I have been playing Nimian Hunter for the past few days, or at least trying to get some quality time in with this amazing and unusual new game. Created by Robert Kabwe of Montreal, the game makes use of an engine that creates the illusion of 3D in Flash, and it's very, very good.
You play the role of Nimian Hunter on a mission to feed the beast/god/demon/thing that commands you. Just move the mouse in the direction you wish to travel, lasso in hand, and click the mouse to rope the moving creatures that you find near the bright green beacons. Wait for the lock-on indicator to appear for best results.
Once lassoed, your next task is to guide the creature back to the red beacon without losing it. Trees can break the rope and release the creature if they come in-between, so navigate the terrain accordingly.
It's an unusual gameplay mechanic and one that creates a decent sense of immersion with it. Even better is the narrative that unfolds as you play, which makes this game even more compelling.
Nimian Hunter is not necessarily a long game, but it does contain a plot twist and a couple of different endings that will have you playing through at least twice.
Cheers to Imok20 for suggesting this one! =)
Woo! Montreal rocks! ;)
Really amazing engine.. :S
and it's (just?) Flash. wow
I really enjoyed this game, but its totally biting off Shadow of the Colossus. Impressive none the less.
the 3-D engine isn't that impressive-- it's just scaled bitmaps, like good old space harrier and the like. as for the mood and atmosphere, that is all ripped off of shadow of the colossus.
You've gotta love Flash! This game is so much fun, and very well worth playing it (at least) a second time through to play both endings. (One is much "cooler" than the other.)
Ha, so you can do 3D(ish) with Flash ;)
It worked smoothly on my Windows XP and Firefox browser. Well, it took only 20 minutes to play till the "twisted" end but a very nice start for the day, though I'm not quite sure what happend in the end. Maybe the demon just stamped on me.
Amor, it is definitely worth playing to the other ending.
Pretty cool...there was a lot of lost opportunity for enriching the gameplay though. For instance...being tied to a target could have made it harder to steer, there could have been a special event to
get onto the flying mount,
and maybe there could have been a process to weaken each target before it was possible to lasso it. As it was, even though the movement was unique, it was essentially just running around a map, picking up things, and bringing them back to the center. Speaking of the map, wasn't that unnecessary?
And yeah, totally owes a lot to SotC. I thought of that myself like in the first three seconds of the game, by the camera angle alone, and then when the beacons showed up...
But I applaud the innovation in graphic design.
Imok20, I'll play the other ending after I get some work done ;)
Good! Speaking of work... I need to get some done... a lot. Hmm, better go do that. And watch the Daily Show! John Stewart for president!!!!
Imok, I think they don't show that in Finland. And after all, I don't have TV (not even on my laptop). Got rid of it when I started to spend most of my time at JIG. Well, not exactly so, but almost ;)
Hmmm. Didn't this guy do another, much more Space Harrier-like game using the same engine, where you're a little dragon who goes out to beat larger dragons? Had some interesting bosses, including ones you had to catch minions to drop on them, as well as a spider you had to lure down into a particular zone before they'd take damage...
once again a vast array of reviews explodes onto my face
Chris
Yes he did, another great game using a more primitive version of this engine (it seems to me.) Nimain Flyer. It can be found on his website and is well worth the play! It is a much longer game as well.
"the 3-D engine isn't that impressive-- it's just scaled bitmaps, like good old space harrier and the like."
What's not impressive about that? They worked with what restrictions the platform has and did a marvellous job. From a technical point of view, there's not much more to projecting textured triangles than to projecting sprites in this manner, and it's really impressive how they managed to pull of the depth and mood that they did.
Great game!
This looks a LOT like a poor man's Sacrifice. Even the colours of the title screen and the music when you've caught something. The ideas could also be Sacrifice missions... (If you don't know Sacrifice, you have definitely missed a fantastic game)
Amor: But you do get Conan, no? Didn't he support your leader for reelection because she looked like him or something?
Anyway, great game. I haven't played through to the other eding, just to the one where you refuse to give him the flyer.
Everytime I defeat the red guy it crashes my wretched computer! Anybody care to share what happens then?
That really is takin it from S.O.T.C but its good nonetheless. Also (quote)"the 3-D engine isn't that impressive-- it's just scaled bitmaps, like good old space harrier and the like."(unquote) either you're jealous or just addicted to S.O.T.C.
I picked to feed him the crystal flyer.after i am tricked,is it impossible to win?because whenever i attempt to lasso the thing on the demon's chest,nothing happens.
F_raze, yes ofcourse we have Conan on TV.
Kate, after defeating the red demon
you get back your horse. Then you see the blue god. Once you reach it, you and your horse got tranfered into statue, and all the flowers comes back again.
Malcolm, I think that you have not yet
caught the crystal flyer. There are
two different kind of flyers.
Amor Lassie:
Malcolm is talking about the choice you get after you feed the demon the Crystal Flyer. It asks if you want to feed it to him or not. He selected yes.
