Quest for the Precursor

Hi there!

Im curious to find the precursor of the 2D platformer with pitch black foreground and lit background. You know, the kind of game that comes out every 2 days..

Like Limbo

http://indiegames.com/2011/06/xbla_hit_ ... to_pc.html

or Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet

http://indiegames.com/2011/06/xbla_summ ... ludes.html

or Operation Overkill (which is not always like that but hey..)

http://indiegames.com/2011/06/xbla_hit_ ... to_pc.html

You know, those games. There must be a first one and I'd like to see where it comes from.

Thank you if you can help me clear my path!

I believe the word you are looking for is "silhouette."

As far as finding the first game to use that style, good luck . People have been doing that for years now.

Aaaaaah I know which one you're talking about! Very old game in the 80s or 90s, you were only seeing a silouhette knight fighting silouhette monsters. The character proportions were realistic, the sprite was actually pretty big for the time, like one third of screen high if I remember well, background was a reddish dusk, and overall style was very tortured... I have no idea what the name is, though, I hate when it happens, I'll try to look.

(and I realize Google is not very useful when you have only the image in mind...)

Got it! Blade Warrior, in 1989, on Amiga. It's blue background though... I remembered it red somehow.

<img src="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTvjr0_JVJflInA0ud7M1vn_iptVkiwAHSfob4ilYKODUKE8uC-SA&t=1">

A video of the gameplay here

And you can download the full game here ^^:

http://free-game-downloads.mosw.com/aba ... rrior.html

And by the way, if you are french or just curious, you have all the Tilt magazines downloadable here:

http://www.abandonware-magazines.org/af ... =28&page=5

Edit: I found the ad, and it has red background! Everything makes sense now : http://www.lemonamiga.com/games/details.php?id=166

Woah nice thanks! You made my day, twice!

I remember playing the demo to Ico:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ico

While it's 3d with full color and everything, the way they did the monsters is a lot like the silhouette style.

<img src="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/666516/215133689_WNJWX-L-2.jpg">