GAMES

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OMNO

3 years ago1,567 words

I played an indie game made by one person plus a composer, and was impressed!



I mentioned this game a week or two ago, as it'd just come out after I think five years in development? I was a bit hesitant to play it due to the creator envy I've talked about before (though that wasn't nearly as severe as it was for, say, Undertale) plus general reluctance I have about starting any new game. But I pushed through eventually!

I completed it over a handful of short daily sessions; my final play time was 3.6 hours. So not hugely long, but it felt like a nice length to me! Didn't overstay its welcome.



Overall it reminded me a lot of Journey, which I suspect was an inspiration, or maybe that inspired a whole bunch of indie games that look and feel like this one (not that I've played many though).

I'd describe it as an experience more than, say, a challenge. The game's world is made up of four biomes, which may or may not have been deliberately based on the standard four elements, each of which has two (or three in the case of the last one maybe?) named areas. Each of these areas has a number of orbs of light scattered around, and you need to collect three - though there are more than three per area - to unlock a (simple) puzzle, which takes you to the next area when completed.



There's no combat or stats or anything. Each area has flora and fauna which can be interacted with to acquire bits of light, and if you get enough of them, you can infuse a pillar with it to unlock one of the light orbs.



I liked the simple, consistently-designed, or in some cases interestingly alien creatures! And I appreciated how you interacted with them via means other than violence. It created an atmosphere of safe, pleasing exploration rather than threat or conquest-seeking.



You unlock lore for species just by getting light from them (or getting close to them?), and can hold a button to show this simple lore section, which I appreciated and checked after every new creature I encountered!



I liked that the orbs and light bits encouraged you to freely explore your environment and interact with whatever you found. I found it odd though that you could collect all these light bits, but their only purpose - as far as I could tell - was for the one pillar per area which unlocked an orb. But since there are more than three orbs anyway and you only need to collect three, you could just completely neglect interacting with animals at all, if you wanted. Or if you did want to, interactions were limited - usually just pressing a single button near the creature - and you required so few light bits for the pillar that your animal interactions were over before you'd even encountered all the species in an area.



Each level ends with you riding a 'legendary' creature... though they're just noninteractive cutscenes. Well-crafted though! Very cinematic.



Along with the orbs, you can also collect glyph things which reveal the only text in the game. There's a basic... I wouldn't say story exactly, more like impression? Something about a people who wielded staffs that control light, and an interesting twist on the spiritual idea of reaching the pure light of Nirvana but losing the world by getting there. I like that kind of stuff, so that resonated with me and I appreciated it!



There's this companion creature that (eventually?) follows you and... doesn't really do anything? Hints at which platforms you have to jump on to get orbs? Or something? The connection between it and the player character reminds me of Timelie - ∞ which I also played a while back ('Game of the Week'... ha, I didn't keep THAT up for long!) ∞ - in that it feels like it's trying to tug at the player's heart strings, but the characters are so... well, non-characters that it doesn't really do much for me. I've seen a few references to 'pet the dog' mechanics in games though - which this kind of had? - as if they're something certain kinds of players appreciate, so maybe someone immersing themselves in a different way to me would appreciate this in ways I didn't. I might have loved it as a child, before I became too analytical as a dev myself!



Oh, I also found it interesting how the game began with the nameless, silent protagonist just waking up. A short animation, but no long, cinematic intro or scene-setting or anything (though there were some brief cinematic credits overlaying a ride on a creature soon after). Worth noting since how games begin has been on my mind a lot lately.



Each biome introduced a new skill, each of which allowed for satisfying new forms of movement. I liked these! The surfing mechanic felt particularly enjoyable and intuitive, though beyond an early section that focused on it, its main purpose was just to move around the larger areas a bit faster... and since speed was affected by slopes while surfing, it wasn't always practical to use it. Very satisfying when possible though!



I love the graphics! They're this largely-untextured, low poly style I see in a lot of these indie games, which I appreciate as a designer since it feels way more accessible to me than AAA hyper-realism, and as such is inspiring rather than intimidating, plus I just appreciate the simplicity as an aesthetic in general. I like simplified logos more than I like intricate, tightly-rendered illustrations! It's another of those games where every screenshot feels like a work of art.



I like some of the otherworldly, abstract plant designs, and the use of an overall colour palette for each world with patches of colour variety to avoid being monochromatic. Red and blue plants scattered around green plains, or orange plants in the snowy area, that kind of thing.

The animations were particularly impressive! Though not really possible to illustrate here. I think I read somewhere that the dev was an animator by trade at some point? If so, it shows.

The music - the only bit not made by the main developer, I think? - was especially impressive, in that evocative, mystical way that Journey and Ori had. It was dynamic, too, shifting quickly and appropriately in ways I tried to discern - since I've been trying to figure out how to do that in my own games - but the transitions were silkily seamless. I suppose that's easier with this ambient kind of music - which is more about setting an atmosphere - than the more linear melody-driven music I make.

It bothers me a bit though that games like this are considered one-man achievements, even though I'd say without the music - or with inferior music - the experienced would be diminished significantly. So more devs should spend years of their life learning how to compose music! Yes, that's easy and sensible!!

I also feel I should mention the impressive sound design. Every creature had its own sound effects, and every action was accompanied by rich and satisfying sounds that, again, I probably take for granted less than the average player just because I've tried to figure this stuff out myself before and I understand the challenge!



I found the credits at the end interesting. I don't know much about the dev, but he mentions the invaluable, loving support of his partner, and how a trio of names of presumably his children are his world, suggesting he's older (which I think lines up with what I vaguely recall about him having years of industry experience in animation?) and that he's got a good social support system that I don't. So... that's bound to make a difference.

There was also a huge list of names under 'supporters', which I'm assuming were Kickstarter backers? The game has a publisher, and backing from some other source(s)? So obviously something was done to help with the marketing and support.

Digging up ∞ the Kickstarter ∞ again, it had 3,471 backers who pledged €97,769 to bring it to life. ∞ On Steam, it has 326 Very Positive reviews ∞. So it seems to have been a success!

But I wonder if the dev was happy with that outcome after spending as long as he did on it? I hope so!

I was happy with the game's length, and the experience overall, though I wonder whether those supporters were happy with a game that was in development for half a decade being over so quickly? Hopefully! Not every experience has to drag on for weeks.

Overall, I'm glad I played this, and it inspired my own efforts in a lot of ways! It gives me hope that if this could earn as much money as it did, maybe I have a chance too... though I'm very aware of all those personal advantages he had over me.