By John Walker on November 13th, 2009 at 8:59 am.
I’m not one to leap with joy at news of a new racing game, but when I see a trailer like the one below the joy-leaping muscles begin to clench. Proun, which is a splendid word, is a 3D obstacle-avoiding puzzly racing game set in a bizarre world of geometric shapes. You rotate around a cable, rather than steering, in a gorgeous looking environment. The project by Joost van Dongen is due to be released early next year, and will be freeware, according to IndieGames.
Dongen is pleasingly unabashed about his position on the artistry of gaming:
“Games are art. Games are a new medium, not in any way less than sculpture, painting, film or music. Right now, we are still experimenting with the possibilities of games; we are like film in the time of the Lumiere brothers. Game developers have found some tricks that work and sell and that have grown the industry, but I believe we have only seen a glance of the broad possibilities of games. Maybe not all games have to entertain or educate, maybe there is room for games that are disgusting, no fun at all, or games that are just sad, or psychedelic, with their meaning slipping through your fingers like water. Games that broaden your mind. Games that are art.”
And the trailer demonstrates this well enough for me.
13/11/2009 at 09:08 GibletHead2000 says:
Wow, that looks really slick. I’ll be keeping an eye on this one.
13/11/2009 at 09:16 teo says:
cool but music sucks
13/11/2009 at 20:08 Bhazor says:
No, the music is great.
It is in fact you who sucks for not liking it.
14/11/2009 at 02:40 lalahsghost says:
I agree, the music just doesn’t fit with the trailer somehow…
13/11/2009 at 09:19 Alex says:
I’m sure I played that once on the Acorn Archimedes… if only I could remember the name.
13/11/2009 at 09:26 mandrill says:
Finally, something that doesn’t inspire scorn and rage in my black, black heart. This looks beautiful and inspiring.
13/11/2009 at 09:28 Zerotime says:
So, it’s an ultra-smooth STUN Runner, only on the outside of a tube?
13/11/2009 at 09:39 Lack_26 says:
I suspect this may lead to my brain going, “waaa!?”. But in a good way.
13/11/2009 at 09:41 GreatUncleBaal says:
I really like the graphical style of this, and it’s an interesting concept – I can see myself getting completely hypnotised by the visuals though, and crashing an indecent amount of times.
13/11/2009 at 10:00 N-Al says:
Shouldn't this be called PREDGE, really?
13/11/2009 at 10:17 Rob says:
I played something like this on the Acorn, I can’t remember if there was obstacle avoidance too or if it was just a racer. Was good fun, but I can’t recall the name of it
13/11/2009 at 10:21 Flimgoblin says:
Ooh, motion sickness.
Other than that – looks cool.
13/11/2009 at 10:40 Soylent Robot says:
i can see myself seeing this when im trying to sleep. it looks like one of those “burns itself into your retinas” games. not that thats a bad thing
13/11/2009 at 10:40 fuggles says:
Reminds me of an inside out ballistics. Doesn’t look hugely fun but satisfyingly shiny, like a pixar tech demo.
13/11/2009 at 10:42 Craig says:
God that looks FAST. And brilliant. And Hard.
13/11/2009 at 10:46 Jonas says:
I dunno man, that looks pretty fun to me. Does that make it not art?
13/11/2009 at 10:50 Bob says:
Looks like it has the same thing wrong with it that audiosurf does, too much going on in the sides and stuff makes me feel sick tbh
13/11/2009 at 11:06 Switch625 says:
It’s like an inside-out Ballistics! I loved that game (and still do).
13/11/2009 at 11:06 Switch625 says:
Arg, beaten to it by Fuggles above :)
13/11/2009 at 11:19 Turin Turambar says:
[quote]
“Maybe not all games have to entertain or educate, maybe there is room for games that are disgusting, no fun at all, or games that are just sad, or psychedelic, with their meaning slipping through your fingers like water. Games that broaden your mind. Games that are art.”
[/quote]
Having played both Pathologic and The Void, well, yes.
;)
13/11/2009 at 11:20 Turin Turambar says:
bad tags!
13/11/2009 at 11:32 RagingLion says:
Me like. I’m a sucker for a good visual style. I might actually play this when it comes out.
