I’m just picturing big chambers like Super Metroid, and the characters moving around testing things to see what happens, then putting it together. (Maybe a zoom out button, or the map screen being relatively detailed.) So it could be very similar to the original, just “more”. You’d just need a few sets of puzzles in every chamber, for when they backtrack and revisit areas. Mind you I’m not saying it’s easy to “just” design good levels and puzzles, especially in such a large scale, just that it’s easy for me to imagine it being fun.
A friend linked it in a Discord server recently and I’ve been enamored since. This recent update last week really made it harder. But like Minesweeper, sometimes you just gotta guess. I like to guess a few random spaces for my first energy bar, apart from the initial orb, so I crash out early if I do.
It does a good job of onboarding people. The general tutorial is relatively short and sweet, and character specific tutorials are even shorter. It also gives each character a rank (in stars) for how complex that character is to use effectively.
The game itself is pretty chaotic, so it’s easy to convince yourself that your deaths are incidental, and your victories are a result of you playing well. And as long as you’re having fun you’ll be okay with that. But if at any point you start feeling like someone has your foil, just change characters mid-match and try a new tactic. There’s so many characters you can experiment until you find theirs.
I think I was thinking more significant changes than your were. I’d go so far as to re-write it as 4 colossi (not counting the finale.) I’d be sacrilegious enough to combine elements of them along the feature-sets I grouped them into. For instance, the first of the four main fights could introduce the puzzle solving against a biped. Use elements of the sword-carrier mostly, probably. The smaller four-legged beast colossi could group well; it could chase Wander around some ruins, and end up fighting in a dilapidated arena. For the flying one, I’d have it start as fighting in a cave, going in the sand there, before bursting out of the cave and flying into the air along the beach. Then the final fight for Wander has to be against the final Colossus that you fight AA Wander; you have to hit that story best with Agro and get emotional resolution for it, which perfectly sets up the finale.
Basically for me the fights are an opportunity to showcase visual spectacle in both colossi and the world as he combats them, in addition to overcoming the challenge both in plot and the eyes of the viewer. I imagine the 4 fights being probably 15m or less each. (The first being longer, to lay out the rules, then shorter and shorter.) That’s less than an hour of hard action.
That leaves you an hour for the other three significant parts of the film: a) serene beautiful shots of Wander and Agro in this world to establish their bond: hunting lizards, camping, climbing trees, showing Wander getting less healthy, and showing the two of them bonding. b) Intercut that with Lord Emon and his men traveling and camping with Emon explaining their mission to the men. Add in a little foreshadowing of how they might have to face “the colossus” when they get there. c) Then the finale and resolution.
Lowery
Dude killed it with The Green Knight. It wasn’t even the scene with the giants that made me think of him, but the pacing and quiet solemnity that made parts of it feel like a storybook. That whole part with him coming up to the battlefield was great. The stop at the other castle felt like a whole other movie, yet still felt perfect. It was great. He could make a compelling story about a man and his horse. And I think that’s the part everyone assumes will be “the challenge” of the film, and makes me doubtful with almost any director.
I felt the same about the serenity and visual elements of The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, if you haven’t seen it. The cast may not have agreed gracefully (Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck,) but the movie they made is a masterpiece as far as show deliberate pacing with moderate amounts of silence go. Dominik was great for this. Add in Roger Deakins and it’s worth a watch and a rewatch, imo.
I agree, I think it’s feasible. Start with Wander getting to the temple, revealing the bundle on Agro is Mono when he places her on the pedestal. The first words can be Dormin speaking to him. Then cut to the priest leading his men along the path we saw glimpses of Wander taking.
Alternate back and forth, the priest and Dormin doing the talking, with Wander rarely talking, and to Agro when he does. With the focus on Wander adventuring through the beautiful world, interesting visual storytelling with him, Agro, and their travel. And then the fights.
Though I think you need 4. A human-ish one first, a four-legged bestial one, and a flying one, before the final one. Then the priest and crew arrive, and the end happens. I think it all depends on the director.
I’m pretty sure I’ve said it before, but I think Andrew Dominik (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,) David Lowery (The Green Knight,) and Nicholas Ashe Bateman (The Wanting Mare,) could all handle a great movie with limited dialogue and beautiful visuals. They might need help with action, but they could hire for that.
I don’t know about the attached director, Andrés Muschietti (It, It: Chapter 2,) but I’m going to try to not judge him by The Flash.
I’ll probably always think that Tetris is the greatest video game ever. The inherent dramatic arc that comes with watching the blocks stack up is tension directly within you the player, not you watching tension unfold for characters on the screen. It’s different every time, even if the shape of the arc is similar, because you improve as a player. It’s the kind of emergent involvement the most designers could only aspire to create.
That said of course Shadow of the Colossus is also a favorite. That one probably feels a little more obvious, but I’m okay with that.
It gives space to do servers based on specific interests if you want. I’m part of a game development server, and my “Local” tab has people on my server often talking about, and showing, things that are related to game development. And I can still follow anyone from any other Mastodon server too.
If you’re into video games, film, maybe a specific genre of music, you can have an instance dedicated to that. (It might already exist.) It’s like a virtual neighborhood, or forum. Remember forums? Those were nice. They cultivated a sense of community which made people a little more responsible in their attitudes, it feels like. Maybe that’s just nostalgia, but I like the server I’m on. It’s got friendly people I can talk to without feeling the need to fill my follows with them.