- I don't like how HWC turned out at all. At its core, the gameplay consists of crawling around and moving crates. It's really quite awful... but at this point, I've worked too long on it to simply let it drift away, so I decided to polish this turd until it's pretty shiny and set it off into the wild. The scope of HWC definitely exploded out of control, and in its current state it's an absolute mess. I never want to open the map up in the editor again. Mein gott.
- People complained how Polaris needed voice acting. Well, be careful what you wish for... I really wish I had time (and the motivation) to re-write the script and do another recording session, but the whole process of recording / cleaning up / lip-syncing just takes way too much time. I don't think I'm going to do voice acting of this scope (~50 lines of dialog I think?) ever again.
- If Polaris was about the short story, then HWC is about theater, "the short play." As level designers we constantly rely on artifice to keep the player "immersed" (I hate that word, by the way) - some things work worse than others (e.g. perpetually locked doors) but I think a lot of level designers need to realize that REALISM IS NOT DESIRABLE. Realism is a means, not a goal; and the key to good level design is to incorporate just enough realism that the player won't really question it - in other words, we build sets and populate them with actors and props. Complete and robust simulations of entire worlds, or at least things that claim to be (*cough* Oblivion) always fall short of their lofty ambitions, so the solution is to not even try. Or to try and fail repeatedly. But modern theater doesn't even try to be "realistic" in this traditional sense, so why not embrace the artificiality of a set? This is mostly a problem in FPS's, which are fixated on visual fidelity and blah blah blah I don't care.
- Half-Life 2 was the launching point for the concept of HWC; throughout the game you find these small hidden caches of supply crates in hard-to-reach areas. From a narrative perspective, it makes you wonder, who bothered to climb all the way up there and stash the crate there? I planned a level called "Caching" which revolved around going around City 17, with the goal to stash crates in random places without breaking them. However, I ran smack dab into one of my own rules ("Don't use City 17") and the setting didn't seem very interesting anyway, so I moved it to a Psychonauts-style abstraction of some guy's brain.
- The other major influence for HWC is Flashbang Studios' excellent Minotaur China Shop. I liked the idea of channeling "failure" into an alternate objective - that way everyone wins!... Kind of. But then I ran into a problem of mixed feedback. From a narrative perspective, the therapist would want you to break all those crates and "release" all your pent-up emotions... but then I attached lots of negative buzzes and sounds to mark it as undesirable... Of course, one Mr. Maidlaw interpreted the progressive destruction as a "reward" - and maybe it is? I don't even know anymore. All I know is that it's problematic and that's what's kind of interesting about it.
- There are three endings, as in Polaris - (1) leave early, (2) get divorced, (3) stay together. They're all kind of the same (with a different ending monologue from Dylan) because I figure most players won't play through HWC more than once, so why should I waste my time crafting a special ending that no one will see or even distinguish? Also, I don't think "divorce" is really so bad - what if it's the right thing to do? If you read the signs in Central Repression, you see that James kind of has some issues... and James isn't really a sympathetic character at all. (Then again neither is Dylan. And everyone hates the therapist) - so instead of seeing it as a trite binary of "good ending = married" and "bad ending = divorced" why not wonder if divorce is really the better option for both of them? I wish I had more time to record more dialogue for Dylan to flesh out the backstory for the couple, but alas, I'm too fucking tired of this particular project.
- I also tried to be funny in this one, with the crazy amount of signs and the magazines and all the hopefully smart funny writing and all that. Video game levels in industrial / sci-fi settings are OBSESSED with caution stripes. They're everywhere. It's almost worse than the perpetually locked door. I wanted to point out how ridiculous this was, but also communicate how fragile the crates are, all while addressing any localization issues by including all these languages.
- A joke the European players might not understand - the "Internal Repression Service" is like the American government's tax collection agency, the "Internal Revenue Service." It is both the most efficient government agency and also the most reviled. I based my own seal off of the real IRS seal - plus their ACTUAL motto is so breathtakingly evil: "Service plus enforcement equals compliance." Devoid of emotion, devoid of sympathy... ladies and gentleman, the tax collector.
- Gay marriage, a hot topic. I didn't really set out to make something political, and I don't think HWC is... but given the revelation (for some) that Dylan likes men, it makes you wonder what's going on in Polaris...
