MIDI Week Singles: "Seagull Stacks" - Walkabout Mini Golf (MQ2)

"Seagull Stacks" from Walkabout Mini Golf on the Meta Quest 2, Meta Rift, Windows (2020)
Composer: Chris Reyman
Album: Walkabout Mini Golf Original Soundtrack
Label: Self Published
Publisher: Mighty Coconut
Developer: Mighty Coconut

From the first moment I landed in Seagull Stacks in "Walkabout Mini Golf '' I just stood there, taking in the view and listening to this absolutely gorgeous song.  I did not start putting, all I could do was take in the scene with Chris Reyman's music pounding my memory banks because I felt like I had heard some semblance of this song somewhere before.  Even as I listen to it now, I swear that I can hear elements of "Irish Eyes are Smiling" maybe hints of Randy Edelman's score from Gettysburg or elements from Howard Shore's motifs from  scenes in Hobbiton in The Lord of the Rings.  Whatever the similarities this song has to preexisting music, which Mr. Reyman discussed a bit in an interview with King of Nerds last month, his use of the pentatonic scale helps to make "Seagull Stacks" "sound like a lot of different things."

I have actually lost track of how many times I have listened to this track while researching where I thought I have heard elements from this song. Even if it was upwards of 20+ times, I do not think that it will ever become old, because having music that works outside of the in-game experience is just as important as the mood that it creates as you are standing hundreds of meters above the ocean while putting a 1.68" ball into a 4.25" hole while seagulls glide overhead.

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian

Everything Is Catching on Fire

MIDI Week Singles: "Tidy Park" - Golf Story (NS)

"Tidy Park" from Golf Story on the Nintendo Switch (2017)
Album: Golf Story OST
Composer: Joel Steudler
Label: Bandcamp
Publisher: Sidebar Games
Developer: Sidebar Games

I think because I spent a lot of time in Tidy Park and that the course layout was one of my favorites, it is probably no surprise that I fell in love with the music for this area as well.

What you should know going into this song, if you have not yet played the video above, is that this track represents a medley of the three tracks that you hear in Tidy Park as you engage in match plays with Jerome, Dusty, et al.  The first part of this track (0:00 - 0:37) uses the harpsichord, reminiscent of the music that plays when you are in the ballroom for the dinner/mystery event as well as some bagpipes to close out the song (bagpipes!!).  The second part (0:39 - 1:51) is one of the three(?) times in the soundtrack that Joel Steudler utilizes bagpipes.  I could hypothesize that bagpipes = Scotland = Golf, but they are used in a way that seems to acknowledge how great bagpipes can sound when utilized well and not as the butt of a joke.  Most of the bagpipe music here seems pretty accurate except for the beginning and a few moments towards the end where the chanter cuts out (but that's just me being anal about bagpipes because bagpipes cannot stop their tone unless you stop playing entirely), but I do appreciate that there were grace notes thrown in to give it that more of an authentic bagpipe feel (for more Joel Steudler bagpipes, his music from Kingdom Wars II: Battles uses them quite a lot).  The final section (1:51 - 3:01) features the piano with backing harpsichord and switching off with the flute and harp (yes?) carrying the melody.  This final melody is the most laid back of the three, maybe being performed by Dorris who is sitting at the piano in the clubhouse ballroom relaxing with an afternoon tea (that's really just a glass of scotch), but don't tell Dusty because he's already talked to her about drinking before noon.

The music of Tidy Park is just really calming and is nothing outlandish (think "Blue Moon Dunes"), which is a perfect pairing for how the Tidy Park course plays, with the primary hazard being puddles and the vintage irons not having the same oompf as your Pro Woods Driver.  Perfect for when you are playing golf with a bunch of curmudgeonly old fellas* who constantly make side remarks about how good the ol' days used to be then hit the ball 15ft off the tee into deep rough and expect you to make par.

~JWfW/JDub/Cooking Crack/Jaconian

Instrumental

P.S.  I legitimately was humming/whistling this music over the last weekend when I was out playing golf with my Dad.  Had I thought ahead and downloaded the music ahead of time, this album could have been our soundtrack; except my Dad's not a fan of video game music and we probably would have ended up listening to Jackson Browne or the Allman Brothers if the option was out there.

