Or Throw It Up To Not Jump As High.

[rionaleonhart]

Oh, wow, it's so strange to write fanfiction for Glee after two years of nothing but tiny fandoms. I haven't received this much feedback since writing for Supernatural in 2008. It's lovely, but it does make me worry that I may have trouble motivating myself to return to smaller fandoms afterwards. (Also, I'm trying to reply to all the reviews, but after a while it becomes really difficult to think of things to say.)

Minor concerns aside, hearts for the Kurt/Blaine fandom! Never before have I seen a fandom so given to the bizarre point-missing habit of saying 'Spoilers: only for the fact that Kurt becomes a unicorn in episode γ.π' in fanfiction headers, but the people are delightful and so is much of the fic.


Here, for those of you looking for a means of procrastination, is an entry of Flash games I find intriguing! All of them are fairly short; you'll be able to complete most of them within ten or fifteen minutes. None require too much skill; I've chosen them more because they're interesting than for gameplay reasons. A couple of them could fairly be described as 'a bit pretentious', because, whilst I generally have little patience for pretension in books or films, I seem to have an odd fondness for it in games, but they're all worth playing.

Well. Apart from Steamshovel Harry.


loved is a fascinating, haunting little game about submission and obedience. One to play through more than once. May be triggery for people with experience of emotionally abusive relationships, though, and the opening may be upsetting for trans or genderqueer people, so bear that in mind.

On a vaguely related note, FreeWill, a choose-your-own-adventure-if-you-can game. I'm amused by how entirely some of the comments miss the point.

The Company of Myself is a clever little puzzle game, if perhaps a little heavy-handed with its story. The only game on this list for the actual 'game' aspect. (littlemoose has pointed out that the ending may be upsetting for some people; close it when the screen says 'Are you really leaving?' if you don't want to risk it.)

Steamshovel Harry is just a massive troll. Telling you this rather defeats the purpose, but I like you too much to let you go in blind. The background music for the tutorial is my favourite part. It's time to learn about astronomy!

You Have to Burn the Rope is another one you'll want your sound turned on for, particularly during the ending credits. It may be a little tricky to work out what you have to do to succeed, but I have faith in you.


Not included on this list on the grounds that nobody should play it is Desert Bus, in which the aim is to drive for 360 miles along a straight desert road, in a bus, in real time. If you drift off the road, you will stall and be towed back to the beginning, also in real time. It takes eight hours to complete. I don't know this from experience. Also not included are games in the 'strangely compelling but ultimately unsatisfying' vein of Achievement Unlocked and Upgrade Complete; the games above either have some sense of achievement or are too short to make you feel you're wasting your time.

Well. Apart from Steamshovel Harry.

Comments

[thrennion.livejournal.com]

On the subject of Flash games, I must reccommend Silent Conversation to you. It is a platformer where the levels are made out of works of classic literature and is SO MUCH BETTER THAN THAT SOUNDS. The music is gorgeous and the gameplay is beautiful.

http://armorgames.com/play/4287/silent-conversation

[rionaleonhart]

Man, why didn't I have this when I was doing A Level English? This was clearly the way poetry was meant to be read. I genuinely feel I have a better understanding of Prufrock now.

[thrennion.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think the Prufrock level is my favourite, mostly because I know the poem very well, but also because it is gorgeous and all of Eliot should be read like that.

Though I dread to think what a Waste Land level on that would be like. Actually, no. ALL THE WORDS WOULD BE RED.

[adraekh.livejournal.com]

... blast, I can't believe that game just conned me into reading Lovecraft.

[harveytheayeaye.livejournal.com]

It's currently doign something to adobe flash and mauling my computer but OMG that's amazing.
How to make Lovecraft MORE awesome.

(I'm totally justifying procrastinating with this by "I'm learning literature!")

[jlh.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean about going from little to big. It really drives home how much number of comments has to do with the size of the potential audience and not the quality of the fic. Rather than turning my head about the comments it made me feel better about the fewer number of comments I get on relatively smaller fandom fics because it really, honestly, is not about the writing. So writing Kirk/McCoy has actually made me more motivated to write smaller things like Ryan/Simon because I don't feel down about the smaller number of comments.

