When it comes to short experiences, it's a little hard for me to judge the worthiness of how it affects me as I am sometimes unsure of how much intention was measured by length. For example, is the experience short because it has a simple thing to say and can it effectively do it? Or was it a constraint of time or budget? Was it more a hobby or afterthought or something akin to a school project, brief and meant to test drive an idea to be fleshed out later?
In many ways, Astronomical Club for Queers, touches for me in various aspects all three of those experiences. A short game that I played the Switch version of, the game focuses on a central characters struggle post a flood, a civet named Louie. I initially saw it as a queer romance as the characters story focuses on them anchoring to Oliver, their friend and I hazarded someone they might crush on? The issue and to be honest it might be a personal one, is that the gender identities and orientations of characters are discussed on most of the games front pages but going in blind I wasn't really made too aware of these as I experienced the game itself. Perhaps it's that my own perception and cues are muted from my many years struggling to parse and understand any world I was not immediately aware of or felt party to. Perhaps I felt the game was too brief to let me see this insight or pick up on the cues of it, or again, perhaps I'm simply reading too deeply into the idea someone's identity being advertised loudly in the text is something I may want but perhaps we should move past.
The gameplay is very minimal and brief and it feels a bit frustrating to not have the ability to go check dialogue you've already read and it feels quite easily to accidentally leave the star gazing element of the game, making it feel too brief and too easily traversed. But again; these nitpicks are simply wedges in the tires for me, as while this was not my favourite experience technically or personally, it is one I deeply appreciate. I spend oft times wondering on my friends and as fellow queer people, wondering on how long these moments of value will hold on for. I don't know how long I or they have with me. So the reason I value this still a little higher then perhaps the system or experience gives me is that the message inside of it, of that anxiety and holding onto tangible moments of community, stands tall even past the mire.
In many ways, Astronomical Club for Queers, touches for me in various aspects all three of those experiences. A short game that I played the Switch version of, the game focuses on a central characters struggle post a flood, a civet named Louie. I initially saw it as a queer romance as the characters story focuses on them anchoring to Oliver, their friend and I hazarded someone they might crush on? The issue and to be honest it might be a personal one, is that the gender identities and orientations of characters are discussed on most of the games front pages but going in blind I wasn't really made too aware of these as I experienced the game itself. Perhaps it's that my own perception and cues are muted from my many years struggling to parse and understand any world I was not immediately aware of or felt party to. Perhaps I felt the game was too brief to let me see this insight or pick up on the cues of it, or again, perhaps I'm simply reading too deeply into the idea someone's identity being advertised loudly in the text is something I may want but perhaps we should move past.
The gameplay is very minimal and brief and it feels a bit frustrating to not have the ability to go check dialogue you've already read and it feels quite easily to accidentally leave the star gazing element of the game, making it feel too brief and too easily traversed. But again; these nitpicks are simply wedges in the tires for me, as while this was not my favourite experience technically or personally, it is one I deeply appreciate. I spend oft times wondering on my friends and as fellow queer people, wondering on how long these moments of value will hold on for. I don't know how long I or they have with me. So the reason I value this still a little higher then perhaps the system or experience gives me is that the message inside of it, of that anxiety and holding onto tangible moments of community, stands tall even past the mire.