STRAFE: The Bleeding Edge Game set for '96 Release

[Hellstorm Archon]

Behold Strafe, an 90's style Doom clone with "bleeding edge" technology.



The official website

---

Personally, I'm actually pretty stoked about this one game, what with all the fast speeds, over-the-top gore, and a pretty wacky commercial that shows why kids should never play M rated games. It's still in its early stages, and unfortunately, this won't be released until next year ('96, that is.)

Speaking of '96, I heard that Final Doom is coming out that year, so next year is already looking awesome. By the way, I wonder if id Software is planning on making a Doom 3...

[leileilol]

Looks like another miss-the-point shooter with 'oldschool!!! pixel's its all about feitsh of big pixel's and painting the wall's' novelty through Unity. "Brutal Doom through a pretentious PSX throwback in room randomization" is the best way I can put it.

Looks worse because it makes the mistake of having no shaded model normals leaving it looking uglier than actual 1996 pc games (which have more detail in the weapon models definitely). and then there's that ragdoll anachronism.

Even in strict context of 1996 shooter games, disregarding game engine tech, I find the basic 'carnage gun's' premise uninteresting.


and what's with the blatant strife homage logo?

[phantombeta]

Uhhhh...
That doesn't look like the Strife logo at all to me...

[NeuralStunner]

Looks like another miss-the-point shooter with 'oldschool!!! pixel's its all about feitsh of big pixel's and painting the wall's' novelty through Unity. "Brutal Doom through a pretentious PSX throwback in room randomization" is the best way I can put it.

I was trying to think of a less harsh way to put this before posting... But yeah, pretty much.

Seems like another case of making new things that look like crap out of choice, specifically to imitate old things that look like crap out of necessity, and inevitably failing to do any of the other things the old thing did that made it worth playing. (It seems like the official homepage falls under this, too.) Maybe it'll prove me wrong, but "!!!BLOOD!!! (also dithering)" is already a pretty bad sign.

I'm probably just a profoundly uncool dude for slandering nostalgia.

[leileilol]

I'm probably just a profoundly uncool dude for slandering nostalgia.

Given that the retreaux is its primary selling point, it's too bad. Comes off looking as Doom3 with picmip 4 and GL_NEAREST with fullbright. You can even tell the monster models have no shading painted in their diffuse texture making the game look more like asset patchwork, mixing in assets intended for perpixel lighting/deferred rendering systems. It's as 1996 as much as Blood Dragon is 1982.

So what is its target demographic anyway?

Uhhhh...
That doesn't look like the Strife logo at all to me...

Why, because it's "blocky pixel's"? I bet you can get the same thing if you model the Strife logo in Blender, and then turn on the Remesh modifier with cubes.

[DoomRater]

Wow that commercial is just trying way too hard. Had they cut it as the kid's head was melting it could have passed as satire. But nooooo, let's show the mom mourning the little boy! Aww... went straight into creepy territory.

[phantombeta]

Why, because it's "blocky pixel's"? I bet you can get the same thing if you model the Strife logo in Blender, and then turn on the Remesh modifier with cubes.

Let's compare the Strafe logo to the Strife logo:
Let's see the differences.

• Letters aren't curved.
• No outline.
• Colours aren't even similar.
• No light coming from the back.
• In the Strife logo all letters are about the same size, except the I and the F. The S and E in the Strafe logo are bigger than the other letters and the R is slightly bigger than the T, A and F letters. (Strife has 2 bigger letters. Strafe has 3.)

Let's see the similarities:
Uhh... Hmmm... They both have the letters S, T, R, F and E? Wait, I don't think that counts...

I can't find any similarities.

[Big C]

I like the old polygonal graphics and speedy gameplay and hate everything about the marketing associated with this.

Seriously, even Hatred didn't try and take people's nostalgia and inject it with absinthe. This game is trying way too hard to be ugly in soul. And ugly in form, too, as far as the website goes. There is a reason why website design left Geocities behind and never went back, even if there's nostalgia for simpler, more pioneering times.

(In short: Game looks kinda nice, but the advertising is horrible and mean-spirited.)

[Enjay]

Meh, I like the advert. I especially liked the bit when the mother was trying to reassemble the gibs of her child's head.

As for the logo not looking like the Strife one... of course it does. All the differences that phantombeta identified are, of course, correct but that doesn't stop the impression of seeing the logo being "that looks a bit like the Strife one".

As for the game... I don't have any strong feelings about it. It does give a passing impression of a mid 90s feel but the feeling isn't particularly authentic when you pause to think about it. I suspect that, if the game is fun at all, it will be because it's the kind of thing you can fire up, play mindlessly for 5 minutes or so and then quit again to go back to whatever else you are doing that day.

[Trance]

The logo reminding people of Strife is entirely due to the two titles being one letter different. In every stylistic aspect it is totally different. Leilei claimed it to be a blatant homage, which it just isn't.

[Enjay]

I dunno. I mean, I probably wouldn't get a "Strifey" feeling about the logo if the game was called "Bleeding Edge" or something else totally unlike "Strife" but, equally, I'm sure that it would be possible for a logo that says "Strafe" to not give me a "Strifey" feeling too. I think it's a combination of effects.

[Trance]

Which effects?

I genuinely don't see what you're seeing. Please enlighten me.

[Enjay]

I don't mean any effects actually on the logo. I mean the effect it has on me. When I look at the "Strafe" logo, it makes me feel that it's a bit like the "Strife" logo. Now, I know if I look at it closely, it isn't that much like the "Strife" logo for all the reasons already mentioned but, regardless of that, I still look at the logo and think "reminds me of Strife".

If it was just the word similarity, then the logo could have almost any appearance and it should still feel like the "Strife" logo to me. I don't think that would be the case though.

If it was just the appearance of the logo, then the word could be anything and it should still feel like the "Strife" logo to me. I don't think that would be the case either.

However, with the game being called "Strafe" and the logo looking like it does, for some reason it makes me think of the "Strife" logo.

How deliberate this is, I have no idea.

[Trance]

I still think it's because "STRIFE" and "STRAFE" are nearly the same word that you're getting that impression, but whatevs. It's not a particularly important thing to argue about, but I just had a problem with leilei's claim that they were aping the Strife logo when I can see zero similarities between the two logos apart from the spelling.

[Enjay]

I still think it's because "STRIFE" and "STRAFE" are nearly the same word that you're getting that impression

I agree. That's certainly part of it. I'm just saying that I think the general appearance contributes to the impression too. For example, if the logo had looked like any of these (admittedly shit and very quickly done) examples, I wouldn't have thought "Strife".

---

but whatevs. It's not a particularly important thing to argue about, but I just had a problem with leilei's claim that they were aping the Strife logo when I can see zero similarities between the two logos apart from the spelling.

I agree. I didn't really think I was arguing though, merely discussing. As for whether they are actually trying to ape the Strife logo, frankly, I have no idea.