Black&White - The Game

Taurus · March 20, 2001, 17:59

Have you heard about it?

I've just read about it in the paper.
It sounds amazing.

It is a creation of Peter Molini.

In this game you play the one and only god. Your goal is to get as much believers as possible. You have several animals who, like angels, help you accomplishing duties. You have two advisors, a good one and an evil one. The good will mostly say that you should treat your believers nicely so they're birthrate will grow, the evil one will say the you need to treat them firmly so that they won't get spoiled and lazy. Your goal is two balance ofcourse.
There are other gods in this world, your goal is to have more believers than they do. You can also go to war with the gods, by telling your animal helpers to attack their helpers. The people do not fight, they just accept the god that wins (a message to society from Molini?

).
It also has some humorous aspects, like that your animals sometimes dance in a cute manner.
The interface is very simple, you are a hand. No buttons, no trays, nothing. Just a hand, different movements by the hand, make different things. For example, if you move the hand with great speed over your animal, it will be a spank, but if you firmly move it on his back, it will be a pat.

Some links:
Gamespot reviews : http://www.zdnet.com/gamespot/filter...914356,00.html

The game's site: www.lionhead.com

So what do you think about it?

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"But as time goes on, they, as all men, will find that independence was not made for man - that it is an unnatural state - will do for a while, but will not carry us on safely to the end..." Aldous Huxley in "Brave New World"

DinoDoc · March 20, 2001, 18:00

Wrong forum.

Eli · March 20, 2001, 18:03

Yep.

Caligastia · March 20, 2001, 18:07

No screenshots

Taurus · March 20, 2001, 18:08

Yes, I can understand that now, but please, doesn't anybody has anything else to say?

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"But as time goes on, they, as all men, will find that independence was not made for man - that it is an unnatural state - will do for a while, but will not carry us on safely to the end..." Aldous Huxley in "Brave New World"

Ming · March 20, 2001, 18:10

Yes... wrong forum!
This will appear closed here, but will be moved to the "other games" forum for people to continue commenting.

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Ming
CivII & Off-Topic Forum Moderator
Ming@Apolyton.net

Taurus · March 20, 2001, 18:24

Here you go you lazy bum, Caligastia.
Couldn't you do some search for yourself?
http://www.lionhead.com/shocked/bw/screen.html

Here double click on the words screen Shots: http://www.lionhead.com/shocked/bw/bw2.html

MidKnight Lament · March 21, 2001, 03:44

Yes, I've seen it, and yes, it's going to be awwwwwwwwwwesome!

I can't wait. It just seems to be so many different games packed into one that it's hard to get my head around. It just sounds so good. It'll all depend on the balance of course, but I haven't heard a bad word about it yet.

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- MKL ... "And a sun that doesn't set but settles" - Augie March
Shameless Plug: http://www.poetic-license.org ............. All welcome.

Bkeela · March 21, 2001, 12:00

Black & White certainly makes the Civ genre look rather dated. This is innovation at it's best.

Oh, by the way Taurus, the genius behind the game is Peter Molyneux, not Molini...

Bkeela.

[This message has been edited by Bkeela (edited March 21, 2001).]

Rogan Josh · March 21, 2001, 12:28

quote:

Originally posted by Bkeela on 03-21-2001 11:00 AM
Oh, by the way Taurus, the genius behind the game is Peter Molyneux, not Molini...
[This message has been edited by Bkeela (edited March 21, 2001).]

I thought Molini was his italian cousin

Sprayber · March 21, 2001, 14:30

I read the stuff on the link and it looks like a cool game. How many animals are there total? Anyone know?

Taurus · March 21, 2001, 16:42

I think the first animals you can pick are a tiger, a monkey or a cow. But later in the game, I think you can also pick others.

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"But as time goes on, they, as all men, will find that independence was not made for man - that it is an unnatural state - will do for a while, but will not carry us on safely to the end..." Aldous Huxley in "Brave New World"

Probbka · March 22, 2001, 22:33

This topic seems oddly familiar...

Taurus · March 23, 2001, 10:14

How come?

Did you already have a topic about this game?

I don't visit "Other games" at all, just now. So if you did have this topic, sorry.

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"But as time goes on, they, as all men, will find that independence was not made for man - that it is an unnatural state - will do for a while, but will not carry us on safely to the end..." Aldous Huxley in "Brave New World"

Bkeela · March 24, 2001, 01:37

quote:

This topic seems oddly familiar...

Yes it does Probbka, I seem to remember Chowlett having one not too long ago.

Bkeela.
[This message has been edited by Bkeela (edited March 24, 2001).]

Chowlett · March 24, 2001, 10:56

Indeed I did. I've been getting more and more excited about this game as time goes on. Find, if you can, the Gamespot "Week of Black and White", it's incredible. Especially Peter Molyneux talking about the creature AI. At one point, two of the design team's creatures were playing catch with huge boulders, and one got bored. So it heated a boulder up in a village fire while the other one wasn't looking and nudged it into his pile. Result, one burnt pair of wolf paws. And for that to evolve, I'm speechless.

You can rest assured I'll be preordering from my local EB on Monday. Estimated release date in UK - 6th April. I can't wait.

Imran Siddiqui · March 25, 2001, 03:31

Isn't that the PC.IGN week of B&W? And Chowlett why didn't you preorder before?

