[Play now at: NecessaryGames.com/play/ishmael/index.html]

Just announcing a little Twine game that I made for Spring Thing and am now releasing more broadly. It's a short multimedia-enhanced hypertext game about perpetual cycles of displacement and violence, as seen through the lens of a child. Takes about 15 minutes to read/play.

Was recently lucky enough to have the game selected to be showcased at the PixelPop Festival in St. Louis, and nominated for the "Best Social Impact Game" award at Brazil's Independent Games Festival.



Play now at: NecessaryGames.com/play/ishmael/index.html

(Warning: the game will go fullscreen when you begin. Esc to exit)


Am still tweaking the game, so any feedback is welcome. Thanks!

Source code available at https://github.com/JordanMagnuson/Ishmael . Feel free to modify and use!

"Black bullets are red, white ones are blue, I have a space ship and I'm gonna shoot you" - Ikaruga

Love it.

 

[why someone would call a game poetic specifically--as opposed to simply "good" or "artistic" or something else. What makes a game specifically analogous to poetry in someone's mind?]

So I was recently talking with someone who described a computer game they had just played as being "poetic" . This wasn't the first time this has happened: I've run into several instances over the last few years (as others of you probably have) of someone describing a game they've played as "poetic" or having some "very poetic moments."

I know that we're all tired of the "games and art" discussions, but this has got me thinking about why someone would call a game poetic specifically--as opposed to simply "good" or "artistic" or something else. What makes a game specifically analogous to poetry in someone's mind? As far as I can tell, there haven't been too many conversations around this specific topic outside of academia. I've got a few ill-developed theories of my own, but rather than setting the discussion off in a particular direction, I'm interested to know what some of the rest of you think.

I'm curious about:

1. Examples of games you might consider to be poetic (both "obvious" and "non-obvious" examples are fine).

2. (If you have time) Why you would consider the games you've listed to be poetic. (again: as opposed to simply "good" or "artistic" or some other adjective)

If you don't have time to defend your selections, a simple list of games is perfectly fine, as it would be interesting just to see correlations and contrasts between different people's lists.

If you see this topic as too closely related to the "games and art" discussions that we have all already had, my apologies: feel free to skip.

[PS: I realize there's lots of room here for a whole meta-conversation around whether poetry itself is good or bad or stupid, and whether games should ever be compared to other mediums... but for the moment I'd like to set those questions aside.]

[Play now at: NecessaryGames.com/play/ms-lojka]

So I finally got around to tweaking and releasing this little Twine game that I originally made for Spring Thing. Can't say too much about it without spoiling the experience, but it only takes about 15 minutes to play. There are two significantly-divergent endings, but replays are intentionally discouraged.



Play now at: NecessaryGames.com/play/ms-lojka

Just a quick note to say that I've made some modification to the omnibus based on some great feedback. Nothing major:

• Shorter fades in Freedom Bridge and Loneliness.
• Intro screen mentioning sound, and no further nag screens about headphones.
• Reflections moved directly into the omnibus (as well as Status Quo explanation text), and no more web links anywhere (except for a link to Being There).
• Better wording on The Killer version choice screen.

Basically, the package is just a little more self contained now, and a little less annoying

Thanks, allen!

Oops... it seems the download links above may have been broken when I initially posted this. Anyway, just wanted to say that they should now be working

[Today I am releasing the Gametrekking Omnibus, a downloadable collection of all of my Gametrekking creations to date.]

Good evening (or morning if you're in Hawaii) TIGSource!

In 2011 I set off to travel Asia and make small, experimental interactive sketches about the things that impacted me along the way. I've released some of those sketches here, over the months.

Today I am releasing the Gametrekking Omnibus, a downloadable collection of all of my Gametrekking creations to date.

The omnibus includes an interface that lets you browse through all of my creations by country, some built-in slideshows to provide context, links to my written reflections, and new fullscreen versions of all the games and notgames. It will be the final "official" release of the project.

To download the Gametrekking Omnibus For Windows:

• Download and run the native exe installer. Note that you need to be connected to the internet during installation, and it may take a while if you do not already have Adobe Air installed.

To download the Gametrekking Omnibus For Mac os:

• Download and install Adobe Air from http://get.adobe.com/air.
• Download and run the Gametrekking Omnibus air file.

Source code (AS3/FlashPunk): available at github.

You can find my retrospective on the Gametrekking project at Gametrekking.com.

A big thank you to everyone here who helped play and beta test the games in this collection!

My PayPal account has been limited due to my trying to pay for things while traveling... is it possible to just pay for the £10.00 ticket in cash in person?

[You can play The Heart Attack in your browser at:http://www.gametrekking.com/the-games/vietnam/the-heart-attack/play-now]

Another day, a new experimental travel notgame interactive poem thing. This one's from Vietnam. It has something to do with the Vietnam/American War. It should perhaps be noted that I was determined not to make anything about the war, but here you have it...

