Following this MiniLD’s theme — ‘demake’ — I’ve made a Fallout semi-demake set in vault 17, where Lily (Fallout: NV) originally came from. It tells a story of upheaval and love: how life in a functioning and prosperous vault was abruptly ended.

There’s a mish-mash of things from various Fallout games throughout. It’s a kind of collage of the first two Fallouts’ vault design and Fallout 3’s first few Vault 101 quests. Plus, there’s a fair number of references and generally trivial stuff in there.

This is both my first LD entry and my first ever game. In total, it took about five nights to make. It’s much longer than I’d anticipated — over 12,000 words apparently — so I can’t believe I even managed it in five. Considering it was written so fast, there may well be misspellings, grammatical oddities, bugs etc. If you do happen to find any, or just want to give me some feedback, please leave a comment or email snoother@outlook.com! I’d really appreciate it.

You can play it here.

Here’s my entry for this LD, simply called Beneath the Surface. Think violence, hyper-masculinity and North Korea.

Visit the game page.

Surprisingly, I completed it well within the time limit. I’m pretty happy with it — and even managed to write an original score for it, albeit not a particularly extensive one.

Hopefully people will “get it”. It’s one of those pieces that attempts to subvert your expectations.

A game to make you hate gamer power fantasy.

–Snoother

I’m almost considering taking down the web option. The audio is sometimes delayed; the gunshots seldom sound. Ugh. Really. Bloody. Annoying. I’m wondering how much of an audience I’ll lose by making it download only.

And for some reason it isn’t working (online) on Firefox at all.

Twine really needs native support for audio — or at least a macro that’s more stable for online games. Though it may be an issue with Google Drive, but I’m not sure what else I can feasibly use.

I’ve had quite a few wonderful comments about the game’s soundtrack (thank you!), so I decided to upload it to the game page.

Yes, I know you can get the files by downloading the game anyway, but I’ve included quite a bit extra for those who download the soundtrack. In the zip file you’ll find:

• Four audio files: the theme track, the piano variation used later, a looped version of the piano variation, and an unused piano theme that was later replaced by the piano variation.
• Scores for each track. They aren’t the most intricate scores — after all, I wrote them up quickly in Sibelius for the purposes of importing the midi into Cubase — but they are detailed enough, and may be of interest to someone.

–Snoother

Okay, here are some more games I’m really excited about. In the last two days I seem to have come across a handful of fabulous games that deserve all the praise they can get.

So, in no particular order:

The Loudest Ballerina — Really cute and well-executed game about ballet and giant monsters. Intrigued? You should be. Go play it — this is a five-star game in nearly every category.

Enderscope’s Game — A peculiarly wonderful idea that is a joy to explore. You are performing laparoscopic surgery to cut out a cancerous tumour from a patient. First person and 3D. And quite an experience.

Magma — Mechanically-simple game in which you set out to destroy a the inhabitants of planet who are “mired in sins, mortal sins”. Some killer, earth-shaking music just completes this impressive package.

Watch Your Step — A resource-gathering, sidescrolling, semi-survival game with fantastic art design and addictive gameplay.

Doomsday Bunker — This is most definitely the entry I played for the longest — probably way over an hour. And that’s a testiment to just how bloody good it is. The premise is simple: “Build your doomsday bunker! Survive the air raids! ” But the gameplay has a lot more complexity, and stuff like UI and graphics are so well polished.

A Happy Place — Slow and surreal death in an underground shelter. A memorable mood piece; evocative and beautifully minimal.

And the Moment is Gone — An introverted, experimental conversation game. It brilliantly depicts the pains and anxiety of such situations through an innovative game mechanic. I definitely feel like I can relate to this one.

The end of the list… That means it’s time for some self promotion! You can play my game here. Some of my favourite comments include “The perverse and nearly erotic descriptions are perfect”, “That was some dark shit… Well done”, “It’s hard to fight the urge to just stop playing and close the window”, ” I don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight knowing what I’ve done” and ” I feel like crap now… ” Who says games are fun?

So, I’ve uploaded the game to itch.io. You can take a look here. Nothing new, I’m afraid, just a rather snazzy webpage with a money-giving option for those who are particularly kind-hearted. Here’s a snapshot of the page (clicking it will take you to game’s page):

And I’ve received some criticism lately that’s given me plenty of food-for-thought, especially when it comes to a potential post-comp release. JavadocMD pointed out the lack of agency in the game, a very good point that hadn’t quite occurred to me. Of course, some of this is to do with a lack of time — there’s no way I could make x varieties of kill methods and path choices in just 48 hours, but it is feasible to do as a post-comp version. I also agree that this inclusion could make it a lot more affecting, as the player will feel more personally responsible for their actions rather than feel as if they are merely following the breadcrumbs laid by me, the author.

But I’m not sure how I feel about implementing any kind of change. I’m really happy that for many people the game worked and that the message(s) came across, so I’m reluctant to make any dramatic changes that may compromise the already-effective parts. It’s a damn-annoying dilemma. And there’s so many other projects I want to start that I almost just want to move on. But I am proud of this piece. Grr, I hate indecision.