I have done so for about a couple weeks now, and I can't wait for the 3 or so days until I have it!

Chowlett · March 25, 2001, 18:51

For one simple reason - Uni. When I first heard of the game I was at uni, 400 miles from home. However, I noticed the release date was in my holidays, so there wasn't any point preordering then. I didn't want to order online, since I wasn't sure at the time whether a) I would want it when the time came and b) whether my machine could hack it.

I have now returned home, and I'm certain of a). Still a little wary of b), in case the 3D requirements are too stringent for my aging (but not old) Voodoo3 2000. Shouldn't be. And the processor now is no problem, took my machine to be upgraded on Saturday, I'll have it back next Saturday at latest with an 800 in it. And 256Mb Ram. Nice. And dirt cheap - 256 Meg, £65? Yes please.

(Little bit of plugging - you guys (particularly Brits) would do well checking that computer store out. Abit m'board, 300W case, 256 memory, 800 Athlon, fan and labour was £338 inc. VAT. Everyone I know uses them, I've never heard a bad word said. More reliable than most companies, very helpful and incredibly quick. I've had memory chips delivered 2 days after ordering. Go to www.infiniti.co.uk and have a gander.)

Chowlett · March 26, 2001, 15:49

Preordered today! Game should be instore awaiting pickup a week on Friday.

John-SJ · March 27, 2001, 16:49

Pre-ordered it last night from EBWorld. Should have it by Thursday, Friday at the latest.

John-SJ

Dis · March 28, 2001, 04:55

this game looks absolutely amazing

but I'm not sure what you are supposed to do. I don't understand what you do? do you control 1 creature? what is it? can it be anything? I don't understand

the review on the other thread looks real good. I need to look at it before I buy it though

Imran Siddiqui · March 28, 2001, 20:04

AWESOME, AWESOME, AWESOME!

I have it, and it ROCKS! Wow!

John-SJ · March 29, 2001, 11:21

When I got home from work last night B&W was waiting there for me. I installed the game and had time to play for a little while. The controls are VERY easy to use, while there are keyboard controls (hotkeys) there are mouse equivalents for most (if not all) of the functions.

The graphics are fantastic! I have a PIII 750Mhz, 256 Mb Ram and a GeForce2 GTS. I am running the game at 1152x864, 16-bit color (same res. as my desktop) and everything is smooth as silk and looks great too!

There is no seperate tutorial, it's integrated into the early part of the game. It would appear that there are no cutscenes either (that I've come across anyway). Rather, they use the game engine itself to advance the story, so the "cutscenes" are seamlessly integrted into the game as well.

I have only gotten far enough into the game that I just got my creature, an ape, so tonight I will begin training him and hopefully start learning about growing my villiage and about magic. But so far, everything I've seen has left a very positive impression.

John-SJ

Taurus · March 29, 2001, 18:46

I've just got the game today, haven't played it yet.

Hope it's good.

Bkeela · March 29, 2001, 20:58

I'm in agony. Because of some incredibly lame stuff up with the cover art-work, I will be denied the game until next week, around the 6th. To pour salt on bleeding wounds, all ive been hearing is bugs, bugs, bugs, stuttering gameplay, freezes, blue screens - im a nervous, jibbering wreck. I just woke up from a night full of dreams concerning black and white, and my inability to play it. I think ive finally gone insane.

I cant take it anymore.

Taurus, you get online to tell everyone you have it before you play it. I could kill you right now.

Well, that's it, I think i might go and put myself in a coma for a few days.

Bkeela.

Taurus · March 30, 2001, 16:51

Well, I played it a bit.

I already have my Tiger.

The game is not as good as I thought it would be.

More to come soon...

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"But as time goes on, they, as all men, will find that independence was not made for man - that it is an unnatural state - will do for a while, but will not carry us on safely to the end..." Aldous Huxley in "Brave New World"

Chowlett · March 30, 2001, 18:41

I now have no graphics card problems - the upgraders found that my Voodoo was at fault, so I now possess a Creative 32 Mb GeForce 2. It's going back tomorrow to see if they can't work out why a) The CD-ROM drive appears to be faulty when I don't think it was before and b) why my serial mouse stops working whenever Power-Saving mode kicks in.

Bkeela - same as here. I'll get my game about 12 hrs before you

Imran Siddiqui · March 30, 2001, 23:22

quote:

The game is not as good as I thought it would be.

WHAT were you expecting?!

And Chowlett, I got a Voodoo3, and it seems to work fine for me.

John-SJ · March 31, 2001, 22:25

Hmmm, to me, B&W is an awesome game, but I can't put my finger on why. There is not one thing I can say that "this" makes the game great, it's just that I can't seem to stop playing it.

It's one of those games that just captures the imagination and won't let it go. I find myself thinking about the game, the world, my creature, a lot, whether I'm playing or not. Whenever I'm away from the game I'm thinking about what I need to do next, what skills I want to train my creature to, how to increase my influence (and hence, my power) in the world, I'm just totally preoccupied by it.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, if you already have the game I pity you, just as I pity myself. If you haven't gotten it yet, DON'T. If you do, all will be lost! Your life will NEVER be the same again!

John-SJ

Bkeela · April 3, 2001, 00:29

That's what I like to hear. Anyone who doesn't like it can go and play Tribes 2 for all I care.

Bkeela.