Ib

Dies ist eine englischsprachige Spielanalyse zum Spiel Ib, durchgeführt von Tarnished.

Ib
Studio	kouri
Publisher	kouri
Erstveröffent- lichung	27 February 2012
Plattform	Windows, Nintendo Switch(Remake)
Spiel-Engine	RPG Maker 2000 RPG Maker MV (Remake)
Genre	Adventure Game

The following is an analysis of the game Ib, produced by Tarnished.

Motivation

What is so special about it?

Ib is a known classic of the RPG Maker Horror Genre. It entices with both a rich story and terrifying obstacles to overcome.

Are similar games available?

There exist other known classic RPG Maker Horror Games such as Witches House and Mad Father.

Theme

What is the theme of the game?

The game features Themes of Isolation and Loneliness.

How is the theme communicated to the Player?

The Character Ib loses track of her parents and gets lost inside a painting. The other main characters also express the themes by wanting to escape the world together.

Are there any references to other media concerning the theme?

No not really.

Player Experience

What does the Player feel when he plays the gane?

The player for the most part feels a sense of oppression and fear. There are calmer sections in the game, which serve as a breather from the Horror.

What elements contribute to the experience (example: feeling weak or in danger - limited resources)?

There are multiple monsters in the game that chase the player. The player cannot fight the monsters directly but instead must flee. Each time the Monsters hit the player he loses one of a limited number of lives.

Does the experience change during interaction time?

The game gets darker and harder the more progress you make in the game and each decision can change the ending of the game.

Story

What is the main story of the game?

A young girl named Ib visits an art gallery with her parents.

While observing the many exhibits, she suddenly realizes she is alone.

And in her search for others, she finds things awry in the gallery...

Games of emergence and game of progression?

Ib is a game with emergent gameplay, because it has many different endings based on the players decisions.

How is the story communicated (dialogues, cutscenes, player inetraction, etc.)?

The story is communicated through a mix of dialogues, interactions with the environment and cutscenes.

Setting

What is the setting of the game (sci-fi, fantasy, acient greece, etc.)?

The entire Story takes place inside a fantasy world set inside a painting.

How is the setting communicated (architecture, lighting, interface, characters)?

The World features a lot of paintings and painting related areas. (For example there is one section where the entire world is drawn in crayon).

Are there references depicted from real life?

The game contains references to famous paintings.

Character

Who is the protagonist of the game?

A young girl named Ib.

What are the characteristics of the character?

Cause of her young age Ib can be very naive, innocent, easily frightened and very sensitive to others. She also doesn´t like to express her feelings very much.

Can the player relate to the character? Why?

Ib is just a little girl who lost her parents and tries to find them again, so we think that nearly everyone can relate with her to at least some degree. Everyone of us was at least one time in his life in a similar situation. Who hasn´t lost his parents in the Supermarket, got scared and tried to find them again.

Objectives

What is the main goal of the game?

To find a way out of the painted world and get back to the real one to reunite with her parents.

Does the game include any sub goals?

Solve puzzles to get to the next room and face difficult decisions.

Procedures

How can the player carry out actions in the game?

The player has to explore the world with Ib and interact with other people by pressing spacebar or z when he is near them.

How can the character be controlled?

You can move around with the arrow keys of your keyboard, open your inventory/menu with x, interact with z/spacebar and with shift you can go to the main menu of the game.

Basic resources

What are the basic resources in the game?

The player’s health is represented by a rose. With every health point lost the rose loses a petal. The game also features an inventory system where the player can store items.

What is the relation between the resources?

The rose serves as a representation of a health counter. The items stored in the inventory are used to solve puzzles.

What is the nature of the resources?

The petals of a rose can be replenished with water filled vases found in various areas in the game. However, most of them are only one-use.

Puzzle related items are unique and permanent until used on something.

Examples for these resources?

Red rose, Lighter, Little Mirror, Palette Knife, Candy, Cat statue, etc.

Conflict

Does the game provide any conflicts?

The game contains enemies that chase the player. There are also puzzles that serve as obstacles to overcome. The story contains a plot twist which introduces a dilemma concerning the main cast characters.

What is the nature of these conflicts?

The enemies wish to obtain Ib’s rose, which also serves as a source of life. If the rose loses all petals and dies then so does Ib.

How can the player resolve the conflicts?

The player cannot directly fight the enemies. They can only run away to survive.

Are other players involved in the conflict?

No

Outcome

What are the results of the game?

The game contains multiple endings depending on the Player’s choices during the game. Some of them result in Ib escaping the art gallery.

What are the victory conditions?

You win by making it to the end of the game without dying.(reaching one of the multiple endings).

What are the defeat conditions?

If the player loses all rose petals(to enemies or traps), they die and reach game over.

Visual Style

What is the visual style of the game?

The game uses a two dimensional pixel style for the characters and rpg Maker tiles for the environments.

Are other games referenced?

No

Is the art style inspired by real life?

No it´s pixel art.