tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post163825963415109628..comments2023-05-20T12:08:52.031+02:00Comments on In The Games Of Madness: Thoughts on Until Dawn and Interactive MoviesFrictional Gameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00278352641328669040noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-61301592004103306352016-02-18T09:14:58.390+01:002016-02-18T09:14:58.390+01:00SOMA was great, but you should have used live acti...SOMA was great, but you should have used live action stills when it came to people's photos, if not green screen acting for the action in the game. I only say that because you had it in the movie, yet the game had drawings...The likes of which you wouldn't see on a research center office monitor. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-75107026374723540122016-02-17T16:21:15.632+01:002016-02-17T16:21:15.632+01:00Love the surreal elements to your games. I haven&#...Love the surreal elements to your games. I haven't seen such nuanced worlds since the Myst Series. You might want to check out Myst IV's world called Spire. It's like a low orbit Dark Descent. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-32464468563325641312016-02-06T09:56:11.212+01:002016-02-06T09:56:11.212+01:00Because you are playing a video game, you're g...Because you are playing a video game, you're goal oriented, so existentialism is preempted by the motivation to "succeed" as it were. Going with the alienation theme that you have with Lovecraft's revelations and Dick's schizophrenia, you could have a game where community is needed to succeed and your struggles exasperate the degree of alienation. So, as you become weaker you alienate and that makes you weaker still. That seems like the most fruitful path to an existential game, because as great as SOMA was, there were no consequences for an optimal or suboptimal interpretation/decision.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-29349816428044470012016-02-05T20:39:35.332+01:002016-02-05T20:39:35.332+01:00I had been hoping for the Lovecraftian elements we...I had been hoping for the Lovecraftian elements we saw in the cut material and which have been a staple in your games. The crawling chaos of the mind coral, brains in jars, the ancient, horrifying, sunken cities, etc. That weird fiction survival horror of Lovecraft mixed with the themes of Phillip K. Dick would have been interesting. Though, putting Lovecraft's "fish out of water" protagonists in a Phillip K. Dick environment and aiming for existential is tough as I felt Lovecraft was aimed at the indifference of the powerful non-humans out there, and Phillip K. Dick was showing the frailty of human identity through its relation to its body and environment. So many unknowns would have been brought up, but the theme of Cosmicism could have drawn them together. Its just in aiming for existentialism, you posit a communal normativity and morality that doesn't exist here and which hinges on an ability to identify with people and experiences we haven't met or experienced before. It may have worked had you been in the shoes of someone else's seemingly random decision to let you live or die, then had your chance to make the decision yourself, I don't know. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-21667071601039925612016-02-05T11:34:16.361+01:002016-02-05T11:34:16.361+01:00SOMA är det bästa spelet jag någonsin spelat! SOMA är det bästa spelet jag någonsin spelat! Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-74240540340565385632015-12-06T16:09:30.655+01:002015-12-06T16:09:30.655+01:00It couldn't be too often and not too contrived...It couldn't be too often and not too contrived, but the ability to lay traps for enemies has some merit. Just as it's required to kill the giant earthworm in Penumbra Black Plague, perhaps another refreshing dimension to your games could be the thinking man's way of dealing with monsters.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-53487734003721717932015-12-05T09:08:58.051+01:002015-12-05T09:08:58.051+01:00The Fallout series does a good job of that, I thin...The Fallout series does a good job of that, I think. Though, future games would have to be Cyber-punk to make it work. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-45093579534148984342015-12-04T08:17:15.734+01:002015-12-04T08:17:15.734+01:00Item management makes one think strategically and ...Item management makes one think strategically and is also good for a sense of connection with the game. It produces an anxiety and self-consciousness in the game, akin to managing money in real life. Why leave that out? Perhaps instead of having a separate screen with your items, you could have a satchel that you look in and move around to find what health / inventory items you've so far collected. That would be the best of both worlds.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-81913679528644884482015-12-02T08:53:28.398+01:002015-12-02T08:53:28.398+01:00The villains in SOMA like the WAU, Carthage Indust...The villains in SOMA like the WAU, Carthage Industries, and Akers seem rather environmental in nature and vague in aim. I was hoping the villains would comprise the A-plot, not the B-plot to an existential question, mediated by people we don't know and didn't have the chance to care for. That's what typically makes the villain so good, as we progress through the game, we also progress through their psyche. The Giger elements from the early work were amazing not only on the visual level, creating nuanced exploration opportunity, but they pointed to a mind to understand. Great for immersion. