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[s0]

i am nowt but a humble echo

Basically what happened was: Phubans and a bunch of other people criticize/attack IWBTG. The game's developer shows up to defend his work and explain the motivations behind it. I don't think he has done anything worthy of derision, it's not like he crashed in here going "lol im moar popular then u choke on my dick" or anything.

I didn't mean to single you out I just used your post as a stand-in for everyone who has posted throwaway snark comments ITT. There's nothing wrong with criticizing the game, even harshly (as some people have done here), but vague pot-shots like yours are seriously bad form and aren't helping anyone.

[Manuel Magalhães]

I feel like I'm being attacked by passive aggressive post-it notes or something.

When I reed this, I imagined such thing as an enemy from your IWBTG series. So here's an idea if you're thinking on doing a sequel for it. =p

[falsion]

The funny part to me is, going off the response I've gotten, people really seem to love the Zangief stuff. Soooooooo...... Yeah.

I feel like I'm being attacked by passive aggressive post-it notes or something.

You're appealing to the lowest common denominator, and by that I mean LPers on YouTube. If they're any indication of quality, then Big Rigs is the best game ever.

Also this game isn't hard, it's just tedious and annoying. It's not like La-Mulana where I think "OH, so that's what the solution to that puzzle was. Damn!" or the boss fights from the same game where (despite dying a lot) you eventually figure out ways to outsmart them or do more damage to them. I've been playing the boss rush mode in the new game, and I keep figuring out newer and more efficient ways to beat the bosses (and likewise they also keep killing me in different ways too).

This game doesn't have any of that. Instead this game is more like "Oh, right. I was supposed to jump there. Okay, I got it, what now? Next! Well, ugh.." over and over again. It's completely one dimensional, its tricks and traps are easily learned and after their novelty wears off, there's nothing left.

The game doesn't even make me mad, it just bores the shit out of me. Once you figure out how to avoid the next cheap death, there is no other thought involved. You could play the whole game based on rote memorization.

Back when I used Construct, I saw you on their forums. Weren't you working on some platfrom game that seemed to have an original sprite or two. What happened to that? What made you go back to something as dull and uninspired as this?

[Player 3]

I turn my back for one second and we dwell back again into semantics. Another second and it derailed into Ghosts & Goblins (tough game). IWBTG:G isn't exactly my niche, per se, being the angry type, but the challenges are new.

[falsion]

I turn my back for one second and we dwell back again into semantics. Another second and it derailed into Ghosts & Goblins (tough game). IWBTG:G isn't exactly my niche, per se, being the angry type, but the challenges are new.

There isn't any challenge. Just small roadblocks ad nauseum.

It's like if you were talking a walk and some guy kept stepping in front of you trying to ask you something and you just pushed him aside, over and over again.

This honestly is one of the worst games I've ever played. I'd really like to be nice about it but there is nothing positive I can say about this game.

[ThemsAllTook]

You could play the whole game based on rote memorization.

The same could be said about any game that doesn't use randomness as an element of gameplay. I don't see how it's a problem.

It sounds like you don't get the satisfaction I described a little while back for conquering each room, and don't appreciate the humor...maybe you're just not part of the game's target audience?

[Superb Joe]

again, in case there were any confusion on the subject, the megaman series is not good

[phubans]

You're appealing to the lowest common denominator, and by that I mean LPers on YouTube. If they're any indication of quality, then Big Rigs is the best game ever.

I wanted to mention this, but I didn't want to be anymore of a dick to Kayin than I have already. Though, I think Kayin using popularity as an argument for the success of his game is a bit misguided; there are plenty of popular things that aren't particularly technically good or creative, but they appeal to the masses because, well, the masses tend to be dumb, if shows like Jerry Springer are any indication of that.

Here's a few other games that have millions of views on YT, which look like they could have been made by a 5-year-old or are just otherwise gimmicky pieces of crap:

This has 3 million views, twice as many as IWTBTG's, and I've noticed a pattern on YouTube that a video tends to get a lot (millions) of views if you use extreme hyperbole like, "WORLD'S MOST [ADJECTIVE] [NOUN]!" and throw in a thumbnail of some tits for good measure:





This game is absolute rubbish from an art and design standpoint. Even technically speaking it's a joke. Anyone on this forum could have easily made this game in a day or two. Guaranteed. And the music? Probably added with the video, but it should give you an indication of the type of people who sit around slack-jawed staring into screens watching bullshit like this.

