Papa Sangre
| Papa Sangre | |
|---|---|
| Studio | Somethin 'Else |
| Senior Developer | Paul Bennun |
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
December 20, 2010 April 2013 (new edition) |
| platform | iOS |
| Game engine | Papa Engine (from 2013) |
| genre | Audio game |
| Game mode | Single player |
| control | Touch screen |
| medium | Download |
| language | English |
Papa Sangre is a horror computer game by the British media company Somethin 'Else for the Apple iOS mobile operating system . The work, also known by the developer as “ video game with no video ” (German: “video game without video”) relies on a purely acoustic presentation for the game principle.
Gameplay
The game relies solely on acoustic presentation, which is why the title can also be played by the blind. With the help of a three-dimensional audio engine, the impression of a three-dimensional game world is conveyed through spatial sound . Headphones are therefore required to play.
The character enters the land of the dead, a Mexican horror world and the realm of the eponymous Papa Sangre. The goal is to save an endangered soul and escape from the land of the dead. To do this, the player has to find musical notes whose sound shows the direction. Only ambient noises (e.g. horns, monsters screams, creaking wooden planks, etc.) are available to the player as further orientation and reference points about the design of the game world. The game is divided into 25 levels, in each of which several musical notes can be found, and is controlled via three command fields on the touchscreen . With the help of a “bony steering wheel” the character is aligned in the game world, the two fields of movement simulate the movement of the left and right foot. The speed at which the player operates the fields determines the speed of movement and thus indirectly also the volume of movement in the game. The sound of the musical note gives an indication of the goal to be achieved, but the player must also avoid obstacles and hostile creatures. A narrator comments on the course of the game and provides information on sources of danger. If the player fails during a level, for example because he was caught by a monster, the level is reloaded and can be started over.
development
Developer Somethin 'Else had no tradition as a classic game development company. The company originally developed radio broadcasts for the British broadcaster BBC and other private broadcasters. She later expanded her business to include all forms of content production for print, online, television and radio providers. With the development of Papa Sangre , the company wanted to create its own IP on the one hand, and on the other hand, the project should serve as a reference for potential customers. The core development team consisted of five people, with external support from ten other people, who completed the game over a development period of 73 weeks. The project received financial support from the 4ip innovation fund of the British broadcaster Channel 4 .
The concept was influenced by the classic theater play Sangre y Patatas (German: blood and potatoes ). Here, too, the hearing is the decisive sense organ. A blindfolded player has to catch all of his fellow players who are blindfolded as a "killer". Certain obstacles within the course create noises that players can use to orient themselves. In addition, the Mexican folklore of the Día de los Muertos was used for the design . The development team used binaural sound recordings to simulate a three-dimensional environment with the aid of the sound . The final game builds on 1700 audio files. However, the narrative style had to be simplified for the purely acoustic communication in order to avoid the lack of visual design.
The game was released on December 20, 2010.
reception
Reviews
The majority of the game received positive reviews ( Metacritic : 80 out of 100).
Jan Wöbbeking from 4Players compared the game atmospherically with the console title Shadow Man , an implementation of the comic series of the same name , and described it as experimental. He praised the technical design with the help of a convincing soundscape. He only complained that the developers had not exhausted the game's potential and that the gameplay was not varied enough. Nevertheless, the title received a fun rating of 82%.
Levi Buchanan from the US online game magazine IGN awarded 9 out of 10 points. He called the game a “true horror game” because it deprives the player of his central sense, of sight. This is confusing at first, but over time it turns out to be a “wonderful gaming experience”. In his test report, however, he also pointed out that good headphones and a quiet, dark environment are essential for complete gaming enjoyment.
Kristan Reed from the British online game magazine Eurogamer.net awarded a 7 out of 10. For a short time Papa Sangre is a “wonderful novelty”. But in the higher levels the trial-and-error principle increases more and more, which means that the success of the game depends more on luck than on playing skills.
“It's quite incredible how effective a game can be when one, often overlooked, aspect - the audio - is brought to the center. The splashes as you walk through water, the growling and snoring monsters, bones cracking, knives slashing and the hideous laughter of Papa Sangre himself, all drag you deeper and deeper into the land of the dead. "
“It's just amazing how effective a game can be when an often overlooked aspect - sound - is brought into focus. The splash when you walk through water, growling and snoring monsters, cracking bones, slashing knives and the ugly laughter of Papa Sangre himself, all of this pulls you deeper and deeper into the land of the dead. "
Awards and sales success
The game received the 2011 International Mobile Gaming Awards for Most Innovative Game. At the Develop Industry Excellence Awards of the British computer game magazine Develop in the same year, it received the award for audio achievements.
According to the developers themselves, the game was initially well received by the blind. Everyday experiences in dealing with one's own visual impairment can be transferred to the game principle. Non-handicapped players, on the other hand, have to gradually get used to the game principle, since, unlike in visual games, exploring the game world is more dangerous and less free. Compared to the British Guardian, however, the creators described the project as a success. On the one hand, the company made a profit from the project, and on the other hand, it was able to successfully land a follow-up project. On April 21, 2011 Somethin 'Else published the futuristic audio game The Nightjar , which uses the same technology and the same gameplay, as part of an advertising campaign for the chewing gum manufacturer Wrigley . The British actor Benedict Cumberbatch could be won as a speaker, the original release was free.
Due to the success of the two games, Somethin 'Else developed its own middleware called Papa Engine in order to be able to develop new audio games more easily in the future and to be able to more easily fix problems of the grown program code with new operating system versions. After completion, both Papa Sangre and The Nightjar were ported to the new game engine and published again in 2013. At the same time as the game engine in March 2013, the company announced the development of the successor Papa Sangre 2 , for which with the actor Sean Bean an internationally known actor could be won as a speaker.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Royal National Institute of Blind People
- ↑ Markus Böhm: Audio games put to the test: Whoever screams wins. In: Spiegel Online . March 17, 2012, accessed June 10, 2018 .
- ↑ a b c wired.com
- ↑ a b 4players.de
- ↑ a b theguardian.com
- ↑ a b c d theguardian.com
- ↑ hideandseek.net ( Memento of the original from September 21, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b develop-online.net ( Memento of the original from September 21, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Average ratings. Metacritic , based on 10 ratings; Retrieved September 20, 2013.
- ↑ ign.com
- ↑ eurogamer.net
- ↑ digitalspy.com
- ↑ telegraph.co.uk
- ↑ theguardian.com
- ↑ eurogamer.net
- ↑ papasangre.com ( Memento of the original from September 21, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ papasangre.com ( Memento of the original from September 21, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