Game EXP: Golf Story (NS)

After watching the trailer for Golf Story on the Nintendo Switch, sometime shortly after getting the Switch back in 2017, I knew that I wanted to play this game.  I have talked a little bit before about how I can be picky about the golf video games that I do like, usually being those that do not take the game too seriously or realistically.  Games like Golf on the NES, Golf on the Game Boy, Mario Golf on the Nintendo 64, and even PGA Golf on the Intellivision are what I am after when it comes to golf, as opposed to the PGA Tour Series by EA Games.  I did play a little bit with the golf game in Wii Sports, but that was never on my own time (it was while I was working at assisted living facilities and helping/playing with the residents).

In short, I did very much enjoy Golf Story and ended up spending just over 21 hours playing, which is about what I was expecting considering HowLongToBeat has the average being about 19.5 hours.  I was at level 33 for those keeping score, and I had gathered all of the power-up items which I did not figure out how to use until the match play against Lara, which happens during the final act, before the pro's championship tournament at Blue Moon Dunes, the final match at the end of the game; but I will get to the special powers a bit later.  I barely played the in-game game of Galf, partly because there did not seem to be a reason to play it other than to play it; and I did find the Galf: Seasons game but never took it to the little Galf hut to play it.  I am a bad completionist. 

I bring all of this up because I am now going to talk about what I did not like with Golf Story, because the game has been praised for the last three years, with Metacritic listing it as the #56 best Switch game of 2017 and the 14th most discussed Switch game of 2017.  So we all know that it was and still is a well-received game.  So let us just jump into the negative.

The number of times I attempted this putting challenge was way too
 many.  I started taking screenshots before each putt and kept the
 picture if it went in so I could remember the best way to putt the ball in.

First, the game seemed to have an inconsistent approach to ending games.  During match games of golf, when you were playing against an AI when not playing a tournament, your game would end when there was no longer a chance for the opponent to possibly win.  For example, each match of golf was only 9 holes (which never bothered me that you could not play a full 18 holes), and if you scored lower on the first five holes, then you win.  The match is over and you do not play the last four holes.  Some times this would not bother me, but on the whole, I would have liked to have finished the entire course.  On the match against Junior on the Blue Moon Dunes course, I beat Junior after the sixth hole, meaning we had tied on two holes, and I won four.  So with three holes remaining, the match was ended and the final three holes would be a mystery when I started the Blue Moon Dunes tournament (as tournaments require you to always play all nine holes).  However, during mini-games or challenges that NPCs would give you as a way of earning money and experience points if you reached a point where you could not pass the challenge, you were still required to finish the challenge in agonizing shame.

One thing that annoyed me was the way that NPCs would talk to you if you failed their challenge.  Granted this is not so much a negative aspect of the game as far as mechanics go, just file this under the category of Duck Hunt Dog level of player shaming.

I do not know if the decision to essentially have a game over screen ever came up, but having the game take you back to the title screen if you lose a match-play game also seemed like an inconvenient decision.  I can understand this somewhat, as it is similar to older NES games that when you lose, you would get a Game Over screen and are taken back to the title screen.  But here, when you lose a match, the game tells you "Too Bad" you are taken to the title screen, but the game retains the score from the match.  What I feel should have happened, was that when you lose a match, you are just taken back to the dialogue option to play the person again, maybe with your opponent giving you a demeaning snarky comeback?  But inserting an extra step to replay a match that you just lost, or maybe play a couple of solo rounds to gain experience points to level up before playing, again, is just inconvenient.  Harumph.

The keyword here to remember is "Match"

Lastly (for now?), is that before you are able to compete in the final Blue Moon Dunes Championship, you are told that you have to have completed match cards from all of the other courses.  At this point, I thought I had to return to each course and play them all over again, which I was somewhat okay with since the actual playing of golf in Golf Story, being the primary mechanic, is a lot of fun.  What I did not realize, which seems silly now after the fact, was that I had already completed six of the needed eight match-plays to continue.  Which then seems like an odd choice as a game requirement.  Granted it was not hard to finish the final two matches as both of your opponents are located within Blue Moon Dunes.  But just the idea that there was something that I had to complete that was not made clear that I had already completed 75% was both confusing and made me feel like an idiot.

