Pragmatica

By: Derek Yu

On: May 16th, 2011

Pragmatica is a nifty puzzle game from HiVE, a team that includes Srehpog (Ark 22, Umbrella Adventure). The goal is simple: in each level, program robots with conditional statements so that they make their way safely to the exits. It gets a lot more challenging, however, as the game introduces hazards, switches, crates, bombs, and multiple control groups of robots to the mix. A built-in map maker lets you create and share your own levels.

TIGdb: Entry for Pragmatica

Umbrella Adventure: The Castle of Cake

By: Paul Eres

On: February 5th, 2010

Q: Umbrella Adventure? Is that the super-secret unique new game project I hear you have in the works? Is there anything you’d like to share with us about it? Please?

A: Oh, it’s not super-secret, it’s just that no-one asks. It’s called Umbrella Adventure: The Castle of Cake, and centres around a gopher, his umbrella, a very talented but slightly insane unicycling weasel, an emotionally fragile talking fairground hook-headed rubber ducky, and the heinous theft of several hundred very delicious cakes. Before I lose the entire audience I should probably add that the musical score is performed by a friend of mine on acoustic guitar and is superb, and that all the graphics are hand-drawn. […] It’s every bit as serious as it sounds.

(From an Abandonia: Reloaded interview of Srehpog conducted in 2006.)

Umbrella Adventure has a huge world; you collect new abilities and cakes. My own experiences with the game were pleasant but not entirely pleasant. I liked the soundscape, the stylistic hand-drawn art, the size of the world, the basic structure of the game, and much else. I didn’t like the controls, that there was no way to quickly travel across the huge world (that I ever found – there actually was a way), that you often had to get past the same obstacles and enemies again and again, and that there was no real motivation to collect the cakes other than that they could be collected. I make a habit to finish every game before I review it, and so far this game has taken me the longest time to finish (by far) — about three months, as much because of frustration and difficulty (and my own poor platforming skills) as game length.

The game goes like this: you play, die a bunch of times, see a bunch of cakes you can’t reach, finally after much difficulty get a new ability, and then either backtrack to get the cakes you missed or just continue on; I usually just continued on, because there there is no functional use of collecting the cakes. Occasionally a puzzle appears which you either get stuck at forever, figure out, or ask for help on. And the world just keeps getting bigger: this is definitely a game for the people who felt VVVVVV wasn’t worth the $15 (and this one’s free). It’s much more of a world that you leave and return to occasionally over time, each time seeing a new part of it, or getting a new cake.

Srehpog, of HiVE, is also the developer of Ark 22 and Sushi! Waxy’s Sushi Party. Trivia: Ark 22’s characters were originally all gophers, like the main character in Umbrella Adventure.

You see, the feeling I felt playing this game at first… not a very good feeling. The deaths that occur with blind jumps, not being able to attack in mid-air… and shortly dying afterwards, … it was punishment. Very unintuitive. And you know what, fuck that shit… but then I felt like I wasn’t being fair and gave it another go. And that is when I discovered magic, no… not magic, but something close to it, or maybe a bit far, you get the idea. Because you see, magic is very special, and there is only one magic, and I already possess it. rediscovering magic would be pointless! like giving birth to the child you already gave birth to… why two of the same child? Are they twins? Or maybe two-headed… no… this is scary.

(From an eva-jolli review of Umbrella Adventure.)

Sushi! Waxy’s Sushi Party

By: Derek Yu

On: October 20th, 2008

Sushi! Waxy’s Sushi Party is a new action game from Srehpog, the creator of the popular Zeldalike, Ark 22. It’s hard to describe the game mechanics exactly – as a sushi chef, your goal is to manage orders and send out bills. Orders are represented by colored dots that move across the bottom of the screen. To complete an order, you have to hit the right button when the dot is over the matching color.

But what makes the game so challenging is… math. Not only do you have to take orders, but you also have to add up the bills in a timely fashion, which involves some quick addition and multiplication skills. I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty useless without a calculator these days. Throw in some impatient customers waiting for their food and, well, I think the screenshot above accurately captures the kind of gourmet clusterbombs that can blow up in your face during this game (or is that a win pose?).

Interestingly enough, at the end of each round you can raise the prices of the various sushi you’re serving. But it’s important to take into account how this will affect your bill calculations in the next round. If you suck at simple arithmetic as much as I do, you might want to keep all the dishes at the same price, and perhaps also at multiples of 50.

All in all, Sushi! is a polished and enjoyable title that’s also lovely to look at. But it’s also rather stressful with all different stuff going on! Waxy, please hire some assistants for God’s sake!

TIGdb: Entry for Sushi! Waxy’s Sushi Party

(Thanks, ChevyRay!)