By Jim Rossignol on December 7th, 2008 at 10:52 am.
Trine is a physics-based fantasy platform adventure that looks really rather good. The press blurb explains the main concept: “Trine is a fantasy action game where the player can create and use physics-based objects to beat hazardous puzzles and threatening enemies. Set in a world of great castles and strange machinery, three heroes are bound to a mysterious device called the Trine in a quest to save the kingdom from evil…”
Anyway, that physics action makes it a rather splendid puzzler – a kind of Crayon Physics meets Prince Of Persia – so take a look at the trailer after the jump for elucidation. The game is due to hit in Q2 next year.
07/12/2008 at 11:01 Kadayi says:
Looks quite lovely.
07/12/2008 at 11:03 Trezoristo says:
Looks fun and has some pretty catchy music too. I hope they manage to integrate the platforming with the physics-puzzling in a way that makes neither feel like a drag when playing.
07/12/2008 at 11:04 Xercies says:
Wow this looks like a cool platformer.
07/12/2008 at 11:08 Kast says:
Very pretty. For some reason it makes me think of Overlord – could be the title font and the forest design.
I wonder if there’s a mechanic to stop you from hovering a wall beneath you to ‘magic carpet’ your way across the level
07/12/2008 at 11:10 Jim Rossignol says:
Yeah, it’s got the same kind of cartoon neon-edged look as Overlord.
07/12/2008 at 11:14 Naurgul says:
It looks very good. Of course, the ever-present problem with these games is whether the premise will be realised or not. Still, keep us informed on this one, RPS overlords! ;)
07/12/2008 at 11:15 Chris R says:
Interesting… I wonder how the controls feel, switching from the mouse to draw the outlines for objects, and then back to the keyboard to make the jump, etc.
07/12/2008 at 11:17 Fede says:
Great idea and nice atmosphere, looks very promising.
Certainly looking forward to it.
Edit: btw, what happened to saturday (yesterday)’s part of 12 games of christmas?
07/12/2008 at 11:18 roBurky says:
Ooh, that looks really good.
07/12/2008 at 11:22 Miles says:
For some reason, reminds me of the first 2 Oddworld games. Which can only be a good thing.
07/12/2008 at 11:23 gioppe says:
Reminds us how platforming is so much better in 2D.
07/12/2008 at 11:31 Funky Badger says:
Gots that Okami “Drawing the World” thing also.
07/12/2008 at 11:54 Ian says:
Well that looks splendid.
07/12/2008 at 11:54 SmallGods says:
We the people demand a demo! Although I bet the crayon physics dude is now looking at this going, “why the hell didn’t I think of that!”
07/12/2008 at 12:03 The Hammer says:
The guy with the sword looks sort of like the Overlord, too.
Anyway, that was lovely! I’m not normally into platformers, but I loved how seamless the physics were in that, and how organic the animations and visuals were. I’ll echo Trez’s comment about the music. ‘s nice.
Thanks for pointing this out, RPS, and I look forward to a demo!
07/12/2008 at 12:10 dartt says:
There’re some beautiful animations there. I wonder if I’ll have the wit to think up some of the moves it shows in the trailer when I play it, I’ll probably just end up stacking boxes to bypass every obstacle…
07/12/2008 at 12:19 Jahkaivah says:
I wonder how will this compare to LittleBigPlanet?
07/12/2008 at 12:42 MeestaNob! says:
@Jahkaivah
So far, it’s about even – they’re both video games.
07/12/2008 at 12:49 Unrein says:
Also, Trine is from the makers of Shadowgrounds.
07/12/2008 at 13:18 fulis says:
looks nice but the name sucks
07/12/2008 at 13:18 Jahkaivah says:
Also just noticed something looking at the trailer again. There appear to be 3 classes, Ranger, Warrior, Wizard and you can freely switch between them.
Wizard can summon objects and levitate, Ranger can shot and use a grapple hook, Warrior can hit things.
(kinda obvious but didn’t observe it first time round)
@MeestaNob!
My god…. really?
07/12/2008 at 13:22 TheLordHimself says:
Why is there so much negativity towards LittleBigPlanet on here?
07/12/2008 at 13:25 Meat Circus says:
I’m really enjoying LittleBigPlanet, as and when I can get a good group via the Tubes.
Its platforming is a little gitchy however, and could have done with some tightening.
This, btw, looks gorgeous. Yay for 2.5d. Although the main character animations seems a little off.
07/12/2008 at 13:45 Kieron Gillen says:
Fede: Christmas celebration posts are weekdays only. At the weekend, we rest, with tea and biscuits.
Tasty tea.
KG
07/12/2008 at 13:45 Colthor says:
[Open-mouthed-with-glee-emoticon]
07/12/2008 at 14:37 Bhazor says:
I wasn’t too excited until it got to 1:00 by which point I was pawing at the screen and mewling. Kind of like when Konnie Huq, Tamsin Greig or (bizarrely) Rik Mayll appear or the telly.
Do want!
07/12/2008 at 15:15 nabeel says:
Looks pretty cool, thanks for the heads-up.
nabeel
07/12/2008 at 15:17 TheDeadlyShoe says:
i like it, but the animations seem off to me
07/12/2008 at 15:25 Pags says:
I’m trine to think of a reason I shouldn’t get excited. Can’t think of one.
