This spotlight has something a little extra. What the team behind Tunnel Ground have for us is not only a beautiful style comic, but also an iOS game to go with it!
Lets start with the comics:
The digital English edition is currently available on the iBook Store. The book can be viewed using iBooks 2 or later and an iPad with iOS 5 or later.
Tunnel Ground – Subterranean Dawn is a new comic, done in a painterly style utilizing the latest in digital art techniques. Featuring intense scenes and stunning visuals, driving the immersive story to new heights. The comic is targeted for people who like in-depth stories and professional art combined. The story renders a post apocalyptic science fiction story set in dark desolate future… The journey takes the main character to the limits, both in the physical and mental realm, as both surroundings and subconscious take their toll on the worn mind of the machine forgotten in the dark depths.
The comic is read in a portrait style – to take advantage of the amazing style that is used in this comic. Black and white comics can sometimes be hard to pick up, but this is hard to put down! The use of shadow really gets you into the feel of the cramped, underground style. When there is light, especially one bright scene, I found my eyes hurt, like coming out of a dark tunnel into the light (or like me when my youngest wakes me up in the morning!)
The splashes of red throughout the comic are equally jarring, bring you further into the madness. It’s weird, having the whole story spoken as an internal monologue, but this works in this sense.The other strange thing is the protagonist – not your usual humanoid character, but by the end of the comic you really empathise with it.
The game is available on the iPad and iPhone. It made me think of the cramped style of the original Doom or Quake games. You never know what is around each corner and you end up jumping at shadows!
The controls can be a little fiddlely, but once you get used to them, you find yourself moving aroud not thinking.
In all this is an interesting, but understandable mix The team behind Tunnel Ground seem to have a real gem of an idea here and I’m glad to see it develop.
Tunnel Ground concept has been developed by Topi Koivisto and Tapio Miettinen.
