2013-02 Tuesday 19th, Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs Status Update

[Traggey]

Amnesia still fells less like one than all others, especially compared with Penumbra with it's combat and all other common game features which were removed.

Penumbra has no "combat" it is not a system to kill enemies! That's what people also don't understand. The goal of Penumbra never was to fight back like a superhero. The "combat" is just a very good idea to improve complexity of the game to solve puzzles and other stuff. Anyway, that are not "weapons" it's meaned just as "tools". Well, the player will be able to fight, but it's heavy to handle and not really the goal of the game.

I think, it's more bad when the mechanics are like in Amnesia, when you hear a monster and then hide and wait... after one minute the music is stopping and the monster is removed for ever. That's bad. In penumbra the monsters get never removed by the game. So, a further problem of Amnesia's horror mechanics.

---

You've totally missed the point of Amnesia, Daniel is not some mute Half-life like character which you can easily pretend to be. The point of the game is to play in Daniel's shoes, uncover his dark past, and discover what lies ahead. There is nothing you can take personal here, it is his journey, not yours.

But as Traggey said, you are playing him.
There is no Daniel, you are Daniel. You are you.

Totally not what I said, Daniel is Daniel, I am me. Hello, Traggey's the name. Good.

[Minecrawler]

Totally not what I said, Daniel is Daniel, I am me. Hello, Traggey's the name. Good.

Of course, Daniel is Daniel and you are you.
But that's not how the game wants to feel to you.

The game wants that you forget about reality and focus on the story.

Daniel is not like a different character, YOU are Daniel.
And you should feel like you would be him. There are no two persons, there are no Daniel and you, there is only You. And you are Daniel.

[Traggey]

I was fully able to immerse myself in Amnesia, I'm sorry mate but I just don't see your argument here.

[Zgroktar]

Totally not what I said, Daniel is Daniel, I am me. Hello, Traggey's the name. Good.

Of course, Daniel is Daniel and you are you.
But that's not how the game wants to feel to you.

The game wants that you forget about reality and focus on the story.

Daniel is not like a different character, YOU are Daniel.
And you should feel like you would be him. There are no two persons, there are no Daniel and you, there is only You. And you are Daniel.

Well I don't want be Daniel because he is sadistic maniac, with severely pliable and weak character, who doesn't even have a courage to face his monstrosities, but needs a comfort of oblivion by inducing amnesia to himself. That is one of the major points of this game, you must travel in a skin of a man so despicable and to experience his world. You may have something in common with him, and you can relate to some things, but that doesn't mean ''you must be him'', and that was surely not an idea from Frictional.

[Minecrawler]

I was fully able to immerse myself in Amnesia, I'm sorry mate but I just don't see your argument here.

Surely do you feel immersed in Amnesia, but the game did some things wrong compared to Penumbra or general game mechanics. As I said, if the texts would be improved that it do no longer looks like hints given to you by someone else, the immersion would be even more intensive. Because Amnesia's way was a break-down of immersion.

Perhaps english language interpretation is different to german, but in german the texts doesn't feel immersing like I remember it in Penumbra's formulation.

In german, we never say "You" when I mean myself or when I am the character and not someone called Daniel. We say "I".

[Zgroktar]

I was fully able to immerse myself in Amnesia, I'm sorry mate but I just don't see your argument here.

Surely do you feel immersed in Amnesia, but the game did some things wrong compared to Penumbra or general game mechanics. As I said, if the texts would be improved that it do no longer looks like hints given to you by someone else, the immersion would be even more intensive. Because Amnesia's way was a break-down of immersion.

Perhaps english language interpretation is different to german, but in german the texts doesn't feel immersing like I remember it in Penumbra's formulation.

In german, we never say "You" when I mean myself or when I am the character and not someone called Daniel. We say "I".

That is your subjective perception, probably due to the different language, and the rest of us just don't see any problem there. To me Amnesia is still much more ''immersive'' than Penumbra, which although a great game, felt a little sloppy at certain points. Amnesia has a much greater essence and experience, which no minor problems, like text lines, can undermine, and could hardly improve either.

[Minecrawler]

Amnesia has a much greater essence and experience, which no minor problems, like text lines, can undermine, and could hardly improve either.

Oh, when we talk about the experience, I also think that Penumbra was better in that way. Just because of the more tricky physics puzzles where you have to use anything in the environment to get forward or to read someone's instructions in form of an user manual to repair a machine or such kind of involving stuff. Penumbra's puzzles were harder and more brain-thinking than Amnesia. Well, Amnesia has 1-2 hard puzzles too, for example the weights in the control room. But in penumbra you had more to look around the environment to find something special you need to get forward or use your own ideas.
Also the story was better in my opinion, searching for your father in greenland and be alone in that mining shaft, that was more plausible and doesn't feel like to be just in a game. I think that was better than the story with the orb they found in Amnesia. the intellectual background is very good of Amnesia's story, but that's the only good thing.
Amnesia also did it wrong "playing" with effects and "forcing" itself to be scary. For example the self opening doors in the beginning, a good idea, but three times one after the other. Or the image colorizing effects. That is to make horror, but it's not plausible and in my opinion, plausibility is very important to feel immersed.

But now let's stop writing about Penumbra here or which one is better. Let's now go back to AMFP.
I just wanted to tell how to do the texts right and make it better than it was in Amnesia.

[ThePaSch]

Some work is still left to be done. We are testing, tweaking,
optimizing, porting, translating and all those things that are part of
the process of creating and releasing a game. Currently we are looking
at a release around Q2 2013.

Wha-?

[Minecrawler]

Wha-?

I'm sure he means porting to linux and macintosh.

[Traggey]

He does, current HPL engine does not function on consoles.