next »

[birdcloud]

hey! i like this game!

had to build from source for my PPC mac, would you guys want the universal binary?

[HarrisonJK]

I like this game because it doesn't use violence as a crutch and instead gives interesting gameplay that leads to thought and an irrational amount of fear. Love it.

[Halcyon]

Great work, you accomplished such a spooky atmosphere with the excellent use of music and low res visuals. The only criticism I have of it is that the plot did indeed also have me quite confuzzled, and the controls were abit weird. But it was an enjoyable experience, well done. 

[FahrenheitBaguette]

Wow.  Just played through it.  Very chilling (especially late at night with the lights down).  It's a really cool take on interactive fiction, where even though it's completely linear, the interactivity heightens the experience.  The fact that you have to will yourself to keep exploring scary and uncomfortable areas does so much more to establish a certain emotion than even pages and pages of prose.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

I like this game because it doesn't use violence as a crutch and instead gives interesting gameplay that leads to thought and an irrational amount of fear. Love it.

What, there's a ton of violence in the game -- there's the torture of a prisoner, then you kill the prisoner and bury it, then the husband traps the wife in the room with all his other dead wives and probably kills her. It's just violence as part of the story rather than as part of the gameplay. Not that I'm saying its violence is a bad thing, I think it's appropriate and fits the game well, I just mean that it's hardly a nonviolent game. It's probably the most violent of any game made by increpare or terry (that I've played).

Anyway, an interesting thing about this game is how some people seem to be able to get through the game and still not like it (mainly some comments on the front page and on timw's blog) -- I can't imagine anyone getting to the end and not enjoying the experience, but it seems like some sort of "games must be interactive!" zealotry is preventing their enjoyment, which I think is the biggest argument against that idea. If an idea prevents you from enjoying something that you'd otherwise enjoy, it's probably a bad idea.

[JoeHonkie]

Anyway, an interesting thing about this game is how some people seem to be able to get through the game and still not like it (mainly some comments on the front page and on timw's blog) -- I can't imagine anyone getting to the end and not enjoying the experience, but it seems like some sort of "games must be interactive!" zealotry is preventing their enjoyment, which I think is the biggest argument against that idea. If an idea prevents you from enjoying something that you'd otherwise enjoy, it's probably a bad idea.

It got through it because it was short.  Games SHOULD be interactive.  It's kind of what makes them games.  Not that I'd say this is more than an opinion thing, you certainly do interact with the game, it's just very linear.  But in the end all it does is tell a story, and if you aren't crazy about the story, you won't enjoy the experience.

To be fair I felt the same way about The Graveyard.  I'm just not the target audience for this stuff.  I'm used to jumping over barrels and building experience points regardless of story.

[Hempuli‽]

It got through it because it was short.  Games SHOULD be interactive.  It's kind of what makes them games.  Not that I'd say this is more than an opinion thing, you certainly do interact with the game, it's just very linear.  But in the end all it does is tell a story, and if you aren't crazy about the story, you won't enjoy the experience.

The exact reason I didn't enjoy this very much. The word 'story' could be changed to 'atmosphere' in the last sentence, too.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

But that was kind of my point: if a mere idea about what games "should" be like prevents you from enjoying the game, and if you would have enjoyed the game absent that idea, is that idea really very valuable?

[JoeHonkie]

But that was kind of my point: if a mere idea about what games "should" be like prevents you from enjoying the game, and if you would have enjoyed the game absent that idea, is that idea really very valuable?

Find the part where I said I would have enjoyed the game otherwise?

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

I was referring to Hempuli there -- he said that the idea you stated was the exact reason he didn't enjoy the game very much.

[JoeHonkie]

I was referring to Hempuli there -- he said that the idea you stated was the exact reason he didn't enjoy the game very much.

Oh, ok.  My bad.