Liner Notes: Handle With Care
73 posts • Page 1 of 4 • 1, 2, 3, 4
- sooooo
Re: Liner Notes: Handle With Care
by Misguided » Jul 14 2009
MILD SPOILERS
if you haven't played yet, don't read.
honest.
(Oh wait... there is a spoiler warning before this section of the website... oh well.)
In the X9 scene, did you place the generators purposefully to ensure that the player could oversee the whole "set" from the tops of the walls? If so, that was a stroke of genius. If not, then it was unconscious genius, as it really hammers the point home.
I enjoyed the work, however I pretty much turned off the sound. I got the point, that the therapist was not facilitating anything other than an endless loop. (Because, in my opinion, she gets paid more that way. The ending bit seems to point to money as her primary goal as well.)
But the endless loop was massively irritating after the.. oh... 400th time around. :)
While you say you did not set out to create a political piece, the revelation that both people in the relationship were male was definitely set up for shock value. While I appreciate the artistry of the introduction, I think it actively detracted from the piece, honestly. Because, if the player is not themselves gay, they're likely to spend the whole game completely out of character, trying to figure out just exactly why they're supposed to give a damn.
All told, a very interesting piece. I played both endings and enjoyed it. Once the sound was off. :)
-Misguided
if you haven't played yet, don't read.
honest.
(Oh wait... there is a spoiler warning before this section of the website... oh well.)
In the X9 scene, did you place the generators purposefully to ensure that the player could oversee the whole "set" from the tops of the walls? If so, that was a stroke of genius. If not, then it was unconscious genius, as it really hammers the point home.
I enjoyed the work, however I pretty much turned off the sound. I got the point, that the therapist was not facilitating anything other than an endless loop. (Because, in my opinion, she gets paid more that way. The ending bit seems to point to money as her primary goal as well.)
But the endless loop was massively irritating after the.. oh... 400th time around. :)
While you say you did not set out to create a political piece, the revelation that both people in the relationship were male was definitely set up for shock value. While I appreciate the artistry of the introduction, I think it actively detracted from the piece, honestly. Because, if the player is not themselves gay, they're likely to spend the whole game completely out of character, trying to figure out just exactly why they're supposed to give a damn.
All told, a very interesting piece. I played both endings and enjoyed it. Once the sound was off. :)
-Misguided
- Misguided
Re: Liner Notes: Handle With Care
by Campaignjunkie » Jul 15 2009
There's a mute button on the control panel in front of the view screen. I guess I should've labeled it? Having personally played through this like 100 times, I just tune it out after a while, which is what I hope most players do.
I don't buy the "players can't relate because they're not gay men" reasoning - in many other video games the player is a woman, a robot, a dog, etc. and they still manage to relate to these characters. I mean, by that logic, I should make all my player characters into 18-34 straight white middle-class men. Which is slightly less exciting... So I think it's just simple "gay panic" and homophobia at work here.
But if I can get the player to "wonder why he should give a damn", then I'm more than happy with that. I mean, why should you? You're not gay.
I don't buy the "players can't relate because they're not gay men" reasoning - in many other video games the player is a woman, a robot, a dog, etc. and they still manage to relate to these characters. I mean, by that logic, I should make all my player characters into 18-34 straight white middle-class men. Which is slightly less exciting... So I think it's just simple "gay panic" and homophobia at work here.
But if I can get the player to "wonder why he should give a damn", then I'm more than happy with that. I mean, why should you? You're not gay.
Re: Liner Notes: Handle With Care
by Tseng61 » Jul 15 2009
uh, so was there anything else to do with the x9 box other than to either break it or just leave the room via the exit door?
- Tseng61
Re: Liner Notes: Handle With Care
by BillsterJ » Jul 15 2009
Games like this make me excited about where the medium is heading. It's interesting that people keep bringing up on varying forums about how they felt "uncomfortable" being placed in a "gay" role, but the game doesn't make homesexuality the focus. I saw the game as predominantly a look into how hard our minds must work to avoid confronting truth; how sometimes the right thing to do is to not repress emotion even if it means destroying what we think we want. Homosexuality is a character trait of the protagonist, not the driving force of the gameplay, the plot, or the meaning.
