play | walkthrough | hint table

reviews: jayisgames | esensja

So this game is a bit different than all others from the series. This one was being developed over the entire year. Last year I said to myself that I’d have to start working on this year’s game a bit earlier to avoid late December shenanigans – yet here we are again, December 31st, long after midday in my timezone. Some things never change it seems, even though I started working on this in January 2014.

But next year – I’ll start even earlier! And I’ll have the game ready by…. dunno… December 30th! You just watch!

p.s. – this game is a bit bigger than other games, it’s around 30 Mb, so please give it a minute to load.

Happy New Year Everybody!

Mateusz Skutnik has already helped us ring in the New Year in years past, point-and-click puzzle style, and with Where is 2015? we go on a gorgeous, subtly animated photographic journey through the months of the year, reassembling a calendar and hopping from place to place. To play, just click when the cursor changes to show you can interact with something, and click on items in your inventory to pick them up to use, or view them up close. Where is 2015? is similar to the 10 Gnomes style of interaction, where you’re exploring environments made up of beautifully detailed pictures and close-ups trying to find hidden items or mechanisms, though not every location or view has something for you to find. Just remember to look in every nook and cranny, examine your inventory, and revisit places you’ve been before!

Mateusz Skutnik’s “Where is…” games tend to be short and simple, so this longer, more involved game is a real treat no matter what time of year it is. The full colour photography is beautiful no matter what the subject matter, blending with a fantastic atmospheric soundtrack to create an immersive, thoughtful experience. Because places you can click on aren’t always obvious, you’ll spend a fair amount of time waggling your cursor over every inch of the screen when you get stuck, usually because you’ve missed a transition to a new view. Most of the puzzles you’ll encounter are either straight-forward or obviously hinted, so largely the gameplay is focused on tracking down objects and switches. It feels like a treasure hunt, with just the right amount of whimsy spun in, and taking in all the detail is both part of the charm and the challenge when it comes to finding all the items you’ll need. Remembering where you might have seen a character or place you need to return to can be tricky with all the different up-close perspectives, and having to comb through every available location for sneaky hotspots when you’re stuck may get frustrating, but with patience and a careful eye you’ll persevere. Where is 2015? is lovely, relaxing, and just a little bit magical in all the right ways, and a fine farewell to the year before.

Author: Dora

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Holy bejesus that was a close call if I ever saw one. Barely made it this year. Note to self: start working on “Where is 2015?” in mid-july 2014. This game is a small formal experiment (again). Working title of the experiment: single sight game. Tell me what do you think about this kind of gameplay in the comments. Anyways – again – thank you for your undying support through out this year and see you in 2014! Now I’m off to shoot some fireworks with the kids if you don’t mind.

Enjoy!

play | polish review

Jeśli w onlajnowych flashowych grach nie przepadasz za zjawiskiem określanym jako „pixel hunting”, „Where is 2013?…” nie jest grą dla Ciebie. W przeciwnym przypadku możesz się rozkoszować urokami letniej Majorki.

Obok gier, w których tło jest renderowane komputerowo na wyższym lub niższym poziomie szczegółowości oraz tych, gdzie jest ono po prostu malowane (cyfrowo lub analogowo), są też i produkcje, w których wykorzystywane są fotografie rzeczywistych plenerów. Pastel Games od lat wykorzystuje tę technikę przy produkcji cyklu „10 gnomes” – gier, w których nie ma żadnej fabuły ani rywalizacji poza tą jedną: z samym sobą. Ot, w różnych miejscach przestrzeni mniej lub bardziej publicznych, autor gry rozmieścił 10 skrzatów, które należy skrzętnie wyłowić z najgłębszych zakamarków – szczeliny między cegłami w murze, mroku kratki ściekowej, dziurki od klucza w bramie… Na czas, który upływa bardzo szybko.

Podobnie zrealizowano „Where is 2013?…”, najnowszą odsłonę cyklu „noworocznego”. W poprzednich okazjach zwiedzaliśmy między innymi plenery komiksów z cyklu „Rewolucje” oraz gier „Daymare Town”, tym razem Mateusz Skutnik zabiera nas na Majorkę.

