PEGBRJE: NOISE1 and Verdant Skies
Tension, and a lack thereof. Also Happy Last Day of 2020 I guess.
NOISE1 is an ascii puzzle adventure by ChevyRay, a solo indie dev out of Vancouver. Players take control of oneself interacting with a character represented as a green @, which will screw with much of this writeup thanks to Medium’s desire for me to ping actual people with it. Nevertheless I will persevere, just as @ does throughout their quest to free the test subjects of the facility they are in. Players take the role as @’s ‘chair guy’ (to shamelessly rip off Spiderman), guiding @ through the facility to dodge or distract the guards, open doors and turn off hazards. @ in turn attempts to give context to the player as where they are and what in the blazes is going on, and it all seems centred on a certain test subject simply named ‘X’.
Players may remember a game earlier in the bundle that reminds them somewhat of NOISE1, such as Code 7. Players have set codes that @ gives them in the form of short phrases such as OPEN (param), NOISE (param), SCAN, GO, ON, OFF, and more as the game evolves. Most of the game revolves around the player’s ability to time and control the movements of the guards and @, trying to lock guards out of places that @ is trying to go while ensuring that @ doesn’t make a break for it since player’s can only communicate with them at terminals. As @ gains more functionality, so does the security, becoming denser and more difficult to maneuver in the attempts to ensure nothing gets into the holding chambers. The game slowly warps into predictive and reactionary on top of the manipulation, as enemies shrink the windows of opportunity or remove player’s abilities to contain them in a room. Commands need to come faster and faster, something that is warned about on the itch.io page as those that have difficulty typing quickly will encounter serious issues as the game goes later and later. Thankfully, the SKIP functionality was introduced that if players were having difficulties for any reason, the level could be skipped so the story can still be experienced.
What was most interesting was how oddly attached I got to a small @ sign. At first the vague conversations detailing a fairly straight forward narrative of ‘needing to break out of nondescript laboratory location’ didn’t do much for me, but over time I found myself rooting for the little @ person. Perhaps it was the constant adventuring, the dozens of extremely narrow passages barely slipped by through guards who would kill them instantly. Perhaps it was the simple honesty in how much @ wasn’t telling us as hacker players about the whole ordeal, or maybe it was simply because the world was actually built organically. @ rarely delved into details of the world, simply making off comments about the laboratory, the galaxy and their mission to save X. Yet this simplicity allows for player curiousity, for wondering where this facility is and how far humanity has come if @ is so worried about the entire galaxy rather than a simple planet. Just who or what are @ and X, and who is this terrifying H person that makes the font red and funky. That is a tale for the player to discover, after all.
A quick aside with spoilers, I’m not certain if there is a divergent narrative in this game, as during the engine sequence I decided to just say STOP instead of GO to destroy the place, and I didn’t want to reload to test it out. I’m curious to see what could’ve happened. Anyway.
NOISE1 is a curious title, built to create tension based on player’s ability to type simple commands at an accelerating and nail-biting pace. @’s journey to save the test subjects doesn’t seem very deep, yet its sincerity draws people in and its simplicity makes you wonder what the world is like within this little ascii game. I’d also like to point out that this is a custom engine, and as someone who suffered having to build pieces of a C++ engine for school, kudos to you ChevyRay. If you are looking for a variation to the previous bundle title Code 7 with tension thanks to missing a letter in the word OPEN, NOISE1 is a fun little title to do fulfil that need.
Verdant Skies is a life and settlement simulation title by Howling Moon Software, a collection of indie developers out of Minnesota. Players are recruited to be a colonist on planet Viridis Primus, and start the adventure off on the best foot possible by crashing their ship straight into the planet. Upon gathering whatever wits remain, players are introduced to the two current residence in Jade (the mastermind and overseer) and Rosie (the resident mechanic and tinkerer). Players then begin the massive task of being the jack of all trades laborer, performing similar tasks to the inspirational titles such as Harvest Moon. As the colony expands with more specialists arriving, players will split their time between dozens of different tasks in order to build relationships with the others and expand the colony.
As mentioned, Verdant Skies is another addition to the ‘settlement simulation’ genre as I call it, where players are the only person in the entire game to be able to do everything, and must for the settlement depends on it; see Harvest Moon, Stardew Valley, Animal Crossing and many more I’m forgetting. Players will plant seeds they collect to grow crops, cut down trees and destroy rocks, harvest flowers and build varieties of objects to help with these tasks. These tasks are limited into two groups: those that take stamina to complete, and those that do not. Stamina consuming tasks are ones that reward players with substantial materials or require strenuous activity, such as mining, logging, and watering plants. Those that do not are fishing and picking up loose materials from the ground such as seeds, scrap, and flowers. Stamina is replenished by sleeping, but is also replenished by consuming food either made or found to allow players to work tirelessly throughout the day and night, becoming a balancing act for how much stamina can be consumed before needing to eat. One must always be careful, however, as running out of stamina does mean fainting — thankfully, walking and cooking don’t require stamina, so players should always be able to get home to sleep or eat. The sound begins to become muffled as well as stamina decreases, which is a good indicator to head home.
There are other colonists on the planet that can assist in some regards, but generally they are quest givers for players to help them out and gain relationships points towards. Interacting with the locals gives them relationship points, and maxing out the bar will grant an interaction the next time players converse with them. There are also arguments and conversations that break out amongst the colonists between each other, which players can side with one of them to gain points and possible items while losing points with the other. Now, I’m not a frequent player of settlement sims — I never played Stardew or Harvest Moon, and picked up Animal Crossing just this year thanks to the pandemic. I’m not entirely sure how relationships work in these other titles, but I did greatly enjoy this style where choices seemingly mattered. Sure, I can just chat up the other every day to gain those points back, yet I still felt mildly nervous whenever a decision would show up as it would become a debate on who I would want to recoup those points for. There is also dating/marriage possibilities that I haven’t unlocked fully yet, but I can only assume that this could lead to further decisions being needed to make.
I’d like to make a small point about dating and marriage, because after some small digging I found that many of the characters are polyamorous, which means players can date multiple characters without fear. There are a few monogamous characters, but the representation alone that they are openly poly was something I wasn’t entirely expecting. The representation of the game was also quite intriguing, for the first two characters player’s meet are both women of colour, with Rosie actively speaking in Spanish multiple times. Speaking of Rosie, she’s also blind as well, although it’s never gone into more detail from my current place in the playthrough — does she have future space tech to assist her, or is she just that damn good at her job? Is it both, or is it neither? Or is it that I’m prying because she is tied for the most relationship points and I wanted to get to know her more? Who’s to say. The point being is that not only is this game bringing about representation casually and confidently, but it does it well on the backs of interesting characters that I actively wish to know more about.
Verdant Skies is the polar opposite of NOISE1, one that allows you to relax and wander about with the only care in the world being your own personal need for efficiency. There are more than a dozen colonists to interact with, a world to explore and a colony to build up and expand with your own home and customizable avatar (which, is that a Seto Kaiba outfit? If it is, amazing. If it isn’t, why did I assume that first…) to fit whatever look one is looking for on any given day. Pursue relationships and send shipments of goods to make money out of the base, and reap that which you sow. If you are looking for a good settlement simulation title that incorporates more relationship mechanics, Verdant Skies is definitely the title for you.
