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Re: Everything

#21
Dinosawer wrote:I have no idea what it is, but I want it.
JanB1 wrote:
Now I'm scared to watch it...
It's not scary, just... special.
Yeah, okay. This was really cool. And I mean like: REALLY REALLY cool! But at the end it got a little weird. Totally sold on this one, though! :P
Automation engineer, lateral thinker, soldier, addicted to music, books and gaming.
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Flatfingers wrote: 23.01.2017: "Show me the smoldering corpse of Perfectionist Josh"
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Re: Everything

#24
I should have mentioned; I "finished" Everything a month or so ago.
Image
It's definitely a nonpareil of exploratory play. The only real mechanics are:

1. Moving around.
2. Becoming different things (inhabiting them).
3. Shifting the current frame of reference upward (bigger) or downward (smaller).
4. Saying hello to nearby objects.
5. Listening to the thoughts of nearby objects.
6. Listening to snippets from a speech by Alan Watts.

Actions 5 and 6 are the narrative of Everything -- not a linear story, but random thoughts that together encourage you to think about your place in existence.

So, looked at through my game analysis lens, Everything actually tries to hit on three of the four primary modes of fun: exploration, accumulation, and identity.

The exploration-fun comes from, well, exploring the different levels of the universe, the objects that inhabit each level, and how they interact. It's a bit touristy and walking-simulator-like in the way that Proteus was, but Everything's "becoming" mechanic connects the player more closely to the gameworld.

The accumulation-fun comes from trying to become, er, everything. All things are grouped into classes, and the known items and percent complete for each class are shown. So completionists and friends can enjoy trying to find all the different things that it's possible to become. (There's no direct competition within the game, though, so on that measure Everything will tickle the typical Achiever's interests less than most games.)

And the identity-fun comes from experiencing the thoughts of things, and from Alan Watts's lecture. Many of these are in the form of questions: what does it mean to be something? What does it mean to be you, in particular? Are you special? Or not? And does that matter? If so, how?

What Everything isn't is a kinesthetic/sensation-oriented game. It's not about fast-twitch reactions or epicness on a timer. If there's such a thing as a Platonic opposite of Tetris, Everything is probably that thing. So in that sense, Everything is actually not everything.

It's arguable how well Everything succeeds at any of exploration, accumulation, or identity fun individually. What is pretty sure is that there are darned few games -- if any -- that try to mix all three of these flavors of fun into one coherent game. At this, I think Everything does achieve a measure of success.
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Re: Everything

#25
Flatfingers wrote:
Fri Jun 30, 2017 1:56 pm

And the identity-fun comes from experiencing the thoughts of things, and from Alan Watts's lecture. Many of these are in the form of questions: what does it mean to be something? What does it mean to be you, in particular? Are you special? Or not? And does that matter? If so, how?
Yeah, if you let it the game gets you to think about these questions. (I never had such an amount of complex questions to ask myself while being a rock. And rolling over some animals.)

The game as a whole was a bit lacking though, after 20 minutes you have seen everything "Everything" has to offer. (Being a caterpillar is still fun though.)
More people want exploding kittens than exploding ships. Somehow, this makes me happy.
- credits go to dwmagus
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Re: Everything

#26
HappyGhecko wrote:
Tue Jul 04, 2017 2:47 am
Yeah, if you let it the game gets you to think about these questions. (I never had such an amount of complex questions to ask myself while being a rock. And rolling over some animals.)
Exactly. I think Everything would fall into the category of "software toy" (which is not a bad thing to be), except that it does -- if you let it -- get you thinking about what it means to exist at this moment in the universe. Which seems to me more than something a mere toy can do.
HappyGhecko wrote:
Tue Jul 04, 2017 2:47 am
The game as a whole was a bit lacking though, after 20 minutes you have seen everything "Everything" has to offer. (Being a caterpillar is still fun though.)
Our experiences differed, then. ;) I was still exploring after 2-3 hours. It takes at least that long to hear the various bits of Alan Watts's lecture, as long as you're also trying to become lots of different things and listening to the thoughts of objects.

Spoiler:      SHOW
Also, did you go into the Golden Gate? That's maybe the most "game-like" part of Everything.
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Re: Everything

#27
Flatfingers wrote:

Our experiences differed, then. ;) I was still exploring after 2-3 hours. It takes at least that long to hear the various bits of Alan Watts's lecture, as long as you're also trying to become lots of different things and listening to the thoughts of objects.
I have to confess, i may have listened to Alan Watts before.

As for the Gate, i may have missed that.
More people want exploding kittens than exploding ships. Somehow, this makes me happy.
- credits go to dwmagus

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