Malcolm:
It's probably impossible. There is no meter for him, and all that I found possible to do was run under him into the fire again, which showed an ending where everything was still dark and desolate like in the beginning. I'm guessing that giving him the Crystal Flyer gives him some sort of ultimate power, and you can't stop him once he achieves his goal. He hints at this when you start your Crystal Flyer mission.
TornadoTK, Malcolm, others:
You can defeat the demon if you sacrifice the Crystal Flyer to it. The green logo on the demon's chest turns into a target; you just have to hit him there a lot. I didn't keep an exact count -- and I found it was easiest if I galloped away from him for a bit, turned around, pressed spacebar to stand still, and then repeatedly hit that green spot.
Once you've destroyed it, you have to ride off to find that weird blue cat baby god thing (that's the official name -- don't even try to talk me out of it). The WBCBG thing then turns you into a statue. Because gods are fickle.
I can't find the crystal fllyer, even though I've been running around for a while.
There aren't any green OR red beacons, and the background's acting all screwy; not to mention that I'm no longer on the map. It was fine up until then, what happened?
Yeah I defeated the demon with no trouble, but there is a price to pay afterwards...:)
Now to try answering the question with "no"...
did the creater of the game make the engine, If he did this is Awsome! (with a capital 'a').
maths gets complicated in 3D... I'v tried...
Ok so um...I like this game, and I tried to play other games of his on the website, but no matter what game I open, it's like it's only a veil over the menu, so no matter what I'm in or what I click, it give me a start menu, and when I click start, it opens Nimian Flyer Legends. What the hell? I wanna play Pocket Yoga! Even better, the contact/feedback link doesn't work. Yep yep. Am I the only person with this problem?
Jacob
I have the same problem with the website, I don't know what is wrong!
Reading Jay's write up on Nimian Hunter is a real thrill. It encourages me to keep creating casual games and improving at it as I go along - it's a real, honest passion of mine and its great to see these reviews. I owe Imok20 a huge thank you also for suggesting the game to Jay - you're support is important and im grateful for it. BTW ive fixed the contact and am trying to figure out the 'gamelink' problem. Thanks for all the positive and negative feedback - it all goes into the same thing - making better games:)
Sorry Malcolm. I'm not fluent in English so I misunderstood your question concerning the 'yes' ending.
TornadoTK, thanks for correcting my mistake :)
And yes, I found the 'yes' ending much more easier (and boring) once I tried the 'space key' trick that Mike mentioned. In that way the demon don't even shoot you.
Thank you Robert for wonderful games :)
I hope that POID.02 is coming out soon.
And I don't understand what the folks are talking about game links. For me the links at http://protopop.com/games/ are working just fine. Maybe they ment some other page.
A clever and original game, but I have terrible problems keeping the mouse pointer inside the window. If it moves outside the window then I lose control (of course) and this is always at a critical moment (of course). Can anyone suggest any solutions to the problem? - John
John, I wish that Robert won't kill me for doing this but here's the direct URL to swf-file:
http://protopop.com/swf/games/nimian_hunter.swf
Notice that you can track it from the page source. Then just enlarge the window to full screen. Hope that it helps.
Thank you Amor Lassie, that helps a great deal. - John
This game was pretty cool, but I have to agree with a few others that it resembles Shadow of the Colossus a lot. Still worth playing, though!
I liked the Nimian Flyer Legends game on the site much better... though it was a fun little game too. Thanks for the link!
Hmm, I don't understand the "yes" ending... I mean, in the "no" ending, I thougt he had to
be turned into stone so that plants could grow from him again (very logical...)
, but in the "yes" ending
everything is already nice, because the destruction was prevented by the killing of the demon.
Isn't this a bit weird, or have I misunderstood everything? Nice game, anyway...
Jay, please set a direct link to Nimian flyer legends, it is such a great games... Cheers
A review of Nimian Flyer Legends is forthcoming. And cheers for the recommendation. =)
Something about this game reminds me a LOT of Shadow of the Colossus.
Maybe it's the horse, maybe its the monsters, or the beacons of light or the god to appease.
But something, SOMETHING about this game...
3 things:
1. This totally resembles SotC, though this is better.
2.
After you say y/n about feeding the crystal flier to demon-thing, you kill it and it's over. Except my computer keeps crashing.
3. OMG it's over too fast make another one somebody
What would be cool is this game engine on a first person shooter... maybe a sniper or something...
i really liked that though it's very short. music is wonderfully suspenseful (if that makes sense! lool.) anyway, it's a great game and i would really recomend it!
Interesting plot (did both ways) It had a big twist and such great graphics.. The creatures look really effective and the habitat was great to ride around in
You have to make sure you dont hit the trees when holding a creature because the lasso lets the creature free when you do that.
it was really tricky destroying the demon when the flyer kept on hiding over his green symbol!
ok, about the endings, and time travel...
in the one where you feed it to him, he sends you back, but he also takes himsel back through time. after you kill him, the portal collapses or something, pulling you back through. so you still have to fly into the blue thing to finish the restoration of the land. ie, killing him did not stop him from being born.
The link isn't working anymore. :(
[Thanks for the note. Link fixed! -Jay]
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