Tune

By: Albert Lai

On: November 3rd, 2006

Who
exactly is this Steve Swink anyway?

All I know is that he keeps a fascinating blog on game design, updated at least
once a week (for the last month, at least) dealing with topics that
are, if not directly related to the indie gaming industry, at least interesting
to read – the idea to revamp a MMO
aimed at teaching Shakespeare is a cool read, to say the least.

But it’s not just the blog I’m here to ramble about- instead there
is also an interesting prototype game he works on and posts about – "Tune:
A Game About Game Design". Within Tune, the player controls a spindly,
pogo-ish character that has to complete certain goals – but the goals can only
be achieved by altering in-game parameters such as rotate speed, jump power,
and so on. It’s incomplete at the moment.

Personally, I prefer the blog over the game at this point, though it’ll be
interesting to see how the game progresses.

Posted in Freeware, Unique / Bizarre, Windows

http://ithamore.blogspot.com/ ithamore

It’s ok as a demo or proof of concept, but I wish there was more. The W,A,D controls should have been given at the game’s start, since setting the parameters the wrong way can prevent any initial movement and since there isn’t a decent README. The game finally gets fun after the Shooter and Gravity parameters are enable, but it ends too soon after acquiring them.
http://devbump.com David Marsh

Steve Swink is a scholar and a gentleman! Supposedly he is working on more of a fully fleshed out indie project with flashbang studios.
Steve Swink

@ ithamore:

It is indeed a prototype/proof of concept. Notice how there’s no title screen? :)

Anyhow, thanks for playing, I’m glad you made it to the end and that you were left wanting more. Currently, I’m writing a more complete version that uses a Mario-style mechanic as its basis and is more interesting system wise than a simple progression of tasks. The tasks will still be in there, but I’m adding enemy respawns, area transitions, an experience and leveling system, and some other things. It will still be proof of concept-y at the next phase, but I learned what I needed to from the past incarnation; I’m excited to apply it in the next.

Oh, and it has a title screen now :).

– Steve