Once I figured out about power-up shots, I would predominantly
use the Focus Shot, since the other two didn't give as much of a
difference in the outcome of the shot as ignoring wind conditions.

And final lastly (see, told you), was the power-ups mechanic which again, the game did not do a good job of either explaining that the power-ups existed or having a tutorial on how to use them.  It was during my first match-play against Junior at Blue Moon Dunes that I found out you could change the type of shots you make at any time you are playing on the course.  Yes, I do remember finding the Ghost Tee and being told that you could now play a shot from a tee (and ignore any terrain effects) anywhere on the course, but apparently, I am an idiot (am I though) not realizing that this meant during a game.  The same could be said for the Power Glove, and the Focus Shot.  Once I figured out that I had these abilities in my tool chest, along with the already frequently used Precision Shots, HP Shots, and Approach Shots.  Having the game force you to actively select and use these abilities would have been something to consider.  One skill that the game tried to get the player to do on a number of occasions was the toss-the-ball-in-the-air-and-hit-it-with-your-club that was a requirement to progress the game on a couple of occasions that I feel like I only could do by accident.

Still the 3rd Greatest Feeling in the World.

But you know what, despite all these quality-of-life changes that could be implemented to make a cleaner and streamlined experience, I did really enjoy the game and do recommend it if you already like NES era style golf games that have a number of RPG elements and unconventional golf game elements (disc golf*, RC Pro-Am, boss battles).  This was a fun game and I am looking forward to the Sports Story sequel slated to be released (maybe) later this year (2020).

~JWfW/JDub/Cooking Crack/Jaconian

Instrumental

P.S.

* And what was up with Disc Golf?  You were forced to learn it early on in the game, had to beat some discers (?) at another course after the initial encounter, and then that was it?  I did notice other disc golf courses scattered in some of the other golf courses, but there was not an obvious way to play them or even a reason to unless it was to earn more money and experience points.

I also thought that there should have been more things to buy (consumables maybe, to replenish your power-ups meter?) after having bought all of the upgradable clubs?  Just a thought.

P.P.S. I probably would have some more interesting or action shots for this article, but the game did not allow for videos to be taken, being my preferred way to get screenshots, rather than trying to hit the screenshot button on the Switch controller at just the right moment and potentially honking up an otherwise great tee shot.

I recognize that continent!  Now.

#IndieSelect: Nicky The Home Alone Golf Ball (NS)

Disclaimer:  I received a free copy of Nicky The Home Alone Golf Ball by MiniMal Lab on the Nintendo Switch from QUByte Interactive through Xinthus' #IndieSelect event earlier in the week.  The game was given and received without expectation or promise of a positive review, only that the game be played and the experience be shared through social media channels.  All of the words and pictures in this article unless otherwise noted, are my own and form my own experience playing the game.

Based on the trailer for Nicky The Home Alone Golf Ball (hereafter referred to as Nicky), you get was is advertised, but only to a certain extent.  Before even starting the game, you can customize your playable golf ball, Nicky, with hair including facial hair, glasses, hats, and bling, and you are thankfully told that these cosmetic effects have no effect on the actual gameplay.  This is good because I obviously put the Viking hat on my Nicky and we all know from games like Katamari Damacy that pokey-things on rolling objects is a real hindrance.  Once you do start, you are greeted by a digital voice that sounds like it was compiled of audio from British comedian Matt Berry (The IT Crowd, Worms Revolution) and you start off on your adventure, leaving the box of golf balls in a house and headed back home to the local golf course.

