Pleroma

Are you pulling my leg or are you genuinely having one of your … departures? · By Aleks Samoylov

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I was intrigued...

A topic by FathomsDeep created Aug 22, 2022 Views: 349 Replies: 6

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FathomsDeep2 years ago

But now I'm just confused. I open on an apparent BSOD, with a flashlight, a broken device in front of me, and no way to activate it. The poetry's cryptic, and the only interactions I seem to be able to manage is to flip on and off a couple of lights. I feel as if there's got to be a way to repair the device, but since I can't interact with it, that seems impossible. Can't play the game if I can't leave the apartment, and I'm a little shocked to find there's no one else here who's considered this a problem. Any suggestions, hints, anything? Is my game behaving as intended? Have I missed something really obvious?

Aleks SamoylovDeveloper2 years ago

You have to open the door of the apartment and leave. When the screen starts getting kind of wonky and bulgy, that means you're on the right track. Just keep walking until it "pops."

Aleks SamoylovDeveloper2 years ago

Side note, the likely reason the game may have UX issues that other players haven't brought up yet is that, well ... there probably just aren't that many other players, honestly. I guess a lot of people technically own this game because of all the bundles it's been in, but very few people actually download it and play it (based on my analytics). Just the standard fate of most super indie projects, especially really niche ones. So it goes.

By the same token, being a one person team with very few friends who are actually into bizarro "dream simulator" style video games, I basically have to be my own QA department ... which is the biggest limiting factor for me personally (I can't do music either, but at least there's a lot of really good public domain music out there). While I playtested the heck out of it during the process of development, that unfortunately doesn't catch certain blind spots, since some things feel obvious to me simply by virtue of me having built them in the first place. Like, the fact that there's an interactable door to the left of the TV never felt like an issue, but now that I think of it, it is absolutely possible that some players would reasonably expect the interactable doors to at least all be differentiated by color, which in retrospect would have made sense in the apartment. It was ultimately a subconscious choice of style over usability, in that I liked the fact that almost everything in the space looked like it was made of the same gray material.

Anyways, while other players rarely hang out on here, the one advantage of it being a small game that nobody plays and me being a small dev that nobody knows is that I do try to offer support on here as much as I can. Since the game is pretty large for a hyper-indie, there may be other issues and bugs along the way, so let me know if they crop up. For the most part, the bigger known issues are UX oriented and shouldn't be game breaking.

The player is ultimately supposed to not know where to go or what to do most of the time, but it was definitely not my intention to make it so they couldn't leave the first room :)

Ito02253 days ago (1 edit)

AHAHAH played it and suggested to all my friends! Never finished it but explored I think everything possible, just didnt find the combination to open the door in the painter studio! also there are some warp I cant really visit like the seemingly mysterious second warp in the warp device facility. Do you have any clue to give? I WANT TO SEE IT ALL! I want to understand what the eeeeeel this is game is all about because is genuinly one the most confusing experience I ever haved and I love it!

Aleks SamoylovDeveloper245 days ago (1 edit)

Hey, sorry for the delay. First of all, thanks for playing, and I'm so glad you've enjoyed it!

If I am understanding correctly, you can get a clue to the second warp in the Tuner facility from one of the "generic" (flat texture) NPCs who hang out in the "observation deck" area right outside the spawn in. Of course, not all warps go to different places, so you've probably already accessed the location this one leads to from a different world. I think it leads to the dark / empty version of the desert area. I think the only other portal in the facility is the "normal" one, past the door that unlocks after you pick up the Tuner.

As for the combination lock, I will be the first to admit that the puzzle that guards it is ... unreasonable. To some extent, I guess that was a matter of "artistic vision" winning against good game design. I got pretty enamored with the idea of a "secret area" that was so hard to get to that it might as well be an urban legend ... I am not sure I can say that I "regret" it per se, but I definitely understand the frustration it causes.

Anyways, I think there's actually a thread in this very discussion board, from a couple of years ago, wherein a few folks and myself go into a bit of detail on how to solve it. I think one person actually did. Another person went into the game files and simply removed or opened the door, and frankly I salute them. I think that also counts as solving it, from a meta sort of perspective.

In any case, I think that thread should help, but I can also try to look up the solution in my files.

Ito02244 days ago

huuuu thats the warp then okok so I have seen it all...
But really I dont understand whats happening at all?

Like I should be a really important person, one the Three most important people in the universe, but Im also kinda fragmented? veeery fragmented? (you know I LOVED when I saw character like "Us", I LOVE IT!!!") , also the stranges references to alchemy?
then Il try to be the first one to solve by brute force with a bot cuz I dont think Im that good at puzzles.....eheh

I will give another try but just know that this was really one the most surreal experience (videogame or not) i had and one that left me wondering for many days

Thank you!

Aleks SamoylovDeveloper244 days ago

Thank you. I am always so happy to hear this sort of thing. The kind of stuff I'm into making tends to be pretty niche, so I don't hear from players / readers / etc. very often, but learning that someone has had a genuinely memorable experience with one of my creations helps me keep going.

The confusion and fragmentation are, of course, part of the intended experience. I will say that there is an underpinning narrative that I personally subscribe to, and a few interpretations I've heard that I think are just as valid, but I'm the sort that likes to let people come up with their own readings and don't want to explain too much. I'm a big David Lynch fan (which is probably obvious) so I tend to subscribe to his viewpoint on art, narrative, and mystery - if everything is explained by some canonical "voice of god" / authorial figure, then the mystery dies and the story simply ends. There is nothing inherently wrong with that - there are a lot of excellent stories out there that are neat, tidy, and linear. But I think effective surrealism, and surrealist mystery, is all about trying to get the questions and incongruities of the story to take up residence in the audience's head rent free, and stay there as long as possible.

So, you know, I'm really glad that it had you wondering! And again, thanks for the kind comment!

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Pleroma

I was intrigued...