Hub Sweet Hub: Playable Alpha Demo!

Vision
The vision for this game is clearly to be atmospheric. The night is dead silent, with only sound of swaying grass and your footsteps/movements. Then, you hit "E" to bloom, and suddenly the sun begins to come out and there are beautiful, fairy-cloud orbs in your midst (one is shown in the preview image). Nice music starts up, and you hear a small bell ring each time you pick up an orb. While you're picking them up, the counter at the bottom of the screen tells you how many you have. Then, suddenly, the counter starts dropping. At first, I thought it had simply switched to a countdown -- a time limit on collecting the orbs. Then, I remembered the warning about the vacuums. I tried to hurry and collect all the orbs, and even button-mashing to escape or fight the vacuum, but to no avail. I died. Overall, the experience is one of playing with the player, and it's one that makes you want to keep coming back.

Originality
Although there are a lot of "collect this" games going back to at least the Atari, I don't think I've seen or played one quite like this. Saying this is like all of those games would be like comparing Donkey Kong Country to Super Mario Bros.; It's simply another entry in the genre, and a unique one at that. The gameplay is fairly standard, yet fun, and the atmosphere makes the game all on its own.

Technique
The implementation of this game is excellent -- a nice pathway made of flowers immediately lets the player know where they're supposed to go, signs along the path give the player just enough information a piece at a time, and the dark night setting is a great contrast to the bright day setting. The game even gives little details, like the trees and grass gently swaying in the wind, to enhance the playing experience. The controls are simple and intuitive -- the mouse/mousepad/cursor input controls the camera, and the arrow keys move your character. The only things missing are a defense against the vacuums -- unless time is your only friend; I admit I played through it only once -- and a flashlight to light up the center of the screen during the night portion. Other than those, the only thing I missed was a run button. Walking is great for learning, but you want to move faster when collecting orbs. The detail of the rendering is astounding as well, with fairly high-poly flowers, trees, and grass; as well as nice, smooth texturing and gradients. The means and methods of creating this game were well-implemented.

Impact
The impact of this game is one of both mixing and alternating between relaxation and anxiety. It achieves a rather healthy balance between these, and leaves the player wanting more. This is, all-in-all, a well-done game.