Since you people were nice enough to help us reach 2000 pre-orders of Amnesia: The Dark Descent earlier this year, we have been forced to record some commentary. This was not something that we had done before, but thought that it would be a really simple task. As always, it turned out to be a lot more trouble than we had first assumed.
Making of Amnesia – Composer Mikko Tarmia
Today we posted a new video to our YouTube Channel. Mikko Tarmia takes us on a tour of his studio and talks about the making of the music for Amnesia.
Why I hate “Cinematic”
“Cinematic” still seems to be a kind of buzz-word for videogames these days. Often scenes that are extra emotional or involving are called “cinematic”. I do not really like this word and its usage expose many of the problems videogames have today. I guess some explanation is required.
Uninvited Guest; Livestock Upset
So I just came early to work today at 22.00 and found the front door to our warehouse ajar. Thinking that perhaps some of our pets had escaped, I became a bit worried and carefully entered our damp dwelling.
Experience and Live – Not Compete and Beat
What follows are some thoughts on where I want videogames to evolve. At the same time it is also a sort of explanation of the core design goals for Frictional Games. It is not meant to describe how to do things, instead it as attempt to describe how we want our videogame experiences to be like.
Penumbra: Overture goes Open Source!
It has been in our minds for quite some time and now finally it has become reality: Penumbra:Overture and the HPL1 Engine are now open source! In case that is all you need to know, then head straight to: http://GitHhub.com/FrictionalGames to get your hands on it!
Horror Tip: Paranormal Activity
Paranormal Activity (PA) is like a mix of Blair Witch Project, The Haunting and The Exorcist. It follows a recent trend of first-person/documentary movies like Rec and Cloverfield that I really enjoy and which works great for horror flicks.
Why Trial and Error will Doom Games
A sort unspoken rule in game design is that players should be able to lose. Just about every game has some kind of fundamental mechanic that is possible to fail. Whenever this happens, the player needs to try again and repeat the process until successful. This is thought to add drama, tension and also make the player’s actions count. It seems to be believed that without it games would not be games and instead some kind of boring linear entertainment. I think this position is wrong, extremely hurtful and if not fixed, will become the downfall of the medium. In this post I will explain why.
The judgement predicament of audio and graphics
The answer to this blog is probably going to be that the game industry dug this hole all by themselves and that we now have to live with it.
Storytelling through fragments and situations
Stories are something that is very important to us humans and also a crucial part of many video games. In some games the player is the author of the story, for example in Civilization where you are given some basic start resources and are then free to decide how your story will play out. In other games the designer has the most control of the story and the game mechanics do their best to guide the payer through the narrative (which may dynamic or linear).
