototype games. This is done within a short timeframe of a few weeks. Every person in the company has an opportunity to pitch their idea for a game and the ones with the most votes would be built. This is where games like Costume Quest and Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster (prototype name: Happy Song) came from. The person whose prototype is selected will become the project leader for the team that creates the game. AF 2012 was a little different from previous years because they allowed the public to vote on what games they should work on. This was done through Humble Bundle. I was part of this and got to vote as well. The game I voted for did not get selected, but ultimately five were chosen and were built during the 2012 session.

In addition to all of this, 2 Player Productions filmed a documentary on the event. This doc covered, in great details, all that had occurred in each team for the top five chosen games. This documentary was included as part of the Humble Bundle, but was also released on Blu-ray a few months later in the spring; which I bought a copy of. The rad part of this physical copy of the documentary is that it not only contains the Blu-ray disc, but also an accompanying DVD that includes all of the games that were shown being built, which you can install and play on your computer! Well, I’ve watched the documentary and played all of the games. Below are my blurbs on each game from this year’s Amnesia Fortnight.

Autonomous

This is a game that is driven by game-mechanics. From a first person perspective you find yourself in an ‘80s future-inspired landfill. This dump is filled with robots waiting to destroy whatever they come across, including you. The level is one humongous maze and the goal of the game is to find a certain amount of energy (which I believe is 50% of all the energy found in the level). You will find energy from robots you have destroyed and also from generators that are scattered throughout the level. However, you cannot collect the energy from generators or destroy the robots yourself. You need to build robots designed to take care of these tasks for you.

Robots can be build with robot parts found scattered across the level. You will need a torso, legs, a head, and an arm to complete a robot. The task of the robot depends on the arm. For example, a mining arm will be able to retrieve energy from a generator. A laser gun arm will be able to attack other robots. Each of the parts are unique and have advantages and disadvantages, so finding the right parts are important.

Autonomous took some time for me to get used to the gameplay and also to figure out what NOT to do. Once I caught on to this way of thinking, the game became really fun. I enjoyed seeing my robot creation march forward, find the robot that’s preventing me from passing through to another section, and destroying it. Thus allowing me to collect the energy from it and begin using its parts to assemble another robot.

The White Birch

Inspired by games like Ico and Journey, The White Birch is a polygonal platform game that introduces you to a level full of atmosphere and intrigue. You are a girl that follows a golden colored owl into a giant tower in the middle of a dark forrest. Your task is to get to the top of this tower, but you will need to solve some puzzles along the way. This game is ideally a console style game, so you can play it with a controller. This is the way how I played the game.

The game is rich in both visuals and audio. The game appears to be running at a silky smooth 60 fps which makes it look really nice. The surrounding environment is huge and leaves you feeling very small. I like how I can rotate the camera around and see how tall the tower is and get a cense on just how big the place is. The music in the game is something you’ll need to listen to, because it’s so great. Heavy on the echo-y piano, the music supplements the visuals nicely and is great during the some of the cut scenes.

The only critique I have for this demo is that I wish it had an extra save point near a puzzle found towards the end of the game. I kept dying on that one and the save point was right before the a puzzle in the middle of the game. Other than that, this was a fun game.

Hack N’ Slash

I thought this game was not going to be something I would like, but I was so wrong. It includes some interesting tools for you to use and play with in the game.

It’s basically like the original Zelda game, but with a twist. Like in Zelda, you’ll explore the environments and collect items to help you on your way. The items are hacker like tools which allow you to mess with the game’s properties. For example, you can slow down time to cross an area where traps are moving too fast, or you can mess with an enemy’s attributes like their health gage, depth of sight, or friendly attack. The tools are like having a Game Genie where you can hack the game’s code and see what weird things you can do to the game.

Hack N’ Slash also includes a lot of secrets and easter eggs that are cool to find. One of the puzzles were a head scratcher for a while, but once you’ve figured it out you will either feel really smart or really stupid (I felt like the latter).

Spacebase DF-9

When I watched all of the game pitches, this was one of the few I was interested in seeing become part of this year’s Amnesia Fortnight.

This RTS has you building a space station with all kinds of stuff. Not only are you building the station, but you have to manage the residence of it by assigning them jobs. Once they are assigned a job you’ll designate a part of the station as a “zone,” which will be the area a person works at. For example, if you assign someone as a bartender, then you’ll need to place a pub zone somewhere on the station. Once you do, the person will go to that area and begin building pub elements like a bar.

There is also a social aspect to the game. Every person has likes and dislikes of others and have different statuses for themselves like morale, sociability, bravery, and laziness. If someone gets sick, then you will need to have an infirmary so they can get better; otherwise you might have a space flu that could wipe out the whole colony. There’s a lot to do in this game and I’m glad it was one of the chosen prototypes.

Black Lake

You are a girl who’s tracking a fox with a feather throughout a forrest. This is probably the game out of all five from AF 2012 that has the strongest story. It has two main cut scenes and a few scattered throughout the game. It also includes some voice acting!

It’s a polygonal game and it takes place in a big forrest. This level is deep in details and full of foliage. It’s so big and confusing that I was lost for a bit when I started wondering far off from what is the main trail. Even though I was lost I thought it was great because it allows you the freedom to walk anywhere in the level and not run into any invisible walls. Plus, there are a few interesting finds when you venture off the path! Like The White Birch, this game plays great with a controller.

The enemies you find in the game are creepy and add to the story. The gameplay was great too because it added a few tools for you to use throughout the game that are fun to play with.

Amnesia Fortnight is a pretty neat idea. I believe in the documentary Tim said it’s a great way to see a high level of creativity in a very short amount of time. I’m glad Double Fine opened the event to the public and allowed us to participate on voting for the prototypes to be built, to watch the games be made from the documentary, and to allow us to play the prototypes too. This Amnesia Fortnight Special Edition Box Set is highly recommended if anyone is interested in seeing an abridged version on how games get made by replacing them with game prototypes.