But then again, Dylan being gay is so wonderful in it's subtle subversion. I mean, the "gameplay" is in effect, just stacking boxes. The game is not trying to directly confront the social, political, and personal consequences of being gay. In fact, the only way you "know" your character is gay is because their name is a masculine Dylan. But by merely placing the player outside of their comfort zone, by casting them as a character who may not be "them," the game becomes a wonderful experiment in empathy. Just to quote from another commenter, "Because, if the player is not themselves gay, they're likely to spend the whole game completely out of character." To invert this question, how must it feel for a gay person to play 99% of games that feature only heterosexual relationships? How do you think the gay community feels being forced only in to heterosexual roles, being "completely out of character" as you put it?
This game does a great job of subverting homophobic gamer culture by confronting it indirectly, by merely including it. It's only a "shock" because it's there, not because the game is going out of it's way to be controversial.
Other mediums like movies, books, music routinely feature protagonists from different races, genders, sexualities, etc. But by and large, video games predominantly feature heterosexual, white protagonists (especially in the FPS genre.) Video games should not only increase the diversity of it's main characters to better represent an increasingly diverse audience, but also because the video game medium is in a unique position to create empathy in it's audience. To literally take a walk in another's shoes.
I applaud this game and look forward to the next episode.
But then again, Dylan being gay is so wonderful in it's subtle subversion. I mean, the "gameplay" is in effect, just stacking boxes. The game is not trying to directly confront the social, political, and personal consequences of being gay. In fact, the only way you "know" your character is gay is because their name is a masculine Dylan. But by merely placing the player outside of their comfort zone, by casting them as a character who may not be "them," the game becomes a wonderful experiment in empathy. Just to quote from another commenter, "Because, if the player is not themselves gay, they're likely to spend the whole game completely out of character." To invert this question, how must it feel for a gay person to play 99% of games that feature only heterosexual relationships? How do you think the gay community feels being forced only in to heterosexual roles, being "completely out of character" as you put it?
This game does a great job of subverting homophobic gamer culture by confronting it indirectly, by merely including it. It's only a "shock" because it's there, not because the game is going out of it's way to be controversial.
Other mediums like movies, books, music routinely feature protagonists from different races, genders, sexualities, etc. But by and large, video games predominantly feature heterosexual, white protagonists (especially in the FPS genre.) Video games should not only increase the diversity of it's main characters to better represent an increasingly diverse audience, but also because the video game medium is in a unique position to create empathy in it's audience. To literally take a walk in another's shoes.
I applaud this game and look forward to the next episode.
Re: Liner Notes: Handle With Care
by Guest » Jul 15 2009
Nice. I say I enjoyed your game, you accuse me of homophobia.
Chip on your shoulder much?
-Misguided
Chip on your shoulder much?
-Misguided
- Guest
Re: Liner Notes: Handle With Care
by Campaignjunkie » Jul 15 2009
Sorry, that was directed more at the author of the second post, and lots of other comments I've been seeing like: "It's a cool mod, except it's about gay people" - thanks for taking the time to write, really.
It's just a little frustrating when all of these comments aren't actually legitimate criticisms about the actual game, like "the voice acting sucks" or "breaking boxes isn't very fun" - but instead focus on something that really shouldn't be a big deal in this day and age.
It's just a little frustrating when all of these comments aren't actually legitimate criticisms about the actual game, like "the voice acting sucks" or "breaking boxes isn't very fun" - but instead focus on something that really shouldn't be a big deal in this day and age.
Re: Liner Notes: Handle With Care
by BillsterJ » Jul 15 2009
From a gameplay perspective...
I got frustrated in some parts as I tried to stack boxes to get to the really hard to reach spots. Trying to get to G1 was a bit unnerving at times, since sometimes the boxes would just slide out from under another for no discernible reason. I also never knew how much damage a box could take. Sometimes, I felt like I could bash a box all around and it wouldn't do anything. Other times, I would try getting on a stack of boxes or even just bump a box, and everything would blow up. It's quite possible I was just doing it wrong. Making the boxes so frustratingly fragile sometimes makes the core gameplay painstaking, and often I was cursing more at "why" the box broke rather than for something clumsy I did.
