Extremely casual

Blog

Jul 1st 2010 at 16:45 by Will Freeman

Casual games are labelled many things, but rarely – if ever – are they accused of being extreme. Guided by the unwritten mantra of 'accessibility, universal appeal and simplicity', game designers in the casual space have little remit to toy with boundaries of convention.

Unless of course they look to develop something ‘extremely casual’. I’m not talking about casual games that are seminal or even genre defying, but titles that push the very concept of the sector to the edge of reason; game designs that take ideas like minimal controls, immediate structures and inclusive forms to new realms that bring in to question the very form of what a game is.

How simple can a game become? How far from traditional and hardcore games can a casual title be? Does that distinction go full circle? Where is the line that distinguishes game and… well… not game?

The answer to all those questions might be Papa Sangre – a game funded by Channel 4 and created by an international team of design luminaries led by Somethin’Else in London. Papa Sangre, loosely themed around death, is an iPhone game almost completely without visuals.

Two grey rectangles occupy the touch screen, and very little else. Papa Sangre isn’t the first ‘graphics’ free game. A number have emerged from design and development contests the world over, including Warten and Blind Braver. Realsound: Kaze No Regret even made it to the DC and Saturn, and SoungVoyager got a commercial release on the GBA, but until now, audio-only games have been experimental and esoteric.

Papa Sangre is in fact both those things, but it is also rich, detailed and, despite a degree of pretention, incredibly accessible. Unlike most of its ‘visualess’ predecessors it is every part a complete game, with levels, characters, 3D worlds, atmosphere and meticulously crafted landscapes.

It I also fantastically fun to play, and while it’s a little scary at times, it is every part a casual title. So how does it work? Played with head phones, Papa Sangre builds ambitious 3D worlds purely from sound. Using your fingers as a pair of feat on the iPhone screens, you must run, walk and creep through these worlds, moving with complete 360 degree freedom, using various visual clues to outwit foes and find objects.

From the texture of the ground between your feet to the passing wind and distant creating signs, every detail is in place, and the experience is remarkable. A few moments into the sample levels I played, and the experience was akin to reading a great book, with enough going to quickly build a visual representation of the world around you.

Quite simply, Papa Sangre is casual gaming taken to the extreme.