OnionBob on 8/9/2010 at 14:15

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lol

Singing Dancing Moose on 8/9/2010 at 14:35

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well lots of people are

Singing Dancing Moose on 9/9/2010 at 14:51

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I posted it because I like flashing lights and sounds, and it made me laugh! You don't need to engage with it any further if you don't want to. If you are interested, here are some brief thoughts.

It's sort of a dadaist deconstruction of a video game. You maneuver a thing towards a predetermined goal and are rewarded with new images and sounds. Most video games contextualize this to invest you in your efforts. Garrett amasses piles of gold, the all-seeing commander increases vespense gas production, a little turret shoots space invaders as your score ticks higher.

Randy Balma skips all this. There's no score, no story, no penalty for failure, and it's barely clear what's going on. The only motivation to go forward is the little arrow pointing the way and a chance to see new stuff. Every element beyond "do something, see something" has been stripped out.

An aside: I don't think there's a radical distinction between score and story as motivation. In either case you're given a cue that you're doing well and can keep going. The situation is slightly more complex in games where you aren't headed towards victory for your character or a top score, but the same rules apply. You may realize that something terrible is going to happen at the end of a horror game, but seeing the narrative resolved is still the reward the game is offering.

alica on 16/9/2010 at 12:58

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Hey ! it get me confused bit but quite interesting.