Loved
June 15, 2010 2:44 AM Subscribe
Loved is a flash platform game about choice by Alexander Ocias that features multiple endings. (via/mini writeup: RPS)
What the...? Is it a problem with flash or is it supposed to act like this? When I crouch, after about half a second it all starts flickering and it's impossible to stay crouched long enough to duck under the red block. So progress is impossible.
Depending on what choices you make, there can be flickering artifacts that are part of the game, but what you describe sounds like a problem with flash.
posted by juv3nal at 3:01 AM on June 15, 2010
Depending on what choices you make, there can be flickering artifacts that are part of the game, but what you describe sounds like a problem with flash.
posted by juv3nal at 3:01 AM on June 15, 2010
This game is kind of passive-aggressive.
posted by Happy Dave at 3:28 AM on June 15, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by Happy Dave at 3:28 AM on June 15, 2010 [2 favorites]
seems like all the decision making so called "free will" is in the hands of the player but the computer controls the choices offered
posted by infini at 3:32 AM on June 15, 2010
posted by infini at 3:32 AM on June 15, 2010
Cheat code:
Using the arrows, type up, up, right, right, down, down, when the narrator asks if you are excited to meet him/her. This reveals a hidden bathroom. Escape through the window and go meet your friends at the club.
posted by Terminal Verbosity at 4:23 AM on June 15, 2010 [1 favorite]
Using the arrows, type up, up, right, right, down, down, when the narrator asks if you are excited to meet him/her. This reveals a hidden bathroom. Escape through the window and go meet your friends at the club.
posted by Terminal Verbosity at 4:23 AM on June 15, 2010 [1 favorite]
Crouch and hold right to stay crouched for long enough to get under the blocks you need to crouch under.
There's some creepy / wrong feeling gender stuff going on with the text here, to say the very least. I don't think it's about choice at all, but I don't think it's about love either. Seems to be about control and revenge, and the dark place you can go to when you are unable to get over rejection.
Passage this isn't.
posted by motty at 5:20 AM on June 15, 2010 [1 favorite]
There's some creepy / wrong feeling gender stuff going on with the text here, to say the very least. I don't think it's about choice at all, but I don't think it's about love either. Seems to be about control and revenge, and the dark place you can go to when you are unable to get over rejection.
Passage this isn't.
posted by motty at 5:20 AM on June 15, 2010 [1 favorite]
Too much art. Not enough game.
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:33 AM on June 15, 2010
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:33 AM on June 15, 2010
I must admit to some weariness with this obstinately minimalistic esthetic.
posted by eeeeeez at 6:34 AM on June 15, 2010
posted by eeeeeez at 6:34 AM on June 15, 2010
And as a game it provided no enjoyment. Not much to like.
posted by eeeeeez at 6:49 AM on June 15, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by eeeeeez at 6:49 AM on June 15, 2010 [1 favorite]
Well I guess Ebert was right
posted by Damn That Television at 7:15 AM on June 15, 2010 [4 favorites]
posted by Damn That Television at 7:15 AM on June 15, 2010 [4 favorites]
I have a hint for indie developers who want to do something interesting/artsie, or whatever. I played at least a thousand hours of Mario and similar platformers as a kid. At a bare minimum. Not only that, I played them with actual game controllers. I've had enough dying on spikes to last me a lifetime, and even if I wanted to jump over spikes, I sure as fuck don't want to do it with a keyboard. I am not going to struggle through your frustrating gameplay to see whatever profound statement you think you're making.
posted by Caduceus at 7:37 AM on June 15, 2010 [8 favorites]
posted by Caduceus at 7:37 AM on June 15, 2010 [8 favorites]
When the future comes and we all have neural implants and we're living in a fully realized simulated reality and games and indistinguishable from the physical world, we will still be running right and jumping over spikes.
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 7:47 AM on June 15, 2010
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 7:47 AM on June 15, 2010
Games have pretty much decided that they should be a narative art like most novels and movies. That's fine and they can try to do that to a degree if they want, but combinatorial explosian puts a significant limit on the number of narrative choices available to the player or renders those choices inconsequential or arbitrary. You can trick the orc or you can kill the orc and maybe if you choose 'wrong' you will have to kill more orcs or miss out on the disposable doodad of incremental advantage but it doesn't really have an impact on the story.
So it is possible to tell a good story with a game, so long as the story doesn't depend to much on what the player does. In order to offer a significant number of significant choices you have to tell way more good stories than people are capable of telling.
There's this idea that games get to be good by combining narrative and freedom. Doing so can get a sophisticated choose your own adventure with a handful of meaningful choices and like a half a dozen pretty ok stories and a lot of time to kill. Games shouldn't be thought of as narrative plus choice but as narrative plus activities.
This game doesn't have much going for it in terms of activities. And it doesn't have a good narrative. But it does provide a certain kind of atmosphere. That's something.
posted by I Foody at 8:08 AM on June 15, 2010 [2 favorites]
So it is possible to tell a good story with a game, so long as the story doesn't depend to much on what the player does. In order to offer a significant number of significant choices you have to tell way more good stories than people are capable of telling.
There's this idea that games get to be good by combining narrative and freedom. Doing so can get a sophisticated choose your own adventure with a handful of meaningful choices and like a half a dozen pretty ok stories and a lot of time to kill. Games shouldn't be thought of as narrative plus choice but as narrative plus activities.
This game doesn't have much going for it in terms of activities. And it doesn't have a good narrative. But it does provide a certain kind of atmosphere. That's something.
posted by I Foody at 8:08 AM on June 15, 2010 [2 favorites]
The game really doesn't do anything for me -- I played through to both endings, and, okay, that happened. I had a whole spoiler-laden critique written out but... meh. Delete.
My real question is, why do all the "I will make a minimalist platformer which is actually a metacommentary on the act of gaming" have the same spikes? Is this an in-joke among developers? Is there a template given to all software/arts students along with their bong and IDE?
posted by ook at 8:53 AM on June 15, 2010
My real question is, why do all the "I will make a minimalist platformer which is actually a metacommentary on the act of gaming" have the same spikes? Is this an in-joke among developers? Is there a template given to all software/arts students along with their bong and IDE?
posted by ook at 8:53 AM on June 15, 2010
The game that redefines floaty jumps?
I played that game because i thought it would have a cool ending. Instead, it just gave me a "The End" screen. Next time I play a tricky platformer with difficult controls, hope it will at least be nice to me.
posted by demiurge at 10:09 AM on June 15, 2010
I played that game because i thought it would have a cool ending. Instead, it just gave me a "The End" screen. Next time I play a tricky platformer with difficult controls, hope it will at least be nice to me.
posted by demiurge at 10:09 AM on June 15, 2010
Reminds me of the low-grade C-64 games I used to play...heh...
posted by Alexandra Kitty at 11:03 AM on June 15, 2010
posted by Alexandra Kitty at 11:03 AM on June 15, 2010
I see what he's going for and enjoyed a bit of this, but I think the actual text and questions could use some work to make it more engaging.
posted by cell divide at 11:18 AM on June 15, 2010
posted by cell divide at 11:18 AM on June 15, 2010
Well. That was decidedly creepy.
posted by lholladay at 12:01 PM on June 15, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by lholladay at 12:01 PM on June 15, 2010 [1 favorite]
I really liked it. The narrator gave strong vibes of being an abusive, controlling prick, and I enjoyed disobeying him/her at every opportunity.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 10:14 PM on June 16, 2010
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 10:14 PM on June 16, 2010
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