As for replying to the comments, if all they say is that they liked it, or something similarly generic, I have no problem replying to them in a fairly generic way, usually: "Thanks! I'm really glad you enjoyed it!" because that's pretty much how I feel: thank you for letting me know, that's awesome. If they say something specific I try to reply to what they said. People who read down through my replies to the comments on my fic, which are all happy and grateful because I am happy and grateful, and are annoyed that I often say the same things, honestly are putting the bar up far too high for me.

[rionaleonhart]

That's a good way of looking at it!

Actually, what's overwhelming in addition to the amount of feedback in larger fandoms is the experience of getting reviews from strangers. The comments on my small-fandom fics tend to be from people I know, which is lovely, because they're also generally people I respect, but which does mean reviews might be influenced by friendship with the author; it's good to have the occasional confirmation that someone can enjoy something I wrote without knowing me already.

You have a much healthier attitude to replying to comments than I do. I feel incredibly embarrassed about leaving generic responses. I can't even explain why, because it's not as if I judge other authors for it.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

I guess because I really feel strongly that I want to reply to all my fic comments and stay on top of them, I have to simplify what I actually say. And I know that when I comment on fics, it means a lot to have the author reply, but I don't really care all that much what they actually say to me. So I use that as my guide. It's really just priorities. Generally, though there are exceptions, I feel that the act of replying is more important than the reply itself.

I know what you mean about reviews from strangers! That is definitely a huge part of it, that they're reacting to your story in this kind of pure way, totally consumerist, rather than reacting to it as part of community building or having listened to you talk about how you were writing it, or to encourage more fic in the pairing they love, or whatever. I definitely recognize most, if not all, of the commenters on my Rymon fics. But I can't possibly recognize all the commenters on my K/Mc fics, even though I'm modding one of the K/Mc comms. It's weird to be interacting with fangirls again, who are in a big ship and therefore can just sit and demand that stuff get written for them.

[bubbles-san.livejournal.com]

Riona. Thank you so, so very much. /sarcasm

I can't stop playing "The Company of Me"! Also I'm stuck on this one level so, you know, it's not like I can just put it down and quit. (It's the one where all there is is a ravine. I keep hurling my shadows into it. Not cool.)

[rionaleonhart]

(Ooh, that's actually the last level. It is also probably the one with my favourite solution. Good luck!)

[bubbles-san.livejournal.com]

Eh, I gave up and tracked down the spoilers. I like puzzle games to rely more on ability than sheer luck.

Also that has a depressing ending. :(

[rionaleonhart]

A confession: I had to look up the answer to the last level, too. But I do find the solution weirdly fun.

AND THEN HE WENT TO SILENT HILL.

[bubbles-san.livejournal.com]

HOW LONG TILL YOU WRITE THE FIC?

[roadtomanderlay.livejournal.com]

Loved is very creepy. I don't expect to be creeped out by flash games.

[rionaleonhart]

It really, really unsettled me the first time I played it. Who are you, mysterious voice? Why won't you leave me alone?

[saaski-moql.livejournal.com]

If you don't expect to be creeped out by flash games, never ever play the Alice Series.

(I'm an avid PAC gamer, and had the misfortune of finding the first in the series at night. Great game, but creepiest thing I played in a while.)

[dracothelizard.livejournal.com]

PHYSICS WILL SHOOT YOU IN THE FACE.

Steamshovel Harry will truly revolutionise the gaming industry, I feel.

[rionaleonhart]

Game developers could certainly learn something from it. I think it may actually take a shorter time to properly gain control of your character in Steamshovel Harry than it does in Kingdom Hearts II.

[inappropriately.livejournal.com]

Loved is FUCKING CREEPY. A game saying "good boy" to me is so unnerving, Jesus.

[rionaleonhart]

It really is! When the screen said 'Soon we will meet each other. Are you excited? Or frightened?', I clicked 'frightened' and I was being completely sincere.

[harveytheayeaye.livejournal.com]

I clicked "excited" so that it wouldn't call me an ugly creature again. The response was "So am I". That was creepy.

[fireholly.livejournal.com]

Steamshovel Harry is also a great example of a game where the background story is a more interesting game than the game's actual premise - the Spider King of Earth, for example.

Have you played Level Up (http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/519030)? It's a bit of a slog, but it's not unsatisfying, it has an actual story, and there is a female protagonist. (Shame the sequel is going with a generic male character.)

[rionaleonhart]

What do you mean? The Spider King is the entire focus of level five.

I have indeed played Level Up! I enjoyed it, but it took a little too much time to fit in on this bite-sized procrastination entry, I felt.

