In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night: Schein Demo
Schein's a puzzle-platformer looking for crowd-funding. I should probably get a special button fitted to my keyboard which automatically types "a puzzle platformer looking for crowd-funding", actually. But Schein also has a demo, showing off its light-based conundrums and slightly Limbo-esque vibe, which makes it much easier to say something useful about.
Doesn't mean I will say something useful about it, though. Ha! Fooled you. I grabbed the demo, but Windows 8 decided it was a security risk even though I downloaded and installed it myself, so I suppose I'd better not run it. Thanks for protecting me from the things I want to use, Windows 8! What would I do without you?
Fooled you again! I ran the demo despite Windows 8's protestations, and found it to be Quite Nice. I wasn't taken with the art style, which despite the inclusion of spats does have a touch of the Gamemaker to it. They're talking about hiring a second artist if their IndieGoGo campaign is successful, so perhaps we'll see improvements in that regard yet. The light-flipping puzzling seems agreeable though - new pathways and objects appear in the swampy world if you flick your lantern on or off, and the demo doesn't waste much time before you need to be doing this speedily and mid-jump in order to bound across ephemeral platforms. It seems quite elegantly-implemented, though there's an itch in my head suggesting I've seen something similar before. Any ideas?
Here's a clutch of videos if you've not got time for the demo:
I like the bit where they explains what 'shine' means.
They've got about a million more videos, if you like.
Vienna-based dev Zeppelin Studio are after €20k on IndieGoGo for this, with just 750 in the bank at the time of writing (there's another phrase I could do with a special button for) and they're putting on the red light for Greenlight too.