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Topics - StephenM3

#1
Other Games / Radio Silence
April 26, 2010, 01:14:32 AM
Wow, that was great.  For some reason it reminded me of Myst, a game with absolutely no similar gameplay elements (except for the sound of waves).  It was the disorienting sensation of exploring a world that is weirdly immersive despite it's complete lack of realism.

Spoilers below, so play it here if you haven't yet, it's not long!

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Finding the radios was an interesting experience.  It was cool how I missed some of the quieter radios on my first loop around, but with less distracting noise I could pick them out. Eventually the noise of the waves became more obvious and apparent, especially contrasted by the silence of being underwater.  I started thinking the only way this could end was with complete silence.   When I found my very last radio, on that remote smaller rock, all I could hear by then was the sound of waves, so I thought it must be actually producing the sound of waves.  I was actually kind of disappointed on a second playthrough, when I grabbed that radio first to no noticeable effect.  It doesn't seem to make any sound at all?

The process of finding overlooked radios on islands I'd been to before made me think this would be an interesting concept for two players.  In a slightly larger world similar to this one, one person runs around hiding the radios while the other player tries to find them.  If the hiding player was visible to the seeker, it would add an extra element of trying to be sneaky about where you're going to hide things.  I'm not sure what the end goal would be for either player, or balance issues, but it's a concept that intrigues me.

This also makes me want to try out Unity.  If this sort of thing can be created in little over a day, it must be a pretty cool program.
#2
Other Games / GDC 2010: The Game
March 15, 2010, 03:47:44 AM
Well, this is certainly one of the more confusing things to come out of the convention.  Here I am, not at the convention, trying to piece together an idea of the thing from all these little snippets and reports on twitter, various blogs, etc.  And now, this.

What sorts of things are you guys doing down there?

In all seriousness, however... the whole "absurd, confusing game, that isn't pointless, but you just don't understand the point because you're supposed to figure out the point" phenomenon is one aspect of the indie games movement that I have trouble getting behind.  Probably because I, as an onlooker of indie games rather than an active participant (yet.  I'm working on this) am rarely if ever "in the loop," but I just feel frustrated and made fun of when I encounter something like this.  I even convinced a few people to come over and try this thing out with me, but they predictably left after a few button-mashing sessions that ended with a seemingly random result.

That said, the visual effects are really cool, and when I randomly press buttons to see what sorts of patterns emerge, it's rather interesting.  But that purpose would be best served by a well-labeled set of sliders, and that's obviously not what's going on here.  The competitive framework intrigues me, but I'm not someone who is satisfied being curious with no eventual payoff.

If it's some sort of metaphor, then it's over my head, probably because I'm not at GDC.  If it's supposed to look like a metaphor but isn't, then I guess I'm back to my feeling of being made fun of.  I... I really don't know. 
#3
(Just a warning; if you post in them, that can attract more attention from future bots.)  Feel free to delete this thread with the other one; I just couldn't think of a better way to say this.  ;)