Some of you might have heard me bitch about this game before, and I know that some of you will whole-heartedly disagree with me that the gimmick of this particular game serves it well, but again, I don't think this is a fine example of good design, good art, or good tech; it's just a joke:





But it's a hit. It's a hit not because it boasts the makings of an actual good game; it lacks cohesive control input, a clear UI, the graphics are a garish eye-sore, and technically speaking it's just a manipulateable ragdoll. So how is this worthy of 6+ million views?

Have you ever seen the British comedy show "Extras?" It's a about this film extra (played by Ricky Gervais) that is struggling to be a film star. It's a must-watch for anyone who's in a creative field where what they do is considered "art." Anyways, this is semi-spoilerish but in season 2 his character gets his own show that he wrote and stars in, but it's basically a low-brow comedy with high ratings because it appeals to the lowest common denominator. Gervais' character is devastated by this situation he finds himself in because he's basically having to choose between success with high ratings and his integrity as an artist.

So I guess a sort of Devil's Advocate question for Kayin is, do you think these games are better than yours because they have more views?

[J-Snake]

Here's a few other games that have millions of views on YT, which look like they could have been made by a 5-year-old or are just otherwise gimmicky pieces of crap:

Nope, it couldn't be done by a 5 year old. There is already a level of abstraction and concepts visible. Some of the elements you see here will also be a part of the action-levels in TrapThem. And TrapThem is a game for the smart man.

[Blademasterbobo]

can we make it so that j-snake is temp banned every time he mentions trapthem?

[moi]

QWOP at least is funny for the small time you spend playing it, and it brings a real reflexion about human motion, etc... (it's an "art game")

[J-Snake]

can we make it so that j-snake is temp banned every time he mentions trapthem?

It was a competent answer to the situation.

[Blademasterbobo]

competent like the elements in trapthem. trapthem is a game for the competent man.

[Kayin]

YEEEEESSSSS finally someone brave enough to tell me how they really feel with actual words, sentences and paragraphs!

You're appealing to the lowest common denominator, and by that I mean LPers on YouTube. If they're any indication of quality, then Big Rigs is the best game ever.

Okay this is both silly and potentially elitist snobbery. No one loves Big Rigs unironically (well, someone somewhere probably does). IWBTG gets positive mentions from people and players all the time. The vast majority of my email about IWBTG is fan mail. I get emails saying stuff like "Thank you, I haven't felt this way since I was a kid playing my Nintendo". Like, people legitimately like this game. And other people, fairly, legitimately hate it. Tons of people actually bothered to beat the game -- and unlike Gaiden, it's a LONG game on your first playthrough. So while your right that Prevalence != Quality, the game has a leg to stand on when it comes to people actually liking it.

Now is it appealing to the Lowest Common Denominator? HMMMMM. All I can say is if making a game to make a few hardcore gamers and retro-heads happy is "Appealing to the LCD" I'm okay with that I guess. But lemme inject Phuban's post here since it's relevant.

Okay, Phubans, that is an excellent question! My response is "I don't think I ever used popularity to say I was better than anything". The only games I put IWBTG over were it's fangames (Except maybe Boshy. And Battle Kid, if you count that as a fan game, but it's totally different) and Abobo. I used popularity to say "People like this". And I've tried to not use that alone. Like mentioning my fanmail here and stuff. I've even mentioned when talking to you about youtube views, that IWBTG gets inflated views because it's funny to watch. It's youtube popularity is relevant to the discussion, but none of these numbers are a real metric. So I can't say I'm better than X or Y, nor would I even want to. But I have enough data (that I'm trying to share) to say "Hey, I made something, that a lot of people legitimately like" and then use that as a spring board to talk about what the game does well (or even what it doesn't do well). Again, as for it appealing to the LCD? That seems really strange to me because I never thought the LCD had that much patience.

And I just gotta defend QWOP for a moment because I think you're making the mistake you think I'm making and it might be good for your self esteem if you didn't.

Okay so besides the fact that I really like Bennett Foddy and think he's cool as hell and find his whole Ethics Professor background and how it informs his game design and his obsession with mundane failure and ingloriousness interesting, like... QWOP is a thing that succeeds at what it sets out to do. It IS a joke game (I think Foddy wouldn't mind me saying this. I think the only game of his he considers a 'real game' is GIRP) and it's goofy and frustrating and can get under your skin and makes this mundane thing hilariously difficult. Also what is it? It's a tiny flash game, able to be quickly played. It's also a game that lends it's self well to LPs. It's a tiny little joke that is easy to distribute and is very memorable. How do you compare that to Spelunky? Or Modern Warfare 5454? Or E.T on the Atari?