13/11/2009 at 11:40 RLacey says:
To be free, you say? I’ll be having me some of that, then.
13/11/2009 at 11:53 fuggles says:
Erm, maybe, or else you’ll just fail until you memorize the track…
13/11/2009 at 12:20 Mathew Jensterle says:
There seems to be a test version available at
13/11/2009 at 12:21 Mathew Jensterle says:
oops. having problems with tags. If you go to the Proun website there’s a link to a test version to download anyway. Just one level but it’s split-screen multiplayer too.
13/11/2009 at 12:27 The Hammer says:
Ohhhh man. I love the pastel colours. It all looks fresh and scrumptious.
13/11/2009 at 12:42 Bioptic says:
So no-one remembers F-Zero X, then? You raced inside and outside of madly twisting tubes suspended above an abstract cityscape. Had a pretty minimalist artstyle too. Admittedly the obstacles weren’t quite as obvious as here – it was more about hitting the speed boosts positioned in a certain pattern around the tube, and avoiding other cars, but I really like how it dealt with gravity. Take too sharp a turn or boost and you’d find yourself either in a gentle orbit or flying off into space…
13/11/2009 at 13:17 Andy says:
I haven’t seen the video (at work) but that screenshot made me immediately think of AAAaaaaAAaaaAA (etc) a wreckless disregard for gravity. Looks like quite similar gameplay
13/11/2009 at 14:50 JonFitt says:
I’d be interested to see what the fail mechanic is.
It looks quite hard to see what’s coming up, and if hitting something has you falling off the cable and being respotted, I’d give up in a couple of minutes.
13/11/2009 at 15:05 FernandoDANTE says:
This + Audiosurf = awesome match?
13/11/2009 at 15:11 bbot says:
So it’s Torus Trooper, but on the outside of the tube?
13/11/2009 at 15:56 Lagmint says:
this reminds me immediately of that FZero game for the gamecube. I can’t recall the level – but you race outside a tube just like this.
13/11/2009 at 17:44 Pantsman says:
Racing on the insides and outsides of tubes has always been a staple of the F-Zero games. This seems a bit different, though, as this doesn’t appear to involve actual racing, being more a sort of mood piece.
13/11/2009 at 16:23 Wooly says:
Dizzyyyyyyyyyy- *vomits*
13/11/2009 at 17:10 M.P. says:
Reminds me of Torus Trooper too.
13/11/2009 at 17:39 Psychopomp says:
Trailer clearly needed more metal, amirite?
13/11/2009 at 17:47 EyeMessiah says:
Because this is the new shit?
13/11/2009 at 17:46 IvanHoeHo says:
Hmmm, looks like a sane, playable variant of this:
http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~cs8k-cyu/windows/tt_e.html
13/11/2009 at 17:47 IvanHoeHo says:
Or, I should always reload a page before commenting…
13/11/2009 at 18:25 PleasingFungus says:
Agh, this had me trying to remember that name! Haven’t thought of it in years, before today.
13/11/2009 at 18:26 PleasingFungus says:
hooray for working reply buttons
(was supposed to be re: Torus Trooper)
13/11/2009 at 18:30 army of none says:
That’s… very artsy. With the music and the visual design, felt like it was a video made to demonstrate a college student’s final animation and art design project.
13/11/2009 at 18:40 neems says:
That looks quality.
13/11/2009 at 19:05 Dain says:
Could some of you fellows be thinking of this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbPQ2pvPdTw
Ah, memories..
13/11/2009 at 20:15 l1ddl3monkey says:
I’m buying it simply for the names Proun and Joost Van Dongen.
13/11/2009 at 21:07 The Dark One says:
Some of those turns looked like they’d make me run off the edge of my mousepad. A trackball seems like it would be great for this game, though.
14/11/2009 at 04:01 Wedge says:
Yes please.
14/11/2009 at 15:43 Nero says:
Dang that looks lovely.
15/11/2009 at 08:05 akeripper says:
it makes you think of audiosurf for some strange reason
16/11/2009 at 00:35 Polish Pancake says:
Reminds me of the “Top of the World” level in Rayman 2.