zigfried's Insanity  review

Hmm. Homebrew != indie as far as development goes. Indie developers are on the current systems striving to produce great modern games...

All development for old, defunct consoles is homebrew! :)

I feel the review didn't properly represent Insanity as an as faithful as possible remake of Berzerk and was approached in the wrong manner as far as what it is as a whole.

Maybe the backgrounds could have palette shifted (who needs em when they pulse like they do), maybe there could have been cinematics (why, really?), and maybe the robots could have acted like they have Ph.D's, but then it wouldn't be the same Berzerk.

Saying the game lacks imagination is a bit of an overkill. Compared to the stickmen and lackluster art of the original.....

and you said games that showcase talent or ingenuity are likely to get a recommendation, went on to mention some of the talent involved (such as the PSG music, and there are some other behind the scenes code related bits that players obviously are unaware of), and then at the end threw in a "I plan to support their next project . . . but I won't ask you to do the same". Ouch. Homebrew is often a thankless art, but man...

PS: You missed out on the hidden modes. :)

Thanks for the feedback!

I would disagree on the definitions of indie and homebrew.

Indie = person or group not affiliated with a professional company
Homebrew = produced by a hardware consumer (as opposed to a professional developer), term normally refers to games on a platform that requires some type of proprietary medium

So if Sega makes a new Genesis cartridge, it's not homebrew or indie. But if I made a new Genesis cart, it would be both homebrew and indie. If I make a digitally-distributed game for Xbox Live, then it would just be indie but not homebrew.

Regarding that last sentence, I appreciate the effort you put into the game, but I would not feel comfortable asking people to join me. I'm not telling them to avoid the game (which is why I said I enjoyed it and plan to support in future)... just leaving it up to people to make up their own minds based on what they feel is important from an indie/homebrew product.

I really am looking forward to your next game, whenever that may be!

//Zig

PS- I found Predator mode! Just not the others.

Hmm, something don't seem right about some info here. I don't think this game was programmed by 1 guy and 1 female artist as the Aetherbyte website says they are a team of programmers, artists, musicians. It does look pretty dated and bland and I agree the professional artwork is probably the only thing going for this game and that $30 price tag is just retarded.

What do the credits in the manual and game say or are there any credits at all?

I got the info from ongoing information during development (including a developer interview at another site), and from the game credits. I certainly hope I didn't misunderstand something. Please correct me if you know otherwise, but I believe there was the designer and then a couple people who helped with artwork (one did in-game and cover art, one did package design/media artwork).

The review text is correct (no mention of "female assistance" since two people assisted with different aspects of artwork). I just updated the teaser blurb to match the review text. Sorry for any confusion caused by the inconsistency.

Based on the end-game credits, the package designer also worked on in-game graphics. The credits also mention "the old dude at Hurgle" under programming. Hurgle Studios is later credited with "assistance". I've always believed this particular project was essentially a one-person show, but I'll certainly correct the review if anyone has other information.

//Zig