Cursed Mountain sees release!

[Cosmonautical]

You might remember awhile back that I posted links and media for a few Mature/horror projects on the Wii that seemed destined to never be released. Well, one of them has just seen its release!

After the little bit of buzz surrounding this relatively unnoticed title seemed to die down, I'd thought it might never be released. Today, however, I was at the local stores and skimming the games with Christmas presents in mind. To my surprise, I spotted this game among the new releases, with a few localized stickers regarding the Australian ratings system hastily placed over its European counterparts - the publisher must've been pressed for cash, because they manufactured outside the country and had a very minor local company hand distribution, if my assumptions are correct. Not unheard of, but certainly unusual.

Apart from the game itself being particularly unusual fare for the Wii's library, in that it is a thriller/horror title with an original plot, the development was apparently an unusual experiment, as well. Here's what IGN has to say:

Originally Posted by IGN

US, August 17, 2009 - Cursed Mountain, the Wii-exclusive psychological thriller about a mountaineer on a quest to save his missing brother from the haunted Himalayas, features a very unique development background. Not one or two, but 12 companies collaborated to create the title and at the European Game Developers Conference 2009 in Cologne, Germany, four team leaders talked about the process.

A launch trailer for Cursed Mountain was premiered at the session. In it, the main character can be seen trekking through a huge storm, climbing icy mountains, being sucked backward by bursts of wind, and eventually coming face to face with dark, menacing souls. This same trailer will hit the Web on August 21, according to session leaders.

The speakers included Harald Riegler, CEO of Spring (responsible for the actual game development of Cursed Mountain, including the engine), Bob Bates (23-year game designer and writer who penned the story and screenplay), Hannes Seifert of Deep Silver (which created the concept and financed the title) and Hetal Bhuva of Immersive Games (a London and India-based company that provided supplementary art and other assets for the project).

Cursed Mountain was created by 236 people in 16 companies across 17 unique locations in 14 different countries. That's a lot to manage, but it worked, according to the respective collaborative heads.

So what went well with the development of the project? The teams used a very short, but clear development doc (called "elevator pitching") and stuck with it. They took monthly reviews of the statement to assess if everybody was following it. And they let partners manage other partners, thereby distributing team management.

The game took 10 months of pre-production plus 19 months of production. One speaker noted: "We proved that it's possible to produce and innovate a high quality game with distributed development."

A tool that really helped facilitate the development process was video Skype, according to the developers. This simple addition allowed the teams to communicate face-to-face across wide distances, which helped eliminate communicational barriers.

And what went wrong? The teams sometimes assumed roles and responsibilities among core partners without defining them clearly. The developers underestimated the emotional aspect of teams working across countries. Different cultures separated by great geographical distances effected emotional issues that needed to be dealt with. The teams didn't polish a vertical slice of gameplay early enough in the development cycle. And they underestimated the drop out risk of suppliers, some of whom went out of business during the creation of Cursed Mountain.

According to Hetal Bhuva, "The vision of the game was not communicated early enough." Eventually, it came through, but it was an immediate hurdle. For Bob Bates, who wrote the story, one of the most difficult challenges lay with him having to pen the story for certain areas without having seen or fully grasped them yet.

The first version of the game's control scheme was "not what we all wanted it to be," according to the team heads, and it took a long time for it to come together into the final product that it is now.

IGN: GC 2009: 12 Companies Made Cursed Mountain

IGN's official review starts off immediately by declaring the game to be devoid of zombies and extraneous gore. Not unheard of, considering its aim is to be a psychological thriller, but certainly a relief from the norm. Their writer's description sums up my sentiments with this:

So if you've grown tired of the undead and their insatiable appetite for blood, not to mention the undercooked stories that accompany your typical survival-horror outings, you might find some solace in this new title, set to the backdrop of the Himalayas. Mountain presents a unique and interesting tale highlighted by some unconventional characters, truths that may compel you to stick to the adventure even as some its play mechanics cling so stubbornly to the old and sometimes-dated conventions of the genre.

