| Depict1 | ← | Small Worlds | → | Reprisal |
| Small Worlds | |
|---|---|
| |
| Information | |
| Link: | Pixel Love |
| Released: | June 20, 2010[1] |
| Featured: | June 18, 2012 |
| Platform | Flash |
| Control scheme: | Keyboard |
| Data saved: | None |
| Genre(s): | Platform, Exploration |
| Website(s): | Jayisgames.com, Armorgames.com |
| Soundtrack availability: | Incompetech.com |
| Awards: | 6th Casual Gameplay Design Competition 1st place |
| Credits | |
|---|---|
| Music Kevin Macleod Design David Shute | |
Small Worlds is an adventure-platforming game released on June 20, 2010 by David Shute. It was featured on Pixel Love on June 18, 2012. In the game, the main character is searching for silence from the noise in the world in current existence.
Small Worlds was an entry in JayisGames' Sixth Casual Gameplay Design Competition, whose theme was "Exploration". It won first place in the overall competition as well as the Armor Games Award and audience prize.
Controls[]
- Move:
Left and right arrow keys
A and D keys
- Jump:
Spacebar
W key
Up arrow key
Gameplay[]
The fully revealed space station.
The protagonist has to move around the area to find the missing power cube found within the location. This power cube can often be found from a distance due to the power cube's glow, which can be sent out a distance away from itself. A power cube, once collected, is then transferred onto the ship.
As the player moves the character, darkness is cleared away, revealing more of the place. At the same time, moving also causes the screen to zoom out so that more of the world can be seen at once.
No deaths are possible within the game, and all areas contain platforms that the character can jump onto and move around on. In some cases, there may be other contraptions necessary to interact with that will help the player find the cube.
Introduction[]
The introduction begins with a black screen and white text that fades into focus:
There is too much noise.
The screen then fades to the protagonist, who is located inside a glass chamber within the space station. The player can then take control and guide their character around to reveal parts of the space station.
Worlds[]
As the protagonist ventures through the space station, he can enter through teleporters, found near the bottom of the station. Each teleporter is coloured differently, corresponding to a different world. When the protagonist touches a teleporter, he is instantly transported to the new location and cannot return to the space station until the power cube is found. The player can enter the worlds in any order, so long as the necessary power cube is reached by the end of it.
Carcass[]
The carcass world
To enter the carcass world, the player must get their character to touch the red teleporter, on the right in the space station. The location is set inside the carcass of a creature, which the player has to navigate through. This world is mostly a maze and curves in a spiral shape.
As the player reveals more of the world, they notice blue ground streaked with some red blood. There are also white, jutting curves resembling bones and teeth of the fallen beast. Like the winter world, the location of the power cube can be seen near the start of this stage, but requires the player to travel up and around the bones to get inside the carcass and touch the power cube, located near the only yellow patches found in this area.
Falls[]
Falls
Through the blue teleporter in the space station, the player can enter the falls. This area is predominantly made up of water, with numerous buildings in the background. Most of the water that flows in this world is blue, though a small portion of it is green, and is spewed out from a building on the left.
The falls is the only location with a working contraption used for transportation. At the bottom of the world, in the pool of water, a brown coloured lift, moved by some gears, constantly moves in a counter-clockwise direction. This lift, when entered from the bottom, allows the main character to be carried up to the topmost platform, where they will be dropped off. Stepping on this lift is necessary for reaching the power cube, which is located in an alcove filled with water.
Nova[]
Nova
The nova area is entered by touching the green teleporter. The area itself is predominantly green, with light in the middle. The perimeters of the world are marked out with a border of brown rocks, while other rocks in midair also serve as platforms. Some rocks are much larger in size than others.
The player starts out at the bottom left of the screen, next to the larger sized rock amongst the smaller ones. Because of the many rocks placed around the area, jumping may be inhibited, since a full jump is only possible in open air. To get to the power cube, the player has to make their way to the top left of the world, where the power cube rests on a smaller rock next to the bordering rocks.
Winter[]
The winter world
By touching the white teleporter, the player can enter the winter world. This world, hence the name, is covered in copious amounts of ice at the bottom half and snow at the top. A constant snowfall is seen. Most of the area appears to be made of wood, with some objects that appear to be man-made.
The power cube is located at the top of the screen, resting on the V shaped branch. To get it, the player must go through the maze of ice (due to their starting point), past the map and up the wooden burrows to get to the branch. If they fall to the left of the branch, the player has to make the same journey around to get back to the power cube.
Ending[]
| This navigational box contains a spoiler. Click [show] to open. |
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When the player has all four cubes, the main character will be seen inside a ship, with the four cubes inserted into all once-empty squares. The ship then takes off, flying away from the station. A black image appears, with a red and yellow object at the bottom of it depicting a sun. The words below read: "Silence".  |
Glitches[]
- There is a glitch that the white teleporter may sometimes appear as a blue teleporter. This is likely one of the rare occurrences of objects being randomly spawned in places, a common glitch when Small Worlds was first released.
Soundtrack[]
The game's soundtrack uses music from Kevin MacLeod's resource site, incompetech.com. Five tracks were used as a track for each of the worlds as well as the space station.
| Track name | Duration | Location | Music |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aftermath | 3:13 | Space station | |
| Frost Waltz | 2:15 | Winter world | |
| Sad Trio | 4:12 | Carcass | |
| Serene | 2:11 | Falls | |
| To the Ends | 1:45 | Nova |
References[]
- ↑ David Shute's blog: The Art of Small Worlds, posted 20 June 2010. Retrieved 23 June 2013