Deus Ex Machina (Clone)
CW: This game has animations that have bright, flashing colors.
A (partial) clone of the game Deus Ex Machina, originally on the ZX Spectrum.
True to the original, audio is not included within the game files, but is a separate file that must be synced up along side the game like a cassette tape. This audio can be found to listen or download here.
Controls:
- Classic: Q A V B (up, down, left, and right respectively)
- Modern: W A S D (you know how this works)
Instructions:
- True to how I was introduced to the game, I will not provide instructions
- Just kidding :)
- Move the green box on top of the various objects to keep them moving. If they slow down too much they will stop permanently and you will lose % points
All assets, aside from the audio and fonts (ripped from Earthbound), were recreated by me.
NOTE: While there are 3 versions of the game, the downloadable builds are the most stable versions of the game as WebGL has its quirks. The game was built on Mac, so that is the version that got the most tlc.
Version History
- 1.1 (WebGL only) - Fixed greyscreening when pressing esc + fixed a typo!
- 1.0 - First Launch!
Download
Comments
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Hi Miles! This clone is incredible! It's exactly like the original and feels way better with the added modern controls. The animations are done super well and feel great to interact with. I loved direction you took with the mouse animation! In the original it wasn't easy to keep all the animations running, it felt impossible for me, but your clone manages to strike a balance where it's not too hard nor too easy and I really enjoyed that. Great work!
I didn't realize that the %ideal entity points corresponded to any of the player interaction... it's super cool that you recognized that and added it in the description, and then also added this mechanic into your clone.
I think one critique I do have is that the colliders you implement with the items on the screen and the player cube don't really seem consistent from item to item, like some DNA spins if I go over it but other DNA doesn't move. I also think that the difficulty is a bit intensified compared to the original game, which sort of takes away from the chill energy of "weird avant-garde reproduction game." This, along with the lack of accessibility of the music, does this for me. Like I'm sure that they don't have the music as part of the game because of limitations of the machine (although I can't say this for sure, I'd need to look into the hardware stuff for the ZX Spectrum), but I think they would've included it as part of the game if they had the capability. Like what you have given is valid and definitely ACCURATE but if I'm looking up a walkthrough of this game or sort of having the essence of the "experience" of the game I'm more looking for what they were Trying to convey.
Hey Abby!
I'm sorry you had that issue with the colliders. All the colliders on the objects should be identical (they may or may not be copy pasted...), but what I think may have been the issue was how the objects react and speed up on collision. The acceleration ends up being exponential, so if the object starts slower, it may take a hot sec before it feels like there is an effect.
My objects may accelerate slightly slower than the original which would also explain why you feel that the game is harder than the original too. I tried my best to balance the game in a way similar to the original, but its fully possible I went a bit overboard. I really struggled with the original and felt it was pretty hard, but i think I may have adjusted more to the controls as I created my version, and overcompensated for that fact. While I did ask a few people to test, I think I could have benefitted from asking them to play the original directly before playing my version.
As to your comment on the audio, I understand your point and why it might have been better to put the music in as it may fit more with the original vision of the creator should THEY recreate it on modern technology. However, when going about my clone, and when thinking about this very issue, I decided I wanted my clone to be faithful to the player experience of picking up and playing the game, not the original artist's vision. Ultimately the experience of the player is what makes a game, not necessarily the artist's intention, so I decided to replicate that on modern tech. I understand that it still is inconvenient, but I did ultimately decide that I wanted it to be that way.
However, in that same vein, your experience is what completes this game too, so I appreciate that you took the time to share that with me! Thank you!
Hey Miles! I really enjoyed this clone. When I played the original game I did not know what I was doing, so first off I greatly appreciate the instructions you provided, they let me actually hop in and play.
Getting into the game and I have to say your sprites look amazing! They are very nice recreations of the original game, and beautifully crisp here. I absolutely adore MOUSE, and I think the earthbound fonts work really well here. I also had no problem with any WebGL quirks personally.
This game is tough and frantic and I think you captured that well in your clone (I scored an incredible 47%). The objects spin and cease to spin at the right rate to give it the challenge and stress I found in the original. I enjoyed it more when playing with the WASD controls, so thank you for including that. Overall I’m impressed with the detail and artistry you put into this clone. Thanks for sharing it!
Thanks for the feedback Jordan! Balancing the speed of the spinning objects was a pretty big concern of mine for the exact reason you hit on. When playing the original, it always felt almost impossible, and so I'm glad to hear that I recreated that feeling for you!
Also it makes me super happy to hear that you liked MOUSE! That's one of the few places that I moved away from the initial game, so I tried my hardest to make something that still fit the original feel :)
Thanks for taking the time to play it and leaving a comment!
This clone is great! You've managed to nail the look of all the sprites and I want to particularly shout out the rate at which you increase the speed of the background sprites when you move over them, as it just feels wonderful. I nearly missed the score system entirely, so the degree to which you've made it feel identical to the original is truly impressive. My only tiny complaint is that the green and blue squares move continuously, rather than in steps like the original. This is an incredibly minor and fair change, but given the accuracy of everything else it's really the only detail I miss. Also of course M O U SE, but that change is incredibly good and full of alot of detail of its own, so no complaint there. Really incredible work!
Thank you for the feedback! Tuning the animation acceleration and deceleration was something I spent a lot of time on, as it affects both the look and the balance of the game, so I'm glad that it was a highlight!
As for the grid/step movement, I definitely agree with you that it adds some of that all important 80s computer gamefeel. It wasn't a huge consideration of mine while I was making the clone, but playing some other people's, if I were to go back to the game, I would revisit the movement!
Again, thank you for playing my game and giving some feedback!