Cóż nas tam czeka? Otóż stajemy przed problemem braku prądu, z którego to powodu prawdopodobnie Nowy Rok nie może do nas przyjść. A konkretniej, mamy przed sobą budynek stacji transformatorowej. Za nim bliżej nieokreślony budynek, dookoła zaś – sad. Za jedyną podpowiedź służy kursor, zmieniający się po najechaniu na któryś z nieoznaczonych obszarów aktywnych (hotspots). Zwyczajowo zmiana kursora u boków (i u góry!) ekranu oznacza możliwość przejścia gdzieś-obok, u dołu zaś – powrót do bardziej ogólnego widoku (o ile wcześniej znajdziemy hotspot kierujący nas do lokalizacji bardziej szczegółowej).

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Yes. It’s that time of the year again. The closure. As I said before – this whole 2011 year wasn’t so good as previous ones, in fact this one was the worst year in my gamedev career. All I can say is I hope 2012 will be better. I know it will be better. There will be three major releases from each of my main game series. I also want to make smaller games, not necessarily point and click, maybe something like squirrel family but with modern graphics. I don’t know yet. I know that this game right here is the improbable return of the santa as our searching character. And that kid is lost again. This one is kind of unique. because it was all painted in real life on paper using watercolours. This is kind of my trip do the childhood. I remember sitting in class in my primary school, drawing games on sheets of paper. Platform games. Where you’d go around and push buttons and each time you’d die or go further. Now this game right here is the exact same thought process. I just sketched on paper and then added some actions in the computer. And voila. Tell me how do you find this graphic design, I’m really curious. I have to tell you one thing. Switching from this:

to this:

when creating the game was priceless. That was so refreshing. I feel better. I will come back strong in 2012. Just hold on.

Anyway – have fun and I’ll see you in 2012 with an army of games. I promise. (Just don’t ask me WHEN). :D

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!

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Uh, oh! Did another year just pass by unexpectedly?? I’m afraid it just did. And what a year that was! But what’s past is past and let’s look forward in search for the new one. As usual I’d like to thank all of you for your undying support – that’s one of things that energize me to do more and more games.

It’s becoming a yearly tradition that I’m expressing my gratitude through a year-ending minigame, each year a different one, from different genre and art style. So please don’t let me stop you – go, explore, find him. Let’s put 2010 to rest. It deserves it.

But remember – it is a minigame, I don’t want to hear that it’s short. And could use some colors. ;D

Anyway.

Happy New Year everybody!

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walkthrough: english,  francaise

reviews: jay is games, download squad

Well it’s actually almost here. Happy New Year everybody. Once again thanks for all the support and comments from 2009. I think we can agree that even if the plan wasn’t fulfilleld (lack of DMT3), there were enough games this year to call it a good year. Gigantic Covert Front 3 and not smaller Submachine 6, accompanied by dozen of games created in cooperation with Pastel Team.

And there’s nothing better than finishing a year with a new game (or a minigame, like this one). You had no idea I was preparing this. Well I didn’t have any idea either until few days ago when I started drawing this as a New Year’s card. Things kind of got out of control and voila – a minigame called Where is 2010?… Enjoy and thank you once again.

Where is 2010? Cutesy (but a little creepy) Time-Waster

by Sebastian Anthony

I think this one might rank as the easiest Time-Waster I’ve ever reviewed — even I managed to finish it in just five minutes! Where is 2010? is a quaint little platformer game. You jump around, flip switches and… that’s about it really. Eventually you find ‘2010’ and the game finishes. This one’s more about the ride — the artistic vision — than the actual gameplay.

You only need to know two things that might trip you up: a) You can jump from one platform to another platform on a different screen, and b) You can climb back up the wall using the sticky-outy bricks (it doesn’t make sense now, but it’ll make sense to you later when you get stuck… like me…)

Casual Gameplay suggests that this is a precursor to a bigger game, DayMare Town 3. It would make sense that this is a trailer or teaser: the artistic style is unique, very well done. Where is 2010? is way, way beyond what you’d expect in a simple jump-around-and-hit-levers game.

Incidentally, if you haven’t played the DayMare series, you really should.

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the holiday season just came out of nowhere and kicked me in the face shouting – I’m here!! Time flies too quickly for me these days (years). Here’s a little game and it doesn’t really involve Christmas – as not all of you celebrate it. Help little santa find new year because that damn kid got lost again. Version 2009. Allrighty then, back to Christmas madness…