Jonny`s Dev Blog

Fez
So I have something to post about that is both interesting an relevant to Design research (woo) and what that is, is a game called Fez.


I've wanted to write about this game since my friend Taro pointed it out to me and I checked up the PAX11 videos and releases, it still hurts my head a little to watch the game; it defies my concept of reality and actually gives me a little headache too. 

At first glance, Fez seems like any other 2D Platformer, we have floating blocks, collectibles and the like, with the only seemingly thing interesting being the games unique visual style. 


Oh, but then this shit happens:

Oh...my...

I cant really explain the feeling I received when I saw this for the first time, it was pretty incredible. This is the first time I've seen a game toy with the players concept of perspective in such a unique and interesting way, something which sticks in your mind and helps cement Fez to memory as, "that weird game that's both 2D and 3D". What a title to hold.
I seem to remember a Mario game on the Wii not long ago attempt a similar perspective shift to Fez, however it always felt a little gimmicky to me. Fez seems to have the need to shift perspective built into the core gameplay, allowing the player to search all 4 sides of the block like structures and find hidden passageways and collectibles; essentially multiplying by a factor of 4 the amount of fun you could have with a simple 2D platform game. 

Fez reminds me of the video game equivalent to a prototype gaming project I saw at a museum once in Liverpool. The basic concept of this, was 3 real life cubes each with 6 sides, coloured differently and individually. The used needed to rotate and fiddle with the cubes, stacking them and moving them to navigate an avatar to the finish, displayed on a projector screen above the cubes. 

When the player changed a cube to face a different side, a small camera would not the change and update the onscreen projector changing the room the players avatar was standing in; likewise adjoining cubes together allowed the character to move between cubes (and therefore access new rooms). Its all very confusing. (but I hear apple is working on something similar to release as an actual gaming console / platform, probably called the iCube (lol)).

Thankfully, it looks like Fez has managed to achieve this same concept inside the virtual world. It looks visually stimulating and genuinely interesting as a puzzle and  platform game. It remains to be seen if the perspective shift has been worked well enough into the gameplay to keep the game fun throughout, however first impressions are everything. 

In any case, Fez has done an amazing job of grabbing my attention simply with this core mechanic alone. Merging the line between 2D and 3D has shown just how far innovation goes rather than a big budget and big studios. 

Polytron, the Indy company behind the game consist of just 2 guys. That's all. It says something when 2 guys can grab hold of and keep my attention for longer than studios like Activision, (whom I hear are releasing a new game in November?)

This game has only strengthened my desire to create a two-dimensional game of my own and hopefully spurred my ideas on-wards to become more thought provoking and engaging for the end user. We are at a time now, graphically and technologically, when games in this format are no longer confined to Flash websites and last longer than a throwaway 5 minutes during a long lunch-break at the office, now we have games that hold the same weight as "the next Call of Duty". We have games that turn heads and get people talking, not just about the games big budget, not because of the studio behind it, not because its a sequel to a sequel but down to the one core thing most big video game companies seem to overlook; because it looks like a fucking awesome idea.

The "dawn of 2D" is certainly upon us and with formats like XBLA and Steam at our disposal, I really think its time we joined the bandwagon folks... 

Space Game ftw.