Nicky takes a mechanic similar to Angry Birds and Midnight Deluxe, where you slingshot/golf-shot an object towards a goal.  The difference though in Nicky is that you cannot see the end goal, and are instead following arrow signs pointing you in the right direction to shoot as you make your way through obstacles.  There is a bit of platforming going on, trying to shoot Nicky onto bookshelves, lights, telephone poles, windmills, and through car windows.  As is the case with slingshot and golf games, you can direct the shot as well as the amount of power you want to use, but I genuinely found that I would either use full power or some amount between 1/2 and 3/4.  I found that when I used less than half power, the ball would hardly travel in the direction I had intended.  The game can be played with the controller or with the touchscreen, but I found the controller to be comfortable and easier to track Nicky, especially when the ball was rolling on the screen and I wanted to take another shot immediately before stopping.  Also, any chance to not obscure the viewable area, I will usually take.

If I had to look at this for the entirety of the game, you
have to look at it for the entirety of the article.

Like golf, Nicky keeps track of the number of strokes you have made with the goal being to have the fewest number of strokes by the end of the game.  The game constantly reminds you of this fact by having a worldwide leader board permanently plastered in the upper right portion of the screen.  To remind you that that stroke you just took, now totaling 186 is still too high to beat Sarah who is sitting firmly at 147.  I found this a bit distracting because, on my first playthrough, I had a general sense of what I was doing and the direction I was going, but I definitely hit a wall where I got frustrated and just started taking shots haphazardly and probably wracked up 20 plus strokes out of frustration.  Plus learning the mechanics of the game, how much power actually affects the ball, how to best shoot at/around the birds, how fast the ball travels towards a car window that keeps opening and closing.  Maybe have the option to turn off the leaderboard or be able to view it in the pause screen?

As far as content goes, the game is comprised of just one level/world/stage that is actually pretty large.  The areas consist of a house, the roof, telephone poles, a street with cars, trees, windmills, a stealth area involving a stressed-out dog, and a mini-golf course.  In all honesty, I felt that the playable area was too big, especially since more often than not, I would shoot at a 45° angle at full power since most of the game was about distance and less about chipping and putting technique.  There were moments when full power played a hindrance, but with the   But there are more feelings about this than, "Woah, big world," and I am going to be jumping around a bit so try to keep up.

Wait, what!?

One final criticism is that I often found myself shooting into an area that I could not see.  You are able to move the camera a little bit, but you cannot see the entire playable area, or at least, the area where your ball could land.  Have the viewable area somewhat limited I could understand otherwise the player could just look at the entire world to see what was up ahead.  Combined with not always being able to see where you are shooting, often times the camera is unable to keep the ball in frame long enough to see what happened to you.  Maybe this was an attempt to be similar to the camera operators in real golf games who have to track the tee shots, but that might be giving too much credit.  In the picture here, I shot off a telephone pole then bounced off of something, possibly one of the birds that littered this area because there was a tell-tale squawk right before the bounce.

The game sells for $0.99 and is currently (as of 01/16/2020) on sale for $0.49, which is a decent price for what the game is.  Had the game been broken up into say, nine individual areas, even if the developers used the exact same world as it stands in the game, it could add to the perceived value of the game.  With there being just the one world/map/area, it feels like there is not a lot of game here.  And with there being only one world, it makes practicing on certain obstacles like the backyard stealth area or the windmills very difficult to improve upon.  Had there been individual levels (unlockable as being able to play them individually after completing the whole game), it would allow players to practice stages before attempting to make a run for the leaderboard, which would only tabulate scores when you play the entire course (as opposed to jumping around).  Using this format, I could see the game selling for $4.99, or do the frequent sale thing for 75% off at $1.25.

As it stands, Nicky The Home Alone Golf Ball does feel a lot like a proof of concept, something that the developers would show around to publishers as a sampling, that there could be more on the way, but alas, this is the entire game.  Even though the game encourages you to replay multiple times to challenge the top scorers on the leaderboard, I do not see myself replaying the game much at all after this first playthrough.  It was a decent experience that lasted just over an hour, maybe an hour-and-a-half at the longest, but even then, I might be more inclined had the world been broken up into more easily to digest chunks.  You know, like the front nine of a golf course, rather than playing a single obstacle-laden course stretching some 3,138 yards to a single hole at the end.

~JWfW/JDub/Cooking Crack/Jaconian

Oh Let Me Make Sure The Camera Doesn't Quite Get It


P.S.  I realized pretty early on in my playthrough that I would not be able to make a run at the leaderboard, and a final score of 410 I was semi-happy with despite getting frustrated with the windmills and just shooting without a specific care.

