Quick Look: Closure

Looks cool, but damn is it a dark game.

@VargasPrime said:

"Pretentious" seems to be the go-to word to describe indie games that are low on bells and whistles, when in fact they are just low-budget, low-manpower efforts which require simple, solid atmosphere or mechanics to accomplish their goals.

If you don't like the game, that's cool. But don't just attribute words to it or the developer when you're just trying to justify your dislike.

Agreed!

@geekbot said:

"Come on, they did it for the aesthetic alone."

- That's possible, but there's really no way to know for sure. Smart developers rarely do something purely for esthetic reasons though.

There is a way to know for sure actually. Hello, I'm the programmer/designer behind the game. It was a partially aesthetic decision, and partially gameplay influenced (after all, the visuals and the gameplay are linked together). You need high contrast, not just shadows, for this game to work. It needs to be REALLY CLEAR where the ground ends, and where it doesn't, this is most effective when there's high contrast, and high contrast with color looks pretty ugly. It took a very long time to get the art style right for this, it wasn't a cop-out or laziness (and actually proved to be more difficult than working with color, since you can't color code anything, everything had to rely on weirder visual effects and animation (flickering lights) to give depth to the graphics and clue people in to gameplay objects).

-Tyler

@TylerGlaiel said:

@geekbot said:

"Come on, they did it for the aesthetic alone."

- That's possible, but there's really no way to know for sure. Smart developers rarely do something purely for esthetic reasons though.

There is a way to know for sure actually. Hello, I'm the programmer/designer behind the game. It was a partially aesthetic decision, and partially gameplay influenced (after all, the visuals and the gameplay are linked together). You need high contrast, not just shadows, for this game to work. It needs to be REALLY CLEAR where the ground ends, and where it doesn't, this is most effective when there's high contrast, and high contrast with color looks pretty ugly. It took a very long time to get the art style right for this, it wasn't a cop-out or laziness (and actually proved to be more difficult than working with color, since you can't color code anything, everything had to rely on weirder visual effects and animation (flickering lights) to give depth to the graphics and clue people in to gameplay objects).

-Tyler

JEEZ HOW PRETENTIOUS, AM I RIGHT GUYS?

@Zippedbinders said:

Simple, its an easier visual style to convey. You're only dealing with two tones instead of a whole variety of colors. It makes the visual style more cohesive and is immediately striking. Print making uses a variety of inks and hard cuts to create similar looks. Black and white is also just its own style, black and white comics rely specifically on line art and heavy shadow for plenty of similar reasons.

(Yo I'm Jon I do the art for the game)

But, this. I too am tired of 8-bit graphics. I was more influenced by Braid, in the organic nature of how the art in the levels were constructed. The tools in place and collision mapping of the levels did not lend themselves to tile-based rendering either. All of the art is hand-drawn and assets individually placed everywhere in the levels using a combination of our simple level editor and Photoshop. I paid very close attention to every single spot in the game, how parts would appear with certain amounts of light on them, etc.

Because I was basically collaging art assets together to create the levels in the game, black and white was the absolute best choice for this. Not gonna lie, Braid achieved this very well in its colorful painted style, but I paid very close attention to mixing up the line art and graphical style for each world in this game. It's not immediately noticeable but after playing for a few hours, it's recognizable. Tyler also had to program shaders for this game, so let's not forget how difficult the lighting effects would be to achieve in the same way if we had any less channels of color to render with, when we are already using them for bump maps.

There's not too much for me to say beyond that, it's up to opinion whether you're a fan of the art style or not because I fully realize what I was getting myself into (in recreating graphics for a game we made 3.5 years ago) in this day and age. I'll ask anyone, though, that they consider the overall presentation and atmosphere, how the game flows, and how the graphics and sound interact with each other before making their 'statements of fact' about our development decisions.

I wasn't aware of this game, but this looks pretty good. Love the concept. Some of these puzzle games are quite inventive :)

Played the demo of this today, seems pretty cool. I'm glad Trick showed off some of the later puzzles, wanted to see it how complicated it gets. The way the music gets all distorted when in the water creeps me the fuck out (in a good way!).
 
My only very very minor nitpick is how bland the menus are, especially the text. I was surprised at that, considering how neat the graphical style is. It's not going to stop me from buying the game sometime soon, though.

@gladspooky said:

Quick question: Why is it in black and white?

Now answer without talking about old movies or still photography or the struggles between light and dark.

Closure came out 18 months before Limbo as a Flash game (Jan 23rd, 2009), and has slightly different visuals. It's hand-painted graphics and animations with white characters on black backgrounds, while Limbo is the opposite and with silhouettes.

Is it just me or does that music sound a lot like puzzle agent?

@beard_of_zeus said:

My only very very minor nitpick is how bland the menus are, especially the text. I was surprised at that, considering how neat the graphical style is. It's not going to stop me from buying the game sometime soon, though.