You don't.

The success QWOP has does not take anything away from many great, wonderfully crafted games people have made. Games with large EXEs that are hard to send to your friend and have long time investments etc etc etc. It's just not worth it to compare your self against that. Not only is it upsetting, it actually doesn't tell you anything of importance or relevance to your work. You can compare QWOP to other dumb little jokes and hilarious troll games and in that context, it's great. That's actually a very difficult space to get noticed in since it's so hugely flooded. It's just such a very different space that you shouldn't worry about how well it does unless you're actively interested in perusing that space your self.

Also this game isn't hard, it's just tedious and annoying. It's not like La-Mulana where I think "OH, so that's what the solution to that puzzle was. Damn!" or the boss fights from the same game where (despite dying a lot) you eventually figure out ways to outsmart them or do more damage to them. I've been playing the boss rush mode in the new game, and I keep figuring out newer and more efficient ways to beat the bosses (and likewise they also keep killing me in different ways too).

This game doesn't have any of that. Instead this game is more like "Oh, right. I was supposed to jump there. Okay, I got it, what now? Next! Well, ugh.." over and over again. It's completely one dimensional, its tricks and traps are easily learned and after their novelty wears off, there's nothing left.

And there are people who complain that La-Mulana traps are often dumb and ridiculous and not fair to the player. What sort of abuse do you like as a player varies a lot. Also I think you're mistaken in thinking the game plays out merely as "Oh okay a trap I get it now". To take famous lines commonly said by Floe: "...I understand!"

And usually he didn't. IWBTG swings from mostly basic, simple traps early on to progressively more complex platforming challenges with sparser trolls. The game sets up paranoia early on and uses it to pray on you even when nothing terribly unfair is going on. If I didn't keep it fresh, no one would complete it, but a surprising amount of people have.

People are still finding new tricks and routes for speed running and the boss fights too.

Now that said, even I'll agree that basic double jump platforming on it's own can be very bland (part of the reason why Gaiden has the bionic arm), but there is enough meat to still catch a lot of players.

The game doesn't even make me mad, it just bores the shit out of me. Once you figure out how to avoid the next cheap death, there is no other thought involved. You could play the whole game based on rote memorization.

It's not going to work with everyone. If you don't get invested, it's going to be boring. That's fine. Though as for rote memorization, well... That applies to a lot of games that are very much well enjoyed and appreciated by people so that alone isn't really criticism.

Back when I used Construct, I saw you on their forums. Weren't you working on some platfrom game that seemed to have an original sprite or two. What happened to that? What made you go back to something as dull and uninspired as this?

: IT WAS NOT BY MY HAND THAT I AM ONCE AGAIN GIVEN FLESH. I WAS CALLED HERE BY HUMANS WHO WISH TO PAY ME TRIBUTE

That's how it is, bro. I didn't do it because I particularly wanted to. I did it because people begged me to. Emails all the time. Tweets all the time. Even then, I didn't consider it. Maybe one day, I thought, but no time soon. Then when the offer was there to have Floe play something at EVO I thought "Maybe, but probably not. I wanna work on my own thing", even though it was really tempting. So then a bunch of things in my head clicked and I buckled down for awhile and made it happen. Now that Gaiden Act 1 is out, people are begging me again for Act 2. That's GOTTA wait until Brave Earth is done.

So you know what the difference between IWBTG and Big Rigs is? No one was begging the creators of Big Rigs for a "dull and uninspired" sequel.

[Superb Joe]

YEEEEESSSSS finally someone brave enough to tell me how they really feel with actual words, sentences and paragraphs!

You're appealing to the lowest common denominator, and by that I mean LPers on YouTube. If they're any indication of quality, then Big Rigs is the best game ever.

Okay this is both silly and potentially elitist snobbery. No one loves Big Rigs unironically (well, someone somewhere probably does). IWBTG gets positive mentions from people and players all the time. The vast majority of my email about IWBTG is fan mail. I get emails saying stuff like "Thank you, I haven't felt this way since I was a kid playing my Nintendo". Like, people legitimately like this game. And other people, fairly, legitimately hate it. Tons of people actually bothered to beat the game -- and unlike Gaiden, it's a LONG game on your first playthrough. So while your right that Prevalence != Quality, the game has a leg to stand on when it comes to people actually liking it.

