{"author_name":"Evilion","cat":"LD #28","comments":[{"author_name":"","time":"December 18, 2013 6:04 pm","epoch":1387407840,"text":"&gt;But I keep thinking that the Ludum Dare is a good place to experiment and share the result, whether it\u2019s terribly classical or ridiculously insane.","spam":"N"},{"author_name":"Gaeel","time":"December 18, 2013 6:51 pm","epoch":1387410660,"text":"I think my thoughts about this is the same as with ironic\/funny t-shirts.<br \/>\n There are t-shirts which are just a reference to something strange or obscure, which is really nice when you get the reference, but if you don&#8217;t, then it&#8217;s just a stupid t-shirt.<br \/>\n On the other hand, there are funny t-shirts which are just a joke anyone can get, but that&#8217;s not very deep, and there&#8217;s limited appeal, even if you&#8217;ll get a smile from most people.","spam":"N"},{"author_name":"","time":"December 19, 2013 4:38 am","epoch":1387445880,"text":"After reading your response to some of the comments on your games page and this explanation, I have to say I am sorry to have called your game art.<br \/>\n I just wanted to express that I enjoyed the explorative nature of the game and that I made my very own interpretation of the navigation part without an explicit description. I felt touched by the artistic style of the presentation and have thus called it art. I did not mean that it is a pretentious meanlingles art game in any way. I was just lacking a better word to describe my impression.","spam":"N"},{"author_name":"lilinx","time":"December 19, 2013 12:42 pm","epoch":1387474920,"text":"I&#8217;ve played the game after reading the article on oujevipo.fr, so I knew :<br \/>\n 1. I would have to do an effort to understand<br \/>\n 2. it would be worth it","spam":"N"}],"epoch":1387399500,"likes":13,"metadata":{"p_key":"34237","p_author":"Evilion","p_authorkey":"10821","p_urlkey":"69784","p_title":"About Data Stains","p_cat":"LD #28","p_event":"LD28","p_time":"1387399500","p_likes":"13","p_comments":"4","p_status":"UPD5","us_key":"10821","us_name":"Evilion","us_username":"evilion","event_start":"1386892800","event_key":"20","event_name":"LD28"},"text":"<p style=\"text-align: left\"><strong>About Data Stains<\/strong><\/p>\n <p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n <div id=\"attachment_324127\" style=\"width: 560px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/2013\/12\/18\/about-data-stains\/screen1-329\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-324127\"><img class=\"size-large wp-image-324127   \" alt=\"Screen1\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Screen15-550x510.png\" width=\"550\" height=\"510\" srcset=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Screen15-300x278.png 300w, http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Screen15-550x510.png 550w, http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Screen15.png 737w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">About Data Stains !<\/p><\/div>\n <p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n <p>Hey\u00a0! Before reading this, you should play the game\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/ludum-dare-28\/?action=preview&amp;uid=10821\">here<\/a>. More than a post-mortem, this post will try to explain what were my intentions in making Data Stains, and explain what the fuck is happening in the game. So It\u2019ll contain some informations that can spoil the experiment, since the game is a lot about understanding what is happening !<\/p>\n <p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n <p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n <div id=\"attachment_324147\" style=\"width: 560px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/2013\/12\/18\/about-data-stains\/2013-12-18_23h22_22\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-324147\"><img class=\"size-large wp-image-324147  \" alt=\"2013-12-18_23h22_22\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/2013-12-18_23h22_22-550x52.png\" width=\"550\" height=\"52\" srcset=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/2013-12-18_23h22_22-300x28.png 300w, http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/2013-12-18_23h22_22-550x52.png 550w, http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/2013-12-18_23h22_22.png 893w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">^^<\/p><\/div>\n <div id=\"attachment_324146\" style=\"width: 560px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/2013\/12\/18\/about-data-stains\/2013-12-18_23h20_05\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-324146\"><img class=\"size-large wp-image-324146  \" alt=\"2013-12-18_23h20_05\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/2013-12-18_23h20_05-550x80.png\" width=\"550\" height=\"80\" srcset=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/2013-12-18_23h20_05-300x44.png 300w, http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/2013-12-18_23h20_05-550x80.png 550w, http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/2013-12-18_23h20_05.png 900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">\u00e9_\u00e8<\/p><\/div>\n <p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n <p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n <p>These are two representative exemples of how the players react to the game. Often affected by the visual aspect and the atmosphere, but unable to understand what\u2019s happening. And because of that, sometimes people conclude that there is absolutely nothing to do, nothing to discover, nothing to understand, nothing to think about. Obviously I made a system too complex to touch players with what I wanted them to experiment. Perhaps I was too selfish in my approach, not thinking enough to future players who would fall on this stuff.<\/p>\n <p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n <div id=\"attachment_324131\" style=\"width: 560px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/2013\/12\/18\/about-data-stains\/screen2-255\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-324131\"><img class=\"size-large wp-image-324131\" alt=\"Screen2\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Screen22-550x510.png\" width=\"550\" height=\"510\" srcset=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Screen22-300x278.png 300w, http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Screen22-550x510.png 550w, http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Screen22.png 737w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">COLORZ SPERMS THAT DON&#8217;T MAKE SENSE<\/p><\/div>\n <p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n <p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n <p>Data Stains talks about reincarnation. Someone is dead, and your role is to delete his memories so he\u2019ll not remember anything from his previous existance in his next life he\u2019s about to begin. So you play as a \u201ccosmic computer janitor\u201d whose job is to maintain the illusion that you have only one life.