You can play The Heart Attack in your browser at:
http://www.gametrekking.com/the-games/vietnam/the-heart-attack/play-now

Takes about five minutes to play through, and requires no gaming skills.

Source (AS3/FlashPunk) can be obtained from:
https://github.com/JordanMagnuson/The-Heart-Attack



Announcement detailing a little bit more about the game's origins:
http://www.gametrekking.com/blog/the-heart-attack-a-notgame-from-vietnam

Note: if the thing seems to run particularly slow for you, you can check the FPS here. Should be a consistent 60. If it's lower than that, I would be grateful to know. Thanks!

Thanks for organizing this Draknek! Please put me and my wife down for three nights, Friday 15th - Monday 18th.

Thank you Josiah

Just a quick update to say that I have released a new version of Killer that features a choice between ambient sounds and music, or ambient sounds and silence. This is in response to the fact that some people found the music overbearing, which I can appreciate considering the subject matter. The music does not come in until later in the game now, even in the version which contains it.

Anyway, the new version is at the same place as the old version:

http://www.gametrekking.com/the-games/cambodia/the-killer/play-now

[You can play The Killer in your browser at:]

For those of you who don't know, I've spent the last several months trekking around Taiwan and Southeast Asia, with the goal of making tiny little computer games about my experiences, and the things I learn.

This is just a little announcement to say that I have (finally) finished a new game for the project, inspired by a month spent traveling through and learning about Cambodia. My time in Cambodia was fascinating and intense; the recent history of the place (and how that history continues to affect the country) had a big impact on me, which I wrote about in one of my recent travel logs.

This game, which takes three to four minutes to play through (and no gaming skills), represents my attempt to process what I learned by creating something interactive. Also, it's not technically a game, so please don't be mad .

You can play The Killer in your browser at:
http://www.gametrekking.com/the-games/cambodia/the-killer/play-now

(Sound is important, and headphones are highly recommended)

Source can be obtained from:
https://github.com/JordanMagnuson/The-Killer

screenshot:




As usual, I value any feedback or criticism you may have. Like all of my game trekking creations, The Killer is nothing more than a doodle, a sketch, a little experiment.

Thanks for taking the time, and all the best,

-Jordan


PS: Some of you may have played my "Game by It's Cover" compo entry, Walk or Die, and will notice that I reused a lot of the code and assets... which doesn't bother me, as I'm something of a pragmatist about these things, and the reuse served my purpose in this case.



**SPOILERS**

I don't intend for people to play this game more than once, or to read about it before playing it... but for those who are interested in its inner workings, and how the experience changes from one play to the next, there are three possible endings to the game: one in which the player shoots the victim, one in which they let the victim live, and one in which both the player and victim are blown up by a landmine before they ever reach the killing fields. Regarding the last ending, millions of landmines were laid during the Khmer Rouge era (and after), and Cambodians are still being killed by them today, which is why I felt the need to include them in the game, in a way that is entirely outside of the player's control.

If you want to see what the landmine ending looks like without having to rely on chance, you can press 'F12' when the game starts (after you click past the loading screen)... then walk forward as usual, and at some point along the way you'll step on a mine. (On the flip side, if you want to be sure NOT to be blown up by a mine, press 'F11' after the game has started).

Hey guys, this is Jordan (founder of tigs, necessarygames.com, currently trekking around the world making small games). Just wanted to say that I'm about to head out on a trek down Vietnam (just been in Taiwan, and Hanoi so far), into Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Laos, Burma... and was curious if any of you live in SE Asia? I'm always thrilled to meet indie game developers / players, so if any of you guys live in the region, and I'm passing through, it would be sweet to meet in person .

Let me know!

Just a quick update to say that I removed the "experimental" aspect of The Kindness of Strangers (players meeting unhelpful strangers 1/4 of the time on their first playthrough). Based on feedback, and upon further consideration, I think that different start was a bit too random in nature. People can still play the game in "unhelpful mode" to see the contrast, but only after they've completed it in helpful mode.

Oh, and I forgot to mention in the main post, but the Traditional Chinese translations you see in these games is still in process... if anyone is able to help provide better translations, I will certainly update the games with them. Thanks!

@Christoffer, Falmil: Thanks! Falmil, I wrote a bit (which I hope) explains some of the symbolism in the game: http://www.gametrekking.com/about-taiwan .

Thank you kindly for the suggestions ithamore! Regarding the width of the status quo range, did you try playing the game past 1:50? The range starts changing dynamically at that time. I like the idea of a range that gets broader slowly with time, based on history, but looking into the future I think the main point is that the range could get smaller, or larger, and Taiwan must be able to respond to whatever change occurs; do you agree? I also think the gradual introduction of the changing range makes for more compelling gameplay than a consistent widening would do...

I also like your idea of representing Taiwan in a slightly different way than China... an ellipse may be just the thing...