The voice acting? Passable. The ending monologues in particular seem particularly disjointed, but I may have just wanted more at the very end in general other than a few lines of text describing the outcome. But, I think you should strongly consider using voice acting again for the third chapter, though in your liner notes above you pretty much swear it off. I really think it makes the level feel more polished to have voice acting throughout. I'm sure it's a lot of work, but the payoff is an emotional connection to the characters that text just can't provide.
A small bug: In the final monologues, if you look at your partner's feet, he's running in place / legs dangling or something? Really weird and kind of breaks the mood a bit.
As a previous poster mentioned, are you supposed to be able to get to the top of the final level by opening the door and jumping on the generators? Or is that just a small and cool bug? Either way, it's possible to jump into some areas from up there that can get you stuck and force you to restart / load quicksave.
I guess in general, the gameplay mechanic was far less engrossing than the first chapter. But I found the experience far more engaging, and enjoyed HWC much more.
I got frustrated in some parts as I tried to stack boxes to get to the really hard to reach spots. Trying to get to G1 was a bit unnerving at times, since sometimes the boxes would just slide out from under another for no discernible reason. I also never knew how much damage a box could take. Sometimes, I felt like I could bash a box all around and it wouldn't do anything. Other times, I would try getting on a stack of boxes or even just bump a box, and everything would blow up. It's quite possible I was just doing it wrong. Making the boxes so frustratingly fragile sometimes makes the core gameplay painstaking, and often I was cursing more at "why" the box broke rather than for something clumsy I did.
The voice acting? Passable. The ending monologues in particular seem particularly disjointed, but I may have just wanted more at the very end in general other than a few lines of text describing the outcome. But, I think you should strongly consider using voice acting again for the third chapter, though in your liner notes above you pretty much swear it off. I really think it makes the level feel more polished to have voice acting throughout. I'm sure it's a lot of work, but the payoff is an emotional connection to the characters that text just can't provide.
A small bug: In the final monologues, if you look at your partner's feet, he's running in place / legs dangling or something? Really weird and kind of breaks the mood a bit.
As a previous poster mentioned, are you supposed to be able to get to the top of the final level by opening the door and jumping on the generators? Or is that just a small and cool bug? Either way, it's possible to jump into some areas from up there that can get you stuck and force you to restart / load quicksave.
I guess in general, the gameplay mechanic was far less engrossing than the first chapter. But I found the experience far more engaging, and enjoyed HWC much more.
Re: Liner Notes: Handle With Care
by Guest » Jul 15 2009
Making the player's character gay took me for a loop, but not in a typical way. Here was my thought process: Male+Male marriage -> Did not see that coming -> In California -> Prop Eight Ban -> So they must have gotten married around the time George Takei and before Prop Eight -> Wait, how typical are gay divorces
What I found most entertaining in this work was the details. The ID and The New Superego gave me a chuckle. Furthermore, I obsessed over reading the repression categories, details make games great. The gameplay makes one consider the influence repression has over our decisions and how outcomes differ when we confront what bothers us.
Plus- It took me a while to realize I was destroying the guy's brain, then I got sadistic and tried to push his limits.
What I found most entertaining in this work was the details. The ID and The New Superego gave me a chuckle. Furthermore, I obsessed over reading the repression categories, details make games great. The gameplay makes one consider the influence repression has over our decisions and how outcomes differ when we confront what bothers us.
Plus- It took me a while to realize I was destroying the guy's brain, then I got sadistic and tried to push his limits.
- Guest
Re: Liner Notes: Handle With Care
by septan179 » Jul 16 2009
At any point did you consider using Portal for HWC? One of my first impressions of the game made me think "this would translate well into a Portal mod." Using Portal as a base could make the crate moving gameplay more interesting. But something like that might make it harder to adhere to your "five-twelve" rule. What made you stick to Ep2?
Honestly, the voice acting was the best I've heard from a Source mod. Granted I've only played a handful with voice work. After placing the fifth box I found myself mouthing along with the therapist "...why do you feel..."
I was most interested in scenes that took place after breaking the crates. Piecing together the fragmented story was my prime motivation in my crate murdering frenzy. It wasn't until the second playthrough that I noticed the X9 crate and the scene after breaking it. That scene in particular made me really think of Portal. That whole "behind the scenes" feeling.
