Project Q: First Look

By: Derek Yu

On: August 1st, 2009

IGN’s embedded video player sucks. View it here.

Cave Story, Night Game, La Mulana… and now Q! Here’s a teaser video of a prototype platformer by Nicklas “Nifflas” Nygren and the Nicalis crew. IGN has an interview with Nicklas and Tyrone about the project (which is not yet confirmed for any one platform).

Fans who might be worried that all these new games are causing delays should take comfort in the fact that Nicklas has “wrapped up most of his work for Night Game.”

  • Seraph

    Awesome! Looks like Knytt 10.0

  • skaldicpoet9

    This looks pretty good. I love me a good atmospheric game. This makes me wanna go back and play Knytt and Knytt Stories again.

  • MisterX

    I mean no disrespect, but basically that really is just Knytt, isn’t it? So far, anyway. I find that the sometimes very detailed background images don’t fit the monochrome terrain well. But, maybe the terrain is also going to be more detailed, in which case I’d say it’s different enough from Knytt.

    Anyway, yes, Knytt on consoles with some improvements also wouldn’t be wrong, but I as someone who already knows Knytt and Knytt Stories would be disappointed if there wasn’t more to it than that.

  • konjak

    I sort of got tired of the formular from the first Knytt, I didn’t expect it to have staying power for three games…

    It looks prettier, but it’s still Knytt. :(

  • MisterX

    Scratch that, I didn’t realize that the interview was all about Q as well. So, the graphical style is not subject to change, and the game will be focused on puzzles, which from my experience at least Knytt Stories isn’t.
    Of course, I’m aware that this is just a short video, but as there is no other footage, that’s all there is to be judged for now :)

  • Dustin

    This man cannot stop making the same game…

  • Trullz

    saw it at nomoresweden :P

  • Derek

    There will apparently also be a camera the player can use to “document information and capture the environments.”

    Anyway, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with Nifflas expanding on a concept and bringing it to a whole new audience.

  • xerus

    A camera that can capture the environments? Hey, I have one of those!

  • Quazi

    so its knytt being milked for money on the DLC market, tsk tsk tsk?

  • poorwill

    Stop whining, yoiu babies.

  • Malasdair

    Knytt with better graphics and animation? I’d drop fifteen bucks in a HEARTBEAT.

  • strong

    it’s bringing that sort of game to a new audience, which is great since most of the wiiware audience that’s going to be getting this game will have never played a knytt game before. it’s a type of game that a lot of people haven’t experienced and it’s good to bring it out to them.

    looks pretty good. i’d buy it.

  • googoogjoob

    I’d get excited about this if I didn’t have reason to worry I’ll find out I’ll never get to play the game a year from now.

  • http://elvisbrevi.blogspot.com Elvis Brevi

    amazing atmosphere.

  • Sergio

    I remember when indie games sucked and you’d be lucky if you got something of the same quality as a movie tie-in NES platformer. Ingrates!

  • http://blog.boogatech.com Markham

    Would it kill IGN to debug their video player? It got halfway done on their site before a bunch of Flash error screens popped up and went straight to the replay screen. This happens almost every time I view anything on their site.

  • Anthony Flack

    I don’t mind if somebody wants to keep working within a fairly narrow range. They’re likely to get very, very good at it.

    I like the way it’s done as a flick-screen game with just an eensy bit of camera movement to give it depth. The super-slow scrolling is very soothing.

  • Allen

    This almost seems like Knytt until you read the interview.

    I hope it gets released on Steam/Greenhouse/D2D etc. According to his forums Nicklas said he would release one more PC game (excluding mini games) so hopefully this is what he was talking about.

  • http://0xdeadc0de.org Eclipse

    If it’s another Wiiware exclusive this time nifflas will disappoint me TOO MUCH this time. As he said after that Night Game PC was canceled that his next game would be for pc, or at least not an exclusive.

  • Quetz

    Okay, Nicalis. You guys have finally made me decide to get a Wii. Are you happy now?

  • http://0xdeadc0de.org Eclipse

    After seeying the screenshot i’d say the game looks quite fugly

  • DarkNemo

    It seems like Knytt, with the same “kind of” gameplay and music, but an ugly Knytt version. Knytt was beautiful because of its simplicity. Here, it’s just not my cup of tea.

  • Your name

    The subtle animations in the video was nice, but I have to agree with the people above me that the graphics style isn’t working at all. I hope this is just because the game’s still in the early stages.

  • http://0xdeadc0de.org Eclipse

    mixing photos with crappy programmer art and a sort of badly drawn anime girl is not gonna work :

  • Hooker With No BeViS

    I have to say the craphics looked little unbalanced.. BUT as a direction mixing these different elements could work – if only done properly. I liked the smiling head of a statue! <3 ^___^

  • jph_wacheski

    Eclipse – so you like it then?

  • http://shadypixel.webs.com/apps/blog/ Codemonkey

    Personally, I think it looks great. Everyone knew a commercial knytt game was bound to happen so why is everyone getting their panties in a bunch?

  • SirNiko

    Don’t forget about Within a Deep Forest. Knytt and WaDF have similarities, but each has different gameplay elements.

