Stator Chronicle is a ridiculously honest video game about wizardry and the sensation of being lost. A linear storytelling/procedural gameplay crossover experiment, it combines skill-based gameplay with encouragement through curiosity of the player.
The world is procedurally generated. There are no pre-designed level sequences, so no repetitiveness, everything is done with maths. Think Minecraft, not Spelunky.
IMPORTANT: THE FARTHER YOU GET INTO THE FOREST, THE MORE ROTORS YOU WILL FIND
Controls: move with arrow keys or WASD/ZQSD, perform actions with other keys (as specified per action).
Interesting concept. The music and visuals created a good atmosphere but the gameplay felt a little lacking. I really like how the screen changes color to indicate the players status.
Nice and moody, though wasn't sure on my overall objective (or how much longer I had to go...). What would have helped in the beginning was having a rotor right outside the house so you knew what you were looking for/doing. I found one eventually, but when I got to the point I have to collect 4 - I got a bit bored. Also not sure what it was being 'painfully honest' about? :/
This is a fantastic game! I love the dynamic generation of the landscape, and the purpose to collect the rotors. I'd go so far as to say, I love the rotors. Will they marry me?
Awesome! I loved exploring the generated world. And I loved the humor. The only problem is that the camera gets a bit annoying from time to time, but apart from that it's a fun game!
Very stylish! The graphics, the music, the color change...all this gives the game a really great atmosphere. Exploring the game can get a bit boring after a while, but I played for 15 minutes and really enjoyed it.
Glad you finally got back in! :) I like it, although I don't have time to play more right now, but I will continue later so I can find out about that story ^^
After i get to the sixth part of the story i was a bit bored to continue.. i think you could change the parts to find accordingly to the story... like Rotors, and other stuff. good job on the graphics, and congratulation for the number of gameobject :)
Very interesting experiment, I especially liked the mood and the visuals. However, the random part makes the actual level design really boring most of the time. The frostbite system is strange but leads to some interesting situations (small bug: if you walk against a rotor, timer won't decrease, allowing unlimited immobility).
Great visuals and music, and I liked exploring the randomly generated world. Didn't get too far into the story, collecting rotors got a bit repetitive after a while tbh.
If I had to give you any suggestions, I think that I would have made each story element only cost 1 rotor, but make the player find their way back to the house themselves. That way you get a better sense of being lost and helpless the further out into the forest you go. Just my two cents :)
Awesome game. Loved the art, the grey with the accent colours. (I'm biased towards that ;)) The intro camera is great to, as is the little camera zoom when going though a tight spot between the gaps.
Gorgeous visuals and music. One of the most atmospheric games I've played so far by a long way. I also like the storytelling mechanic although I have to say that by the time I was looking for four rotors I needed a little more to keep me going - maybe some new gameplay elements as I got further into the 'forest.'
The map is very pretty and the game very stylish, procedural generation certainly helped with that. Despite that the uniform generation away from the open area around the house didn't really incentivise me to explore more, though I guess it does add to the sensation of feeling lost when everything looks the same but isn't quite the same. Game-play was a bit lacking, and having to pay more and more for each line was a bit off-putting.
Aesthetically amazing - not sure why you were calling it "honest" - but that line certainly had me sticking around to try and figure out why. I failed, but was oddly happy to lost in the desolate landscape.
Great job! Really enjoyed it until I had to go find 8, 9, 10 rotors. granted the farther you get, the rotor density shoots up but it becomes quite frustrating to have to venture way far out again to grab the TON of em you are going to need for the next few story bits.
Thank you for playing and commenting, everyone. Your feedback is really important to me! As a matter of fact, I'm gathering it all in a spreadsheet—this is how serious I am about your feedback :-)
I collected only one rotor, maybe you should review your procedurally item generation. By the way, Nice graphics, audio, & I felt very lost, you made my day.
@Sense Rotors are definitely generated correctly, as confirmed by other people who left comments and myself. My bigger concern at the moment is the difficulty curve, however, and the overall level of motivation potentially inspired by the story. I'm working on those.
I tried to play it on my Mac (Mountain Lion) and it crashed before it opened. I can't play the web version because of a ridiculous bug that only affects Mac users with Japanese input.
very memory heavy on my browser, but I love this game. The having to keep moving part was a good idea it kept me playing and I learned a bit about work and payoff by your system. good job. also love how much content is in it even though its probably procedural.
I didn't manage to finish the game and read the whole story, but I think it's a story about Rotors enslaving People and I just break free of their slavery!
Cool concept and great mood though, I wish it were shorter so I could read the ending.
Comments64
wind feel a bit buggy sometimes, but it work great.
The camera view can be a bit frustrating sometimes (we would like to have a bigger depth of field), but overall I really enjoyed the game.
Like minimalistic design =)
Nice execution.
If I had to give you any suggestions, I think that I would have made each story element only cost 1 rotor, but make the player find their way back to the house themselves. That way you get a better sense of being lost and helpless the further out into the forest you go. Just my two cents :)
Cool!
(Also if you truly want to give a sensation of getting lost, you should remove the home button)
Cool concept and great mood though, I wish it were shorter so I could read the ending.