Chaser is an art game, developed in under 12 hours by Connor Carpenter (shadestorm). Channelling Braid, there is no title card – just the word “chaser” fading from the play area as you start. You are a green dude. There is a blue dude. Using arrows or wasd, hold forward to run and tweak your direction with left and right (a/d). Chase the blue dude.
You streak across a black land, littered with shrubs and rocks, as snow falls gently around you both. The pursuit begins slowly, your character plodding and deliberate, but at regular intervals, if you can keep in pursuit of the blue figure, you speed up (and gain 100 points). The music builds gradually as layered melodies fade in atop one-another, eventually reaching an unbearable crescendo of upbeat chiptune arpeggios. In tune with this mood-heightening feature, your world becomes traced with blurry effects, flashes of light, and the pursued (the blue guy) starts to echo a titanic shape in lightning-glimpses. It’s trippy, it’s uplifting, and then…
You trip on a rock. Did you trip on a rock? You didn’t see one, but you tripped on something. It could have been the blurring, but you’re not sure. In fact, it probably was nothing – the 12 hour development cycle may have resulted in an iteratively focused game, with one iron-clad mechanic and gorgeous minimalist visuals, but it also makes you trip on invisible rocks. But let’s ignore that for now – a flaw, a bug, these have happened before. The game is more.
There’s an eerie sense of allegory here, like you’re walking into a trap. What are you chasing? No matter how furiously your character leans into his strides, the blue escapee is almost skating, with infinite repose and grace. It throws coins off to the side in time with the music, offering 100 points each but tempting you to forfeit the chase. You arc and wind furiously, nimbly dodging trees and angry tufts of grass, and yet, with every burst of speed, the blue figure seems farther away. How can that be? This is your every effort, your best game! And, most tellingly of all, when you stumble, losing all momentum and all your points, it waits patiently for you to get up again and resume the chase. It doesn’t want to escape you. It wants to be chased.
This is a self-proclaimed Art Game. You may have some interpretations of this already, and they’re probably right – it’s some sort of relationship metaphor, most likely, although the blue figure could be a job, or a yacht, or heroin addiction, or something. Carpenter makes great use of his medium – not content to simply shout the message to you down a tube, he lets you explore the climate of his allegory. In this game, you can feel the thrill of the chase, and pursue for hours, or you can give up the first couple of times. You could try something different entirely, or try to break the game.
It has a hidden ending, and Carpenter has hinted it involves something other than collecting coins and chasing a blue dude, but I won’t spoil it for you. I will say that the music used in this ending is particularly infused with a grand melancholy – the filename contains the word “bittersweet”, actually – and the slight change in mood and mechanics are perfectly suited to the new status quo. I think it was made intelligently, with great skill, showcases the craft well, and succeeds twice over in it’s declared goal of inducing “a state of mind and mood.” All in all, this is a game that offers a few empowering moments, some intriguing allegory, and one or two fucking invisible fucking rocks.
78%
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Pardon the nitpicking, but the music used for the sercet ending is actually “fusion”, “bittersweet” is the main one. “Fusion” seems an appropriate enough name for the secret ending, don’t you think?
Ah! Yes, I guess it does, you saucy minx. Well, let’s leave the mistake up there for posterity, shall we? I’m curious, how did you manage to play them? Not that I really looked into it beyond WMP’s pathetically flailing error messages.
WMP isn’t your best bet. I think I installed an addon for Winamp that lets me play .mod files somewhere in the past. I’m sure it’s not too hard to find, there are a lot of old Amiga music and chiptunes enthusiasts. I luv .mod. :D
Looks utterly bizarre and sounds quite fun but makes me feel a bit ‘emo’ with the hopelessness of it all. *sigh*
Got the secret ending, but when I reached the place the game crashed constantly asking for permissions for every frame of movement in the end cutscene :(.
Oh, you and your crazy japes! *everyone laughs, credits roll*
Thanks very much for the review! I’m very honored at some of the statements you made in there. I’m so very sorry for the frustrating invisible rocks; this thing was fairly hacked together and I haven’t been able to isolate where the problem is. However, unfortunately, their existence also somewhat goes along with the theme of the game.
EGTF, hopefully you read this, perhaps you can recreate the error and tell me what permission it was asking for? I haven’t been able to figure out why that happened for you.
Anyway, it’s completely surprising to me that Chaser has received as much attention as it has. I’ve worked on huge, years-long project which haven’t gotten this much buzz, and here is this 12-hour stint which seems to have taken off somewhat. Kind of bizarre, but I think it’s a testament to the fact that when a creator puts themselves into a project, funnels in personal experiences and elements, and allows themselves to become vulnerable as a result… that’s when the magic happens, and it seems people pick up on that. I’m not saying I completely accomplished that with Chaser, but it’s a new goal I think I’ll pursue for my next few projects. I’d also like to see more of this from the indie community.
Anyway, thanks for the plug, the comments, and the opportunity for me to soapbox it up right here. It is very much appreciated!
Hey Connor
I’ll speak for Gaming Daily when I say it’s our pleasure.
Cheers for dropping by!
Link to both says “Service Unavailable” Could someone get another link for the game?
Links seem to be back up now.