Honestly, the voice acting was the best I've heard from a Source mod. Granted I've only played a handful with voice work. After placing the fifth box I found myself mouthing along with the therapist "...why do you feel..."
I was most interested in scenes that took place after breaking the crates. Piecing together the fragmented story was my prime motivation in my crate murdering frenzy. It wasn't until the second playthrough that I noticed the X9 crate and the scene after breaking it. That scene in particular made me really think of Portal. That whole "behind the scenes" feeling.
- septan179
Re: Liner Notes: Handle With Care
by Kerbang » Jul 16 2009
Just played this through and rushed to read the liner notes. I'm sorry to hear you were frustrated with the end product, but I gotta say I found it really intriguing. I definitely had that moment of wondering whether I SHOULD break the boxes or whether I should repress the memories like a good doobie. It was hard to tell which action the therapist liked - maybe I am misremembering but I thought she congratulated me on my breakthrough when I'd break a box, but other times she admonished me I think. The memory cutscenes were nice and creepy - it really made me question whether I wanted to break a box because I wasn't sure what I would find in the next memory, which is pretty much the exact metaphor I think you were going for. The voice acting really added to this compared to not having it in Polaris - I was kind of put off by having to read dialogue while playing in the previous epsiode. So, overall I felt like it was a complete success and the break-the-boxes ending with the montage and music was very cool and rewarding.
As for the gay marriage element , in Polaris you play as a girl so I don't see how it is any different putting yourself in the shoes of a gay character if you're a straight male. Or for that matter a mustachioed scientist if you're playing half-life or a mutant super soldier or a female tomb raider or any other game for crying out loud. To me the fact that it was a gay couple having marital problems and contemplating divorce allowed me to take a step back and put more emphasis on the core concepts of the piece - the depth and complexity of relationships and importance of memories and history to them. For instance as a straight married man I think I might have just glossed over the little sign that said "Nagging" under one of the memories and not really thought about it, but forcing me to put it in the context of a gay couple made me think just a bit more about what nagging in a relationship is and what it means.
The stacking boxes gameplay mechanic was a little...tough. But somehow the fact that you almost got a little reward from breaking a box (seeing a memory) made me feel not bad about it, and I was happy to see the divorce ending. I'm extremely curious what the repression/stay together ending looks like though - is there no montage? Do you not end up in the soundstage? I would think you wouldn't since you wouldn't have seen all/some/any of the memories. But then thinking about that, it would totally play into the repression theme - you just spend some time stacking boxes in this little room, and then go back to the therapist's office and everything is fine until next time. Very interesting. That's another reason I like the way you do these games - every ending has something to it, and although I'm not a completionist I like knowing that there were other endings and how they turn out. I think the only problem here is that in Polaris it was relatively simple to figure out how to achieve the most challenging ending (going in the right direction). In this I don't even know if I could successfully stack all the boxes, so I didn't try.
All in all this was a great experience and gave me a lot to think about, thanks!
As for the gay marriage element , in Polaris you play as a girl so I don't see how it is any different putting yourself in the shoes of a gay character if you're a straight male. Or for that matter a mustachioed scientist if you're playing half-life or a mutant super soldier or a female tomb raider or any other game for crying out loud. To me the fact that it was a gay couple having marital problems and contemplating divorce allowed me to take a step back and put more emphasis on the core concepts of the piece - the depth and complexity of relationships and importance of memories and history to them. For instance as a straight married man I think I might have just glossed over the little sign that said "Nagging" under one of the memories and not really thought about it, but forcing me to put it in the context of a gay couple made me think just a bit more about what nagging in a relationship is and what it means.
The stacking boxes gameplay mechanic was a little...tough. But somehow the fact that you almost got a little reward from breaking a box (seeing a memory) made me feel not bad about it, and I was happy to see the divorce ending. I'm extremely curious what the repression/stay together ending looks like though - is there no montage? Do you not end up in the soundstage? I would think you wouldn't since you wouldn't have seen all/some/any of the memories. But then thinking about that, it would totally play into the repression theme - you just spend some time stacking boxes in this little room, and then go back to the therapist's office and everything is fine until next time. Very interesting. That's another reason I like the way you do these games - every ending has something to it, and although I'm not a completionist I like knowing that there were other endings and how they turn out. I think the only problem here is that in Polaris it was relatively simple to figure out how to achieve the most challenging ending (going in the right direction). In this I don't even know if I could successfully stack all the boxes, so I didn't try.
