Reality-On-The-Norm is a long-running episodic series of adventure games started by members of the Adventure Game Studio (AGS) community. Conceptualized in 2000, the first official game, Lunchtime of the Damned, was released in early 2001 by none other than Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw, the creator of the Chzo Mythos and Zero Punctuation. The latest game, Edge of Reality, was released in January 2009. In total, there are an impressive 82 games and over 100 characters listed on the website!
The best part is that anyone and everyone may contribute a game to RON, so long as you don’t violate the community’s rules, such as killing off other people’s characters or revealing the bum’s true identity. The RON website has various resources, including an extensive character line-up, to help you get started. Playing the games is probably the best way to start, however.
(Source: Andy Hull, via TIGForums)
I’ve got a backlog of new indie games I want to tell you about, but ‘til I find the time you’ll have to hear our friend Yahtzee yap about an “old” one (so totally not old). Does anyone else wonder whether he’s wearing clothes while he records these? No? Uh, me neither!
Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been uploading Trilby rank videos of each of the Heists from Yahtzee’s new game. I just Trilby ranked the last stage today, so I thought it would be nice to put them all together along with the introductory texts to each level, as a full Trilby Rank playthrough.
Not shown are the bonus heist (which is basically just a rerun of all the game’s levels), or the awesome minigame you get for completing the bonus heist with the cream suit (which I don’t want to spoil for you).
Be warned, everything after the jump is a spoiler!
Heist 1: Protocorp Secure Records Facility
Objective: Raid the safe, and steal $200 in blackmail material
Par Time: 2:00
Total Loot: $635
It’s an idiom very close to my heart that pride comes before a fall.
Dominic Perota, the wealthy young CEO of the fantastically amoral Protocorp, is a very proud man, long overdue for his plummet. So much so I’ve decided to engineer it.
Perota keeps a secure records facility on the outskirts of the business district, and rumour has it he keeps something very interesting in the safe there. I won’t know how interesting until I steal it, but the safe will suffice for a main objective.
Whatever it contains, there should be plenty of other interesting secrets and tidbits around to make this worthwhile.
Heist 2: Chapow City Art Gallery
Objective: Steal $400 worth of art
Par Time: 1:30
Total Loot: $900
Perota is one of those people who really makes this job a pleasure. Turns out he’s fastidious enough to account for all his income, even the less than legal bits.
He’s been skimming off profit he has no claim to for years and laundering it by buying fine art. I could use some conversation pieces to brighten up the workshop.
His collection is currently being displayed at Chapow City Art Gallery. It’s a fairly old, small building but there was recently a cash injection from the council and some new security measures were installed, which should make things more interesting.
I’m not after any pieces in particular, but I should keep in mind that the best bits will be the hardest to get hold of.
Heist 3: Golden Waters Health Resort
Objective: Find Dominic Perota and steal $500 in loot
Par Time: 3:00
Total Loot: $1005
Someone was actually able to get the drop on me. I must remember to send them a letter of congratulations once I steal back that camera. They’re clearly resourceful so I think I’m looking at a conspiracy here. And since the sting was carried out on Perota’s dime, he’s undoubtedly in on it. Right now, that’s my only lead.
Perota is currently holidaying at the unfortunately named Golden Waters Health Resort, by the coast. I don’t like personal encounters, but this is the only way I can think of to shake him down for information. I’m by nature a rather intimidating person to encounter at the dead of night and I’m hoping this will be enough.
Meanwhile I have a reputation to think of, and there should be plenty of rich holidaymakers with unguarded luggage. Perhaps they’d like one of my calling cards as a souvenir.
Heist 4: Unknown Building
Objective: Meet with your blackmailer, then exit the building
Par Time: 3:00
Total Loot: $845
Perota having unobligingly died, my options are drying up with alarming rapidity. All I can think of to do now is meet with my antagonist.
The address they gave me is a tall and ominous-looking building in the city centre which all public records seem to indicate has been abandoned for decades. I’ll just go inside, let them say their piece, and figure it out from there. Maybe I can think of a way to wrestle the photos from them on the fly.
Right now I can’t even speculate as to who exactly I’m up against. I don’t like to plan too much when I know so little: if you expect everything you can’t be surprised.
Heist 5: Kroner Avenue
Objective: Steal $600 in loot
Par Time: 5:00
Total Loot: $1165
The so-called Company are extremely powerful, completely amoral, and very very angry. This does not make for a tenable state of affairs, and one of the best qualities of a master thief is knowing when to make a run for it. I think a year in Rio would be nice, or possibly Alaska.