Now is it appealing to the Lowest Common Denominator? HMMMMM. All I can say is if making a game to make a few hardcore gamers and retro-heads happy is "Appealing to the LCD" I'm okay with that I guess. But lemme inject Phuban's post here since it's relevant.

Okay, Phubans, that is an excellent question! My response is "I don't think I ever used popularity to say I was better than anything". The only games I put IWBTG over were it's fangames (Except maybe Boshy. And Battle Kid, if you count that as a fan game, but it's totally different) and Abobo. I used popularity to say "People like this". And I've tried to not use that alone. Like mentioning my fanmail here and stuff. I've even mentioned when talking to you about youtube views, that IWBTG gets inflated views because it's funny to watch. It's youtube popularity is relevant to the discussion, but none of these numbers are a real metric. So I can't say I'm better than X or Y, nor would I even want to. But I have enough data (that I'm trying to share) to say "Hey, I made something, that a lot of people legitimately like" and then use that as a spring board to talk about what the game does well (or even what it doesn't do well). Again, as for it appealing to the LCD? That seems really strange to me because I never thought the LCD had that much patience.

And I just gotta defend QWOP for a moment because I think you're making the mistake you think I'm making and it might be good for your self esteem if you didn't.

Okay so besides the fact that I really like Bennett Foddy and think he's cool as hell and find his whole Ethics Professor background and how it informs his game design and his obsession with mundane failure and ingloriousness interesting, like... QWOP is a thing that succeeds at what it sets out to do. It IS a joke game (I think Foddy wouldn't mind me saying this. I think the only game of his he considers a 'real game' is GIRP) and it's goofy and frustrating and can get under your skin and makes this mundane thing hilariously difficult. Also what is it? It's a tiny flash game, able to be quickly played. It's also a game that lends it's self well to LPs. It's a tiny little joke that is easy to distribute and is very memorable. How do you compare that to Spelunky? Or Modern Warfare 5454? Or E.T on the Atari?

You don't.

The success QWOP has does not take anything away from many great, wonderfully crafted games people have made. Games with large EXEs that are hard to send to your friend and have long time investments etc etc etc. It's just not worth it to compare your self against that. Not only is it upsetting, it actually doesn't tell you anything of importance or relevance to your work. You can compare QWOP to other dumb little jokes and hilarious troll games and in that context, it's great. That's actually a very difficult space to get noticed in since it's so hugely flooded. It's just such a very different space that you shouldn't worry about how well it does unless you're actively interested in perusing that space your self.

Also this game isn't hard, it's just tedious and annoying. It's not like La-Mulana where I think "OH, so that's what the solution to that puzzle was. Damn!" or the boss fights from the same game where (despite dying a lot) you eventually figure out ways to outsmart them or do more damage to them. I've been playing the boss rush mode in the new game, and I keep figuring out newer and more efficient ways to beat the bosses (and likewise they also keep killing me in different ways too).

This game doesn't have any of that. Instead this game is more like "Oh, right. I was supposed to jump there. Okay, I got it, what now? Next! Well, ugh.." over and over again. It's completely one dimensional, its tricks and traps are easily learned and after their novelty wears off, there's nothing left.

And there are people who complain that La-Mulana traps are often dumb and ridiculous and not fair to the player. What sort of abuse do you like as a player varies a lot. Also I think you're mistaken in thinking the game plays out merely as "Oh okay a trap I get it now". To take famous lines commonly said by Floe: "...I understand!"

And usually he didn't. IWBTG swings from mostly basic, simple traps early on to progressively more complex platforming challenges with sparser trolls. The game sets up paranoia early on and uses it to pray on you even when nothing terribly unfair is going on. If I didn't keep it fresh, no one would complete it, but a surprising amount of people have.

People are still finding new tricks and routes for speed running and the boss fights too.

Now that said, even I'll agree that basic double jump platforming on it's own can be very bland (part of the reason why Gaiden has the bionic arm), but there is enough meat to still catch a lot of players.

The game doesn't even make me mad, it just bores the shit out of me. Once you figure out how to avoid the next cheap death, there is no other thought involved. You could play the whole game based on rote memorization.

