From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ilomilo
a puzzle game developed by SouthEnd Interactive and Microsoft Game Studios. It was released on Windows Phone 7 on November 8, 2010 for AT&T customers.[2] On November 26, 2010, a "secret" website was made available where players could get a code to download a trial and purchase the game early, while the game was officially released onXbox Live Arcade on January 5, 2011.
Gameplay
The goal of each of the 49 levels is to unite Ilo and Milo, who are on separate sides of the level and must work together to meet. Players can change control between Ilo and Milo, or two players can control both Ilo and Milo. Because only one character can be "active" at any time, players in multiplayer alternate between controlling their given character and using a "pointer" to help guide the active player. "Eggs" are also hidden on certain levels which are only accessible in multiplayer. Levels are made up of various cubes, some of which Ilo or Milo can pick up and carry in order to place elsewhere in the level, opening a path for the other to travel on. Different cubes have different effects, such as some which extend across gaps or some that allow Ilo or Milo to fall through and end up on the other side. There are also carpets which allow characters to walk on different sides of the cubes and switches which activate bridges. Hidden throughout the levels are various fragments, which when collected piece together postcard memories, explaining some of the game's backstory. There also small creatures called Safkas hidden in each level, which unlock bonuses when collected. The levels that these safkas open contain a part of Sebastian's "The Huntsman and the Fox", levels with appearances from other games, and levels with re-skins of Ilo and Milo themselves. The characters that can be seen in the purple safka's levels are The Goo Balls from World Of Goo, Victor Neff from "The Dream Machine", Meat Boy from Super Meat Boy, and Josef from Machinarium. Additional content is also available if the player also owns A World of Keflings or Raskulls.
Reception
Overall ilomilo received favorable reviews, earning a score of 81/100 from review aggregator Metacritic.[5] WMPoweruser gave the Windows Phone 7 (WP7) version of ilomilo a overall score of 5/5.[6] WPcentral gave the WP7 version a score of 8.5, praising its charm whilst criticising its short length.[7] Platform Nation's Julian Montoya gave the game a 9 out of 10, stating the title is "a cute and excellent puzzle game with spectacular and imaginative visuals, clever stages and equally charming music".[8] Edge awarded the game 6/10, stating that "its most intelligent puzzles embrace three dimensions surprisingly well", but criticized the game's artistic direction, stating that "the charm is a little too mannered to be truly effective".[9]
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lost in Shadow
known as A Shadow's Tale in Australia and Europe and as Kage no Tō (影の塔?, lit. "Tower of Shadows") in Japan, is a puzzle platforming video game developed for Nintendo's Wii console by Hudson Soft. Lost in Shadow is played largely in the background of the game environment as the player controls a boy's shadow, which must climb the shadows of a tall tower, rife with puzzles and enemies. He is accompanied by a sylph that can alter the direction of the foreground light sources, altering the alignment of shadows upon which he climbs. There are times in the game when the boy is able to materialize into the 3D world and briefly interact with the objects themselves as opposed to simply their shadows.
Lost in Shadow was developed by the team at Hudson Softthat had previously created Kororinpa and its sequel for the Wii.[2][3] The original inspiration came from the gameshadow tag, the objective of which is to step on an opponent's shadow.[2] Director Osamu Tsuchihashi was reminded of his experience with the game as a child when he saw some kids playing tag in a park.[1] He conceived the concept of Lost in Shadow as a result, combining it with an earlier idea of a title revolving around climbing a tower.[1] The atmosphere and setting of the game was based on a disused tower in Tokyo and an abandonedracing track in Negishi, the latter of which Tsuchihashi was intrigued by after he coincidentally came upon a photo of the location.[4][1] For the lighting ofLost in Shadow, he tried to recreate the horizontal incidence of sunlight while playing shadow tag, and the muted color palette used in the title was inspired by ancient Japanese art.[2][5]The enemies in the levels were made to convey a sense of fear and sadness, and were thought of as "it", the current chaser in a game of tag.[4][2] The shadow protagonist of the story was left unnamed because Tsuchihashi did not want to over-characterize it.[6] Similarly, chief designer Masakazu Echigo kept its shape fairly simple not to obscure it on the various surfaces it is casted on, and sound director Shohei Bando was faced with the challenge of creating sounds a shadow would make.[6][1] The health system of the game, centered around the weight of the shadow, was based on Duncan MacDougall's alleged determination of the human soulweighing 21 grams.[7] Hiromasa Ogura, who is a character designer of director Hayao Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli and had previously worked on the anime films Patlabor: The Movie and Ghost in the Shell, was commissioned as the art director for the game and drew the Japanese box cover, as part of a team of seven graphic artists.[8][4][9][10] The music composed by Takasi Watanabe is mostly ambient in nature, and is supplemented by the image song "Hinagiku" from artist Gutevolk.[3][11][9] The team conceived the easier puzzles in the game with a computer program, though actual toy blocks were used to model more complex ones, resulting in a lot of trial and error.[11][4] However, most of the development time of one and a half years was spent on creating and adjusting the shadow engine which posed many unforeseen problems for the game's programmers.