We would have gone without any menus if possible (since the game starts with its own title screen), but it wasn't really possible so we just made the menus as disconnected from the game as possible so people wouldn't consider it as an integral part of the experience.

@TylerGlaiel: Thanks for the info! I look forward to playing the game. It looks great! :)

@beard_of_zeus said:

My only very very minor nitpick is how bland the menus are, especially the text. I was surprised at that, considering how neat the graphical style is. It's not going to stop me from buying the game sometime soon, though.

We would have gone without any menus if possible (since the game starts with its own title screen), but it wasn't really possible so we just made the menus as disconnected from the game as possible so people wouldn't consider it as an integral part of the experience.

I'd buy it, but I can't find it on psn.
Maybe it's not out in Europe yet or something.

Oh, cool, I remember playing the original version of this a few years ago. I thought it was really interesting and enjoyable. Always fun to see concepts like that given new life in a more.. official capacity? From what I can see, it doesn't handle the same themes as the original, either... At least the part shown in the quick look... Color me intrigued! Or black and white but still curious.

I think this game has more levels than I would actually play.  Maybe I'll pick it up when it hits ten bucks.

@Rox360 said:

Oh, cool, I remember playing the original version of this a few years ago. I thought it was really interesting and enjoyable. Always fun to see concepts like that given new life in a more.. official capacity? From what I can see, it doesn't handle the same themes as the original, either... At least the part shown in the quick look... Color me intrigued! Or black and white but still curious.

There are a few different characters and themes to explore in this version! Not just 1 like in the Flash version.

@Spoonman671said:

I think this game has more levels than I would actually play. Maybe I'll pick it up when it hits ten bucks.

11.99 for Playstation Plus Sub right now ;D

this game looks cool. 
 
not reading the essays written in these 4 pages of comments though.

Cool. Embrace the darkness and stuff.

@Rox360 said:

Oh, cool, I remember playing the original version of this a few years ago. I thought it was really interesting and enjoyable. Always fun to see concepts like that given new life in a more.. official capacity? From what I can see, it doesn't handle the same themes as the original, either... At least the part shown in the quick look... Color me intrigued! Or black and white but still curious.

There are a few different characters and themes to explore in this version! Not just 1 like in the Flash version.

@Spoonman671said:

I think this game has more levels than I would actually play. Maybe I'll pick it up when it hits ten bucks.

11.99 for Playstation Plus Sub right now ;D

@Jayzz said:

this game looks cool. not reading the essays written in these 4 pages of comments though.

I'll give you the short version: user gladspooky was being his usual asshole self and arguing with people, then two of the game's developers commented and set everybody straight. It was hilarious.

@TylerGlaiel said:

@geekbot said:

"Come on, they did it for the aesthetic alone."

- That's possible, but there's really no way to know for sure. Smart developers rarely do something purely for esthetic reasons though.

There is a way to know for sure actually. Hello, I'm the programmer/designer behind the game. It was a partially aesthetic decision, and partially gameplay influenced (after all, the visuals and the gameplay are linked together). You need high contrast, not just shadows, for this game to work. It needs to be REALLY CLEAR where the ground ends, and where it doesn't, this is most effective when there's high contrast, and high contrast with color looks pretty ugly. It took a very long time to get the art style right for this, it wasn't a cop-out or laziness (and actually proved to be more difficult than working with color, since you can't color code anything, everything had to rely on weirder visual effects and animation (flickering lights) to give depth to the graphics and clue people in to gameplay objects).

-Tyler

I still don't see why a black and white art style is required for gameplay purposes in this type of game. Why not make the non-lit areas be black and the lit areas be in color? There have been plenty of games where the ground disappears and you're surrounded by a dark void, and you can tell where the ground is and where it isn't.

I think someone has a reading deficiency...

@gladspooky said:

@TylerGlaiel said:

@geekbot said:

"Come on, they did it for the aesthetic alone."

- That's possible, but there's really no way to know for sure. Smart developers rarely do something purely for esthetic reasons though.

There is a way to know for sure actually. Hello, I'm the programmer/designer behind the game. It was a partially aesthetic decision, and partially gameplay influenced (after all, the visuals and the gameplay are linked together). You need high contrast, not just shadows, for this game to work. It needs to be REALLY CLEAR where the ground ends, and where it doesn't, this is most effective when there's high contrast, and high contrast with color looks pretty ugly. It took a very long time to get the art style right for this, it wasn't a cop-out or laziness (and actually proved to be more difficult than working with color, since you can't color code anything, everything had to rely on weirder visual effects and animation (flickering lights) to give depth to the graphics and clue people in to gameplay objects).

-Tyler

I still don't see why a black and white art style is required for gameplay purposes in this type of game. Why not make the non-lit areas be black and the lit areas be in color? There have been plenty of games where the ground disappears and you're surrounded by a dark void, and you can tell where the ground is and where it isn't.

Ok, I'll bite. Which one's creepier?

