Ib

Ib is an exploration/horror/puzzle game developed by Kouri. Having been developed in RPG-maker, and bearing some aesthetic similarities, comparisons to Yume Nikki might be inevitable, but Ib proves to be, both in style and execution, a very different experience.

The game begins with the main character, a young girl named Ib (pronounced 'Eeb'), visiting an art gallery with her parents. After exploring for a while and looking at a few of the exhibits, she finds herself alone. That's when things start getting weird.

As a horror game, I found it pretty effective in scaring the crap out of me on more than one occasion. One of the things that impressed me was how well the game uses its setting. Rather than choosing an inherently spooky location (hospital, graveyard, funfair, other clichés), Ib highlights the subtle creepiness of the art gallery: the eerie quietness; empty, sterile rooms, and glimpses into the unnerving landscape of the artist's mind.

While short, Ib also features multiple possible endings, with seemingly insignificant decisions throughout the game influencing which ending you reach (as well as affecting in-game events), giving you an incentive to play through more than once and explore different possibilities.

For anyone interested in playing Ib, you can download the game for free here: http://www.vgperson.com/games/ib.htm

Hikikomori, Tao Lin and Muumuu House

So it's Monday night and I'm in a creative mood. It's the first time I've felt creative in a long time, and I want to make the most of it. I've redrafted some pieces of fiction I wrote earlier this year, but it's not enough. So I think: I'll blog.

I have a small Notepad document on my computer with ideas for blog posts, and I look at the short list of about four or five topics. “Hm, that one needs more research.” “No, that one's out of date.” “I need to watch those films again.” “...”

I realise that nothing has caught my interest lately that feels worth blogging about. I close the document and start looking for something else to do.

It's two days later, and it's three in the morning. I should be in bed, which is obviously why I'm on the internet. Half-asleep, I absent-mindedly go to StumbleUpon, looking for something to entertain me. After about five stumbles, I see this:

dear tao

today i read a book called NATURAL SCIENCE.

it had a picture of two ants standing very close together.

above the picture it said ‘worker ants communicate by rubbing their antennae.’

i wanted to communicate with you by rubbing our heads together but you weren't here so i rubbed my head against the wall instead and the wall said ‘i'm sad.’

my eyes made 3 tears and i pet the wall until we both fell asleep.

ellen

Apparently, it's page 13 of a novel called Hikikomori. I go back to page 1 and read until I finish the book.

The short letters between the two hikikomori (recluses), Tao and Ellen, documenting trips to the convenience store at 3am, meals of fermented soy beans and sleeping for twenty-four hours straight leave a lasting emotional impact. Their conversations are tragicomic, sometimes surreal, but while they are at times bizarre and funny, at others they are painfully sad. Most of the time, they are both simultaneously.

Afterwards, I have to Google the writers, Tao Lin and Ellen Kennedy (who have the same names as the characters), and what I discover is just as intriguing as the book itself. As well as having had three novels, two poetry collections and a short story collection published in the last five years (not to mention a number of online publications), Tao Lin is also the founder of a small press called Muumuu House.

What is unorthodox about Muumuu House is that they publish content from writers' Twitter feeds and Gmail chats on their website alongside poetry, short stories and other content. In addition, their website's 'About' page reads:

Muumuu House does not accept submissions for acceptance/rejection. All work published on the site was first read on people's blogs or in emails or on Twitter or other websites for purposes of personal enjoyment or simply as work being shared among friends or strangers. Those interested in Muumuu House are encouraged to communicate with people involved with Muumuu House (commenting on blogs or messaging people or being involved in some other manner) for purposes of friendship or relieving boredom or having fun. Muumuu House strives to avoid engaging in business-like relationships.

I realise that the community of writers I've discovered is something as rare and valuable as the literature I've just read. Lin, Kennedy, the writers published by Muumuu House and the other writers on Bear Parade, where I found Hikikomori, seem to care a great deal about content and expression, while ignoring convention.

Noah Cicero, one of the authors featured on Bear Parade, shares some interesting thoughts on his blog about the nature and state of literature:

People who have gotten published at Bear Parade know that literature is dead, it has gone the way of painting, poetry, jazz, sculpture, and heavy metal, it is dead. But like learning that there no god, a new freedom arises, knowing that the audience will never be that big again, gives a new view on the literature, I'm not sure if Bear Parade has a correct or incorrect view, but it is a new view, of fun mixed with existential hell.