(Also, whilst writing this entry and considering what games to include, I looked up your post on You Only Live Once and was very amused by your Take That at The Company of Myself.)

[proleptic-fancy.livejournal.com]

I am so going to be humming that physics tune from Steamshovel Harry during my next week or so of engineering exams, which certainly feel like physics is shooting me.

Also, don't know if you've seen them, but Coma (http://www.kongregate.com/games/wittyhobos/coma) is another fun, somewhat pretentious little flash game, as is Gretel and Hansel (http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/515322).

[rionaleonhart]

You just need to shift your attitude to the 'I can't wait to make love to physics' part of the song, clearly.

Oh, Coma is extremely pretty! And also rather gave me the creeps. I'll have to check out Gretel and Hansel tomorrow. Thank you for the links!

[emmarrrrr.livejournal.com]

I am adding this entry to my memories so I can come back to it in the future like tomorrow and go through some of these.

[littlemoose.livejournal.com]

Eek, hon, I don't mean to be a whinge, but a trigger warning like the one on 'loved' on 'The Company of Myself' would have saved me getting to the end and going ERK very loudly. *shivers* That said, I really enjoyed the latter two, not laughed so hard as at 'Steamshovel Harry' in ages!

[rionaleonhart]

Oh, I'm so sorry! Glad you enjoyed the others, though. Steamshovel Harry cracks me up.

[harveytheayeaye.livejournal.com]

I played loved.
It was a little creepy but still fun. Good boy.

Oh my god I do not need any more games to distract me!

[rionaleonhart]

Allow the games to distract you.

Good boy.

[stunt-muppet.livejournal.com]

I don't know how you feel about text-based adventures, but I really must insist you play Shade (http://eblong.com/zarf/zweb/shade/). It's atmospheric and eerie and had me keeping the lights on for about a week while I slept. ;)

And if you're looking for pretentious symbolic nonsense, give The Path (http://thepath-game.com/) a look. It's a vaguely psychosexual re-interpretation of Little Red Riding Hood!

I am very much looking forward to playing the games you've recommended once I get back on my own computer. :D

[stunt-muppet.livejournal.com]

ETA: OMG, Loved is freaking me out so much but I can't stop playing it. That voice! Why is a disembodied text so creepy? D:

[saaski-moql.livejournal.com]

So hi! In the interest of giving you something adorable instead of haunting, I am recommending every game ever made by eyezmaze (http://www.eyezmaze.com/eyezblog_en/blog/2007/09/grow_island_game.html) and Minoto (http://mac.rash.jp/games/dasyutu/41/en/index.html).

Haunt the House (http://armorgames.com/play/7195/haunt-the-house) is also really cute, pretty simple.

There's one decidedly creepy game that I direly need to rec to you, but I'm having trouble finding it again. Will keep trying!

[adraekh.livejournal.com]

Having just finished "The Company of Myself" - thank you for recommending it! I think I'm in love with the background music.

The last level was kind of hilariously tragic. I'm sure there's a metaphor stuck in that solution somewhere.

[rionaleonhart]

I'm glad you enjoyed it!

I'm sure there's a metaphor stuck in that solution somewhere.

Ahahaha, that hadn't actually occurred to me, but I'm sure you're right.

[nicodeimus.livejournal.com]

Man, I'e been looking for that 'Company of Myself' game for ages, I could never remember the title. Thanks much!

[zarla.livejournal.com]

WHY SUCH FLOATY PHYSICS LOVED

ARRRGHHHH


don't mind me missing the point over here

[rionaleonhart]

It is quite frustrating! (Playing that game made me think about how, as people who play platform games, we have to quickly establish how the physics work so we can work out how long to hold the jump button down for, whether we'll be able to clear a gap et cetera. Someone must have done a study on how that rewires the brain. GAMERS ARE CLEARLY SUPERIOR AT JUDGING DISTANCES OR SOMETHING.)

[zarla.livejournal.com]

haha THE PHYSICS ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF A PLATFORMING GAME
if they behave weirdly or aren't precise enough than the game just feels frustrating instead of difficult, if that makes sense. IT'S ONE THING TO FEEL LIKE YOUR OWN LACK OF SKILL LED TO FAILURE, AND ANOTHER TO FEEL LIKE THE GAME ITSELF DID IT

on another note Loved also reminds me of GlaDos somewhat, haha.