The black forest game series
January 3, 2010 8:38 PM Subscribe
The Black Forest is a series of four minimalist flash games by Pixelate: Finding Friends, Unlearn, Harmony, and Companion.
Pixelate is also behind the more the more thoughtful than usual breakout clone Mr. Bounce and the series Understanding Games.
Pixelate is also behind the more the more thoughtful than usual breakout clone Mr. Bounce and the series Understanding Games.
I'm not sure how guiding the little box dude around is supposed to make me have a personal, emotional experience.
Play closer attention and invest a little more, I guess. I don't think it's too hard to figure out what these games are supposed to say, even though they are abstract.
posted by The Devil Tesla at 9:42 PM on January 3, 2010 [1 favorite]
Play closer attention and invest a little more, I guess. I don't think it's too hard to figure out what these games are supposed to say, even though they are abstract.
posted by The Devil Tesla at 9:42 PM on January 3, 2010 [1 favorite]
I've experienced frustration, now. That's pretty personal and emotional.
Nice games, well-designed and etc. I just suck at them.
posted by Scattercat at 9:49 PM on January 3, 2010
Nice games, well-designed and etc. I just suck at them.
posted by Scattercat at 9:49 PM on January 3, 2010
Well, I'm not saying they're bad. They're, uh, little boxy ghosts that you do things with. Thats neat and all. I'm just not feeling the emotional experience.
Must be my assburgers or something.
posted by Avenger at 9:52 PM on January 3, 2010
Must be my assburgers or something.
posted by Avenger at 9:52 PM on January 3, 2010
The Understanding Games series didn't really say anything that isn't totally obvious, but it was a fun way to have it explained to me.
posted by L.P. Hatecraft at 11:24 PM on January 3, 2010
posted by L.P. Hatecraft at 11:24 PM on January 3, 2010
So, I played all four and I think that these are a cop-out. Because you are expecting significance, you look for it, but, unlike, say the exquisite Small Worlds, I was left wondering whether was really anything real that these games were trying to say, or make me experience.
And, since they are not "complete games" the play mechanic is often too easy or too hard to make the games fun to play. Overall, I appreciate the growing trend for minimalist game/art, but this was not my favorite examples.
posted by blahblahblah at 8:15 AM on January 4, 2010 [1 favorite]
And, since they are not "complete games" the play mechanic is often too easy or too hard to make the games fun to play. Overall, I appreciate the growing trend for minimalist game/art, but this was not my favorite examples.
posted by blahblahblah at 8:15 AM on January 4, 2010 [1 favorite]
Such harsh critics! Between Flash games and iPhone games, we're in a real golden age for indie gaming experimentation. Enjoy these as little experiments. Note these are all flixel games, a free platform known for such amazing games as Canabalt.
Of the four games I liked the fourth, Companion, the most. It's the closest to emotional, even if it seems a bit derivative of Passage. I was liking the first game after finding my first friend, but then my other friends didn't do anything for me and that annoyed me. The second game is just an obnoxious platformer (IMHO) and I gave up in frustrated boredom on the harmony game after about 2 minutes.
(Also I totally agree about Small Worlds. That is a fantastic game.)
posted by Nelson at 9:04 AM on January 4, 2010
Of the four games I liked the fourth, Companion, the most. It's the closest to emotional, even if it seems a bit derivative of Passage. I was liking the first game after finding my first friend, but then my other friends didn't do anything for me and that annoyed me. The second game is just an obnoxious platformer (IMHO) and I gave up in frustrated boredom on the harmony game after about 2 minutes.
(Also I totally agree about Small Worlds. That is a fantastic game.)
posted by Nelson at 9:04 AM on January 4, 2010
I was liking the first game after finding my first friend, but then my other friends didn't do anything for me and that annoyed me.
I found the exact opposite to be true. The first guy only follows you around, the rest actually go ahead and show where you're supposed to go next. I think that is the point.
posted by The Devil Tesla at 9:38 AM on January 4, 2010
I found the exact opposite to be true. The first guy only follows you around, the rest actually go ahead and show where you're supposed to go next. I think that is the point.
posted by The Devil Tesla at 9:38 AM on January 4, 2010
I also liked the last game, with the musical notes, the best.
posted by Mister_A at 10:21 AM on January 4, 2010
posted by Mister_A at 10:21 AM on January 4, 2010
Well, I for one played all four successfully and enjoyed them thoroughly. I guess maybe I'm just easy to please.
And it made me smile that (spoiler alert!) finding each additional friend in the first game added new harmonies to the background music. And I giggled when I figured out that the bouncing pink ghosts were my friends and would follow me and bounce me to where I needed to go. Figuring out the concept of each new game was fun.
To add: Hrm, maybe I'm not that easy to please, just weird. I've just played Small Worlds, and don't get the hype. It's cool, it's beautiful, but after the first realization of what was happening, it turned into something like what kids do in grade school when they draw a picture in bright colors and then coat it in black wax, then scrape some of the wax away to reveal the colors beneath. Repetitious and not really comparable to these games, in my opinion.
Anyway, thanks for this, The Devil Tesla!
posted by po at 10:16 PM on January 4, 2010
And it made me smile that (spoiler alert!) finding each additional friend in the first game added new harmonies to the background music. And I giggled when I figured out that the bouncing pink ghosts were my friends and would follow me and bounce me to where I needed to go. Figuring out the concept of each new game was fun.
To add: Hrm, maybe I'm not that easy to please, just weird. I've just played Small Worlds, and don't get the hype. It's cool, it's beautiful, but after the first realization of what was happening, it turned into something like what kids do in grade school when they draw a picture in bright colors and then coat it in black wax, then scrape some of the wax away to reveal the colors beneath. Repetitious and not really comparable to these games, in my opinion.
Anyway, thanks for this, The Devil Tesla!
posted by po at 10:16 PM on January 4, 2010
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I appreciate this, but I'm not sure how guiding the little box dude around is supposed to make me have a personal, emotional experience.
posted by Avenger at 9:32 PM on January 3, 2010