It's not going to work with everyone. If you don't get invested, it's going to be boring. That's fine. Though as for rote memorization, well... That applies to a lot of games that are very much well enjoyed and appreciated by people so that alone isn't really criticism.

Back when I used Construct, I saw you on their forums. Weren't you working on some platfrom game that seemed to have an original sprite or two. What happened to that? What made you go back to something as dull and uninspired as this?

: IT WAS NOT BY MY HAND THAT I AM ONCE AGAIN GIVEN FLESH. I WAS CALLED HERE BY HUMANS WHO WISH TO PAY ME TRIBUTE

That's how it is, bro. I didn't do it because I particularly wanted to. I did it because people begged me to. Emails all the time. Tweets all the time. Even then, I didn't consider it. Maybe one day, I thought, but no time soon. Then when the offer was there to have Floe play something at EVO I thought "Maybe, but probably not. I wanna work on my own thing", even though it was really tempting. So then a bunch of things in my head clicked and I buckled down for awhile and made it happen. Now that Gaiden Act 1 is out, people are begging me again for Act 2. That's GOTTA wait until Brave Earth is done.

So you know what the difference between IWBTG and Big Rigs is? No one was begging the creators of Big Rigs for a "dull and uninspired" sequel.

im gay

[J-Snake]

QWOP is a thing that succeeds at what it sets out to do. It IS a joke game (I think Foddy wouldn't mind me saying this.

I don't think it was meant to be a joke-game in first place. He just didn't know how to do better. So it natively turned out that way with humorous benefits.

[Kayin]

me to


Shall we do it?

QWOP is a thing that succeeds at what it sets out to do. It IS a joke game (I think Foddy wouldn't mind me saying this.

I don't think it was meant to be a joke-game in first place. He just didn't know how to do better. So it natively turned out that way with humorous benefits.

There is a point in a lot of games where you often stop making the game you wanted to make and should begin making what the Game it's self wants to be. Foddy's said publicly that he was messing around trying to make something a little less ridiculous, but the ridiculous thing he made was awesome. So he recognized and acted on it, as he should have and went out of his way in the theming and other aspects of the game (The god damned hurdle, or the long jump) to get the most out of it. You can look at like GIRP and Polerider and go "Oh okay he knows how to do things", he's just the type of guy who likes to fool around and try and identify fun or interesting ideas. This limits him in a lot of ways too, but I think he's definitely proven himself to be able to make things of value.

A lot of great design has origins in bugs, glitches and mistakes. A glitch that let you jump while attacking in an Resident Evil engine spawned the whole Devil May Cry series. Combos in fighting game were a legitimized glitch. Horizontal rocket jumping wasn't intended in Doom, but when they found it, they embraced it and made a few secrets that use it.

[falsion]

And there are people who complain that La-Mulana traps are often dumb and ridiculous and not fair to the player. What sort of abuse do you like as a player varies a lot. Also I think you're mistaken in thinking the game plays out merely as "Oh okay a trap I get it now". To take famous lines commonly said by Floe: "...I understand!"

And usually he didn't. IWBTG swings from mostly basic, simple traps early on to progressively more complex platforming challenges with sparser trolls. The game sets up paranoia early on and uses it to pray on you even when nothing terribly unfair is going on. If I didn't keep it fresh, no one would complete it, but a surprising amount of people have.

People are still finding new tricks and routes for speed running and the boss fights too.

Now that said, even I'll agree that basic double jump platforming on it's own can be very bland (part of the reason why Gaiden has the bionic arm), but there is enough meat to still catch a lot of players.

That's the old game. The remake of La-Mulana is polished to perfection and one of my all time favorite games this year. I admittedly wasn't a huge fan of the older one.

And you really gotta learn what this is
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argumentum_ad_populum

Anyway, the people who say this game reminds them of retro platforming are ill-informed. Let me explain why. Instead of La-Mulana, let's use a different example, something from the NES.

How about the classic Castlevania games (as opposed to the "Metroidvanias")? In those games, there are pitfalls and things that instantly kill you but they are consistent. The game doesn't change the rules just for cheap laughs. Eventually you recognize the different types of traps or enemies you encounter and learn how to deal with them. You learn skills to overcome the game.

IWTBTG doesn't do that. It's just "here's this cheap death, good, now learn how to deal with the next one." Your skill is completely irrelevant to the game. It's simply learn what kills you, do thing to stop thing from killing you, rinse and repeat. It doesn't feel like I'm progressing because I have learned the game, it feels like I'm progressing because I learned how to avoid a bunch of scripted deaths (or often even glitch out of them avoiding them from killing me).