Ho ho ho.
07/12/2008 at 16:23 Valentin Galea says:
oh me god – oh my god – could this be the NEXT WOG? :D
07/12/2008 at 17:00 Koopa says:
Been looking forward to this ever since I first read about it. Nice to see some video too, looks really great.
07/12/2008 at 17:41 Man Raised By Puffins says:
This does look rather special, ta for the heads up RPS!
07/12/2008 at 17:47 Morkilus says:
That trailer made me want to replay Lost Vikings.
07/12/2008 at 17:49 nakke says:
The Crayon Physics dude worked for them (Frozenbyte) before showing it to the man and going independent, right?
07/12/2008 at 17:57 lobsterjohnson says:
Crayon Physics + The Lost Vikings?
Nice.
07/12/2008 at 18:00 Xyzzy says:
Looks excellent. Might have to pick it up after I get a new GFX card.
07/12/2008 at 18:46 Bhlaab says:
Looks really nice, but I’m getting sick of the Indie Physics genre
07/12/2008 at 19:06 BeamSplashX says:
Maybe Trine will be so good that everyone else cancels their indie physics projects and makes hentai physics games.
07/12/2008 at 19:29 yns88 says:
I don’t know BeamSplashX, there’s just not much ground to cover there. I mean, once you’ve played one upskirt simulator you’ve pretty much played them all. And there’s not much else to do with physics in a hentai game.
Unless you want to get into fluid dynamics, well then let’s just not go there.
07/12/2008 at 19:52 Heliocentric says:
Made by the shadowgrounds guys? Get me a 100mb demo and 50kb of critical analysys stat!
07/12/2008 at 20:27 Brian says:
Neato! Looks like Contra meets Diablo meets Crayon Physics!
07/12/2008 at 22:15 Al3xand3r says:
Never expected something this awesome from the Shadowgrounds devs. I can’t wait, I only hope it remains a fun adventure and doesn’t lose its charm while trying to push the “innovation” (physics-drawing-puzzles) too much. Ie, hopefully it stays Prince of Persia-esque like you say, rather than become a puzzle game halfway through, like say, Vagrant Story.
07/12/2008 at 22:27 Weylund says:
I dunno, if it’s anything like Shadowgrounds they’ll take the same fun mechanic and just keep running with it. I doubt there’ll be much more innovation than you see in the trailer (which is plenty I think).
To me, that’s the beauty of Shadowgrounds – simple fun. You’ve seen it all before – now do it in a single video game for hours on end! Kind of like playing Combat Arms without the six-year-old idiot hackers.
08/12/2008 at 00:51 Thiefsie says:
sounds like latrine crossed with urine?
08/12/2008 at 05:06 Poita says:
I haven’t checked but I get the feeling that this game isn’t American or Japanese. I’m guessing European and probably central European.
I Don’t what what it is about it but it has a quality that somehow Jap or Yank games always lack.
08/12/2008 at 05:19 Poita says:
Update: Just checked Frozenbyte on Wikipedia. Finish. So i was a little south in my estimate but just about the right longitude.
08/12/2008 at 06:59 Wedge says:
Hot damn? Where did this come from? Sweet.
08/12/2008 at 11:38 Bobsy says:
Man, that’s pretty charming. I’ve been charmed!
But the cynic-worm in me thinks it’ll end up console-only.
08/12/2008 at 11:41 Jim Rossignol says:
Balls to cynic-worm! These boys are PC stalwarts.
08/12/2008 at 11:49 Bobsy says:
Balls to the cynic-worm!
08/12/2008 at 11:54 Kieron Gillen says:
The opposite. With the control system they’re showing, I don’t think it’d work at all on a console.
KG
08/12/2008 at 13:37 Duke Nasty VI says:
Positively awesome
08/12/2008 at 14:14 Phlebas says:
You mean it’s not about building a railway across Australia?
08/12/2008 at 14:48 Srejv says:
Trine is a physics-based fantasy platform adventure that looks really rather good.
Really rather good?
08/12/2008 at 16:02 Katsumoto says:
Yes?
08/12/2008 at 16:36 Rei Onryou says:
Really rather good is a staple comment for games that are genuinely good looking due to gameplay, rather than the generic “it looks good”. Should be in the dictionary really.
This looks fun in the way World of Goo makes you coo everytime you complete a level. I’d be interested in seeing where this leads…
08/12/2008 at 18:03 Resin says:
looks alright, but I would really like to see a more 3d game on this premise.
08/12/2008 at 21:57 suibhne says:
I think it looks splendid, and the waterwheel/plank physics had me giggling with girlish glee.
08/12/2008 at 21:58 suibhne says:
Btw, the end of the cinematic clearly promises “Coming to Playstation Network and PC”.
09/12/2008 at 09:36 Mikalye says:
The one comparison that immediately hit me was not to Overlord but to Blizzard’s The Lost Vikings (three classes, each with differing special abilities all of whom have to work together and be swapped between, in order to bypass different interesting environments). Sure Vikings used a cartoony graphics style and this looks very much more pretty, but you know, I would have expected that after 16 years. From a gameplay perspective though, these look very similar.