http://www.whatisnous.com/thumbnails/tn_Nous2.png
Play this now. It'll take you about 20 min. to beat, and oh boy is it worth it:

http://www.whatisnous.com/

Tungsten   Post Author wrote on 03/11/2012 at 09:04pm

And hurry up because I want to talk about it.

jdodson   Admin wrote on 03/12/2012 at 12:50am

Gonna download it now. Let you know when I finish with it either way :)

jdodson   Admin wrote on 03/12/2012 at 01:20am

Ok so I just stopped playing it. I stopped at the part where I am trying to hit the box and it keeps counting down cores.

Interesting game. Seems like its going for something Portalish. I am not sure I got how to play the game totally. I liked that the game pulled screenshots from my desktop and tried to crash and then come back.

I didn't like the dialog between me and the computer very much, it seemed.... For lack of a better word, annoying. My reactions to the text were way different than the options presented. It was like "Choose A" or "Choose B" and I didn't think either were what I was thinking. I also didn't like the test, like I don't know, just didn't like it.

In the end the game was fun even though I didn't know much of what I was doing most of the time. I liked collecting points but then I said something about wanting a lot of points and it gave me unlimited points and I was no happy with that and then they gave me negative full points. I didn't like that either. I think when a game is so whimsical with its score I don't know, that really lost me.

I get it, score doesn't matter or something? But I wasn't sure what the point was and the game didn't really go anywhere so I wasn't really sure why I should keep playing the "I need to catch you level" when its not clear me doing that meant anything cool would happen.

The game is unique, and if you want surprises and not to know what to expect next, check it out. I guess I would say it frustrated me but then again, thats most likely part of the design.

Tungsten   Post Author wrote on 03/12/2012 at 02:08am

SPOILERS*******************************







That was the end, and really the pay off. It's fine though if you didn't really buy into it, and I could see how it would be frustrating.

My own personal take was that it was a bit of an anti game: the points don't matter, there are no real levels, and in the end (after you beat that box) it basically just admits that it was a game.

It resonated with me, maybe because I'm kind of sick of games being what they have traditionally been. The game kind of mocks the idea of a score, the "crazy" AI, bosses, stories, even good guys vs. bad guys. I love a good God of War or COD as much as the next guy, but here and there the old formula just feels stale, and its nice to see another game that pokes at that.

And you have to admit that the whole Crash to Desktop thing was clever.

jdodson   Admin wrote on 03/12/2012 at 03:06am

It had a ton of unique moments that made me really think about what a game really is. It built up something and then tore it back down. Which I find interesting generally.

Cool project though and these sorts of experiments are cool.

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