[internisus]

Everyone here needs to play this. It's short and doesn't even require that HL2 be installed as long as you have something with Source SDK Base 2007. It's the best psychological horror since the original Silent Hill.

The less you know beforehand, the better.

http://www.moddb.com/mods/the-stanley-parable

[L]

------8<------SPOILER LINE ------8<------

It's nice that each ending was designed to be separate and equal, each providing a complete and different take on the central concept.

This was actually written quite carefully. I can see several moments where it could have tipped over into banal silliness.

I wish I could remember what interactive fiction games this reminds me of. I suppose there are some similarities to Violet in terms of unconventional narrators, but I feel as if it's part of some broader, hidden IF tradition that I've forgotten about. In an interview he author had his game described to him as being comparable to "Duck Amok" and "The Monster At The End of This Book", which seems fair, but it doesn't feel quite like new material to the videogame world.

[negativedge]

this thing is even more obtuse than Bioshock

and seriously we don't need anymore indie games that subscribe to the WHOOOOAAAAA DID U KNOW THAT IN TEH VIDEO GAEMS U ARE NOT IN CONTROL BUT THE GAME DESIGNER IS?!@!??!!?!? school of amazing and Totally Relevant and Cutting Edge thought

half life 2 and portal ended the discussion on this topic, and they were smart enough to realize it doesn't really work without a game to back it up

[L]

If you're saying in a roundabout way that this is as forgettable as depict1 and The Manipulator then I must respectfully disagree. For one thing, this is a comedy, and those others take the concept altogether too seriously.

[Toups]

yeah I think this is a lot more interesting than you're giving it credit for, neggy.

though it makes my PC crash so I can't see all the endings ;__;
_________________

[internisus]

[Sniper Honeyviper]

You're the first person I've seen who prefers the original Silent Hill to its sequel, intern. Care to elaborate?

[L]

[L]

The author discusses some of his design intentions in this podcast. Some points from memory: making each ending genuinely unique, rather than the "crashed Epoch vs. not crashed Epoch" endings of various JRPGs, and that none of the endings would be the "canon ending" (insofar as that makes sense for a game with a narrative as thin as this). Also, the act of making a sequel would engender declaring one of the endings "canon", and as such it could only happen in an extremely tongue-in-cheek fashion.

[Hekatoncheir]

i think negativedge is right that it probably needs a game to back it up. your actions in this game consist entirely of running down corridors and hearing directions, which may be meant as a biting criticism, but it doesn't make for a very stimulating experience. internisus says it's making use of being a videogame, but i felt like everything the narrator said was so barely altered to be metaphorical (to the point where he actually calls a room a "part of the map", etc) that you might as well just come right out and talk about videogames, and why bother making it into a game?

when the timer was counting down and the narrator said, "i bet as soon as that timer appeared, you started running around trying to use vents and doors and switches!" i had actually just been standing completely still the whole time. if the entire premise of the game hadn't been so transparent maybe he could have actually caught me, but once i figured it out (after one playthrough) i pretty much played through the rest out of curiosity to see what else the narrator would say about videogames. which is why it being interactive didn't really add anything to it for me.

i'm probably being too hard on it because you called it psychological horror for some reason and i was disappointed that it wasn't :/
_________________

[Toups]

what I enjoy with this game is that the endings are not at all consistent with each other and each suggests something different about the nature of narratively directed, scripted videogames.

I don't think this game has any pretensions of being a "real game" and instead is just a witty exploration of an interesting issue raised by conventions of game design. Until now I haven't seen a game address such things in any direct, meaningful way, though there are plenty of games that playfully poke at the idea. In this case I'm not sure being a "real game" would do it any favors.... at least given the constraints of being a short form indie half life mod, adding any more game design would only bog down its central theme. You certainly could make an actual game that uses a similar framework, but it would a considerable challenge and one I'd be genuinely surprised to see met by a bedroom developer. this isn't meant to be mainstream entertainment... it's a dry commentary on game design and story telling and for being that I admire it a lot.

we're all tired of the whole "lol we manipulated you into jumping through these hoops :twisted:" trick, but what I like about this game is that it uses that concept as a starting point instead of a punchline, and then proceeds to examine it in detail.
_________________

[Tulpa]

The first interactive fiction that came to mind is Aisle, that one turn IF that gives you different, usually incompatible narratives based on your single action.
_________________

[diplo]

[Rud31]

I played this!

