This is easily the weirdest game I’ve ever made.
This game’s title was provided by Matthew Kurtz.
Game 32: Subliminal messages,Top Games
This is easily the weirdest game I’ve ever made.
This game’s title was provided by Matthew Kurtz.
Game 32: Subliminal messages,
Personal top score: 14.
I just realized that this is the third game I’ve tagged with “what”. I’ve got little-to-no organization to my tagging, but I think this game is in good company with Squidfold and Never Even.
(You’ve got the link pointing at Placeholder II.)
Aha, found it at
https://nmccoy.net/games/game32_subliminal_messages/applet/index.html
Thank god for consistent URLs.
[SPOILERS BELOW]
This game was really interesting to figure out. I find it a lot of fun! For a while I kind of wished that the world was ‘consistent,’ like a real maze, but now I think I like it better this way.
One way I think it could be improved (maybe only as an option?) would be with the addition of a time limit. I would like to be given some reason to rush, to try to read the field quickly and keep moving, because I think I have move fun when I do that even though right now it’s entirely suicidal. Right now, barring some mechanic I haven’t noticed yet, your score could theoretically be infinite, as long as you never have a lapse in concentration or patience.
Sorry to triple-post up your comment thread, but as I’m getting better scores I’m finally noticing what the difficulty curve is. I can’t believe I didn’t notice that! Very clever. My high score is now 16, but I think it’s time I go to bed.
There is a time limit, but it’s fairly generous.
After 5 minutes of playing, I got my first point!
Nathan, this is a strange game. I have, however figured out how to play…I think. Use the arrow keys to direct the blue circles to the centre dot. If the corresponding hash in the centre is perpendicular to your arrow key, you lose! If you take too long, probably around 15, 20 seconds, you lose. And your high score is in brackets.
You’ve handled the title pretty well. The minimal sfx and fading visuals really help create this aesthetic.
Nice work! As your reward, you now have a whole week to design your next game!
-John
I do like how you ramp up the difficult. Very clever, Nathan. I think the real genius of this game would be if you were actually sending us subliminal messages through morse code using the arrow keys.
Well I just went on a roll. 29!
Further comments: I like how the visibility of the cross-hair and dot decrease rather than the timer. That makes a true test of subliminalness. I like how the game is designed so that you’re always focusing on the centre, especially at the higher levels. This forces you to see the blue dots with your peripherals which is an interesting challenge since your trying to direct them. I also like how your timer is built into that cross-hair because that’s where you’re always staring.
The hardest part about this game is having two blue circles close to the centre and forgetting exactly where they are. You can see time fading away and so you try to act fast but you don’t always get it.
Peace,
-John
50. The symbols were flashing so fast that it felt like it lasted a single frame. Sometimes, it was so quick, it wouldn’t even flash blue when I scored a point.
Again, great game, Nathan.
-John
A score of 25!
This game actually gets very intense at higher levels.
I really enjoy the concept, and I feel as though your execution was spot-on.