A)

http://i.imgur.com/7wisV.jpg

or

B)

http://i.imgur.com/7dcP3.jpg

@jonschubbe said:

@gladspooky said:

@TylerGlaiel said:

@geekbot said:

"Come on, they did it for the aesthetic alone."

- That's possible, but there's really no way to know for sure. Smart developers rarely do something purely for esthetic reasons though.

There is a way to know for sure actually. Hello, I'm the programmer/designer behind the game. It was a partially aesthetic decision, and partially gameplay influenced (after all, the visuals and the gameplay are linked together). You need high contrast, not just shadows, for this game to work. It needs to be REALLY CLEAR where the ground ends, and where it doesn't, this is most effective when there's high contrast, and high contrast with color looks pretty ugly. It took a very long time to get the art style right for this, it wasn't a cop-out or laziness (and actually proved to be more difficult than working with color, since you can't color code anything, everything had to rely on weirder visual effects and animation (flickering lights) to give depth to the graphics and clue people in to gameplay objects).

-Tyler

I still don't see why a black and white art style is required for gameplay purposes in this type of game. Why not make the non-lit areas be black and the lit areas be in color? There have been plenty of games where the ground disappears and you're surrounded by a dark void, and you can tell where the ground is and where it isn't.

Ok, I'll bite. Which one's creepier?

A)

http://i.imgur.com/7wisV.jpg

or

B)

http://i.imgur.com/7dcP3.jpg

I said "required for gameplay purposes." Creepiness is not necessarily an aspect of gameplay. Also I don't think this game looks very creepy.

I like black and white. and also the gameplay looks cool.

and also I like that the developers are nice enough to be chatting with us :]

I'll get this when it comes to steam

@Aegeri: OMG.....

jesus, people and their color problems...first Killzone is too grey, then gears is too brown, then diablo III became too colorful and everyone got butthurt that it didn't fit their dark souls anymore...and now this game is too black and white??? WHAT DO YOU PEOPLE WANT!!!

lol...game looks fine, light and dark...all the white is platforms and the dark is not, very simple concept and it really doesn't need to be much more than that

might pick it up when i get some free time on my hands

@gladspooky said:

@jonschubbe said:

@gladspooky said:

@TylerGlaiel said:

@geekbot said:

"Come on, they did it for the aesthetic alone."

- That's possible, but there's really no way to know for sure. Smart developers rarely do something purely for esthetic reasons though.

There is a way to know for sure actually. Hello, I'm the programmer/designer behind the game. It was a partially aesthetic decision, and partially gameplay influenced (after all, the visuals and the gameplay are linked together). You need high contrast, not just shadows, for this game to work. It needs to be REALLY CLEAR where the ground ends, and where it doesn't, this is most effective when there's high contrast, and high contrast with color looks pretty ugly. It took a very long time to get the art style right for this, it wasn't a cop-out or laziness (and actually proved to be more difficult than working with color, since you can't color code anything, everything had to rely on weirder visual effects and animation (flickering lights) to give depth to the graphics and clue people in to gameplay objects).

-Tyler

I still don't see why a black and white art style is required for gameplay purposes in this type of game. Why not make the non-lit areas be black and the lit areas be in color? There have been plenty of games where the ground disappears and you're surrounded by a dark void, and you can tell where the ground is and where it isn't.

Ok, I'll bite. Which one's creepier?

A)

http://i.imgur.com/7wisV.jpg

or

B)

http://i.imgur.com/7dcP3.jpg

I said "required for gameplay purposes." Creepiness is not necessarily an aspect of gameplay. Also I don't think this game looks very creepy.

If you play the game and especially hear the music, you know it's going for a creepy vibe and so black-and-white helps to add for that in addition to explain to the player in easy terms with the gameplay as @jonschubbe explained earlier.

If you like puzzle-solving games , BUY THIS GAME .

Looks neat. I'll look for the Flash game to try it out.

This reminds me of Lost in Shadow, where you manipulate the lightsource to create platforms.

Why do people care that it's Black and White? Why does something have to be in color? If you think black and white = pretension, you need a broader view of things.

Game looks cool.

@murisan said:

@Antihippy said:

Is it just me or is the sound mix much louder than usual?

I like it. Seems more in line with most of the other things on my system. I usually have to turn the volume up a bit more for GB stuff.

Yeah most GB content is produced by a mouse. Didn't realise it's actually loud enough to hear without my speakers maxed.

@spankingaddict said:

If you like puzzle-solving games , BUY THIS GAME .

This! My friend and I picked it up on a whim the other night, and we both love it. The music is great, the look is great, and the puzzle mechanics are really, really fun. It's well worth the $15.

Who turned out the lights!??

@TylerGlaiel: Thank you for making this amazing game :D

The music in this game seems really disturbing.

Is it me, or did patrick way over explain the concept over and over, to the point of Jeff getting annoyed?

Downloaded this today, and I gotta say, I like it a lot.