All in all this was a great experience and gave me a lot to think about, thanks!
- Kerbang
Re: Liner Notes: Handle With Care
by Campaignjunkie » Jul 16 2009
- Gay divorce is the new black.
- How do you know the narrator in Polaris is a girl?
- Other inspirations: Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind... And of course, Half-Life and Portal.
- The voice actress returns in Radiator 1-3, which is originally what I wanted her for. So I guess that'll be a treat if you happened to like her.
- I use a lot of Ep2 assets in Polaris and Handle with Care, so that's why I use it. I realize it limits my player base, but I figure most hardcore single player gamers (i.e. people who play mods) would've purchased Ep2 and/or Orange Box.
- A lot of my playtesters thought the bathroom / courtyard where everyone runs away symbolized "high school" - which says more about them than me, I think. In general I tried to make most of the orange scenes pretty open-ended... The vacant apartment is a virtual copy of my first love's apartment, whom I hope never plays this and recognizes it. The pigeon with an axe in the schoolyard is from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind when childhood bullies pressure Jim Carrey into smashing a bird with a hammer, plus I just fucking hate pigeons.
- Some people play through the entire thing without realizing that they can put the crates in the slots - they just break a shitload of crates - and I'm fine with that because they'll make their own meaning out of that. I'm not interested in forcing a story down the player's throat - I'm more interested in getting the player to project things into the game because that's what you're doing in every single video game already. For the first 19 levels of Portal, GladOS is just a .WAV file that's triggered at various times - yet the player will assume intentionality and create the illusion of character, that GladOS is actively controlling the entire lab complex... and here, I guess I'm creating the illusion of thematic depth and emotional truth ;)
- How do you know the narrator in Polaris is a girl?
- Other inspirations: Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind... And of course, Half-Life and Portal.
- The voice actress returns in Radiator 1-3, which is originally what I wanted her for. So I guess that'll be a treat if you happened to like her.
- I use a lot of Ep2 assets in Polaris and Handle with Care, so that's why I use it. I realize it limits my player base, but I figure most hardcore single player gamers (i.e. people who play mods) would've purchased Ep2 and/or Orange Box.
- A lot of my playtesters thought the bathroom / courtyard where everyone runs away symbolized "high school" - which says more about them than me, I think. In general I tried to make most of the orange scenes pretty open-ended... The vacant apartment is a virtual copy of my first love's apartment, whom I hope never plays this and recognizes it. The pigeon with an axe in the schoolyard is from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind when childhood bullies pressure Jim Carrey into smashing a bird with a hammer, plus I just fucking hate pigeons.
- Some people play through the entire thing without realizing that they can put the crates in the slots - they just break a shitload of crates - and I'm fine with that because they'll make their own meaning out of that. I'm not interested in forcing a story down the player's throat - I'm more interested in getting the player to project things into the game because that's what you're doing in every single video game already. For the first 19 levels of Portal, GladOS is just a .WAV file that's triggered at various times - yet the player will assume intentionality and create the illusion of character, that GladOS is actively controlling the entire lab complex... and here, I guess I'm creating the illusion of thematic depth and emotional truth ;)
Re: Liner Notes: Handle With Care
by Guest » Jul 16 2009
[quote="Campaignjunkie"]- How do you know the narrator in Polaris is a girl?[/quote]
Hmm - could have sworn there was something in the text that made me think that, but maybe I just filled that in myself!
Hmm - could have sworn there was something in the text that made me think that, but maybe I just filled that in myself!
- Guest
Re: Liner Notes: Handle With Care
by Campaignjunkie » Jul 17 2009
- Playtest data and revisions: Most people get stuck on L3, which is the 4th (of 9) tasks. There's 3-4 ways to get up there, but for some reason people don't make that leap in logic: put the crate there, then climb up a ladder to retrieve it. I already knew L3 was a kind of saddle point in terms of difficulty and pacing, but I think I'd like people to progress a bit further.
People usually try climbing up a ladder WHILE holding a box - which is just silly because you can't possibly do that in real-life, and the physics-to-ladder code is so fiddly it should dissuade people... But no, they're adamant that it should work, and it's my fault.