Thanks ithamore, that would be awesome if you and/or your wife could help with the translations. I did switch everything to traditional Chinese, but only with the help of Google Translate, so the grammar is sure to be far from, um, perfect

This thread used to be dedicated to the Taiwan Status Quo game, but I've recycled it to announce both my Taiwan games. The text that follows is copied mainly from the Game Trekking blog. If you're not interested in the reflection, by all means feel free to skip down to the links that will take you directly to the games!

A little while back I sold almost everything I owned and set out with my wife to do some extended traveling, with the goal of making tiny little games based on the experience of travel, and on the places that I'd visit. After more than a month spent trekking through Taiwan, after 200 miles of walking, 4000 photos, 7 blog posts, many hours at my laptop, and one monkey in my lap... the first games of the Game Trekking project are finished and available to play. I hope they are not the best games I will make for this project, but they are my best attempts so far.

One of my chief reasons for embarking on Game Trekking was the element of challenge; in that regard, the project hasn't disappointed. One of the main challenges has been attempting to sustain and nurture my enthusiasm for extended travel--for facing the unknown day after day, for the perpetual lack of routine, for the permanent homelessness--while also sustaining and nurturing the energy and capacity for creative output. I've been slower in that creative output than I would have liked, and have less to show after more time than would be my preference. But I am learning to balance these dual aspects of my new life, and am optimistic for the future.

Another great challenge has been deciding what to make my games about. While I cannot see everything there is to see of Taiwan, or Vietnam, or any other country, on my travels, it is a hundred times more evident that I cannot make games about everything there is to make games about. I can see a hundred or a thousand things, while I can make games about one thing, or two. Then there is my reading, which provides me with a vital balance to my experience in understanding the places that I visit, and also provides me with a thousand more game ideas. Should I make a game about Taiwanese pirates in the sixteenth century, or about that monkey that jumped in my lap in Kaohsiung? Should I make a game about Taiwan's political struggle with China, or about the many kind people who helped us while trekking?

I can do nothing but latch onto those things that jump out at me specially, those things that press themselves upon me, those things that make me especially happy, or especially sad, those things that seem especially important... or those things that suggest to me an interesting mechanic for play. Predictably then, the games may be more about me than they are about the places that I visit... more about my subjective position in the world, and my response to my own travels than they are about the world as it exists, or travel as an abstract concept. In seeking to make something for others, I can do nothing but make something for myself... and hope that it might be helpful or relevant to some others. But I think this is the same "dilemma" that all travel writers face, and more broadly, all creators.

I have decided not to limit myself to making "purely abstract" games or "purely concrete" games, "purely academic" or "purely experienced-based" games, because the two domains for me are too overlapping: I read because I travel, and I travel to provide context for my reading; political realities may be abstract, but they are also concrete in the lives of the people I talk to; knowledge of a place changes the way one experiences that place, while experiencing a place enriches and changes one's knowledge of it.

So my first game about Taiwan is an abstract game, a political game in circles and squares, about Taiwan's struggle with China. Because that reality was everywhere I went in Taiwan, and has been omnipresent there for fifty years. Because everyone I talked to, and everything I read kept coming back to it. When I searched for one idea to represent the country, that is the idea that came to me. Taiwan's struggle with China may be cliché as a fact about the country, but that does not mean it is an unimportant fact... I've talked to too many people who thought Taiwan was part of China, to let me think that.

Taiwan screenshot:

You can play Taiwan in your web browser at:

http://www.gametrekking.com/the-games/taiwan/taiwan/play-now

(Note that it changes a bit at 1 minute 50, if you can last that long).

Some people will ask if I needed to travel to Taiwan at all to make such an abstract game, and the answer is yes: the game would not exist without the travel that led, even if implicitly, to its creation. But still, I very much wanted to make a game that captured something of the texture of my day-to-day trekking experience while there, and that desire led to the creation of a second game: The Kindness of Strangers.

The Kindness of Strangers screenshot:

You can play The Kindness of Strangers in your web browser at:

http://www.gametrekking.com/the-games/taiwan/the-kindness-of-strangers/play-now

I won't say much more about The Kindness of Strangers, except that there is one highly experimental aspect of the game. The idea behind it is that the value of kindness can only be understood in contrast to an absence of kindness... and so the game can only be fully understood in the context of more than one play-through. Upon playing the game some people will meet with kindness, while others will meet its absence; some people will come away with a warm fuzzy feeling, while others will come away frustrated, and feeling cold. Is it unfair to deal out different experiences to different players? Certainly. But it is also one of the unique possibilities present in the interactive medium. Like I said: an experiment.

While I consider these games essentially finished at this point, I welcome any comments or suggestions, and am open to changes in response to feedback. I would especially appreciate knowing about bugs or problems with the games, so that I can promptly fix them. The source code for both games is freely available at gametrekking.com.

Special thanks to all of my Game Trekking backers who have made these games possible, as well everyone who provided valuable feedback while the games were in development.

More games about more places are on their way!