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-41665636187505736952015-11-28T11:04:14.409+01:002015-11-28T11:04:14.409+01:00Not sure if SOMA has issues with narrative plannin...Not sure if SOMA has issues with narrative planning, but I think it does have planning issues gameplay wise. Don't want to go into details, but SOMA's monster encounters feel really weird. The game uses different kinds of bipedal monsters but doesn't allow you to look at them, therefore, study them and learn their behaviours. The game feels 'immersive' and 'stealthy', but sometimes enemies detect you or attack you by script, because it's a story driven horror/thriller game and you need a scary moment right here. And it makes monster behaviours more confusing. You don't understand did you do something wrong or did you don't get this particular monster/behaviour? Was it a scripted event or a mistake? IMO exactly these factors don't allow the player to feel he's being able to meaningfully plan ahead and avoid monsters' detections entirely. Monsters feel infuriating because of this and the game feels lacking in the gameplay department. And I don't know how to fix this easily. It's probably a very complex issue which will need tweaks and improvements in AI and level design. More over, if you fix that, if you make their behaviours more clear, monsters will stop being mysterious too, so you could throw the baby out with the bathwater.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-29328158973962069442015-11-21T15:29:46.839+01:002015-11-21T15:29:46.839+01:00What do you think about game called White Night?it...What do you think about game called White Night?its interesting horror game.<br />I recommend it to you if havent played it :))husnijahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12433652199525677729noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-48448035895633034322015-11-19T20:14:54.314+01:002015-11-19T20:14:54.314+01:00Really nice Essay about interactive gaming. Guess...Really nice Essay about interactive gaming. Guess now we know your favorite game of all time is Super Mario :) Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07618744261866494702noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-10277193872606638002015-11-17T12:42:03.116+01:002015-11-17T12:42:03.116+01:00Hey Thomas,have you played Scracthes?Its an great ...Hey Thomas,have you played Scracthes?Its an great click-point horror game with great storytelling and narration.I think that game was released back in 2006/7.<br />What are your thoughts on third-person view of horror games.Is third person view of player good for horror genre? Is it immersing for the players?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01844418166195518083noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-89327648826960229372015-11-16T00:01:55.452+01:002015-11-16T00:01:55.452+01:00Yeah, played it. Lots of good stuff. And surprisin...Yeah, played it. Lots of good stuff. And surprisingly creepy at times.Thomashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02945983378935089787noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-80197525842053125402015-11-14T22:57:16.341+01:002015-11-14T22:57:16.341+01:00Have you checked Undertale? I highly recommend it....Have you checked Undertale? I highly recommend it. It may looks like a silly indie RPG game, but it's not. Its probably the only game I know that does storytelling through gameplay (yes I am not kidding, it's that good).<br /><br />Also I recommend you to play it without seeing any Lets Plays before. <br /> Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-28312400910040654972015-11-14T14:17:47.773+01:002015-11-14T14:17:47.773+01:00I think SOMA qualifies (for the most part) as a wa...I think SOMA qualifies (for the most part) as a walking simulator. It focuses primarily on mood, and its gameplay is akin to the smoking of a cigarette in movie dialogue. I.e., it's something to make you (the character) preoccupied while taking in the message. The stealth-and-run segments felt mostly forced, to me, and didn't really make sense to my personal perception of the WAU. Frankly, I was mostly annoyed by them, because they took me away from the wonderfully atmospheric exploration.<br /><br />That said, SOMA and Until Dawn have been the best experiences I've had playing games in 2015, and for many different reasons. And I think one thing that unfortunately needs attention in Until Dawn's case is simply that the writing is a lot better than in most games. The story is better thought out, and this is empowered even further by the finality of some of your decisions (the multiple deaths mechanic).<br /><br />Most of all, however, Until Dawn isn't busy telling its story. It doesn't have one specific message to deliver, like Telltale or Quantic Dream games tend to. It actually lets you take part.Martin Annanderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07341962515776266639noreply@blogger.com