    I have faith this game will feature some new mechanics that will differentiate it enough from Knytt to make it worthwhile.

    And if not… then maybe I’ll just keep playing Knytt. It’s not complex.

    -SirNiko

  • http://www.deviantart.com/toadsanime Toadsanime

    I seem to be only one of a few that actually encourages ports like this, supposing this is Knytt.

    I’m excited about Cave Story, La-Mulana and this.

  • Robert

    I loved Knytt stories and enjoyed WaDF. While it wasn’t quite as transcendent as La-Mulana and Cave Story, I’m thinking Nifflas can expand sufficiently on his concepts to warrant a commercial release.

  • Canti

    If they port Knytt, they should make the game HUGE, I mean, expand the world a couple of hundreds of rooms, or else I see no need of doing it

  • Flamebait

    I agree that it’s ugly. Knytt, KS, and WaDF used minimalism effectively. This on the other hand looks like the bastard child of a Flash platformer and an excessively dark mainstream game. That might’ve been forgivable, but visuals are paramount in games of exploration, so for me it fails already. And the minor scrolling + discrete screens thing is really obnoxious. What’s wrong with one or the other?

    Finally I don’t see anything in the interview or trailer that announces any significant departure from (or expansion of) the Knytt series. Which is fine, since they’re probably not marketing this towards people who’ve played Nifflas’ previous games- but I wouldn’t pay for it.

  • James Daniello

    This game looks fun, but the graphics are… eh. It doesn’t have the graphical charm of Knytt, but it’s probably just as fun, and the music is nice too.

  • Martin K

    I’m with Anthony. Lots of artists spend their whole working lives refining the same concepts and exploring the same sensations over and over again, ad infinitum, and good for them that they do. I think Q looks pretty fucking spectacular.

  • mots

    wow, that looks great, not too fond of the foreground though.. especially when it gets in the way of the platforming layer.

    I like how it looks… it the first few screens look nice but then the style seems to get a little more complex

  • Dusty Spur

    I’m kind of unable to fathom how people think this looks ugly.

    Anyways, I’m certain this game is going to be, for lack of a better term, pretty fucking sweet. Actually I have plenty of better terms but I’m monumentally lazy.

  • namuol

    I’m with googoogjoob. I think we can expect a nicely polished, atmospheric platformer… Remember guys: this is a *prototype*.

  • Jay

    I don’t know how you could be tired of Knytt. I mean, you have to be in the right mood, but when you are it’s golden.

    And also, the music from all the Knytt games. Man, if there was a soundtrack, I’d buy it instantly!

  • Movius

    Looking great. However, I personally can’t wait for the next trailer.

    It will clearly be just like the Love trailer. lovely solitary atmospheres and peaceful ambience. Then suddenly, BAM, nothing but shootan and action based gameplay.

    Imagining the simultaneous crushing of thousand of pretentious artfag hearts brought endless joy to my soul then and I’m certain it will again.

  • Briker Ed

    Like someone mentioned…. looks too much like a Flash based platformer. The super slow scrolling, although adding to the atmosphere, only makes the Flash-y feel more strong with me. I wonder how distracting it might be with puzzles based on reflexes and right timing etc.
    I’m all for artsy stuff and experiments but here the graphics really bugged me, especially the foreground. The ballance of realism and conceptualism hasn’t been done too well, imo.
    I’m really anxious to see how this develops, seeing it’s in early stages now. Loved the original. Will miss the simplicity but looking forward to this one as well.
    Nifflas really has the talent for the simple stuff, I hope he does for the ‘buffed up version’ too.

  • Briker Ed

    Darn…. it ate my paragraphs -_-

  • Nicklas W Bjurman

    These maps are all remakes of Super Metroid. The level designs of Super Metroid ain’t bad, I love Super Metroid but to remake the level design for ones own game, is in my opinion somewhat lacking in originality.

  • SteGriff

    This is clearly knytt stories HD.
    Also, I’m still waiting out on KS for the NDS…

  • SicJake

    Within/forest I loved, Knytt wasn’t too bad, it just had bland gameplay.

    I’m not sold on games that use exploration as the sole method of gameplay tho. If there are puzzles, lots of puzzles, then it won’t be much different then playing Out of this World, which would be neato.

    Hope the game turns out well!

  • Death Of Rats

    So is this the game he is making for his loyal pc game fans? He mentioned that because he was only releasing Night Game on the wii that he wanted to ‘make up’ for ‘screwing over’ his pc fanbase…

    Either way I can’t wait. I can not get enough of the knytt universe.. the music is going to be top notch.

  • rrc2soft

    @SteGriff – I’m still working on it! Don’t despair! ^_-

  • Hideous

    Nicklas showed some of us this in action at No More Sweden – it’s pretty great, really.

  • grumpy Kekskiller

    Looks like a postapocalyptic version of Knytt. Boring! He should invest in some more interesting enhancements of the original gameplay instead of just copying it!

  • http://josephkingworks.blogspot.com/ Joseph

    Damn this game looks cool. I love the new character, the deep parallax with subtle scrolling, the overall atmosphere! I hope this comes out on PSN or PC, otherwise I’m going to have to buy a new console…