Final-final critique about the leaderboard is that it obscures the in-game congratulatory text.  Maybe it's just bad UI when the game was in development, not taking into account a full list of 10 players, but that's just me.

Game EXP: Midnight: Deluxe (NS)

Disclaimer: I received Midnight: Deluxe free of charge from IndieGamerChick (who is not employed by either Petite Games or Ratalaika Games) with no expectation other than to play and talk about the game.  "Talk" was not a promise or expected promise of a good or positive review, only to talk about my personal experience playing the game.

Today we are having a special Game EXP article because of 2018 IndieXmas run by IndieGamerChick over at her site.  During IndieXmas2018, game codes are handed out (free of charge) to help spread word of mouth (good or bad) about indie games released on all systems far and wide, except maybe the Jaguar and N-Gage.  So, this Game EXP article is looking at Midnight: Deluxe on the Nintendo Switch, although it is also available on other systems, but I am going to exclusively talk about it on the Switch.

The first thing that struck me about M:D, was that the game was described as being a golf-type game where you slingshot your illuminated block (whose name is Midnight) through a puzzle-type screen towards the goal.  My first thought was, "Okay, so golf meets Angry Birds, I can do this."  Then it took me a couple of minutes to figure out the control scheme, even though the opening level has on screen text about how to fire/shoot.  Since I still had Angry Birds in mind, I thought that you had to pull back and fire to send Midnight flying.  A couple of minutes later, I realized that you do not pull back, but instead point in the direction you want to go.  After feeling frustrated at not being able to play what seemed like a rather simplistic game for a minute, I felt a bit like an idiot.

With the Switch version of the game, developers Petite Games added touch screen functionality, which I thought was a brilliant move that makes the Switch version feel all the more exclusive.  However, after the first level, I instinctively used the attached Joy-Cons and not the swiping motion on the touch screen.  There were times that I did try to use the touch screen controls, but with the frequency that I needed to restart a stage (upon deciding that I shot myself into a bad situation, or just generally tried to improve the number of shots I took each level), I did not see any other option but to hit the X button.

And I hit that X button a lot, especially in that first screen shot, which is from the 3rd level in the game.  And the biggest distracting thing about having to constantly hit the X button and restarting a stage, was that the music in the background would start a new song.  I do not know if this was meant as a deterrent from manually restarting, but even when Midnight died (overshooting off-screen in certain stages, falling/flying into buzz saws, landing on spiked fences, or being hit by serrated spinning sword blade-things) the music would change.  This problem for me, and even Conklederp commented on the abruptness of the change, was that there might have been upwards of 10 songs, which all sounded very calming and serene, but when stages last maybe 10 seconds when completed accurately, only hearing 1.5 seconds of a song before restarting to then hear a new song for 2.5 seconds got a little weary on my brain-ears.

In the end, I do not know how much time I spent playing (due to the Switch not presenting that until after a certain amount of days past), but by the end of Level 46 of 70 stages complete (having 51.47% of the game completed), I felt like I was reaching a Super Meat Boy level of difficulty that I do not know if I was ready for.  On most of the levels, I did replay them in order to get two stars or higher (fewer launches means more stars, you know, like golf), mainly because I felt like achieving only one star was only skirting by and only putting the bare minimum into the game.  And after 46 levels, I felt like I had genuinely played the game and that the remaining 19 levels would have felt like a slog.  Maybe there was more innovation after that 51st level, but it started to feel like all of the levels after 50 (the one I played) were there to pad out the game.  