It's the same sense of revulsion I get from QTEs (Quick Time Events). In fact, that's the best way I can describe it. Press X to not die. IWTBTG is basically that without the on screen prompts. Comparing this to classic games is an insult, because deaths in those games were much more natural and often a fault of your own, not the game killing you in some predetermined fashion.

Overall, I just think it's poorly designed. It doesn't even feel like I'm playing the game, it just feels like I'm slowly prodding and pushing it along, occasionally telling it what to do to avoid the precanned death events. And that's it. What else can I comment on? The music or sound? Well, no, because those "borrowed" from other games.

[shig]

QWOP is a thing that succeeds at what it sets out to do. It IS a joke game (I think Foddy wouldn't mind me saying this.

I don't think it was meant to be a joke-game in first place. He just didn't know how to do better. So it natively turned out that way with humorous benefits.

Do you, however, know how to do better with your game: Trapthem? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

[Kayin]

That's the old game. The remake of La-Mulana is polished to perfection and one of my all time favorite games this year. I admittedly wasn't a huge fan of the older one.

And you really gotta learn what this is
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argumentum_ad_populum

Anyway, the people who say this game reminds them of retro platforming are ill-informed. Let me explain why. Instead of La-Mulana, let's use a different example, something from the NES.

How about the classic Castlevania games (as opposed to the "Metroidvanias")? In those games, there are pitfalls and things that instantly kill you but they are consistent. The game doesn't change the rules just for cheap laughs. Eventually you recognize the different types of traps or enemies you encounter and learn how to deal with them. You learn skills to overcome the game.

IWTBTG doesn't do that. It's just "here's this cheap death, good, now learn how to deal with the next one." Your skill is completely irrelevant to the game. It's simply learn what kills you, do thing to stop thing from killing you, rinse and repeat. It doesn't feel like I'm progressing because I have learned the game, it feels like I'm progressing because I learned how to avoid a bunch of scripted deaths (or often even glitch out of them avoiding them from killing me).

It's the same sense of revulsion I get from QTEs (Quick Time Events). In fact, that's the best way I can describe it. Press X to not die. IWTBTG is basically that without the on screen prompts. Comparing this to classic games is an insult, because deaths in those games were much more natural and often a fault of your own, not the game killing you in some predetermined fashion.

Can't speak on the new La Mulana then, though that's good to hear.

I find it funny how you throw the Argumentum ad Populum link at me when I spent the biggest chunk of that post explaining how and why popularity isn't a reliable metric.

As for using Castlevania? There are plenty of things that kill you in that game that you have little chance of avoiding the first time through. The second screen of medusa heads on stage 2 murders a lot of people. Once you know where to stand through trial and error, it becomes perfectly manage-able. Same with the underground segment of stage 4, which is even worse since the best methods of clearing it safely are non-obvious The mermen are semi random -- there are things you can do to succeed 100% of the time, but they are, from the players perspective, arbitrary. In practice you're going to die deaths you couldn't help but to avoid in Castlevania over and over again until you learn it. Another example would be the Owls in Castlevania 3. You CAN survive them on your first go, but they're probably going to rip you apart. You don't know how they behave and they are brutal. They both come down to rote memorization, but in comparison to IWBTG, Castlevania keeps up an illusion of fairness. This isn't to say Castlevania doesn't do a huge laundry list of things better than IWBTG, but that's another conversation!

As for the whole QTE event thing... the game is designed around that. The relatively gentle punishment is designed to facilitate that. They can even often be predicted and understanding how a segment totally works is part of the exploratory aspect of the game. Each death counts for every little. The game might humorously rub your nose in it, but death is basically a gameplay mechanic.

Also lastly, IWBTG is not meant to be a "retro" game in the same way a lot of other games are (or even one of my own  projects is). It's not supposed to an authentic NES like experience -- some new game we never got to play. It is invoking the MEMORY of these things. How arbitrary and unfair a lot of these games used to feel to a lot of us. You can't recreate something and present it in a modern context (We're all grownups with a lot more knowledge and experience) and expect to get the same result. You have to skew things the right way to invoke those old memories. For a lot of people it's like turning back the clock. For other people it's torture or it just doesn't work for them and they'd rather not play it and that's perfectly cool too.