I'll leave you with a link to Hikikomori, and urge you to take a look. Meanwhile, I'm going to order a copy of Kennedy's poetry collection and read some of Lin's other work.

Later~

Sometimes, it's what you don't say

When someone talks about good storytelling in video games, they'll often mention games that feature heavy doses of dialogue and lengthy cut scenes interspersed throughout the game. RPGs like the Final Fantasy series are known for doing this to great effect, creating a believable world and engaging characters, while the interactive elements make the player feel part of the story.

Dialogue, though, in its spoken or written form, is a relatively recent addition to video games, and it's a device borrowed from literary forms. Cut scenes similarly borrow from cinema. Back in 1978, however, Space Invaders was introduced to arcades. Did it have a plot? Sure. Aliens are invading, and it's your job to defend Earth. It may not be the most sophisticated of storylines, but it's there, and we learn about it through the gameplay. There's no opening cinematic, and not a line of dialogue in sight.

Back then, limitations of the form meant stories had to be told in this way, while more recent games have a much wider range of techniques and devices available to them. The minimalist approach, however, is far from extinct. A number of games continue to use gameplay, often with little or no dialogue, to tell stories, experimenting with the way in which devices unique to video games can create an experience not found in any other medium. I wrote a post about Yume Nikki last year, a game that was described as "a poem written in a video game", but in recent years there has been a trend of games that offer a similar experience. I've compiled a list of some of my favourites for your perusal.


Small Worlds
Type: free flash game
Length: 5 minutes

The less you know about this one before you play it, the better, so I won't say too much here. You control the main character, a faceless stack of three pixels with the ability to move left and right, and to jump. The object of the game is exploration. At the beginning, your world is small, and what lies beyond is only darkness. As you discover your surroundings, the camera slowly zooms out and you begin to get an idea of where you are. As you explore, you find teleporters that take you to other worlds, and exploring each of these is the key to discovering exactly where you are and what's going on.

Link: Small Worlds

Loved
Type: free flash game
Length: 5 minutes

The creator of the game describes Loved as "a short story in the form of a flash platformer". While you play, you are given instructions by an unknown character. The instructions appear only as text on the screen, and it is unclear whether or not this person is a friend. Either way, you have two choices: to obey, or to disobey. Both of these have their consequences, and the decision rests with you.

Link: Loved

The Path
Type: commercial (independent)
Length: 5-10 hours

The Path is a video game based on the several early versions of Little Red Riding Hood. Each of the six characters you can choose from offer a different interpretation of the story. After choosing a character, you are given the instruction, "Go to Grandmother's house. And stay on the path."

Staying on the path allows the girl to reach Grandmother's house safely. Leaving the path, on the other hand, gives you a chance to explore, learning about each character by their reactions to the objects you find littering the forest floor. You can also collect memories by interacting with objects. However, there is, of course, a danger when straying from the path. Doing so, you are likely to encounter the big bad wolf, who will take on a different form depending on your character. After meeting the wolf, the girl will find Grandmother's house drastically changed, and will wander through rooms filled with distorted versions of her memories.

As the creators, Tale of Tales, have stated, this is not a game to be played in the traditional sense. In a way, the aim is to lose; to complete the game, you must encounter a wolf with each of the six girls. Rather than saving them from this fate, the player can only watch as the narrative unfolds. The only goal is to explore, learning as much as possible about the characters and discovering the story behind each one.

If this game isn't an argument in favour of video games as art, I don't know what is.

Website: The Path (Tale of Tales)

Best of 2010

2010 is now over, in case you didn't notice, and while it's a little overdue, I wanted to make a list of all the great things that came out last year, and what I'm looking forward to seeing in 2011. I'm sure this requires no further explanation, so here's the list:

Film


Toy Story 3

My favourite film of the year was, without question, Toy Story 3. Bringing out a sequel to a series that came out more than 10 years ago is always a risky venture, and we've seen a few failed attempts in recent years. But when you look at the outstanding quality of Pixar's last few films, it's no surprise that they managed to break the trend and produce what many people (including myself) consider to be the best film in the trilogy.