My point is that we put up with a lot of mediocre storytelling in games because there's other stuff there: we have some influence over the story, or the non-story parts test our skill, etc.  While I laud the experiment here, I think that lack of interactivity IS a problem, not because I feel it should be, but because it actually is a problem to me.  The "game" itself didn't have a lot to offer me except for a specific story and a way of telling it (I had no control over the story, and there was no test of my abilities beyond clicking all the doors and such).  I wasn't particularly drawn to the story, and the method was interesting but too slow and cumbersome for me.

But plenty of people seem to be drawn to the story and method, so I guess in the end the experiment is mostly successful.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

Well, to make your criticism more constructive, what type of interaction would you have added to the game if you were making it?

[JoeHonkie]

Well, to make your criticism more constructive, what type of interaction would you have added to the game if you were making it?

Branching storyline, at least, although I don't see how to do it with the storyline they have there.  You could also have more or less storyline based on your actions.  I doubt this would really pull me in, but I know some people are serious packrats and have to find everything that's available in in game.

Also: Mecha Hitler.

[Xion]

Don't see the problem with using games as a storytelling medium and not a test of wit or reflexes.

That said,

I didn't get it.

End seemed, as has been said, abrupt. I was kind of hoping for something depressing or something. Maybe it was? All the interpretations thrown around so far seem really like people are trying too hard to pry some meaning from it and overlooking...stuff...or something. But like I said, I didn't get it.

_{(and I still don't get the [WASD] hate)}

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

Me too, I think story-games are great for people to enjoy them. Most of my favorite games are my favorites because of their stories.

I don't think a branching storyline helps every story -- some stories are best when linear. The moment you start to branch a story, you're saying "this isn't how the story has to go, it could have also gone like this" -- which can weaken many stories, especially the ending, since the ending won't feel as inevitable. There's a reason why most novels are not choose your own adventure books. Choose your own adventure books can be fun to read, but they're much harder to write and have other difficulties.

Although my current game does have multiple endings, so I do think it can work. I think branching stories work best when most of the story is linear but the ending can vary. Like in Chrono Trigger, or Suikoden 2, or Iji, or many other games that had alternate endings.

As for the end, let me tell you my thoughts:

I felt that the end was an interesting contrast: you expected some horrible end for them both or at least one of them, but instead nothing happened and they were fine. That was an interesting twist, since it wasn't what you expected to happen given the flashbacks. So the idea for me was that a horrible past in a certain place doesn't necessarily mean a horrible present in that place, and that similar circumstances can lead to wildly varying results. Of course, I could be wrong because it doesn't say for certain that those two made it out safely, but I think it implies that they did.

[threesided]

I gotta go with xion here, there was a lot of build up to a rather unfulfilling end. It didn't satisfy anything in the end, and it didn't really leave me wanting to guess. It's cool to have a sort of ambiguous nature to it, but I felt like it could be reworked. Perhaps have a stronger theory behind it yourselves, even if you want to leave it up to the player to interpret how they wish. I think at this point, the poignant end is missing.

I definitely liked everything else though, perfect mood, the sound accents were perfect. I've never been so creeped out by such retro graphics, haha.

[Vitamin Powered]

Well done guys, I really enjoyed it.

When I got into the being the second character I was often checking over each room just in case the husband was about to follow me in; the build up was really that well done.

[Inanimate]

I loved the game, even though I am an action guy usually. It would be a perfect short story, too.

I think it could have even ended with Judith being locked away, and leaving it to the player to determine if Emily shared her fate.

[Zaknafein]

I loved it, and it reminded me of both some of Terry's and Increpare's games.
I want to see more games like that, visually and narratively (if that's a word).

[György Straub]

This is a really original take on The Castle Of The Blue-Bearded Prince, but the flashbacks got a bit chaotic for me towards the end and I can't say I get it. I love the idea of looking at the game as delivering an atmosphere but I'm sure there's more to it.

I'm tempted to share my interpretation but I guess I could play the game for a second time before I do so.