It is with great pleasure that we are able to announce Hohokum as a Sony Santa Monica project, coming to PS4, PS3 and PS Vita in 2014!
Hohokum is a collaboration between artist Richard Hogg and Honeyslug, a London-based game studio. It is a whimsical colorful game with an emphasis on playful exploration and creativity. You take on the role of a curious flying snake-like character. A technicolor, calligraphic, worm-like, kite-like being! The way you move around the world is very expressive and kinetic and kind of mesmerizing to play.
One of the main aims for Hohokum is to create something where the usual pressures of videogames – constantly being told to do things, fearing failure and being challenged to earn progress – were all absent. This is quite a challenge, but we’re really excited about how it’s coming together. There are goals and secrets to discover. There are even Trophies. But at its heart Hohokum is a playground, a place to wander about, perhaps even lose yourself in.
It is kind of awesome to be able to finally say that. We have been working away on the game for the last year, maintaining strict radio silence. Before that we had a Hohokum-sabbatical in order to make Frobisher Says for PS Vita. So it has been around two years since the public saw anything of Hohokum that was when it was an IGF finalist and then followed by Indiecade.
But now the cat is out of the bag! I guess it was in the summer of 2011 at Indiecade that our involvement with Santa Monica Studio began. We have come quite a long way since then and they are still the perfect fit to be working with on this game.
We can’t wait to show people all the new additions in Hohokum at E3.
It's called Hohokum and it'll be out on the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3 and Vita (though what you see here is on the PS4). You control a snake-like character while you explore worlds and discover new ones. You help in-game characters and creatures locate items and other characters and creatures. Sometimes, you turn lights on for new discoveries. But I could hardly glean all of this on my own.
So let the game's artist—Richard Hogg—tell you a bit about his game, which I have decreed the most confusing game I've seen at E3. Also, super sorry about the audio quality of the video. It was a noisy day. But it's worth learning more.
Hohokum is one of the first games I’ve played that had me genuinely asking whether it’s a game or not. Flower? That’s a game. The Walking Dead? Definitely a game. Gone Home? A really great game. Proteus? I say it’s a game!
But during my first few minutes with Hohokum, I navigated a vibrant world as a colorful snake. Catchy music played, and when I passed by the people in the background, they hopped on for a ride. The animations were adorable, everything looked and sounded great, and I was enjoying zipping around. Then reality started to creep in as I started to hit the edges of the world and realized I had no idea what I was doing.
Was I actually supposed to be doing anything? Was the goal to just soak up the atmosphere? Is Hohokum stoner gaming at its finest?
Then, suddenly, something happened. I found some platforms where characters hopped off my back and hopped onto a pedestal. After that I delivered one character, who, through a bubble over their head, indicated they wanted to find a shoe. I found the floating island with a shoe and they seemed to appreciate it.
I hit an electrified gate and all of my travelers fried and fell off. An obstacle! Danger! Goals! This was starting to feel like a real video game.
It turns out Hohokum is quite goal-oriented. A Sony representative told me that each level actually has a bunch of things to do and different mechanics for accomplishing them. The game just doesn’t go out of its way to guide you, which is nice once you realize what it's trying to do. If you get stuck, it seems just zipping around and zoning out for a bit is a viable option too.
As I progressed, I started finding characters that doubled as pieces for a rollercoaster in the center of the level. I never finished building it, but I really wanted to. I was compelled to poke and prod at each object in the environment and actually figure out what its purpose was.
On the other hand, knowing that a character wanted to go to a particular island but not knowing where it was left me with only one option -- I had to laboriously comb the level from left-to-right and top-to-bottom to find what I was looking for. In those moments, where Hohokum stopped being chill and started becoming busywork, I got a little worried about where the final product will land.
All in all, though, Hohokum is a beautiful and catchy game. I’d love to pop on some headphones, lounge in front of my PS4 or in bed with my Vita, and zone out with it for a while. It’s definitely a game, but what really mattered was that Hohokum put a smile on my face. Enjoy random thoughts about the latest games, the Sega Saturn, or the occasional movie review? Follow me @JoeDonuts!
Tags: Hohokum, Indiecade East