So in revising 1-2 for the release of 1-3 (maybe sometime in August), I'm planning to:
- Reskin ladders so they're much more noticeable, maybe caution stripes
- Put cages around the ladders so people don't try to carry crates up them and get frustrated
- Make L3 easier
- Design the 3rd task (W5) to train the player to stand on barrels and use that for height, or at least strongly suggest that strategy
- Automatic crouch-jumping triggers for the shelves (new for Ep2, used in the antlion caves I believe)
- Place more generators in the backlot so people don't get stuck from exploring
- Add a brief but rather bleak tram ride at the end
People usually try climbing up a ladder WHILE holding a box - which is just silly because you can't possibly do that in real-life, and the physics-to-ladder code is so fiddly it should dissuade people... But no, they're adamant that it should work, and it's my fault.
So in revising 1-2 for the release of 1-3 (maybe sometime in August), I'm planning to:
- Reskin ladders so they're much more noticeable, maybe caution stripes
- Put cages around the ladders so people don't try to carry crates up them and get frustrated
- Make L3 easier
- Design the 3rd task (W5) to train the player to stand on barrels and use that for height, or at least strongly suggest that strategy
- Automatic crouch-jumping triggers for the shelves (new for Ep2, used in the antlion caves I believe)
- Place more generators in the backlot so people don't get stuck from exploring
- Add a brief but rather bleak tram ride at the end
Re: Liner Notes: Handle With Care
by UberSprode » Jul 18 2009
Am I the only one who went crazy trying to find X9?
One thing I wish I had seen was what happens when you shuffle around other memories and stuck them where they didn't belong.
Mom, Naked put into Bad Sex should produce something.. interesting?
I did feel bad poking around in this guy's brain moving his memories around, and tried to do it as little as possible, so I guess you did good there.
One thing I wish I had seen was what happens when you shuffle around other memories and stuck them where they didn't belong.
Mom, Naked put into Bad Sex should produce something.. interesting?
I did feel bad poking around in this guy's brain moving his memories around, and tried to do it as little as possible, so I guess you did good there.
Re: Liner Notes: Handle With Care
by Mosby » Jul 18 2009
While I don't have a problem playing as a gay man in a video game, I do feel taken out of the whole game a bit when I have to play someone I'm not. As in I'd much rather play a man than a woman or dog, and overall I think I'd much rather be the kind of faceless hero like Halo's, then some big dude from say...Gears.
I guess all I'm saying is I can feel for those who feel like playing as a gay man can be rather tough. (if that's the right word.) and calling them homophobic might be a bit harsh.
Really enjoyed the game though. Thanks for putting a ton of hard work into it.
I guess all I'm saying is I can feel for those who feel like playing as a gay man can be rather tough. (if that's the right word.) and calling them homophobic might be a bit harsh.
Really enjoyed the game though. Thanks for putting a ton of hard work into it.
- Mosby
Re: Liner Notes: Handle With Care
by Botolf » Jul 18 2009
Speaking of climbing ladders with the boxes in-hand, that's how I did it most of the time. I didn't smash many crates that way. I lost many more coming up and trying to toss the crate onto the walkway without it also touching the wall, something I noticed would cause them to explode instantly. The only time I avoided doing the ladder thing was when there was an easy spot to "store" the crate within grabbing reach, meaning you could do most of the hazardous travelling without bringing it along.
I figured X9 was effectively an "unrepressable" memory, or the collective series of memories. I already broke it the first time around, so I figured I'd place it down gently for the second playthrough.
- Botolf
I figured X9 was effectively an "unrepressable" memory, or the collective series of memories. I already broke it the first time around, so I figured I'd place it down gently for the second playthrough.
- Botolf
- Botolf
Re: Liner Notes: Handle With Care
by Geoffrey » Jul 18 2009
A couple things:
I really enjoyed this. I went through it immediately 3.5 times (repressing all the memories just once though), just to see what different things might turn out. What I find interesting from comments I read over at RPS (which pointed the whole Radiator thing out to me in the first place) and from the comments here is that I never felt the need to no-clip when placing boxes, and in completing the whole thing, I stacked a sum-total of 2 boxes (both in the process of placing O1). I saw the ramps, and my brain said "There must be a way to get there" instead of "I must build a way to get there".