Edited to add: I better also mention that I changed the game’s title screen slightly — though it’s so unimportant and superficial I didn’t bother to class it as a post-comp version or something silly. Hopefully I haven’t infringed upon any of the rules, but if I have I’ll happily revoke the minor change.

The SNOOTHAs is a self-described prestigious ceremony set up to award Ludum Dare entrants for their efforts. It may or may not be real. The “S” stand for Snoother (me, of course) and the “A” stands for award. I can’t for the life of me be bothered to fill in the rest.

The awards ceremony was held in a musty, windowless room by the “Robed Ones” — a bunch of self-appointed game critics donning brown, hooded robes. They quipped back and forth about “innovation”, “agency”, “underlying messages”, “immersiveness” — all that stuff. After weeks of sleepless deliberation, they finally reached a judgement. For each category they have assigned an overall winner and a selection of honourable mentions, listed alphabetically. Here are the results:

EXCELLENCE IN INNOVATION

Winner: And the Moment is Gone

An introverted and experimental conversation game. It brilliantly depicts the pains and frustrations of so many conversations by using an innovative game mechanic. The Robed Ones — for whom the voice of love often calls, only to find it’s a wrong number — felt they could particularly relate to the game.

Honourable Mentions: A Day in the Life; I Remember Alice; The Loudest Ballerina; The Pond; Space to Go; Substratum; Tenkosei Robo

EXCELLENCE IN FUN

Winner: Gravity

A ridiculously addictive game in which you descend below the surface to collect all the artefacts, reveal the ending and, of course, beat the high score. The Robed Ones stayed up way past their bed time playing this one.

Honourable Mentions: Beneath the Ice; Black Bile, Inhuman Circuits; Coin Diver; Doomsday Bunker; Mimic of the Deep; The Pond; Senilescape; Substratum; Tenkosei Robo

EXCELLENCE IN USE OF THEME

Winner: Not All of Them Died

A chilling and beautifully-minimal use of theme. It is “a game celebrating industrialised warfare” in which you walk through a vast cemetery of deceased military personnel, all individually named, including rank and date of death.

Honourable Mentions: A Day in the Life; Abstraction; And the Moment is Gone; Black Bile, Inhuman Circuits; Castle Engineer; Heart of the Cards; The Loudest Ballerina; RMBR; Series of Choices

EXCELLENCE IN GRAPHICS

Winner: Wunderheilung

Wunderheiling has some gorgeous art with a gently-surreal touch. The gameplay consists of examining peculiar creatures for medical problems, virtually forcing you to stare at each fabulous pixel cluster. While playing, the Robed Ones were gazing endlessly into their computer screens and drooling slowly — oh wait, they do that anyway.

Honourable Mentions: Gravity; Last Dive; The Pond; Seven Souls; Tenkosei Robo; Watch Your Step

EXCELLENCE IN AUDIO

Winner: Space to Go

A one-button music game — doesn’t sound like it should work, right? But oh my it does. With each spacebar press you control the pace of the music, moving forwards through this abstract plane and unexpectedly discovering a narrative. Just sublime.

Honourable Mentions: Any Ship Can Be a Minesweeper… Once; Coin Diver; Fragment; Gravity; In the Black; Last Dive; Magma; Mimic of the Deep; Tenkosei Robo

EXCELLENCE IN HUMOUR

Winner: Black Bile, Inhuman Circuits

The humour is so incisive and devious, thanks largely to how well-written it is. Loads of subversions of tropes and referential humour, but, as I said, it’s done so well. You experience that which is “beneath the surface of the body, in the realm of bodily humors: black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, and blood.” (The Robed Ones nod along, frothing.)

Honourable Mentions: Any Ship Can Be a Minesweeper… Once; Orlok’s Ordeal; The Sadness of Rocky Barbato; The Surface; Wunderheilung

EXCELLENCE IN MOOD

Winner: The Pond

This isn’t an outright mood piece: you have to sustain life in the pond for as long as possible by feeding the fish and moving the water. But it’s minimalism and life-and-death theme makes it remarkably evocative. Playing it feels serene, sombre, wistful. As the second-counter moves steadily onwards and your pond life begins to die away, you feel dejected — if only life weren’t so ephemeral.

Honourable Mentions: A Happy Place; Black Bile, Inhuman Circuits; Gravity; I Remember Alice; Last Dive; Mimic of the Deep; Not All of Them Died; Sopora

BEST GAME OF LUDUM DARE 29

Winner: The Loudest Ballerina

So cute and well-executed: a game about ballet and a giant monster. Intrigued? You should be. For goodness sake, go play it! Even the Robed Ones love it — and getting them to abandon their hypermasculine gamer culture and do ballet is indeed an achievement.

Honourable Mentions: And the Moment is Gone; Black Bile, Inhuman Circuits; Gravity; Last Dive; The Pond; Tenkosei Robo; Wireside

MY GAME

And what post would be complete without some aggressive self-promotion? This is, oh kind, generous reader, my game. A game that — wait for it — looks beneath the surface of an FPS.

