Thanks for the unconstructive feedback. If you just don’t like a game genre then why talk about it? I myself am something of a conneisseur of the baby shooting genre and would personally rank this as a bold experiment in the vein of ‘Lilith RPG’ and ‘Seven Steppes Of Moloch’, although obviously not close to scene heavyweights like KillBarney’s seminal Doom WAD ‘Super SMash Baby’. Please don’t clutter up the comments thread with this ignorance. 😐
Returning to the original post I thought this was funny and the music was good although I also could not escape the certain room.
It could be – just maybe – that what we’re looking at here is a display of juvenile violence used in a really boneheaded attempt to make a point that’s been made so many times before. I wish I could better articulate my scorn for this game’s almost Tyler Durden-esque use of unproductive aggression. Punch a fucking pillow or something and try again.
It’s not that I see any inherent problem in disapproving of the excesses of the AAA games industry and all that, or doing so passionately and unapologetically – of course not. But this sort of crap? Just gross and unnecessary.
I thought it was nice how the game replicated the “ugh, really? that’s really where this game is going?” feeling I get whenever a game gives me a gun. “Unproductive aggression”–exactly.
I’m pretty sure that’s the joke. “The consumer privilege don’t allows us to see the subtleties”. It shows a journalist talking about videogames growing up – “This cannot be. I cannot let it be.” That can’t be meant seriously, right?
It’s a game from the kind of deranged internet denizen that only speaks in all caps. It may be a deliberately constructed persona, or the author might actually be like that – either way, it’s an interesting descent into madness.
The comments on this one make me uncomfortable in a way that’s hard to pin down. I think that’s because to respond to a game — or any art object — with mockery like “WOW SO EDGY BRO” or to dismiss it by pointing toward its “supposed…symbolism” requires some really uncharitable assumptions about not only the work itself but the mindset of its author.
And in both cases the uncharitable assumptions boil down to accusing the author of not being sufficiently self-aware, of having flatly ambitious or objectionable intentions that aren’t borne out or justified by the work itself.
And of course there are immature works worthy of such critique, but I guess I want to insist that Paiva’s games are simply too savvy to deserve that sort of reproach, though I have trouble putting into words exactly why I feel that way so strongly. (Anyone want to jump in and give it a shot?)
I think I’d also like to point out that ‘depth’ and ‘symbolism’ aren’t really such great categories to be on the lookout for when approaching an art-object in general, that the uniqueness of an art-object is more about its surfaces, and how those surfaces work against each other to feel a bit more complicated than they might at first appear, that ‘depth,’ properly speaking, is a neat illusion produced by those surfaces and not something so crass or didactic as a Message or a 1:1 symbol code.
But these are not so well fleshed-out thoughts now. I guess I’m stumbling toward something I think I know intuitively but can’t quite articulate yet.
For me, the violence was so over-the-top and absurd, I assumed that most of this was meant in jest. I think this could easily be interpreted as a satire of the ridiculous overreactions people have to the “politics” of the games industry. The ending could be seen as encouraging people to unplug themselves from the hate-machine they’ve become so deeply intrenched in.
Whatever message the author intended to get across, I enjoyed it.
A bit crass, ain’t it? Baby shooting is not my thing.
I don’t think it’s anyone’s thing
Thanks for the unconstructive feedback. If you just don’t like a game genre then why talk about it? I myself am something of a conneisseur of the baby shooting genre and would personally rank this as a bold experiment in the vein of ‘Lilith RPG’ and ‘Seven Steppes Of Moloch’, although obviously not close to scene heavyweights like KillBarney’s seminal Doom WAD ‘Super SMash Baby’. Please don’t clutter up the comments thread with this ignorance. 😐
Returning to the original post I thought this was funny and the music was good although I also could not escape the certain room.
Oh wow, and I thought I was a finicky arsehole.
You don’t have to shoot the baby you know
SPOILERS Is it possible to go on from the purple room with a leaky roof?
[no spoiler tags?]
No. It’s supposed to be symbolism for
the authorthe average gamer.It could be – just maybe – that what we’re looking at here is a display of juvenile violence used in a really boneheaded attempt to make a point that’s been made so many times before. I wish I could better articulate my scorn for this game’s almost Tyler Durden-esque use of unproductive aggression. Punch a fucking pillow or something and try again.
It’s not that I see any inherent problem in disapproving of the excesses of the AAA games industry and all that, or doing so passionately and unapologetically – of course not. But this sort of crap? Just gross and unnecessary.
I thought it was nice how the game replicated the “ugh, really? that’s really where this game is going?” feeling I get whenever a game gives me a gun. “Unproductive aggression”–exactly.
I’m pretty sure that’s the joke. “The consumer privilege don’t allows us to see the subtleties”. It shows a journalist talking about videogames growing up – “This cannot be. I cannot let it be.” That can’t be meant seriously, right?
It’s a game from the kind of deranged internet denizen that only speaks in all caps. It may be a deliberately constructed persona, or the author might actually be like that – either way, it’s an interesting descent into madness.
WOW SO EDGY BRO.
Nah, this game is about as edgy as a fucking circle. “Shocking” for the sake of it. Meaningless garbage.
Is this blog starting to lose focus? 🙁
disliking/disapproving of a game has nothing to do with a loss of focus in blog posters.
Crass and incoherent.
Just like a hate letter should be?
That said, this doesn’t really bring anything new the conversation on the state of the games industry.
I dig the visual style, also. Monochrome done well is always nice to see.
Perhaps worth pointing out that there is a lot less to this game if you play it in Safari (and possibly other browsers) than if you play it in Chrome.
The comments on this one make me uncomfortable in a way that’s hard to pin down. I think that’s because to respond to a game — or any art object — with mockery like “WOW SO EDGY BRO” or to dismiss it by pointing toward its “supposed…symbolism” requires some really uncharitable assumptions about not only the work itself but the mindset of its author.
And in both cases the uncharitable assumptions boil down to accusing the author of not being sufficiently self-aware, of having flatly ambitious or objectionable intentions that aren’t borne out or justified by the work itself.
And of course there are immature works worthy of such critique, but I guess I want to insist that Paiva’s games are simply too savvy to deserve that sort of reproach, though I have trouble putting into words exactly why I feel that way so strongly. (Anyone want to jump in and give it a shot?)
I think I’d also like to point out that ‘depth’ and ‘symbolism’ aren’t really such great categories to be on the lookout for when approaching an art-object in general, that the uniqueness of an art-object is more about its surfaces, and how those surfaces work against each other to feel a bit more complicated than they might at first appear, that ‘depth,’ properly speaking, is a neat illusion produced by those surfaces and not something so crass or didactic as a Message or a 1:1 symbol code.
But these are not so well fleshed-out thoughts now. I guess I’m stumbling toward something I think I know intuitively but can’t quite articulate yet.
Thanks for listening!
agreed
For me, the violence was so over-the-top and absurd, I assumed that most of this was meant in jest. I think this could easily be interpreted as a satire of the ridiculous overreactions people have to the “politics” of the games industry. The ending could be seen as encouraging people to unplug themselves from the hate-machine they’ve become so deeply intrenched in.
Whatever message the author intended to get across, I enjoyed it.
i can’t get past the title screen. shooting the body just causes it to spin around. huh.
“i can’t get past the title screen. shooting the body just causes it to spin around. huh.”
HTML5 is so fucking unstable. I think it’s a bug that happens with some browsers. Try Google Chrome or a different from that you are using.
Excellent commentary on what really is involved in shooting games. (ps I now and then like FPS but consider it a guilty pleasure.)
Taking advantage of this comment function to say that I love this game and will carry it in my heart always.