I think what made this film work so well was that, while it appeals to children who've been shown the first two films by their parents or older siblings, the real target audience for this movie is those of us who were kids when the first two came out - and are now around Andy's age, at college or university or preparing to go, and deciding what to do with all our old toys we've outgrown. In a way, Andy's toys are our toys too, and Toy Story 3 felt like a final, emotional farewell to a cherished part of our childhood.

Inception

Another film well worth the hype last year was Christoper Nolan's latest film, Inception. While it's hard to find anyone who didn't enjoy Inception, the concept for the film is of particular interest to me, since I've always found dreams fascinating, especially lucid dreams and dream logic, both of which are explored at length in the film. Add to the interesting subject matter Christopher Nolan's excellent direction and music by Hans Zimmer, and you have one of the best films of recent years.

Video games


Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver

Possibly the best game in the series so far, HeartGold and SoulSilver update two more of the old games with Pearl and Diamond's new systems, and it's astounding just how fun it still is to catch 'em all. One addition that was enjoyed by the series' many fans this year was the Pokéwalker, a device that allows you to carry one of your Pokémon with you wherever you go, rewarding you with new items and the chance to catch wild Pokémon. Yes, this is more or less the same game we've played several times before, but that didn't stop me playing it for 8 hours a day. Somehow, the games continue to be addictive and fun even after more than a decade.


Sid Meier's Civilization V

I'm a big fan of Civ IV, as I know many people are. Those who play Civ know just how immersive and addictive it is, and, like me, were probably wondering what they would do to improve the game. What Firaxis came up with was a substantial overhaul of many aspects of the gameplay. To me, the most welcome change is in the way combat is conducted. In Civ IV, I found war surprisingly tedious, and always tried to avoid it if I could, while in V, skirmishes are far more strategic, and a lot more fun.

The game has been simplified in many ways, making it easier for first-time players, while adding more options for micromanagement for advanced players. One of the best things about it, though, is how different it is to the previous game. It's not simply an upgrade - it plays like a different game, offering a new Civ experience without making Civ IV obsolete.

Admittedly, the game has a few problems, such as the AI making some very odd decisions (while negotiating peace, they often offer you every city they have, leaving themselves with only a capital), but these things are being patched with frequent updates, and when the bugs have been ironed out, Civ V will be a must-buy.

Music


Joanna Newsom - Have One on Me

It was an easy choice for my album of the year. Harpist and pianist Joanna Newsom is one of the most highly rated folk musicians of the last few years, and it's easy to see why. Her third album is her best work so far, perfecting the new style she began to explore with Ys in 2006. 2 hours long, and split into 3 discs, Have One on Me is full of beautiful yet quirky ballads, and strikes a perfect balance between Newsom's unusual, sometimes harsh vocal style and the beauty of the songs themselves.

Samples:
'81
The Good Intentions Paving Company

The Knife, Mt. Sims and Planningtorock - Tomorrow, in a Year

Tomorrow, in a Year is not music as you know it, nor is it an easy listen. It's an opera based on Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, and it's more of a 90-minute soundscape, each track representing a different stage of evolution. If you make it past the first track (4 1/2 minutes of static), the album becomes a very unique experience. The sheer scale of the universe is made to be felt, and the only relief is found in the voice of mezzo-soprano Kristina Wahlin, singing extracts from Darwin's letters. If you're feeling brave, listen to the samples below, or find the album on Spotify.

Samples:
Geology
Annie's Box


Anime


Durarara!!

From the director and animation studio that produced one of my favourite anime of all time, Baccano!, Durarara!! uses a similar method of storytelling (minus the jumping around in time that Baccano! featured so much of), with a big cast of characters and multiple, interconnecting plotlines, and an element of the supernatural in an otherwise realistic and believable setting.

Durarara!! takes place in modern day Ikebukuro, Tokyo, and focusses on the characters who live there. In the vein of hysterical realist novels, many of them have bizarre personalities or unlikely back stories, but they're skilfully represented in a way that makes them believable. So when they introduce a character who's missing a head, we're willing to believe even that. The anime explores some interesting themes that not many anime deal with, such as the power of Internet and social networking, as well as having some fascinating and well-developed characters.

