262 - Metro: Last Light

Developer diaries about creating Neverending Nightmares.
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matt
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262 - Metro: Last Light

Post by matt »

I finally finished Metro Last Light Redux, and I enjoyed it. Since I already talked about Metro 2033 Redux, and Last Light was similar, I focus on the idea that the hero is not the protagonist but rather an observer experiencing the action, which I think is a unique aspect to the Metro series.

-Matt Gilgenbach
Lead Frightener at Infinitap Games
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evilkinggumby
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Re: 262 - Metro: Last Light

Post by evilkinggumby »

I have both games on steam, but not the redux. I really need to play them.. dangit.

I backed a game on kickstarter called "You Are Not the Hero" that i think also lends itself to this oddball story telling, though I haven't played the demo and it is still in development so the final product may vary. On the upside I snaggged one of the tiers where i'll end up being a character in the game (sent in pics and discussed my dialogue and all with the creator) so that'll be a fun lil moment running into my own NPC. Might be worth checking if you like this kind of alternate storytelling. though it is a rpg so you may not be keen to playing something slightly retro(it started a a rpgmaker 2000vx but I think it's transitioned since then).

and get a drink damnit! lol. this is the third vid in this block where you got that dry cough. get a fridge for the office. stock it with cold stuff!!! lol

also a couple vids ago you didn't start it with your usual "H'lo" and it felt really really weird.. i'm glad you got back to that hehehe
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matt
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Re: 262 - Metro: Last Light

Post by matt »

I think the cough/throat clearing is actually a side effect from changing my antacid medicine, and it happens all the time now regardless of drinking water. I'm trying to get my medication switched back but my insurance is being... difficult. I'll make a note to check out "You Are Not the Hero" when it comes out.
-Matt Gilgenbach
Lead Frightener at Infinitap Games
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RightClickSaveAs
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Re: 262 - Metro: Last Light

Post by RightClickSaveAs »

Has anyone played This War of Mine? It was discussed somewhere around these boards a while ago, and I haven't played it, but it has since come out to positive reviews. That definitely seems like a twist on the player as the hero idea.

I want to say Half-Life sort of does that, where it puts you in a world where a bunch of big events are happening around you, but Gordon Freeman becomes a sort of symbol, especially in 2, and definitely fits more in the hero archetype.

I always wanted to see a war game where you're just one of many faceless grunts, but I don't know how fun that would be to play for very long. Although if fun wasn't the idea, and instead it was meant to show you how shitty actual war is, maybe it would make a good short game jam type game.
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matt
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Re: 262 - Metro: Last Light

Post by matt »

I haven't played This War of Mine yet. I'm not super big into roguelike/procedural games, but I want to check it out at some point.

When I play Half-Life, I want to do science! Everyone always talks about what a great scientist he is, but you never get to do science. Instead, you are sent on stupid fetch quests that anyone could do.

I've only played Call of Duty: Ghosts, but in that game you were kind of a grunt. You don't play the squad leader. There is a commander telling you what to do every step of the way. Not quite what you were thinking I imagine.
-Matt Gilgenbach
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Re: 262 - Metro: Last Light

Post by RightClickSaveAs »

I was thinking something like a World War II Normandy Beach scenario. The D-Day invasion has been done a bunch of times in games, but always where you're part of some special group that makes their way up the beach and starts taking out the machine gun nests or something, and if you die you reload and try again. Instead, what if you were just one faceless person in a sea of soldiers charging into death. No cover mechanics or health, you can be killed randomly at any minute, or be injured and have to just lie there dying and hope a medic eventually saves you. That'd be incredibly frustrating I'd imagine, I wonder if the message would be impactful or it'd just annoy people :)
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matt
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Re: 262 - Metro: Last Light

Post by matt »

Well, that could work as an art game, but I think if you died 5 minutes into a game you paid for, it might be frustrating. I think it'd be the most interesting if it were a game where you could only play once. That has been experimented with here and there. There was some indie game that could only play a limited amount of times and it fell apart as more people played. i can't remember what it was called though. There is Upsilon Circuit, which seems pretty cool, but it seems difficult to make money from. I don't think that is something I'd want to play - especially because of the spectating. I'd be afraid I'd "blow" my chance - especially because sometimes it takes me a wile to figure out the controls to a new game...
-Matt Gilgenbach
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evilkinggumby
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Re: 262 - Metro: Last Light

Post by evilkinggumby »

Imagine having the whole storming the beaches of normandy scene and every time you die the scene rewinds and drops you in as another soldier on the field (and your prior dead character is now a body on the shore). every time you die it rewinds and places a corpse there. after you screw up over and over from stray fire or headshots the bodies would pile up along the beachs and you'd see and feel EVERY soldiers death as you play. If you managed to move through the scene/chapter there is an option to replay the scene from beginning to end, showing the deaths of all your efforts in realtime, simultaneously. You'd experience the horror of the moment both repeatedly as a member, and then collectively as a spectator, and i'd think gain a whole different feeling for what war really entails.

it'd be a brutal and emotionally frustrating and difficult game to move through, every chapter would be agonizing, but at the same time powerful. and as the game progressed, as you lose more comrads due to screwing up or just bad luck, you realise how many "lives" are left in your platoon and suddenly every one is precious to get through to the end.

Last man standing would feel like an impossible mission. and it would be.
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Re: 262 - Metro: Last Light

Post by RightClickSaveAs »

evilkinggumby wrote:Imagine having the whole storming the beaches of normandy scene and every time you die the scene rewinds and drops you in as another soldier on the field (and your prior dead character is now a body on the shore).
I really like this idea! This could be something very effective to see in action, even as a short experimental kind of game.



matt wrote:Well, that could work as an art game, but I think if you died 5 minutes into a game you paid for, it might be frustrating. I think it'd be the most interesting if it were a game where you could only play once. That has been experimented with here and there. There was some indie game that could only play a limited amount of times and it fell apart as more people played. i can't remember what it was called though. There is Upsilon Circuit, which seems pretty cool, but it seems difficult to make money from. I don't think that is something I'd want to play - especially because of the spectating. I'd be afraid I'd "blow" my chance - especially because sometimes it takes me a wile to figure out the controls to a new game...
That is a really interesting idea, I wonder how much attention it will get when it comes out. It definitely redefines the idea of permadeath, wow.
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matt
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Re: 262 - Metro: Last Light

Post by matt »

Yeah, it seems like a totally crazy idea. I imagine you could fool the ip/hardware/whatever check they use to restrict you from playing multiple times, but that wouldn't be in the spirit of the game.
-Matt Gilgenbach
Lead Frightener at Infinitap Games
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