This is a "chain" collection of games, each one is an incredibly small game made in a short amount of time... made in response to all the previous games.
The result is something incredibly weird and that's what gives it such a fascinating identity. Each person/game has such a distinct voice/presentation/style/premise/intent/ect. Yet together they all feel like a conversation. It's cool to see an author make interesting use of a motiff, it's even cooler to see a group of friends make use of one.
The context of these existing as a chain-collection of games is fascinating and probably is responsible for me playing all of these. [Many of these are games I likely wouldn't just randomly play in isolation] In the context of this collection, all of these were worth the (little) time they demanded. There's also a couple highlight entries that were incredibly powerful (or enjoyable) for me {games 4-7}.
The icing on the cake is the included commentary text file from all the developers in the Extras folder, I adore reading stuff like that after I've finished something.
These games are raw, surprising, personal, off-putting, strange, interesting, and brief. If you only play commercial games it's hard to explain this experience ( i mean to be fair i would have trouble writing about these anyway that's part of what makes this collection so interesting)
I think the strongest quality of these games is the writing, it's incredibly evocative. My writers toolbox for talking about these experiences is quite limited, but that's definitely not due to a lack of interesting stuff to think about.
The other thing that's hard to wrap my brain around is that the lack of "quality" is itself the quality. These are very obviously games made each in a few days, but they're such powerful and personal expressions and part of that is definitely the sharp edges in the experience.
Finally, I loved how each folder mentions the engine each game is made in. It was pretty interesting to think about how vestigial and strange some of the engine features and quirks are for some of these games.
The result is something incredibly weird and that's what gives it such a fascinating identity. Each person/game has such a distinct voice/presentation/style/premise/intent/ect. Yet together they all feel like a conversation. It's cool to see an author make interesting use of a motiff, it's even cooler to see a group of friends make use of one.
The context of these existing as a chain-collection of games is fascinating and probably is responsible for me playing all of these. [Many of these are games I likely wouldn't just randomly play in isolation] In the context of this collection, all of these were worth the (little) time they demanded. There's also a couple highlight entries that were incredibly powerful (or enjoyable) for me {games 4-7}.
The icing on the cake is the included commentary text file from all the developers in the Extras folder, I adore reading stuff like that after I've finished something.
These games are raw, surprising, personal, off-putting, strange, interesting, and brief. If you only play commercial games it's hard to explain this experience ( i mean to be fair i would have trouble writing about these anyway that's part of what makes this collection so interesting)
I think the strongest quality of these games is the writing, it's incredibly evocative. My writers toolbox for talking about these experiences is quite limited, but that's definitely not due to a lack of interesting stuff to think about.
The other thing that's hard to wrap my brain around is that the lack of "quality" is itself the quality. These are very obviously games made each in a few days, but they're such powerful and personal expressions and part of that is definitely the sharp edges in the experience.
Finally, I loved how each folder mentions the engine each game is made in. It was pretty interesting to think about how vestigial and strange some of the engine features and quirks are for some of these games.