/digipen/ - DigiPenitentiary

I don't post here too often, and I think I've maybe made three or four posts ever with the tripcode (capcode?). But here we are. Serious time.

I will be policing spoilers for this game just like I did for MGSV. Not that there's really anything to spoil anyways.

This game is not for everyone. However, anyone struggling with their own creativity and their desire (need?) to create things will probably identify with the game and its creator… assuming they can parse the layers of metaphor the game uses, which some people online seem to be struggling with.

I'm posting this in Serious Board Owner mode because I have something legitimately serious to say and I'd like for you guys to listen.

This game got me to really, truly examine myself, the actions I've taken, and the motivations that have driven me in the past few years of my life. I'm kind of having a bit of a breakdown because of it to be honest. I don't want to go into it too much because a.) it's very personal and b.) I wouldn't want to spoil the game, because playing through it was an incredibly emotional and transformative experience. Yes, I know this sounds ridiculous, and I would've agreed with you about 48 hours ago.

Anyways, here's my advice: If you're one of these creative types and this game interests you, I would suggest waiting until the end of the semester to play it. If it affects you as strongly as it did me (and a handful of others on the Internet), you might also have a bit of a breakdown and it could impact your ability to succeed at school, depending on how introspective you get about it. It might even make you want to give up your career in games altogether. (This is about where I'm at right now myself.)

You might also just laugh it off as being a dumb pretentious walking simulator for douchebags that is trying way too hard to be 3deep5me.

I'm fully prepared to take a ton of anonymous flak for this post, but I just want you guys to know that I'm truly trying to help. This board is not the most positive place around, and a great deal of that is on me. You guys are a month into the semester now, and that's far too early in the school year to be having an existential crisis. Worry about figuring out whether or not your life has meaning or whether your creative output will ever truly bring you happiness over Christmas break, and focus on staying sane now; you're gonna need it.

>>2783

Now I want to play it…

>>2783

Without being spoilery, I will admit that at first, I could connect with the characters. But then I didn't like one of the characters for reasons that become evident.

I have to say though, this didn't connect with me at all. If anything, it made me want to make a game that's fun, and not walking. I'm not laughing it off as a pretentious etc etc 3deep5me game, I'm shrugging it off as an incomplete attempt overall. It's not that it tried too hard, it's that it tried the wrong things.

Spoilers in the black.

I didn't like that the game was basically the dev complimenting his own designs and his own work. It felt too self-aggrandizing, like they were trying to pump up their own "tortured genius". Look, I get it. It's tough being a creative when you don't have the drive to create, but as it's said, there are ups and downs in everyone's drive.

The only thing this game really made me understand is that I have to make fun games, not walking simulators.

I'm dead serious when I say this: All i really cared about was the dots, because at least the "fake" meaning behind the dots was something I could trust. But by the end i really disliked what the dude was trying to put forth, as a character: "You added the lampposts? that's like adjusting a painting post-mortem and saying you think you know better!" And then, moments later, I realized it was all fake masturbatory URT and let the credits finish.

I am sincerely glad I paid for UNDERTALE and not that.

Owney, I can fully acknowledge that for some people, it might have made them doubt everything about themselves, but honestly, I'm not feeling anything but a greater drive to make games fun, and not overwrought pieces ofart.

>>2791

It sounds like you understand the metaphors and stuff in the game pretty well (or at least, you're on the same page as me), but you keep using "masturbatory" to describe it, and I think that's just because you don't identify with it. Read this blog post he wrote about his success with The Stanley Parable: http://www.galactic-cafe.com/2014/02/game-of-the-year/ , and if he seems interesting to you, check out the rest of his blog. I think the game is amazing because he's expressing his emotions through level design and narrative, instead of through film, paint, pen, or any other media where this is commonly accepted. It's like video game poetry, an interactive autobiography of emotions.

And for those who identify with the emotions of the creator's being conveyed through the work, it evokes emotions more strongly than it could in another medium, due to the inherently interactive nature of the game. Even though the game contains no real choices (dialogue trees all lead to the same endpoint… also you can read all the notes or not, I guess), the player experiences these feelings more intimately, because they have control over the experience. You can look and freely in almost all parts of the game… even the visually powerful final "ascension" sequence. Most games would script the camera to pan up artistically.

In my opinion, this makes The Beginner's Guide not even really a game at all, but that doesn't really matter to the discussion. It's an interactive expression of emotion and inner turmoil that will likely either resonate VERY strongly with you, or it won't. It's also interesting because it has this "meta" element to it too, and that stuff really appeals to me personally.

For these reasons, I entirely unironically think The Beginner's Guide really is an exceptional work of art, regardless of whether everyone identifies with it or not. I would love for this to be a new genre of "game": short, emotional pieces that you can pick up for $5-10, experience, and then think a lot about.

Whoops, sorry; it's been like six months since I've had GAT.

—

Also, anyone who wants to post spoilers: 8chan sucks and the spoiler tags (which you make like this: [`spoiler]whatever[`/spoiler], but without the `s) don't carry over between newlines. So before you press Enter, make sure to close your spoiler tag, or else it won't work and the spoilers will be visible and I'll have to fix it.

>>2793

Hey chief. I just have some choice words for you.

Just kidding. I respect what you're saying, so my words aren't "choice", but they are, hopefully, well chosen.

I absolutely don't want to detract from your enjoyment of the game, so, I have no intention of trying to tell you anything like "no you're wrong stop liking it". I'll admit in fact that it did resonate with me at first, because genuinely, I'm in a bit of a creative slump at the moment too and, if people saw my output, they'd wonder if I was okay.

But… for me, once it was revealed how he modified the work, for some reason *that* was the final straw in my suspension of disbelief. It seemed like something that nobody would actually do. The shortcuts, the glitch removals, the narration I could handle, but for whatever reason, as soon as his lamppost thing was brought to light, I couldn't take it seriously anymore. I'm not sure why. It just seemed like a shitty thing for his character to do, and I think ultimately I ended up disliking the Davey character because of that and his weirdly obsessive demeanor.

After finishing the game, I did look at what he'd written about post-Stanley, and that person - the person who came through in his writing there, that fellow was a good guy. A bit overwhelmed and mixed up from TSP's success, but he meant well. "Davey" the character, I couldn't accept his actions. I can definitely identify with what he was conveying, but the layers of fiction were distracting and ultimately detracted from his message, in my view.

I guess I wished he'd been more personally confessional in the end - admitting the Coda ruse, admitting that it was all actually about him, somehow atoning for calling "Coda's" designs great and inspirational and intriguing when he was really just calling his *own* work great/inspirational/etc. And last but not least – I don't know. I suppose I expected it to be more of a game, and I was let down by that - that nothing I did mattered. Stylistic choice or not, it felt like that could have been more well communicated. I'm not sure. I really wanted to like TBG, but… Once my faith in the story and my suspension-of-disbelief was broken, that was it.

Ultimately, though - I am glad you enjoyed it. I did, for a while, but ultimately didn't like the aftertaste. If it helped you think more critically about yourself, then that's great. I say that with no salt, with no irony, I'm being serious and honest, which I know is rare on this board or at this school and sometimes even in the whole damn industry. I respect you and your appreciation of TBG, Owney.

Games have a great potential to help people through tough spots by giving them new things to think about. TBG, game or not, seems to have really struck a chord with you.

I just can't say I reached the same conclusions as you did.

I just played through it, just wanted to share some thoughts

coda is adoc backwards