SCHiM – One of the most interesting phenomena of today’s modern game market is the frequency of projects appearing with extremely low budget and human resources, but extremely high level of precision and excitement, with innovative ideas. very special and innovative in game making style, gameplay and artistic value.
From dazzling displays of technique and technology such as Bright Memory: Infinite , Severed Steel ‘s skillful combination of game ideas, or messages of social criticism conveyed with genius and Extremely monstrous in Cruelty Squad… the common point of all these games is that they are developed by teams with extremely low “numbers”, from 1 to 3 people.
These particularly interesting phenomena in the gaming industry seem to contrast with the reality of the giants who make games, when big, sophisticated games are too lacking in precision and new ideas, demanding from people playing too much time, effort and money – and in the midst of an increasingly saturated and uncertain future in the gaming industry, “small” games that have enough “martial arts” to get people’s attention in about 10 years, 15 years have increasingly demonstrated the exceptional artistic and storytelling potential of games.
So when SCHiM, a simple, lovely game from two young artists from the Netherlands, Ewoud van der Werf and Nils Slijkerman, caught the eye of PLAYISM and became a small phenomenon on social networks, surely there must be something really special hidden in this project, right?
So what is that special thing, and will these two young artists create anything truly extraordinary? Let’s find out with Vietgame.asia in the article below.
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Jump Into… The Darkness!
At first glance, it is difficult to imagine how SCHiM plays, because the environments are too detailed, the silhouettes are too complex and unpredictable, and the space-time translation seems to have no consistency with the action. The “playing” action of the game.
But in reality, SCHiM is an extremely simple game, players will control a frog, called SCHiM , to “jump” into the shadow of a certain object or character, depending on the situation. This frog can control that character’s movements, as well as trigger a certain action with another button.
Basically, SCHiM is a platforming game in two dimensions, but the player only moves on a single plane.
Not only is it simple in mechanism, SCHiM is also a game with almost no obvious challenges. If our frog jumps into the light for too long, it will immediately return to the previous shadow without any penalty, other than… wasting a few seconds. The game does not have any “failure” states, and the game’s puzzles are also very simple, most of them are just how to “connect” the shadows together or help our frog jump farther. .
The game’s mechanics look fun and are fun to play, but there’s absolutely no depth at all. The entire game experience instead relies entirely on a specific type of feeling that the game brings through the game’s story and storytelling techniques. The SCHiM frog is actually… the shadow of a young man, both an inseparable internal part and an objective view of his life. After an incident, a frog was separated from its owner, and now the frog must find a way to get back to the young man.
SCHiM ‘s plot and narrative are as simple as the game’s gameplay, but what makes the game attractive is the atmosphere and feeling of the game that captures a feeling similar to the way people watch. what they admire and love.
This is the feeling that makes people, even though they are not directly involved in each other’s lives, still feel sad and worried when they see those people having difficulties, and happy when they achieve good things in life. life, and thoughts whenever the uncertainties in life surround that person. SCHiM focuses deeply on how people can love and sympathize with each other unconditionally just because we love our fellow human beings, or see ourselves in them.
A big part of what makes these emotions so effective is the game’s special graphic style. The objects and characters in SCHiM are simple, quiet silhouettes, but through their gestures, the way they appear in life and interact with each other in a game environment, even though depicted in a simple way, rhythm, but with colors that skillfully change according to the psychological and life developments of the characters, as well as extremely detailed animations, making everything in the game appear extremely vivid. and adorable.
What makes the game attractive is the atmosphere, the feeling of the game captures a feeling similar to the way people follow things they admire and love
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It’s just a “feeling”
Although it creates a very good game feel, the simplicity of the game will probably not appeal to everyone. The game relies heavily on evoking the player’s sympathy through the way the game narrates the story with images and sounds, so much so that sometimes the writer has to admit that if… remove the “jumping ball” mechanism, the story will be different. The story SCHiM told has not lost any of its weight.
Not only that, this potential ball jumping mechanism is only limited to a two-dimensional plane with very simple puzzles, if the game applies its “unique” mechanism in a diverse and skillful way. Perhaps more plot knots will be “opened” in more interesting ways, like the way the game The Pedestrian did very well.
And this monotony and shallowness is not small or worth ignoring at all, easily making many players disappointed when finishing the game.
If the game uses its “unique” mechanics in a more diverse and skillful way, perhaps many plot twists will be “opened” in more interesting ways
