''Linger in Shadows'' is a

demoscene The demoscene is an international computer art subculture focused on producing demos: self-contained, sometimes extremely small, computer programs that produce audiovisual presentations. The purpose of a demo is to show off programming, visual ...

-project by the

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

demogroup Demogroups are teams of demosceners, who make computer based audio-visual works of art known as demos. Demogroups form a subculture collectively known as the demoscene. Groups frequently consist of students, young computer enthusiasts who spend ...

Plastic, released on the

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on November 11, 2006, in Japan, November ...

. It was first announced at Breakpoint 2008 in Germany. ''Linger in Shadows'' differs in an important aspect from many

products in that it was published by

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professiona ...

on the

, who trademarked the name late 2007. Many news-sites which reported about the demo assumed that it was a tech-demo for a future game. This was denied during presentations at E3, although it was revealed that the title does feature interactivity.

Features

The interactive parts were first showcased at the Realtime Generation festival in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

by lead programmer Michal "Bonzaj" Staniszewski; it was revealed that the interactive part of the demo is essentially the main storyline, with added interaction using the

Sixaxis The Sixaxis (trademarked SIXAXIS) is a wireless gamepad produced by Sony for their PlayStation 3 video game console. It was introduced alongside the PlayStation 3 in 2006 and remained the console's official controller until 2008. The Sixaxis was ...

such as user-controlled camera and the ability to scratch back and forth in the timeline. It also allows the player to play around with some parts of the environment, like rotating certain objects or moving light-sources. The demo was later also presented at Nvision 08, in a somewhat updated state. The interactive part initially only lets the user to explore the first fifth of the demo, and the user has to perform various actions with the

to unlock the next part, such as shaking the controller or holding it in a certain angle. The scenes also feature hidden

greetings Greeting is an act of communication in which human beings intentionally make their presence known to each other, to show attention to, and to suggest a type of relationship (usually cordial) or social status (formal or informal) between indiv ...

to a number of known demogroups, which can be found in more obscure areas of the demo. Unlocking parts of the demo ("sigils") as well as finding hidden greetings both reward the user with

trophies A trophy is a tangible, durable reminder of a specific achievement, and serves as a recognition or evidence of merit. Trophies are often awarded for sporting events, from youth sports to professional level athletics. In many sports medals (or, i ...

. The demo also features an

easter egg Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are eggs that are decorated for the Christian feast of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. As such, Easter eggs are common during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The oldest tr ...

, unlockable in the menu by pressing down both analog sticks (L3 and R3) on the Sixaxis. The resulting menu item allows the viewer to watch an "oldskool demo" with a starfield, two

DYCP DYCP (90.3 FM broadcasting, FM), branded as 90.3 XStream FM, is a radio station owned by Southern Broadcasting Network and operated by Y2H Broadcasting Network, Inc. The station's studio and transmitter are located at Room 203, Capitol Subd. Bldg. ...

scrollers (using the Amiga-character-set) and various other early demo effects such as

blitter object A Bob (contraction of ''Blitter object'') is a graphical element (GEL) used by the Amiga computer. Bobs are hardware sprite-like objects, movable on the screen with the help of the blitter coprocessor. The AmigaOS GEL system consists of VSprit ...

s and

metaballs In computer graphics, metaballs are organic-looking ''n''-dimensional isosurfaces, characterised by their ability to meld together when in close proximity to create single, contiguous objects. In solid modelling, polygon meshes are commonly ...

(intentionally made to look low resolution), with chiptune music accompanying it.

Reception

Critical reactions to the project were polarized between two opinions: while some commended the unusual presentation and how the idea of interactive realtime art available on PSN is very much "outside the box", others claimed that the price was too expensive for a seven-minute experience, and that the controls were fiddly and not integral to the experience. Game Chronicles called the visuals "stunning" and stated that it's "easily the best $3 you can spend in the PlayStation Store", giving it 96%. Gamestyle on the other hand, while commending that the demo is "breaking new ground", called it "overpriced", while Digital Chumps found "the controls frustrating and the entire experience extremely short and jarring".

References

{{reflist, 2

External links

Plastic's homepage

Official details page

Linger in Shadows Soundtrack Composer - Wojciech Golczewski's homepage
2008 video games Demos PlayStation 3-only games PlayStation Network games Sony Interactive Entertainment games Video games developed in Poland PlayStation 3 games

Features

Reception

See also

References

External links