http://twitter.com/zanderduyoyo

Here's Yoyogame's Sandy Duncan's twitter account. He's really declaring war on the internets...oh, he should look up the sad story of Tim Langdell before he starts deriding the noisy minority 

CASinclair-

how about you make the game's events proceed to a certain extent after the player dies?

It's an awesome idea, and one that is quite easy to implement: by default, the game continues even if the player dies(it was possible for hypothermia killed characters to be 'reanimated' at some point). I put a deathclock to accelerate the gameplay, but I think it would be an interesting twist if the characters actually reacted to your death. I'll add it in the next version.

This is not an art game. I made the original design as a critic of art games, but I made Life to fulfill that role. This one has been introduced as a lark, but is in fact a part of real research I'm doing for a future game. I don't dismiss every game experiment/art game as useless, I just don't think they are necessarily 'progress'.

This game is my own experiment into trying to progress beyond the scoring/dying/extra life paradigm. For example, there is no lifebar, but you can still understand your character limits after a few tries. I want the player to be able to have a real impact on what's happening - how the story ends is entirely up to you. Right now, there are only a few factors determining your experience- but imagine if it is duplicated- let's say there's a neighbor's house, a car, a dog and a doghouse. Let's say these elements also have their own agenda; you might run to the car and cry, and someone gets out, the abusive father hot on your trail. They start to argue and fight on the side of the road, while you cry. Then a van runs you over. It's still very abstract, but it's something I want to explore, micro-situations that can be expanded into a lot of experiences.

Only a fool would stick to a polarized opinion without at least checking the other side out.
 
I'll update it with a few more 'toys' soon.

I'm beginning to think it was all a fiendish plot to force people to buy the pro version- they chose the worst possible logo, the one that basically said 'not professional', so people using the lite version will have to show it before their game starts. Can you imagine how damaging showing something like that before your game could be?
I looked at it again as something reduced on another site. It's not that bad, once you properly resize it(yoyogame glog has the huge version, so when your browser reduces it it adds some nasty jagged edges). It's just a bit embarrassing. Also, the interview the winner gave was really strange. I almost felt it was kind of a joke, when he claims that when he saw the others designs, he understood why they weren't chosen, or how he only put it up after watching 2 hours worth of tutorials. Maybe Yoyogames is pulling a MetalGearSolid 2 moment here...

I think Cactus presentation on rapid game development is a bit closer to what I would define as experimental games. Many of his games try gameplays that are not what you would expect. There is a part where he shows a short game where you shoot stuff, and freeze the explosions to use them as platforms. I thought it was pretty interesting and offered a lot to think about when designing your game.

[VERSION 1.6]

When indulging in my first foray into the truly artistic game world- by working on Life,a game by Lurk- I had started 3 different sketch projects as a first draft. I managed to tie some loose ends on my second one, which I am proud to unleash onto an unsuspecting world. This one is heavily inspired by the always popular 'the Graveyard' it's shaggy doppleganger, 'the Gutter'. So sit down, grab a box of tissues and let yourself be consumed by the endless gameplay possibilities of 'A Sad Tale'.



VERSION 1.6
Fullscreen version
http://www.box.net/shared/dixfqug2p8
Windowed version
http://www.box.net/shared/ej46mhrk3o

Controls:
Arrows to move around
Z- to cry
X- to pick up objects, release to throw
C- to use objects

Reading the winner's interview and yoyogames glog, I'm kind of amazed at the way they take shots at complainers- users of their product mind you. I really think they should reconsider this, maybe make a gm skin feature(like winamp). I also love when people post condescending replies -'grow up'- it reminds me of the IGDA/Langdell/DinoDini debacle.
 

The smiley face made me think of this 'thing'...

CASinclair- Yes, I also think they should keep the red color, but the other logo posted had a choice of color schemes, which I found to be an interesting feature. I think as long as you have the hammer in a ball, it'll be Game maker.

I made one, by combining the gears and the other one I linked to earlier. I couldn't find a good looking font though(I had to reinstall windows recently, lost all my fonts ) but Impact is easy to pixelate when making an icon, so I used it. I think it could be impoved on, by making the cog dents (?) as separate pieces above the rim, but I don't have a lot of time to play around with it.

Ak- Yeah, the small pixels are also the only thing that I would change; they don't translate too well as a smaller icon.

this might explain a lot about the judging process.

