Electron Dance Highlights
The Mass Effect Petition
We, the undersigned, hereby demand that "HM" of the site Electron Dance play the game "Mass Effect" developed by BioWare.
It's five years old for cryin' out loud.
Please add your name to the comments if you support this noble cause.
The Don of Cutscenes
I'm just going to come out and say it: Mafia is not a great game.
If I'd run through it in 2002, I probably would've had fun. But this is 2012. Mafia is another title that shows how fast games are ageing - or rather, how fast game design and audience expectations are surging ahead, throwing a harsh spotlight on the crude, medieval designs of our gaming past. In 2022, will the next generation of kids claim Minecraft is a bit rubbish?
But It’s The Truth
I cited Mafia in last year’s essay Those Honeymoon Hours, describing how an early mission in Mafia was exciting because I was oblivious of the game's constraints and hadn’t yet learnt how to master – or perhaps game – its mechanics.
Pretty soon, though, the frustrations break through and its wonderful façade crumples like a mobster taking a baseball bat to the head. I'm not going to whine about the Mafia "sandbox" not being interesting enough as I recognise it is neither a sandbox nor an open world - it is merely an enormous set upon which a gangster-themed third-person shooter plays out.
Ahead… The Stars
Last week I made the bold move of announcing a “game of the year” which was Richard Hofmeier’s Cart Life. It probably surprised everyone because I'd never mentioned it before although an observant follower might have seen this tweet on 3 Dec 2011:
Man, I think I love this game.
Yes, well, that was Cart Life.
Cart Life was teeming with showstopping bugs on release last May which is likely the reason it barely registered across the indie game-o-sphere. But what has been said of Cart Life following its mention on Electron Dance last week?
David Kanaga, the musical maestro of Proteus and Dyad, said the game "had me tingling for its first 15 minutes." I dare not ask about what happened the minute after that.
Pippin Barr, author of The Artist Is Present amongst other games, said it was craaaaazy and wished he'd made it as it was so interesting.
Nicolau Chaud, the mind behind Marvel Brothel and Beautiful Escape: Dungeoneer, wrote the following on his blog:
I have to say, one of the things that motivated me and inspired me the most to work on Polymorphous Perversity again was playing an awesome indie game. And the game I'm talking about is Richard Hofmeier's Cart Life. This game is just so unique and brilliant that I have to be careful not to be overhumbled and give up on whatever I'm working at.
Yes, too many replays will eventually ruin its magic. Yes, too many bugs will keep this game off an IGF list. Yes, some of the broken design is accidental and not intentional. So it's time I explained why a game which made me panic about a cat's well-being is deserving of so much attention.
Read no further if you still intend to play, because I am about to discuss the lives of Melanie Emberley and Andrus Poder in some depth.
Electron Dance 2011 Review
Apologies! This should have been posted in 2011 but there just wasn't any room in the schedule. Better late than after I'm the late HM, though. If you're wondering what Electron Dance goodness you might have missed in 2011, then this post is your compass to great destinations of word.
And dear sweet babies of Jesus, I realise how much I've written last year for no pennies.
Game of the Year
Melanie Emberley tells the judge about the new coffee business she's starting up. He asks how it’s going and she confesses she’s still getting through the paperwork. The judge listens. He understands, he really does. He announces what he considers to be a fair decision for the interim. It's not what she expected. It's certainly not what I expected.
Wow.
I feel guilty. It's my fault, you see. And I actually feel guilty. How did that happen? I'm sitting at my PC, cringing. I just don't want to watch this play out.
But Melanie doesn't have any choice so neither do I. I press the SPACE bar and we move on, together.
This is Richard Hofmeier’s Cart Life and it is awesome – although probably not for everyone.
Neptune’s Pride Private Match Available
In the comments on Survivorship Bias, Electron Dance reader Todd has advertised a private Neptune's Pride game for any readers willing to join in. Players will start with Level 2 speed and scanning research is expensive.
The game URL is http://neptunespride.appspot.com/detail?game=32236516 and the secret word is ‘aspire’.
I can absolutely 100% cast-iron guarantee that I will not be taking part. As if that was in any doubt...
Update 09 Jan: Five out of nine slots taken!
Update 11 Jan: All slots filled and the game begins!
RoboCaptain, LiberalEurope, Captain Wells, CitiesInDust, Sargent Hatred, Leo2k5, Sirron, Grand Space Lord Al and Blueshift2k5... good hunting.
Update 14 Jan: There's a galactic peace treaty! With signatures!
Update 06 Feb: Game over! Shaun writes up his experiences on Arcadian Rhythms. And Liberal Europe is doing it too.
The Xmaspiration: Survivorship Bias
"I’m also exhausted, really exhausted. It’s so stressful, I think because of the amount of time Neptune plays out over it feels like a total investment into the game. I remember I was out all day at a meeting and I was fretting because I just entered my war with Poseidon. I was on a motorway and worrying about Neptune's Pride."
Craig Lager, Neptune's Pride - The GD War - Part 4 (Gaming Daily)
Last year, Neptune’s Pride developer Jay Kyburz asked me: “Do you think because the game has basically no story, no flavor and no graphics it allows players to pour themselves into it more?”
Although the minimalism of Neptune’s Pride plays a large part in bringing the crowds through the door, I doubt that’s why players get so invested in the game. It’s probably more to do with the action of cultivating an empire of coloured dots over days or weeks and having to defend that digital sandcastle on a beach full of bullies.
The long-term investment of time and energy engenders a strong emotional attachment to the player's empire and losing an equivalent short-form game wouldn’t sting as much.