But there’s no reason to rush off in a panic. It could be days before the Company strike. So to pay for my holiday I’m devoting tonight to a little fundraising spree in one of my favourite wealthy neighbourhoods. I’ll stay above street level and cherry pick loot from whatever open windows I can find.
I really don’t like doing this sort of thing because it’s so… impersonal, but it’s a good way for fast cash and needs must as the devil drives.
Heist 6: Davenport Farmstead
Objective: Steal the XJ unit and $700 in technology
Par Time: 4:20
Total Loot: $1365
The widow Perota has given me a much-needed injection of faith and a lead on a new trump card. Now all I have to do is steal it.
The address is what seems to be an abandoned farmhouse in the middle of nowhere, but the Company have quietly stepped on any attempt to redevelop the area, so it must be important to them. If the XJ unit is there, then there must be other technology lying around that could fetch a high price on an open market, and I would say these Company jerks owe me.
I’m going into this job knowing absolutely nothing about what to expect. Of course, I work best under pressure.
Heist 7: The Company Headquarters
Objective: Steal the Trilby file
Par Time: 5:40
Total Loot: $970
The Company have sent me a note requesting a par-lay at their headquarters, ostensibly to exchange the photos of me for the XJ unit. Sadly, I stopped being a sucker when I outgrew my first dummy.
I’ll go to the Company headquarters but I have no intention of doing so openly, like last time. I’ll infiltrate silently and steal every trace of information they have on me. I don’t know where they keep their records so I’ll have to find out once I get there.
They’re no fools and they’re probably expecting me to pull something like this, so they won’t make it easy. Funnily enough, though, the more I think about the risks, the more I want to do this job.
I posted this over at indygamer blogspot a few days ago when I first came across it; at that stage I hadn’t played very much of it so there wasn’t a lot I could say about it. I’ve since finished it.
Before I say a thing about this game, I really must say something about its creator. Chances are most people reading this have already heard of Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw; he’s created more polished, complete games than most people have walkabout demos, his Chzo Mythos quadrilogy made the fifty really good indie games feature here as an example of indie gaming’s finest, and of course, he’s the author of Zero Punctuation – The best thing ever to hit game reviewing, in my opinion. It’s clever, it’s original, and above all, it’s bloody funny. He reviews Peggle and compares Popcap to the evil team in an 80s sports movie, he rants irrelevantly about American foreign policy for half his Medal of Honour review, he gets his viewers to cripple themselves as punishment for not buying Psychonauts en masse – what a legend!
Although expectations are pretty high when a guy with that kinda track record releases a new game, I’m sure it’ll be no surprise for anyone here to learn that The Art of Theft doesn’t disappoint. It’s excellent.
The concept is great: two years before Five Days a Stranger, Trilby is an aspiring cat-burglar in Chapow City. The Art of Theft deals with the story of his daring heists and how he made his name. Although the writing’s excellent, the focus is on gameplay – it’s a stealth platformer (not a combination you see very often) which demands patience and impeccable timing to get ahead.
I should warn you that the game has some serious flaws though – the difficulty curve ramps up too fast, save points are too infrequent leading to frustrating repetition when you inevitably lose a mission and have to start again, and then there are a few little things: like cutting wires, which is an unwelcome game of chance in an otherwise entirely skill driven game.
But hey, I wouldn’t have written all this if I didn’t absolutely love it regardless! What we have here is one of the most original, well designed and addictive games released this year. Hardly a single room goes by that doesn’t show off some little moment of brilliant creativity; usually a well written note or nifty construct of some sort. It really is superb.
I was going to put this at the top, but it’s a bit spoilerish so I’ll put it here instead: Want to see the game in action? Here’s a video of me making the first level look easy:
You can download it here, on The Escapist.
Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw, best known for the awesome Chzo Mythos (aka the “X Days” series of adventure games), now has a weekly videocast on The Escapist, called Zero Punctuation. The videocast seems focused on mainstream games, but it’s only three weeks in, so who knows?
And wow, I thought Sir Graham Goring talked fast but this Brit straight up vomits words onto your face! I can only assume that the videocast’s title comes from the fact that the script he’s reading has no spaces between the words. Sheesh!
Seriously, though, it’s pretty fun to watch. I just have to pause the videos like every 15 seconds so that my dinosaur brain can process the novel that’s just been spat out at me. I wish I could see him speaking. I’ll bet it looks kinda like…
(Source: Pixel Joint)