About the game: That's it?

About my feelings: That's it!
_________________
My Hawt Blog Vita Games

THERE ARE DEFINITELY WORSE VIDEO GAME PODCASTS

[negativedge]

[Dark Age Iron Savior]

[negativedge]

Silent Hill 1's soundtrack is completely terrifying. that's gotta count for something.

[Hekatoncheir]

I was shocked to learn this game took two years to make, and now he's "definitely" remaking it with "people with an actual game design skillset." How much time can one sink into something like this? More enlightening insight into game design can be found packed into single SB posts that take ten minutes to write. Though I'm guessing making a point is secondary to totally mindfucking you dude after reading comments like this from the creator w/r/t the endings:

[Lymojo]

I liked the cubicle ending, that talked about how every decision we make is made because the machinery of society has convinced us that they are good decisions.
Granted, that's not a new thought or super salient point, but as someone going through the throes of breaking up (maybe?????) with my girlfriend, it resonated with me in a very powerful way.

I also like the discussion it's engendering itt.
_________________

[L]

[L]

Stanley Parable: HD Money Edition

* 100% new content
* Same voice-actor
* "...like Portal if, instead of puzzles, it had a whole team of GLaDOSes arguing over your corpse." - Zaratustra

[remote]

in my second game i (or stanley (or his narrator)) had a dream (?) where i imagined i could levitate (because i must be dreaming — why else is there a voice describing all of these absurd things i'm doing?) and then i did, and it was like dreams i actually have so yeah i am pretty into this thing
_________________

letterboxd | last.fm | steam

[Glam Grimfire]

i feel like this game is marketed specifically towards people who have never had a single thought examining videogames besides review-magazine esque thought before
_________________

##SKELETON PARTY (new article as of 04/26/14)Grim

[evnvnv]

still have never read anything that actually explains what this game is about or what happens in it

but that's actually kind of cool
_________________
The text will not live forever. The cup are small

[Bingle]

I was playing the demo and the narrator told me to put a cup in a bin, so I hurled it elsewhere, but the game didn't respond and I couldn't pick up the cup. I quit.

That was the ending I got.
_________________

[Swarm]

A fun little fairground attraction.

[parker]

You butt heads are always complaining how games don't let you kick down or take into account your kicking down the designer's carefully constructed sand castle that they spent years building just to entertain you and here's a game all about that and you guys just want to shit on it too.

Nedge always complained about how la noire or whatever would be ruined the minute he brought out his gun in public and tried to shoot someone. Well, this is what a game looks like when you have to account for every possible sociopathic player response without breaking the precious dildonarrative dissoance while still letting you do anything at all.
_________________

[bza]

What does the remake do that the mod doesn't?
_________________

[Schwere Viper]

[Sly Buccelli]

[notext]

[DJ]

[Ronnoc]

I picked this up and I like it. My main issue is it's formate triggers my OCD and I've been playing the bugger over and over to find all the ends or whatever.


I like how dreamlike the game's space is. There's a bit that uses impossible space, and it's triggered by the way you're facing so if you walk backwards it uses the wrong space and it's great.

[Gorblax]

I loved how the Confusion Ending makes the player and the narrator comrades-in-arms, just trying to make their way through this together. Other endings have each of you in the role of the other's tormentor (or condescending steward), all Tom and Jerry-style, but this is the one where you both kind of set aside your differences, and the game punishes you anyway.
_________________

[miaou]

GIA - The Stanley Parable: Design is the Law

[misadventurous]

[remote]

[Broco]

[remote]

[Gorblax]

[Rokkan]

I watched the demo for like 5 minutes until the game made a sexual abuse joke.


so uh. not playing this, oops! sorry! especially if this game is mostly funny narrator dialogue: the game (but without the puzzles), not gonna do this!