Space Magic

Another entry this year before I go to slumber as I play mostly the same games over and over again currently ^^’ So here’s the small update:

• The Polynomial
  

  7 hours playtime

  14 of 14 achievements

• Wizordum
  

  41 hours playtime

  20 of 23 achievements

The Polynomial: The Polynomial is a music visualizer. And I heard there is a game somewhere in there as well. Well, the polynomial is a 3d space flight simulator. Although, it really is mostly about visualizing your music which can be imported quite easily. Then afterwards, you can chose your setting between a multitude of maps and different visualizers like waves, fractals, lines etc. All of this is very pretty to look at and it is a very visually pleasing game. The space shooter mechanics though are a bit underdeveloped. You can shoot, there are some Langolier-like enemies and allies (called ghosts). If you don’t pay attention, you die quite easily and have to wait anew until more enemies spawn again. Wouldn’t it be for the achievements, I don’t think many people would temper with the shooting elements and would just listen to music while flying through the space. Talking about achievements: Half of them are quite easy, the latter half though? Extremely difficult because time-constrained and tied to very specific conditions. In the past I used a script to get the kill 500 enemies achievement. But I wasn’t able to get the save 100 allies in 5 minutes achievement. For the longest time I thought this is not possible until I did the normal thing and checked for a guide. In there, a simple procedure is described which worked on the third try. All you have to do is ignoring enemies for 12 minutes and avoiding them. And then, you go in blazing, hoping that you survive long enough. You and your pc because the process is quite taxing and my framerate dropped to 1 FPS. But ….. I got the job done and was able to move another game to the completed section which has been sitting for 5+ years in the unfinished section. As said, the visualization of the music is beautiful. The shooter is meh.

Wizordum: The second game is what I would consider an oddity as it is one of the few games I report, not only not completed but even unfinished. The reasons for this are simple. Wizordum is in Early Acess and until the end of year I wont be able to complete it anyway. Why not wait? Because the developer is a pretty nice guy and I use the chance to make some advertisement for him.
The game itself is a shooter similar to the old doom games though a lot more casual. It is set in a colourful fantasy world where you have to fight the forces of evil as a wizard. Hereby, you are wielding an arsenal of different weapons: A mace, fireball shooting fire rings, a penetrating gun, a rapid-firing and freezing frost staff, a aoe fire explosion and a magic orb (grenade). Most of this can be acquired early on and then be used throughout the rest of the game. Aside from killing enemies, the main purpose of the game is score-hunting as well as intensive wall-hugging in order to find the very well hidden secrets to get …. mostly more score. So far Episode 1 of 3 is done (although it will be rebalanced and polished). The colours are quite nice and not as dark as most boomer shooters and the secret hunting is annoying and fun at the same time. There are six maps at the moment in the episode and one bugged final boss fight. All levels are hereby adressing a different topic and feel quite diverse. You start in the Outskirts, enter the outer castle, go through the sewers and the graveyard, reaching a harbour and go from there into the burning city. Aside from two more episodes, a spell system is intended to be designed to replace the currently lacking items. And a second character is planned. And of course more polish, lore etc.
The game also has a map editor and very recently had it first Map Jam, resulting in some actually very good and interesting maps. Playthrough videos of these maps can be found online. So, aside from the campaign there are also multiple custom maps increasing content. And if the developer can keep the interest high enough, there should come a few more. Achievements are at the moment a bit bugged, so 100 % is not possible though a patch for this shall be released in February. Then again, the further development most likely adds not achievements anyway. So if you want to help a nice developer, you can buy the game now (it is planned to increase base price when adding new content) and also visit his Discord where you can discuss with him directly.

And that’s it for today. On my to-do-list is another map for Crystal Caves and then I have to check what to play next. RE1? Lenna’s Inception? Sunless Sea? Or one of the puzzle games from the recent bundle? Need more focus. But first, I need to finish the photobook :P

If you have questions concerning Wizordum feel free to ask.