Kuragehime

I know, I know. It seems unfair to choose two anime by the same director, but I couldn't help but mention Kuragehime here. This one's a very different show to Durarara!!, focussing on only a small cast of characters, with two main characters at the forefront, and is far more light-hearted. While Durarara!! is funny at times, it also goes to some dark places, and can be violent too. Kuragehime, on the other hand, is heart-warming, funny when it should be, and sad when it needs to be.

The main characters are a group of nerdy girls who live together, and a male cross-dresser who the main character happens to meet. This is the first time I've seen a cross-dressing character in anime presented in a way that doesn't parody the lifestyle - rather, it takes him seriously (or as seriously as the show takes anything), and I think that's one of the things that sets it apart from some of the other good shows I've seen this year.


I haven't gotten round to finishing the series yet (I'm saving the ending for an end-of-essay-writing treat), but when I watched the first episode I fell in love with the series immediately. Among all the anime that retreads the same well-beaten path, Kuragehime and Durarara!! offer something refreshingly original.

What's Next?


Well, that's the end of my list, but with the start of another year, there's a lot more to look forward to. Here are just a few things I'm waiting for in 2011:

24th January - Deerhoof vs. Evil, a new album by Deerhoof.
25th February - Kirby's Epic Yarn for Nintendo Wii.
7th March - Last Night on Earth, a new album by Noah and the Whale.
First quarter - Stacking for Xbox 360 and PS3, a game by Double Fine.
21st April - Portal 2 for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.
7th July - The Rampage of Haruhi Suzumiya, the 5th Haruhi light novel to be translated into English.
Last quarter - Last Guardian for PS3, a game by the creator of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus.
TBA - Zelda: Skyward Sword for Nintendo Wii (because a new Zelda game is always exciting)
TBA - Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle season 2.
TBA - A new album from Emmy the Great.

That's about all I can think of off the top of my head. What are you looking forward to?

Reflections of Alice part 1 - Books

Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is one of my favourite books, and as it happens to be one of the most adapted books of all time, I see it as my duty to collect as many of these adaptations as possible.  I figured in this post I'd share my thoughts on some of them with you:

Alice in Sunderland

This is one of the best Alice-related things I've read. It's essentially a history of England, focussing in particular Talbot's home town of Sunderland, in graphic novel form, and every event and factoid mentioned is somehow linked back to Alice. Mixing many different art styles, each page is a multimedia collage of words and images, making it a very unusual book, but nonetheless fascinating.

A non-fiction graphic novel may seem like an odd thing, but the plethora of images, the narrative holding everything together, and the occasional interruption by something completely different make it far more engaging than a history book, even if at times the density of the writing means it's a little hard-going.

Overall, this is one of my top recommendations if you're interested in history of the Alice books, and want to learn more about the man who wrote them and the circumstances around their publication. Alice in Sunderland gives you that, plus a lot more.

Rating: 8/10

Princess Alyss of Wonderland

I happened to see this one in one of those cheap bargain book shops, and I was immediately attracted to the beautiful cover artwork. The art is just as great inside, too, and it's full of letters you can open and read and maps that fold out, and it even comes with a set of cards and instructions for a "Top Trumps" style game.

After looking up the writer, Frank Beddor, I found that he has also written a series of novels called The Looking Glass Wars, based around the same character, and unless I'm mistaken this book recounts events that take place before the events in the first novel.

The story is based around the idea that Lewis Carroll fabricated Alyss' story in his books, and that, in reality, Alice Liddell is Alyss, is a princess of Wonderland who ended up trapped in Victorian England. The book tells the story of her attempt to return to Wonderland, and it does so through various media in the form of a sort of scrapbook.

I found the writing itself to be a little weak, and I didn't particularly like the characterisation of Alyss. The book is aimed at children, though, and it's hard for me to say whether or not a child would enjoy reading it. One thing's certain, though: as a kid I went crazy for books like this that had letters and fold-out maps - hell, I still think they're pretty cool. So the writing may not be great, but it's still a pretty book, and worth picking up if you like that sort of thing.

Rating: 5/10

Heart no Kuni no Alice (Manga)

I must admit, if it wasn't for the fact that I buy most things with the name 'Alice' on them, I probably wouldn't have picked this up. However, I got the first volume the other day and I was pleasantly surprised to find I quite liked it.

