"Telling stories – that’s the thing I want to do in my life. Whether through comics or games – both mediums work fine for me. I’ve got lots of stories in my head, and I’ll keep serving them to whoever wants to listen in whichever form."
Mateusz Skutnik is an independent game developer I have been following since middle school. He creates point-and-click games using Adobe Flash. He has a unique visual style, combining complex, interactive puzzles with a surreal pastel texture. The puzzles range from familiar and logical to outright bizarre and nonsensical, providing a diverse selection of games to appeal to multiple player tastes.
Most games occur in first-person, increasing the level of immersion for players. Contrary to what the above quote might imply, the expression of story in his games requires a level of exploration. However, this is not to say that story is not central to each game - in fact, gameplay and story flow together in such a way that one cannot move forward without the other.
The Submachine series began in 2005, and has grown to become one of Skutnik's more popular works, and my personal favorite. The first game was a simple basement escape game utilizing unusual tools (such as a spoon, which was found humorous enough to become an in-joke with fans). This evolved over the next nine sequels to form a complex mythos involving time-travel, dimensional portals, and references to Hindu concepts such as karma. The machinery in the games progressively becomes more interactive, with the last few games developing consistent mechanics that players are encouraged to figure out intuitively.
Each background is intricately designed, with a sense of depth developed through classic linear perspective and shading. Some hidden objects require a "pixel hunt" (moving the cursor over the screen until a clickable object is highlighted). Most puzzles require backtracking, demanding the player carefully observe each scene in order to ensure that nothing essential has been missed.
Interactivity is superficially limited to pointing and clicking (as the genre implies), but this simultaneously gives the player a greater sense of involvement with the world, as they must figure out how to use tools in accordance with their immediate environment. Ambient noise is used more than music, enhancing the sense of isolation and paranoia. This also serves to make the lighthearted sound effects more satisfying and rewarding - a gentle, echoing ping means progress!
The difficulty in these games are legendary amongst browser gamers, and thus walkthroughs are frequently used to help players along. I myself have needed one in just about every game, though I try to only use it when I am absolutely stuck.
Other popular games by Skutnik are:
Daymare Town, a monochrome game more bizarre but less dark than Submachine, with complicated technical puzzles being replaced by confusing machinations that run on dream logic.
Covert Front, a gritty film-noir style spy story, whose puzzles are much more down to earth than either Submachine or Daymare Town. Notably, the protagonist of this game has a much more active voice, whereas the other two games have a protagonist who is rarely - if ever - seen, and serves more as a player avatar than an independent character.