#  sandy Says:
November 27th, 2009 at 9:22 pm

OMG I think I will go to bed (soon) having nightmares of a logo with a hammer in it !! Em last time I saw a logo with a hammer it was the Soviet Union or…was it Game Maker… ?? Maybe I’m not up to date with the 1960’s ??

This also might be why a very ugly/clunky design won against something cleaner and simpler like this http://indy.idhost.kz/logo/2.jpg.
 

It's pretty bad. The fonts are not very professional looking. Seriously, what was wrong with the old logo? I love the red ball and hammer. This is strange, it reminds me of the new edgy bugs bunny for some reason. I just had another look at the old logo. It's light-years better than that one, concept-wise.
Oh well, I guess you can always edit it out.

The only other one that would fit your description would be this one
http://www.lemonamiga.com/games/popup_screen_index.php?id=2663&screenname=sword_of_honour_05.png&kuk=05
Sword of Honour on amiga.

http://www.mobygames.com/game/c64/ninja_/screenshots/gameShotId,197287/

There's Ninja, which was on c64 and amiga.

http://www.lemon64.com/games/screenshots/full/f/fist_2_-_the_legend_continues_02.gif

Fist II also had that kind of gameplay.

By the way, if you're into those type games, and having a retro fit, try the Last Ninja serie. Awesome music.

ak: I'm starting with 1 death anim per character/encounter, using a similar cycle(1 reddish keyframe fading out with a bit of scaling). Since it needs to be very quick to keep the pce of the game fast(4-5 frames at 30 fps). I'm planning on making multiple variants on characters though. For example, I already started sketching a geisha carrying a bento(tempura shrimps everywhere!) and a geisha seemingly running away from the lecherous advances of another character, bumping into you.

I updated the .swf after implementing the titlescreen. It taught me how to keep everything in a single scene using the gotoAndStop() function. I'm still looking into bitmap fonts, but next update will be cutscene and gameover(so I'll activate the lives object).
You can find the latest version here
http://lurksoft.110mb.com/index.php?p=1_2_Games

Try this one, I added another ingredient. I'm wondering if I should start putting an epileptic seizure alert disclaimer at the start.
http://www.box.net/shared/x766kbh004

Chrk- True, I still don't see the point, not in Passage existing, but into claiming it is a groundbreaking experience that will help further the idea of video games as a respected artistic medium. It's really not because of the graphics or sounds, I just found it boring and uninvolving.

Speaking of which, Eric made me realize that "Life, a game by Lurk" was merely scratching it's full potential as an art game. So here for your playing pleasure is the updated version, with 200% more intent.
http://www.box.net/shared/ff139fj76i

Let me know if you have problems with the link.

Eric- The irritating looping music was there to symbolize the cyclic patterns we tend to adhere to in life(get up/wash/go to work/eat/sleep) etc. I used Easy Music Composer to randomly make it to illustrate how it often seems out of our control. 

CAsinclair- Sorry my english's so bad today. I mean, if the game was made to convey this particular message (life, death, regret), wouldn't we all get to the same conclusion? For example, I'm pretty sure we all experienced similar emotions in ff6 when Celes sings , when the airship takes flight to find the group in the destroyed world, when Shadow commits suicide at the end if you did not get the dream.

Chrk- I get mood in games, I'm a huge fan of the knytt serie for that reason. Just scuttling around those underground caverns always get to me. What I don't get is when you take the gameplay element as a whole, and we come to these two very different conclusions: some say it made them cry and think about their lives- some thought it was boring and pretentious/'didn't get it. If the game was designed clearly to convey the message of its premise, wouldn't we all get the same conclusion? If we have different opinions of it, doesn't it mean it says a lot more about ourselves, about how we approach things in general than about the game, which is pretty irrelevant in that matter? You could change the whole game/graphics/controls, offer it under a similar premise and still get people to the same conclusions...at least I think you would.

Derek: We're almost in 'Otherland' territory with the current MMO's, it's kind of scary.

CAsinclair-

What I'm trying to say is, games like Passage probably won't change gaming overnight, but hopefully the mainstream will find a way to adopt some of its ideas in the future.

That's what I really don't get. What idea exactly can you define that is unique or special to a game like Passage? Saying 'its ability to make the player reflect upon etc' is not helping me a lot, because it really did not have that effect on me, and I played it before it became a media darling, so I had no positive/negative pre-conception.