As far as accomplishing your goals, I'm not sure I ever really began to question the nature of "Should I repress these things?", mostly because I didn't know what I was repressing. If I dropped C6 by accident more than once, I got different memories (which certainly helped avoid boredom on the first box that I had difficulty with), but didn't reinforce the idea that I was repressing a particular memory. If the slots the boxes were going into had awesome labels like some of the others, like... "Cheated On Me", I might actually start questioning whether or not I should be repressing these things, or letting them run wild. I'm obviously not in the majority though, as others drew more deeply from this story, without the kind of hand-holding I'm describing.
On the subject of homophobia, I think it would be worthwhile to bring up the idea that you can experience some level of homophobia, without being someone who is 100% wierded out by homosexuality, just like you can experience some level of racism without being a card-carrying member of the KKK. Over the years, I've been a raunchy squirrel, a hulking implant-enhanced space marine, an italian plumber tripping on 'shrooms, a fae dude in a green tunic with a huge sword, a kickass female spy... Adding "gay man contemplating divorce" barely set off any fireworks for me, beyond the initial realization of the situation. If playing a game in the role of a gay man caused you more issues than playing a lombax or a sackboy/girl, then you would be better served with a little navel-gazing and asking yourself why that may have been, than railing at others for assuming that your reaction maybe-might-could-probably have had something to do with a tiny amount of lurking homophobia. It is better to be 5% homophobic/racist/classist/____ist and aware of it than 1% homophobic/racist/classist/____ist and not have a clue about it. Kind of a tangent to that, as an employee of the Internal Repression Service, I never actually considered my box-toting avatar to BE a gay man. I thought of it more as being a wage-slave working in a gay man's mind, and the only time spent as a gay man were in experiencing the memories, the very start, and the very end of the scenario. There's your faceless-space-marine avatar to inhabit.
I really enjoyed this. I went through it immediately 3.5 times (repressing all the memories just once though), just to see what different things might turn out. What I find interesting from comments I read over at RPS (which pointed the whole Radiator thing out to me in the first place) and from the comments here is that I never felt the need to no-clip when placing boxes, and in completing the whole thing, I stacked a sum-total of 2 boxes (both in the process of placing O1). I saw the ramps, and my brain said "There must be a way to get there" instead of "I must build a way to get there".
As far as accomplishing your goals, I'm not sure I ever really began to question the nature of "Should I repress these things?", mostly because I didn't know what I was repressing. If I dropped C6 by accident more than once, I got different memories (which certainly helped avoid boredom on the first box that I had difficulty with), but didn't reinforce the idea that I was repressing a particular memory. If the slots the boxes were going into had awesome labels like some of the others, like... "Cheated On Me", I might actually start questioning whether or not I should be repressing these things, or letting them run wild. I'm obviously not in the majority though, as others drew more deeply from this story, without the kind of hand-holding I'm describing.
On the subject of homophobia, I think it would be worthwhile to bring up the idea that you can experience some level of homophobia, without being someone who is 100% wierded out by homosexuality, just like you can experience some level of racism without being a card-carrying member of the KKK. Over the years, I've been a raunchy squirrel, a hulking implant-enhanced space marine, an italian plumber tripping on 'shrooms, a fae dude in a green tunic with a huge sword, a kickass female spy... Adding "gay man contemplating divorce" barely set off any fireworks for me, beyond the initial realization of the situation. If playing a game in the role of a gay man caused you more issues than playing a lombax or a sackboy/girl, then you would be better served with a little navel-gazing and asking yourself why that may have been, than railing at others for assuming that your reaction maybe-might-could-probably have had something to do with a tiny amount of lurking homophobia. It is better to be 5% homophobic/racist/classist/____ist and aware of it than 1% homophobic/racist/classist/____ist and not have a clue about it. Kind of a tangent to that, as an employee of the Internal Repression Service, I never actually considered my box-toting avatar to BE a gay man. I thought of it more as being a wage-slave working in a gay man's mind, and the only time spent as a gay man were in experiencing the memories, the very start, and the very end of the scenario. There's your faceless-space-marine avatar to inhabit.
- Geoffrey
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