But there’s another implicit assumption in the question that bothers me. And this is the point where I should talk about mutual funds.
The Xmaspiration: Laura’s Story
-201TCA88-LM- Virtue is Bond. I/We have discovered the ex-dictator of the late Facewizard empire fled to Earth and is masquerading as Earthen flesh Laura Michet. She is one-half of Second Person Shooter and also a copywriter for Tencent America.
The Spiritual Domain of The Aspiration and Facewizard were neighbours. Today, Laura describes her experience of running an empire.
Why I Did Not Enjoy Neptune’s Pride
Games of Neptune’s Pride eventually come to an end, apparently.
After about two days of playing the game, I was more interested in seeing that end than in winning, or even continuing to play. The game takes place at a glacially slow pace; ships crawl across the map. Apparently, this is necessary for players to form strategies. As a veteran of the mid-ninties fast-paced-RTS craze, weaned on Age of Empires, I can affirm that strategy is just as much fun in a fast-paced game as it can be in a slow-paced one, if not more fun, and usually far more stimulating. Heck, Galcon and its Steam counterpart, Galcon Fusion, shave matches down to approximately two minutes! Anyone who has ever played a game of hot-seat-multiplayer in Civ 4 will realize the kind of frustration associated with incredibly slow-paced multiplayer strategy games. Against a computer, the frustration is less, since you can always simply stop playing. Against humans, it’s harder to admit to that frustration and boredom: you’re afraid you’ll seem like a bad sport, like the kid who throws the chess board across the room and stomps out.
Keep In Touch
Time Machine
Commentary
- gnome on The Company of Troublemakers: Ian Bogost
- HM on The Company of Troublemakers: Ian Bogost
- HM on A Theoretical War, Part 3
- matt w on A Theoretical War, Part 3
- Raph Koster on A Theoretical War, Part 3
- gnome on The Company of Troublemakers: Ian Bogost
- HM on A Theoretical War, Part 3
- CdrJameson on A Theoretical War, Part 3
- James Patton on A Theoretical War, Part 3
- Raph Koster on A Theoretical War, Part 3
Electron Dance Projects
Friends
- Arcadian Rhythms
- Badger Commander
- BNB Gaming
- Die Gute Fabrik
- Gnome's Lair
- Jonas Kyratzes
- Switchbreak
- Tap Repeatedly
Link Power
The Slow Feed
- Transcending the ToolsetI’ve been trying to figure out how to talk about the work of Nicolau Chaud, Brazilian freeware developer and psychotherapist, but it’s hard. I’m having trouble for a couple of reason. First off, other people have already pulled it off, … Continue reading → […]
- The three things I want to ensure a healthy UK games industryThis is a lightly edited transcript of a talk I gave at the Westminster eForum on the future of games last month. Thank you and obviously well done to TIGA and UKIE for the tax breaks. I’m here to talk about business models, I want to talk about three things: I want to talk about change, I want to talk about adaptability, and I want to talk about resistance. […]
- Bundle In A Box to launch on May 23Yes, the Bundle In A Box - Adventure Bundle will indeed launch on May 23; that's a week from now! Head over to bundle-in-a-box.com, bookmark the site, subscribe to the newsletter and wait for those seven brilliant DRM-free games I have personally hand-picked. Oh, and you do know we are debuting one fantastic new game, don't you? […]
- A debate on free-to-playThis post takes a special format: Cliff Harris of Positech Games and I exchange views on free-to-play gaming, and then share the conversation with you. Let me know if you think the format works, and don’t forget to join the conversation below! Cliff Harris, Positech Games Nicholas, FreeToPlay is not the future of games, or at least I hope it isn’t. The entir […]
- Marvel Rolls Infinite SevensI have a bold idea: have the U.S. government producing the next 10 Avengers features to get itself out of debt. With $700 million banked worldwide after a mere 13 days, Disney should net north of a billion before Blu-Ray sales. So what transpired to make this Marvel film so successful? Was it the MARVEL fanboy nation, the hype machine, Joss Whedon’s deep B […]
- Adventure Lantern - the May issueAnother month, another issue of Adventure Lantern. Download the (free as ever) magazine here and read all the latest adventure related news, as well as an eclectic selection of reviews, previews and interviews. Expect quite a bit on The Dream Machine, The Journey Down, The Walking Dead and The Lost Crown. Oh, and while you are at it, do not forget to read ( […]
- Talking About Videogames(cross posted from ow) Browsing around Gamasutra this morning and stumbled across this great Brandon Sheffield piece on game preservation and once again found myself wondering whether in ten years time, there’ll be a big black hole where this generation … Continue reading → […]
- Grab a Fedora and Kickstart Tex Murphy - Project FedoraTex Murphy, adventure gaming's fedora-wearing, wise-cracking, lovable and down-on-his-luck detective, has been solving crimes ever since his first appearance on 1989's almost classic Mean Streets. More than a few games followed and each and every one of them managed to be a mostly brilliant, generally succesful and usually innovative point-and-clic […]
- Taptitude – a Windows Phone Success StoryThis guest post is cross-posted with permission from Four Bros Studio. FourBros Studio began developing Taptitude early in 2011. This article is going to look back over the last year as the game has evolved to see how far we’ve come and how we got here. For those not familiar with Taptitude, it is a free Windows Phone 7 game with a collection of over 60 co […]
- Conference Report: GameCampAt a lecture given to the RSA, Everything Bad Is Good For You author Steven Johnson asked: “Where do good ideas come from?” In five minutes he outlined a theory that the most fertile environment for ideas is one where they can meet, bounce off each other and joyfully breed – where half-formed hunches can combine through conversation to emerge as beautiful bu […]