retweet to die instantly part 2: just bit.trip

10:43 PM

I feel that the amount of time it took me to even get to the next post may have to make me cut in a part 3, or reconsider how I actually organize my posts at this point. Anyways, hi. I'm rust_ again, and I got more words to say today. If I'm correct, I was talking about BIT.TRIP Runner's art style? Yeah, I was. Well, I actually don't have anything else to say about it besides the jump to 3D was like Sonic's first steps in the 3D world. (Note from a few minutes later: I had much more to say.) It never went well at all.

Now, when I mean the jump to 3D, I mean at the perspective of the characters themselves. I say this because the backgrounds of BIT.TRIP were always in a 3D environment, the game was always built with some sort of third dimension to it, with sometimes 2D being used in the bonus stages, except it was intentional as the levels were made to portray older games with a 16/8-bit style, much like the days of the SNES, NES, Genesis, and the freakin' NEO-GEO or whatever that forgotten one was supposed to be. I'm too busy listening to SILVER SURFER'S SOUNDTRACK AND/OR TIME TRAX FOR SEGA GENESIS, PEOPLE.

Commander Video was always a person running around in a 3D world as a 2D being. For some games, making the half-jump from 2D to 3D with still some 2D involved can require a good knowledge on both ends of the spectrum. I'd say it'd require just about as much effort to make a game entirely in 3D or 2D. Now, I did dabble into game design myself for 4 years on a kids programming language called Scratch, but that doesn't stop me from having the rights like anyone else to talk about something I never actually believe that I'll fully accomplish. Games like BIT.TRIP are one of the few examples (probably more than just "a few") that actually combine both 2D and 3D together to make something new, something that can be actually interesting to look at than "oh wow, another generic 2D indie game with pixel art or simplistic style/geometry" or "oh wow some basic 3d with a concept that hooks all the youtubers so the developer can push themselves to add more random and sometimes unneeded content". I'd hate to be somewhat disrespectful to indie developers trying to make it big, but it's sometimes not the best solution to take the cheap shot. Try and challenge yourself once a while. go and do something that you haven't done before. Hell, I've drawn objects and stickfigures for long enough that I'm only now starting to draw actual human characters. Believe that.

Back on topic of actually BIT.TRIP and not something about generalized game design for people trying to get into the game industry as a developer, I fear that the newest installments of Runner seem to abandon what makes BIT.TRIP the way it is. The surreal pixel style with 3D elements drew people into the game, and if you take that away, it's just another generic arcade game. That's what RUNNER 2/3 is, a generic arcade game. Hell, I'm gonna make the bet that they reference the name BIT.TRIP less in RUNNER 3 than RUNNER 2, and they both have the same style. I wouldn't be surprised if they just make RUNNER alone and just leave out BIT.TRIP altogether. This does remind me, though. Remember when I talked about that nice yellow robot and the square dude with the antenna. They're still in the new games! Just not as viewable as they used to be. Actually, I think that they were more present in RUNNER 2/3 than in BIT.TRIP Runner, as they were mostly just seen in the cutscenes.

11:03 PM

I'll be damned, should've wrote this sooner. Anyways, to sum it up, Runner 1 does what the other two doesn't do. It tries to be something that you don't normally see in games of it's time, or something in terms of gameplay. Runner 2 and Runner 3 is exactly what they are. Runner games. I'd play a mobile game and it'd be roughly the same thing. Hell, I think the UI sounds in Runner 3 are taken from Geometry Dash. I'll be honest, I ain't the best guy game-wise, nor am I the best writing-wise, art-wise, definitely coding-wise, social-wise maybe, but when I say that Runner 1 is better than Runner 2/3 graphically and even fundamentally, I at least know what I'm trying to prove, and I do my best to portray those expressions back in the style of text, with a little bit of markdown to hElP keep the message strong. BIT.TRIP deserves more than just being classified as another generic title, it was originally something much more interesting, something that I would sink my teeth into and realize that it's not something empty and full of sugar. I want something actually good with a lot of thought and effort put into it. Something that doesn't rely on release dates, margins, limitations, celebrities, or the sorts. I want something that breaks out of the water and shows it's true colors, the way the developer wants, in hopes of maybe, just one day, a group of people will understand.

That's the magic of development, and BIT.TRIP told us that straying from the norm can lead to a success that could drive someone to tears. Game development is beautiful and portrays even it's own story, in a way. You'll never know until you actually give it an attempt.

It's a BIT.TRIP, until it's over.