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  • Try to survive a sadistic circus in 'Penarium' for PC and consoles

    by 
    Jessica Conditt
    Jessica Conditt
    09.22.2015

    Humans make for more complex strategy than code can. Take Penarium designer and producer Rick van Ginkel's story for example: His studio, Self Made Miracle, once tried to develop a strategy game that relied on complicated spreadsheets and algorithms. It "failed horribly," he says. "I was doing spreadsheet balancing all the time and couldn't get it right. That is why we decided to go for an action game where I could do game design based more on 'feeling' rather than mathematics." That new, feeling-based game is Penarium, a twitchy, bloody, pixelated romp about a man attempting to survive a violent circus attraction in the late 19th century. Instead of forcing strategy into the code or controls, Penarium puts the complexity in players' hands.