<\/p>\n <p>So, the \u201cgoal\u201d is to disable as much memories as possible. Each memory disabled will give you one sentence in the final part, after you press ENTER, just like the cosmic computer janitor you\u2019re playing would do once he considers his job done. The \u201creward\u201d for the player is the possibility to discover or interpret the whole story of the recently dead entity through the 25 unlockable sentences. But to do so, the player will have to understand how the 3D space and the navigation work, and I think it\u2019s where I asked too much.<\/p>\n <p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n <div id=\"attachment_324156\" style=\"width: 560px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/2013\/12\/18\/about-data-stains\/screen3-157\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-324156\"><img class=\"size-large wp-image-324156\" alt=\"Screen3\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Screen33-550x550.png\" width=\"550\" height=\"550\" srcset=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Screen33-150x150.png 150w, http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Screen33-300x300.png 300w, http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Screen33-550x550.png 550w, http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Screen33.png 676w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">&#8220;But I&#8217;m pretty, right ?&#8221; \u00e9w\u00e8<\/p><\/div>\n <p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n <p>The \u201cgame\u201d is to learn how the whole system works. Moving through the memories in a dead brain is not an easy task, and I wanted to express this fact by a unconventional visual system. However, the main principle is not that hard. In fact, it\u2019s simply a \u201cDonjon Crawler\u201d where you can only walk forward, turn left and turn right, in a 25&#215;25 rooms map :<\/p>\n <p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n <div id=\"attachment_324129\" style=\"width: 137px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img class=\" wp-image-324129 \" alt=\"Maps and walls\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Maps-and-walls.png\" width=\"127\" height=\"127\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">The map<\/p><\/div>\n <p>You begin in the room in the middle, facing the one just above. What you see then is the pattern, the \u201cdoor\u201d to the room you are facing. You can move forward into that room by pressing UP, or you can \u201crotate\u201d by pressing LEFT or RIGHT, to face another room. Each time, the spermatozoid\/cubes\/binary-data will fly away before forming a new pattern. When you are facing an all-white pattern, it means you\u2019re facing one of the walls (represented in dark red on the map). When you\u2019re facing an all-black pattern, it means you are facing the edge of the map (represented in black on the map). You can\u2019t pass through the walls nor over the edges of the map.<\/p>\n <div style=\"width: 560px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img alt=\"Screen6\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Screen6-550x549.png\" width=\"550\" height=\"549\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">You&#8217;re facing a wall !<\/p><\/div>\n <p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n <p>You can disable\/enable each room (= each memory) by pressing SPACE. A disabled memory will appear dark, when an enabled one will appear light (light it\u2019s the normal state of each room when the game start). The screen will fade between the state of the room you\u2019re coming from and the state of the room you\u2019re walking to. For example, if you walk from an enabled memory to a disabled memory, the color of the screen will fade from light to dark.<\/p>\n <p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n <div id=\"attachment_324140\" style=\"width: 560px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img class=\"size-large wp-image-324140 \" alt=\"Screen5\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Screen5-550x549.png\" width=\"550\" height=\"549\" srcset=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Screen5-150x150.png 150w, http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Screen5-300x300.png 300w, http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Screen5-550x549.png 550w, http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Screen5.png 673w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">You are in an enable memory !<\/p><\/div>\n <p><img class=\"size-large wp-image-324130  aligncenter\" alt=\"Screen4\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Screen4-550x549.png\" width=\"550\" height=\"549\" srcset=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Screen4-150x150.png 150w, http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Screen4-300x300.png 300w, http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Screen4-550x549.png 550w, http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Screen4.png 673w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/p>\n <p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n <p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n <p>So, to finish the game 100%, you must fly to each of the 25 rooms and delete the memory they represent by pressing SPACE, and then press ENTER to finish the game. Not a big deal eh ? That\u2019s why I asked you to play the game before reading this post, that could spoil most of the experiment. Because, even if it\u2019s ridiculously incomprehensible and hard, learning what\u2019s happening, how it works and think about what could it means IS the game. You can also be simply plaised by all the colorful shapes in motion, that was one of my intentions, too !<\/p>\n <p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n <p>I suppose that some people will always keep thinking that this kind of approach\/process\/experiment is pretentious and meaningless, and I can\u2019t force everyone to have the same sensitivity about this kind of stuff. But I keep thinking that the Ludum Dare is a good place to experiment and share the result, whether it\u2019s terribly classical or ridiculously insane.<\/p>\n <p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n <p>Anyway, It was a pretty good Ludum Dare for me ! Let\u2019s keep making stuff, have a good end of year,\u00a0and see you in April !<\/p>\n <p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n <div id=\"attachment_324163\" style=\"width: 560px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/2013\/12\/18\/about-data-stains\/screen7-22\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-324163\"><img class=\"size-large wp-image-324163\" alt=\"Screen7\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Screen7-550x550.png\" width=\"550\" height=\"550\" srcset=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Screen7-150x150.png 150w, http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Screen7-300x300.png 300w, http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Screen7-550x550.png 550w, http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Screen7.png 676w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">COLORZ SPERM THAT MAKE A LITTLE MORE SENSE MAYBE<\/p><\/div>","time":"December 18th, 2013 3:45 pm","title":"About Data Stains"}