Ready for something different? (1 Viewer)

[EdR]

First off, I'm posting this message because it's clear from my few weeks being here that there are a variety of very enthusiastic gamers on this forum.
I run a forum of my own (78 users strong ) for a PC and Mac game called 'Tranquility'. It's probably unlike any game you've played. I should say at the outset that I do not make money from this game directly or indirectly.
Tranquility is a 3D, first-person exploration, flying game. There's no shooting, no weapons, no characters. The game takes place in an enormous sphere of stars at the center of which is a flat square grid suspended in space. Above the grid float collections of multi-colored 'platforms' which swirl about in loose structures, resembling a kind of digital kelp forest. Among the platforms (which can number up to 10,000), is one special one called a 'spinner' which is your door to the next level. Find the spinner (it's a unique shape), fly into it and you move on.
The flying mechanism is straightforward, you turn by moving the mouse (or whatever pointing device you use) left and right, push the mouse forward to fly forward, pull back to back up. There is a slight gravity which causes you to descend, you can accelerate your decent by pressing the mouse button. When you contact a platform (or the grid) you bounce off and fly back upward, the faster you are moving when you hit a platform the higher you bounce off of it. And this is how you navigate levels, by bouncing off platforms looking for the spinner. There are no time limits, in fact I have spent as much as 40 minutes on one level just admiring the beautiful arrangement of platforms.
The game looks and plays unlike anything else (in my experience). But what truly makes it unique is how it uses the internet to customize the levels and music for each and every player. When you download the game, you're downloading 12Mb of sound samples and a game 'browser' - much like a web browser, the Tranquility game browser displays levels using descriptions of the levels that are sent to it from a server on the internet, the game browser then creates the level based on the description just received. The level descriptions are very small (7 levels are about the size of an average email). The server generates unique levels for every player every time you play.
The music is customized in a similar manner. Along with the levels, the server sends a description (ala MIDI) of how the sound samples in the game browser should be arranged. The game browser sequences and mixes the sound in real time as you play. In general the music is very cinematic, smooth quiet ambient.
The stated 'goal' of the game is to relax. You are scored by the game based on how you played, it keeps track of how ragged or smooth your movements are, and gives you a score based on how 'tranquil' you were during play. The scores are nothing but a reference, and have no effect on your progress in the game.
There's more to the game that I am not going into, this post is long enough. If you're interested, I recommend you visit the Tranquility website at http://www.tqworld.com . There are movies there, screen shots, a free demo, and a link to my forum (which BTW has some broken graphics that will be fixed this evening).

 

[EdR]

To see the game in action, here's a link to a 3.6MB quicktime movie, it's very short, but it gives a flavor of the dynamics of the game:
descend.mov
Here's a couple screenshots, although this game needs to be seen in motion to be appreciated, static screenshots don't come close to doing it justice:

 

[Romier S]

Wow, looks uniqe Ed. I have the page bookmarked and Ill try to get the demo tonight (A little enthralled with Steel Batallion righ now). Always on the look out for something new though so I'll defintely give it a shot.

 

[Rob Speicher]

Yeah, that didn't sound like a press release at all.
Played it. Piece of crap. Don't bother. Play Metroid Prime or MechAssault or GTA: Vice City or whatever, just something else.
78 people, that almost makes it a cult.
Haha,

I am a Hippie...
OOoooooo, the COLORS, the PATTERNS, the TRAILS, the MUSIC! You haven't seen anything like this since the Fillmore West in '69. Playing Tranquility is like orange sunshine every day. Although Tranquility is habit forming, it's safe when used as directed. And best of all, it's legal!

http://www.gamezone.com/gzreviews/r20299.htm
Graphics 8.3....Eight point three?

 

[Gregg Shiu]

Unique doesn't even begin to describe the experience I got from this game. After defeating the first boss, I realized that the long flying move was a valuable addition to my arsenal. By the time I reach level 7, I'll hopefully get the Morph-ray and then the Tesla Co- Oh wait, this isn't the thread for Ratchet and Clank at all... No offense, Ed, but after playing this, I gotta say it's like the retarded version of Res beaten with ugly branches a hundred times over. Maybe later if I'm not busy with Bikini Karate Babes I'll give this Frequency wannabe another whirl and get the power up to win the game!

 

[EdR]

Graphics 8.3....Eight point three?

The Tranquility OpenGL engine may appear simple, but it isn't. Unlike games such as Metroid Prime, and Quake, etc al, that basically map 2d textures onto static surfaces, Tranquility allows thousands of polygons, some with textures and color cycling, some aggregated into rather complex organizations, to move relative to each other simultaneously as you move by them.

The original game was a show off piece that SGI used to ship with their workstations. Years later the developer updated the engine and ported it to Windows and Mac.

 

[EdR]

No offense, Ed, but after playing this, I gotta say it's like the retarded version of Res beaten with ugly branches a hundred times over. Maybe later if I'm not busy with Bikini Karate Babes I'll give this Frequency wannabe another whirl and get the power up to win the game!

No offense taken, I fully understand it's not a game for everyone, or even most people.

Suffice to say that, as a life-long gamer, I found Tranquility to be one of the very few completely new gaming experiences I've seen. In a world full of Quake clones, Platformers up the wazoo, and remakes of old games, I was pleasantly surprised to find a game that fit into no genres, and emphatically went it's own way.

After spending many hours with this game, I can tell you that few games demonstrate as much thought and attention to detail as this one. (the demo only scratches the surface)

If you think this has any remote relation to Frequency, don't bother trying it again...it's not for you.

 

[Rob Speicher]

Well-taken. Nothing personal, just didn't see the same qualities you do.

 

[Dave Smith]

I first played tq back in 1993 on an SGI Indigo. It came with Irix, the OS. I loved it! I wasn't actually aware there were any versions on current machines, I'll have to take a look at it.

The other game we played on the SGIs was a networked combat flight sim thing called Dogfight, there's a PC version of that one also.

 

[Dean Cooper]

Thanks for sharing Ed. I'm always looking for something to try that's different. BTW, welcome to the group!

Edit: I find the controls to be incredibly frustrating (actually maddening would be a more accurate term), I think this game would be so much better with a space orb. Is there a way to look up and down with the mouse and move forward and back with the keyboard?

Dean

 

[EdR]

Edit: I find the controls to be incredibly frustrating (actually maddening would be a more accurate term), I think this game would be so much better with a space orb. Is there a way to look up and down with the mouse and move forward and back with the keyboard?

There are a number of people who report a similar frustration with the controls. I remember having some difficulty at first. The first thing to try is adjusting the sensitivity (I think it's the '[' and ']' keys), turning down the sensitivity might help. Another thing to know is that in general the game requires very little movement of the mouse...a little goes a long way.

I've talked to one of the developers about implementing the mouse-wheel as a look up/down function. He's said he'll look into it.

I actually learned the most about the controls when my cursor was visible (an early version had a bug where you could get the cursor to show up while you played). I learned that when your cursor is positioned dead-center in your screen, you are not moving (except for gravity drawing you down). If you put the cursor at the top-center of the screen, you are moving full speed forward. It's an absolute coordinate system, not relative...if that helps.