Anyway, aside from mentioning that the game's manual appears to be a genuine game manual, printed in color, I haven't gotten any impressions of the game myself yet because I was so thrilled to find it on the shelf, I thought I'd share my joy with you all. I'll be back to share my opinions when I've had a bit of time to play the thing, myself. For now, here's someone else's gameplay footage:

Click to view video.

[Cosmonautical]

Sooooooo way to fail the whole interest in communication, folks.


Anyway, after putting a few hours into the game, I can say that it starts off pretty well with lots of wandering of a deserted city. The spirits are at first very intimidating, but like anything you're repeatedly exposed to, dealing with them quickly becomes an act of going through the motions. The plot is solid so far, and the environments are satisfying. It's probably the first game I've ever played that actually made traveling up the side of a mountain feel and look like it should. The motion controls are a pain to execute, mostly I assume because the game and manual haven't completely managed to communicate the motions necessary, but they are thankfully limited to enemy-finishing moves.

I have actually died several times in the game, unexpectedly, mostly due to enemies that disappear and move around and a very limited system for restoring health. I don't mind that in the least, though, since most games seem to hand out health restoratives and so on much too frequently to be remotely challenging.

The game's menu functions are unobtrusive, and I like finding notes to explain the backstory, but they seem at this point to be just about my only reward for playing, aside from progressing through the game.

The engine itself isn't too clunky, but it doesn't evoke a sense of fun so much as it does endurance - lots of running around to explore a relatively empty landscape. If there were more houses to search or something, it would be more interesting, although I like the exploration and searching being the main theme of the gameplay.

The music and sound is decently put together, but the ominous overtones make me wish they'd gone for something a bit subtle.

Graphically speaking, the engine itself doesn't inspire much wonder, but there have been a few moments where I just took in all of the detail and got a feeling for the environments they put together. Artistically speaking, much of it is very respectable. Like I said before, traveling along the mountainside is very realistically portrayed, and at key places, the game will reposition the camera to emphasize the long drop or something off in the distance. I find that tremendously appealing compared to a single camera that follows from behind the main character the whole game, and the times at which it makes the switch aren't inconvenient for gameplay. Examples of this in effect:

http://www.gamershell.com/static/scr...77132_full.jpg

http://www.gamershell.com/static/scr...72696_full.jpg

So overall, the game focus on moving the plot and exploration more than it does gameplay, and in ways the progression feels like more than that of a novel than it does a video game. It broods and it plods but it's always going somewhere, and the story and the new environments are the real driving force. The gameplay almost feels like an interruption, in some ways, like I should be traveling around and seeing these things and watching combat unfold in cutscenes, rather than taking part in it. That doesn't bug me, because it works for the mood, but the motions used to play the game aren't what's engaging about the game. Almost the exact opposite of what the Wii is usually used for, I'd say.

I'll update about it more once I've progressed further. At this point I'd sum the game up as a somewhat linear adventure title disguised as a suspense/horror game.

[Valigarmander]

Interesting. I'd check it out, if only I had money.

[Cosmonautical]

Yeah, money's always an issue when it comes to stuff like unknown titles. Considering the amount of shovelware on the Wii, I tend to like to reward companies for even attempting to cater to my tastes, if I can. This game doesn't feel like a waste so far, even if it isn't the biggest thing in videogameland.

[Valigarmander]

but i has no job now D:

I just spent the last of my cash on NSMBW. Unfortunately, new games will have to wait for a bit now. This game does look interesting, though. I'm a fan of suspenseful gameplay.

[CaptHayfever]

http://www.gamershell..../14978/377132_full.jpg

Running towards the camera?

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"

[Cosmonautical]

^ He was probably just facing the camera for the shot, it looks more like the progression is toward the right. It's possible it's part of a cutscene, though.