Gravity Bone

Gravity Bone is a freeware first-person adventure video game developed by Brendon Chung under his video game studio, Blendo Games, and released in August 2008. The game was developed using a modified version of id Software's id Tech 2 engine—originally used for Quake 2—and incorporates music by film director Wong Kar-wai. Four incarnations of the game were produced during its one-year development; the first featured more common first-person shooter elements than the released version. Subsequent versions shifted in a new direction, with the inclusion of more spy-oriented gameplay.

Gravity Bone received critical acclaim from video game journalists. It was called "an experience worth playing", and received comparisons to games such as Team Fortress 2 and Portal. The game was praised for its cohesive story and atmosphere and its ability to catch the player's interest over a very short time span without feeling rushed or incomplete. It received the "Best Arthouse Game" award in Game Tunnel's Special Awards of 2008. A direct sequel, Thirty Flights of Loving, was released in 2012.

Gameplay

Gravity Bone is a first-person adventure video game. Gravity Bone is set in the city of Nuevos Aires. The player controls a spy, and is tasked with accomplishing several missions across the game's two stages.^[2] At the end of the game, the player-controlled spy is killed by an unknown woman after chasing her through the last half of the second level. The game was designed to keep the plot elements as scarce as possible, leaving the player without a clear idea of how the game's story evolves.^[3]

During these missions, objectives and guidance are provided through the player's interactions with objects and environments in the game. The first level of the game is disguised as a tutorial system used to show the player routine gameplay elements such as object interaction and movement. Here, the player is tasked with the delivery of a contaminated drink to an unspecified non-player character. After the first level is completed, the player is sent to the second and final level of the game.^[4] The second level follows the pattern of the first, assigning the player a set of actions and goals involving platforming sequences,^[5] before finishing the level, whereupon a final sequences of events are triggered and the game ends with the sudden death of the player's character.

Development

Gravity Bone was developed by Brendon Chung under his video game studio Blendo Games. Chung, who worked as a level designer for Pandemic Studios, has contributed to the development of titles such as Full Spectrum Warrior and Lord of the Rings: Conquest. Four incarnations of Gravity Bone were produced during its one year development. Chung commented during an interview with FidGit, "Gravity Bone started out very different from what it was and that ended up getting scrapped ... so on and so forth until this version came out."^[6] The first version of Gravity Bone featured more typical first-person shooter elements than the released version, and was based on a series of Quake 2 maps entitled Citizen Abel. Chung elaborated that the first version of the game had the player running around with a gun, "shoot[ing] things and stuff explodes." Development shifted in a new direction, and Gravity Bone was transformed; the player would act as a computer hacker, "hacking stuff all the time."^[6]

Most of the original shooting elements were removed by the third revision of the game, which incorporated a more spy-oriented style of gameplay, with the player "trying to quietly take out enemies and not be seen." Chung commented that he reworked the game several more times to fit the vision he had for the game: "It kept on just changing and changing and changing until it got into a more story-oriented direction."^[6] Chung stated that he did not feel comfortable developing Gravity Bone as a first person shooter game, and kept adding "bits and bits of more and more unconventional" elements as a result.^[6] Chung explained that he "got stuck on this idea of the hero never fires a gun, but he just has a bunch of tools on his belt, like a power drill or a can of pressurized Freon, a screwdriver. I thought that was kind of funny and interesting."^[6]

Gravity Bone was developed using a modified version of id Software's id Tech 2, the graphics engine for Quake 2.^[6] Chung acknowledged that although he has worked with newer, "powerful and flexible" engines, he preferred the older engine because it was released as an open source platform, "so you can redistribute it for free."^[6] The voice work featured in the briefings in Gravity Bone was produced using text-to-speech programs, and the game incorporates music by film director Wong Kar-wai. Chung declared that his passion for films were an important factor in the selection of Kar-wai's music: "He makes these really beautiful films and I've always wanted to use the same music in a videogame."^[6] He also stated that Kar Wai's films had a strong influence on the development of the game.^[6]

Reception

Charles Onyett from IGN applauded Gravity Bone as an experience worth playing, saying it is "a game that appears to toy with the notions of heroism and villainy, and the ways the player identifies with, and is directed toward, both roles."^[4] He praised all aspects of the game, commenting, "The cohesiveness of its striking visual presentation, soundtrack and effects, and almost entirely incomprehensible story combine to create an atmosphere of peculiar strength."^[4] Onyett concluded his review of the game by stating, "it's a pleasure to experience, and never ceases to delight and surprise over its short run."^[4] Anthony Burch from Destructoid gave a positive review to Gravity Bone, stating that Gravity Bone "is so stylistically unified, so consistently cool and weird and imaginative, that it's damn near impossible not to fall in love with—even as the game ends and you're wondering what the hell happened, and why."^[3] He also applauded several technical and design aspects of the game, expressing appreciation for the game's "stylistic choices", as well as the "nigh unbelievable" bloom effects featured in the game. Burch concluded that Gravity Bone is "a great ride", and that the "atmosphere and style alone will barrel you through to the journey's end, which comes all too soon."^[3]

Derek Yu from The Indie Games Source compared the game with Portal and stated that Chung was able to develop "an impeccable flair for graphic design" while manufacturing Gravity Bone and concluded that the game is "bursting with delicious color, and features blocky-headed characters that are infinitely more interesting to look at and interact with than the frightening Realdolls game players are often forced to contend with in modern FPS's."^[2] Yu additionally applauded the game's potential, elaborating that it has "enough panache in its two levels to make it somewhat of an indie sleeper hit of the end of 2008."^[2] An editor from The Refined Geek was pleased with both Gravity Bone and its sequel, Thirty Flights of Loving, awarding them a score of 8 out of 10 and stating, "the enjoyment from these games comes from noticing all the subtle environmental clues and then using your imagination to draw the connecting dots."^[7] The editor commented that both games were designed to highlight the story elements over the graphics and technical innovations, saying each game's "true strength comes from its ability to tell a story in the extremely short time frame."^[7]

Kirk Hamilton of Kotaku praised the game, writing, "if you own a PC, you owe it to yourself to play Gravity Bone." He said the game was "one of the coolest things I've played on PC lately."^[8] Kieron Gillen from Rock Paper Shotgun considered Gravity Bone to be an intellectual mix of Hitman, No-one Lives Forever, and Team Fortress 2, stating that it's the "wittiest game" he has played since World of Goo. Gillen applauded every aspect of the game, stating that Gravity Bone was an "indie art game whose main effect is to delight you at every turn."^[9] Gravity Bone received the "Best Arthouse Game" award in Game Tunnel's Special Awards of 2008.^[10]

Sequel

A sequel to Gravity Bone, Thirty Flights of Loving, was released on July 18, 2012.^[11] Funded via a Kickstarter joint campaign organized by the people behind Idle Thumbs,^[12] Thirty Flights of Loving features a soundtrack by one of Idle Thumbs' hosts, Chris Remo.^[12][13] The sequel shares many similarities with Gravity Bone, though their plots are unrelated. Thirty Flights of Loving runs under the same id Tech 2 engine and lasts for thirteen minutes, with its main plot centered on the days previous to a heist.^[14] It received critical acclaim, collecting an aggregate normalized score of 88 out of 100 from Metacritic.^[15] IGN's Nathan Meunier awarded the game a score of eight out of ten, and said the game "gets off to a fascinating start before completely throwing any and all expectations you might form during its first few minutes into the wood chipper."^[11] Destructoid's Patrick Hancock awarded the game a score of nine and a half out of ten, closing his review by stating, "You'll never look at linear storytelling the same way again."^[16]

References