BeefJack Exclusive: Swimming Under Clouds – Hands On Preview
2D based physics games are awesome. Take Puggsy, an old Mega Drive title that featured puzzles heavily based around physics, which was one of the very first games I ever played. Now I’m a bit older, but I still appreciate these titles. It’s the mixture of the 2D plane and the tricky, but ultimately rewarding, gameplay that has no set rules that makes these sort of games so beautiful when done right.
Although my time with Swimming Under Clouds was brief, all these feelings came flooding back. The game is Piece of Pie Studios’ first foray into the world of video games, and the indie studio has made a convincing case for their recognition.
The story goes that a little girl has to leave for the city. As she’s packing, she accidently drops her pet fish, smashing the bowl, and thus seemingly killing the fish. However, the fish is far from dead, and begins an epic journey to get back to its owner. You play as the fish in question as you make your way through surreal, dream like landscapes full of physics based puzzles and platform sections.
While this may sound a little weird, it’s all made possible through the water which the fish has surrounded itself in. This creates a platformer with a liquid protagonist, so although you’ll be guiding the fish, it moves as you imagine a bubble of water would if it could hold a form.
What you’ll notice instantly is the art style — the beautifully hand drawn parallax scrolling backgrounds are by none other than Orioto. Regular BeefJack readers will no doubt remember him for his work on various pieces based on classic video games. But here his work comes to life in a ‘you have to see it believe it’ kind of way. There is a distinct and unique art style throughout the demo, which made it a shame we only got to see one area.
As you make your way through the various levels you’ll lose water, which can be regained at checkpoints. Certain terrain will drain your water supply, and using a super jump will do the same. When the water runs out, it’s game over.
It’s not long before you’re faced with situations that require a lot of thought to proceed. From the demo we got, levels were split up with floating platforms (which you do not see enough of these days) and rocks that require you to jump between, with most requiring momentum to push through. Despite being early in the title (it’s obvious this was a tutorial level of sorts), things get somewhat tricky quickly. At the end of each stage you’re told how much water you’ve used and even given a target score, something which will translate well into Achievements/Trophies, no doubt.
The final section of the demo granted us the last of the abilities, which allows the fish to shoot water. How this will be implemented fully is unknown at the moment, but it opens up a lot of possibilities on top of the solid platforming.
Swimming Under Clouds already has a solid engine, and a beautiful art design with the atmosphere of a bigger budget title and gameplay mechanics of a professional standard. What remains to be implemented only adds to the appeal of the game. But, as it currently stands, things look good for this indie title.
Although the guys over at Piece of Pie Studios were quick to explain that this was a relatively early build, things looked amazing and played smoothly. The water physics function as you’d imagine, and the levels crafted around them look superb and compliment the engine perfectly. It seems there’s a large degree of replayability already, and a huge amount of potential.
Parallels to Braid will obviously be drawn, and that’s a compliment to Piece of Pie Studios and Orioto himself. But in reality it plays more like N+, or a physics based version of ‘Splosion Man. It’ll be interesting to see how the game evolves through development because, as things stand, Swimming Under Clouds is well on its way to becoming the first indie hit of 2010.
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