Okay, in all seriousness I’d be really grateful for anyone to check it out. I put quite a bit of effort into it and there’s an important underlying message. It’s a text-based second-person shooter that explores the worst aspects of violent video games and the culture surrounding them.

–Snoother

Tags: best of

The mighty, infallible Snoother emerges once more into his sunlit arena of triumph. After the resounding success of his last entry, Beneath the Surface, he honours his colourful assortment of omnipresent fans by announcing his second involvement with Ludum Dare.

Okay okay. The more apt description is perhaps one employed by none other than Bertie Wooster: “like a fairly diffident snail poking its head out of its shell during a thunderstorm.” Ludum Dare is frightening, tense, thunderous. And I’m the nervous, timid sort who nevertheless can’t help but take on the challenge.

Plus, it was just so damn enjoyable and rewarding last time round. For once I actually completed a project, rather than them just being little Catholic embryos stranded in limbo. (Yes, I know the church reversed its policies to allow babies into Heaven. The church is compassionate like that. Just look at this current pope. He thinks I should be treated with dignity — well how nice of him! Just because you’re more liberal than Islam doesn’t make you moral. Rant over.) The game wasn’t too shabby either. Admittedly, I think it did a bit better than it should have because of its immediate shock value, but still, for my first compo I was (and am) pretty proud.

So I’ll be entering the compo again if all goes to plan, and once more I’ll be using Twine, a tool for authoring hypertext games.

Of the themes put forward so far, the following seem to furnish my mind with inspiration: Connected Worlds; No One Can See You; You Must Leave it Behind; Isolation; Love; The Other Side; This Happens to Me Every Day. I think it’s obvious that I tend towards the more narrative-friendly and potentially-emotive ideas. But that’s just my thing. I am, after all, a pompous-as-fuck hypertext author — albeit not a particularly good one.

Right. I’m excited about this. And actually, I can’t wait to see what others produce, perhaps even more so than seeing what I produce. Last time I played so many fabulous entries and had a wonderful time doing so. This time will doubtless be no different.

–Snoother

This is my fourth ‘best of’ post. Hereafter I’m abandoning the categorised approach, or else I’ll risk leaving shit out. Please do check out my past posts: the best romantic/erotic games, the best sci-fi games, and a mini-feature on a fascinating little game titled Any Moment.

Where Are Your Friends Tonight — This is one of those games that many people can doubtless relate to. Who hasn’t been moving on in life, finding out that you’re no longer tethered to certain friends as once was the case. Reunions become loquacious bouts of nostalgia but nothing more, until gradually the people you once new most intimately just fade from your life. And it’s all done with nice-looking graphics and a simple, accessible social network-esque interface.

Circling Circles and Oval Opposites — These are two of a perfect pair. Apparently both developers know eachother and decided to pair up to create two “connected”, thematically similar games set in the same world. Probably one of the most inventive takes on the theme I’ve seen. And the games work really well too. They’re minimalist, casual games with distinctive designs and moods.

Familiaris — A gorgeous Twine game — both visually and narratively — centred round  a dog and his owner. It’s all written from the dog’s perspective, which makes for an interesting, and ultimately engaging experience that I can heartily recommend.

Intranet — Another Twine game, but this one’s much more creepy than it is cute. And it uses the theme wonderfully. I don’t really want to say much more. You’re better off playing this one without any foreknowledge.

A Ludic Proof of the Difficulties Inherent in Finding a Proper Skull — Few! That’s one hell of a title. And it’s one hell of a game too. Like with the last one, I’m going to reserve to right to say no more. Narrative-based games like this are best played with a wholly unaffected mindset, I think. Just go play it. (You might not get it immediately though. It has a fascinating, but at first kind of subtle, take on the theme.)

Connecting — An involving conversation game written with utter believability, and set against pleasant graphics and atmospheric audio. You are texting your partner after a trip visiting a past love (or old fling; it’s not overly clear, nor does it need to be). The text messages can take multiple directions, and all the one’s I’ve found are engaging and affecting.

Alice Anxiety — Beautiful artwork, stunningly moodful music and notably interactive for a visual novel. Sadly, the game is very much still in embryonic form — just as things start to get really interesting, it ends. The developer obviously ran out of time. But what is here will keep you engaged, just be prepared for a lacklustre ending. I truly hope a post-Jam version is in the making.

And if you want to play my game, you can visit its page here. If you leave a comment I can promise I’ll check out your game and repay the favour. It just might take me a couple of days, considering my to-play list is expanding at a stupid rate.

And also because (self-serving plug coming up) I’m a bit distracted with the RuinJam 2014, for which I entered A Tale of the Cave, a hyperlink-based hardcore-but-short cave-crawl nearly entirely written using William McGonagall’s tremendously inept poetry. And I intend to make another game for jam in the next few days. I encourage anyone else interested to join me in ruing the game industry.

–Snoother

Tags: best of, highlights, list