I might come back at a later date and finish those remaining 24 levels, but for now, I have played  through 65.7% of the levels in Midnight: Deluxe earning 78.8% of the stars, which is not too bad after one night of game play.  And most importantly, it was a fun game.  Now Petite Games just needs to fix the issue with the music and I would have no major complaints.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
I Saw the Danger, Yet I Walked

Playing Golf IRL

I played golf this last Wednesday.  Real golf.  As in the sport where you sit in a cart (or walk if you're a professional apparently) and drive around to a spot where you wack a 1.68 inch (4.27 cm) ball some odd hundred yards (occasionally fewer than 100 yards) using a stick with a flat blunted end (a club, if you will), towards a 4.25 inch (10.795 cm) hole in the ground marked by a flag on a pole standing no less than 7 ft (2.1336 m) tall.  I did this 18 times Wednesday along with two other gentlemen on my team/squad/posse.  This whole event, from the first hole to the last, took me about five hours to complete.  And believe it or not, I had fun.

But the mechanics of golf, as an active participant are kind of odd.  At least from the perspective of someone who plays video games, but has not played a golf video game made after either 1999, or 2014, depending on your definition of what constitutes a legitimate golfing game.  In the golf video games that I have experience with, there are only a handful of mechanics such as the direction of the ball, the choice of club, strength of the swing, and sometimes, taking into account the direction that the wind is blowing in.

In real golf, there is so much more to take into account, like am I going to bring the club down low enough to hit the ball (as opposed to not high enough and either topping it, or missing completely), or too low and either hit the ground and nothing else, or take a chunk of dirt and grass along with the ball as it travels a dozen yards instead of the 175 to the green.  And that is just hitting the ball.  Nearly every time I swung the club, I would hope to Hades that my ball would go in the direction I wanted it to.  

Okay, quick interjecting.  I started playing golf when I was about 13, 25 years ago.  I took lessons at the golf course the next town over when I was 13, as well as at the country club my Grandparents were/are members of, and even as recently as 14 years ago I took a series of lessons to help improve my swing.  Now, I am not a great golfer and usually only played a couple of times a year from about Jr. High through maybe 2005, so maybe 13 years or so.  I should also note, because it is going to make sense in a moment, I can only hit with irons.  I have tried a number of times to use various woods and even my Grandfather gave me a driving iron which I did use on occasion, but I could never get the hang of how odd woods felt.

So, I brought up only using irons because, at least in the golf games that I have played, if you select a driver to use on your tee shot, your player is proficient in using that club.  Granted your particular character might have different stats than another character, but that high strength and being able to hit a ball farther than another character might be offset by the fact they tend to slice the ball when they hit it really hard.  I am of course only mentioning this to make a point, and that is, in real life, playing golf is hard.

Case in point.  This is the 3rd hole on the course, courtesy of Google Maps.  You tee off from the tee box there in the lower right hand corner in the shade for the trees, hit your ball over the roughly 100 ft. wide pond and onto the green in the upper left.  From the tee to the center of the green was 90 yards with the green slightly sloping back towards the pond.  I decided that my 8 iron would give me the best shot at some loft, while not hitting the ball too far.  Now in a video game, you could nearly guarantee that you would not hit the ball in the water with enough power.  You might hit the ball past the green, but depending on the game it might not go out of bounds.  In real life, as I was standing there in front of the ball that I just put down on the tee (I had pulled a crud ball out of my bag in case I did hit it in the water), and my mind went to how much easier this would be in a video game.  Here, I was hoping that my choice of the 8 iron, combined with my clearly subjective choice in the amount of strength I needed and how much I ended up using would get my ball on the green and not embarrass myself in front of the two people that I had just met a few hours earlier.  Oh, did I also mention that there was no flag on this hole, because there were three holes punched in the green, so you had to hope that if you hit the green, that you were at least somewhat close to one of the three holes?  In the end, I hit the ball about as well as could be expected without getting a hole in one.  It was decided that my shot put our threesome closest to the hole so we all went with my shot and ended up getting a birdie on this 3 par; we were playing a shotgun scramble style of play.

By the end of the day, I realized that after not having played 18 holes of golf in close to a decade, that I still was not too bad considering my absence from the game for so long, although I did play a short 12 hole pitch-and-putt last year, but I was also playing with my boss, and we were drinking, so it was significantly less serious and a lot less pressure than Wednesday's game.  But thinking about all of the mechanics that go into playing golf really messes with your brain, kind of if you think about all of the necessary movements required to even just walk.  

Now who is up for a round of QWOP Golf!?

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Rocks Hit the Water Like Broken Glass