In English, its title is Alice in the Country of Hearts, and it's based on a video game. Sadly, the game isn't available outside of Japan, but realistically I think the manga will appeal to western readers more than the game would. The game is a visual novel romance game - a text-and-image-based game where the player makes decisions for the lead character and can choose any of several possible partners for her, depending on the choices made. Most of these games are aimed at male players, and have a male lead, but Heart no Kuni no Alice falls under the category of 'Otome' games, which target female players.

(Screenshots of the game)

The story is a retelling of the classic books. In this version of the story, three groups within Wonderland are at war, and Alice gets caught in the middle of it. Meanwhile, although Alice, when in the real world, thinks she is unattractive, everyone in Wonderland falls in love with her. Presumably this is because Wonderland, as anyone who has read the original knows, is Alice's dream, a product of her subconscious and so her subconscious desires manifest themselves there.

It's quite an interesting idea, and though I've only read the first volume I will certainly be reading more of it (and if the game ever gets an English translation, I'm sure I'd play that too).

Rating: 6/10

Well, that's all for now, but I'll be writing part 2 at some point in the future, and I have a lot more things left to talk about. I'll leave you with this music video by Pogo, made entirely of sound effects and vocal samples from the Disney Alice in Wonderland film.

Nouvelle Vague

Apologies for the lack of blogging lately. Uni has started for me again today, so I've been busy preparing for that, among other things. I'm hoping to post at least once a week in future, though, once I've settled back into my course~

Today's post is about French band Nouvelle Vague, who perform covers of new wave songs in the Brazilian bossa nova style.

The band consists of two members, Marc Collin and Oliver Libaux, but they recruit various French and Brazilian female vocalists to perform the vocals for each song. To keep each recording fresh and original, they choose songs that the singers have not previously heard.

As this is a post about music, the proof is, of course, in the listening, so I'll allow you to find out for yourself:

If this sort of thing suits your needs, there's a lot of their stuff on Youtube and a few albums on Spotify. Their Best Of, which came out this year, is particularly good.

Yume Nikki

While we're on the subject of weird things, indie game Yume Nikki presents a gaming experience like nothing I've seen before. It's been described by a reviewer as "a poem written in a video game", and that's as good an approximation as I can think of.

The protagonist is a female hikikomori named Madotsuki. For a reason which is never made clear, Madotsuki does not want to leave her room, and so the game takes place inside her dreams. The game features no dialogue, and the aim is unclear, except that in order to complete the game you must collect 25 different 'effects', which change Madotsuki's appearance and sometimes grant her new abilities. That's pretty much the extent to which you can define Yume Nikki as a game - rather than a player, you feel like an intruder in Madotsuki's subconscious. Much of the game is spent walking through large, empty areas, occasionally meeting other characters, few of whom can be interacted with, and none of whom speak (with the exception of one set of characters who merely recite digits). Madotsuki cannot die, and the only 'enemies' are freakish 'Toriningen' (bird people) - women with bird heads who chase Madotsuki and banish her to a small 2x2 square room, from which the only escape is to wake up.

The appearance of the game is similar to that of old '80s games like Mother, and this lack of detail and the fact that Madotsuki and the characters she encounters are simple sprites, somehow adds to the eeriness. When meeting a new character, it's sometimes frustrating that they don't speak - some don't do anything, even when you try to interact with them, and yet many of them seem to have their own story. One character, named Poniko by fans, lives alone in a house, and appears to be a hikikomori like Madotsuki. However, she doesn't even notice Madotsuki is there, no matter what you do. This is part of the reason the game is so spooky to play; that feeling of helplessness makes you feel like you're really in a dream - the way nothing really makes sense, and you're always on the brink of understanding, but you'll never actually learn the truth.

The game is somehow charming and relaxing to play, despite creeping you out a lot of the time - or at least, that's how I found it. If you want something fast-paced and full of action, this probably isn't the game for you, but if you want to give it a try, sit back in a comfortable chair, and allow yourself to be absorbed into the world.

The game is freeware, and there's a link to download it below, along with instructions on how to play:

Download Yume Nikki (English)

One thing I should mention is that this is version 0.10. This is a complete game, in its tenth incarnation, but there is the possibility that the game could be changed at some point in the future. Not much is known about Kikiyama, the creator, but after being emailed by a fan about whether the game would be updated, he revealed that the game would make it past version 0.10, though it could be a while yet, and it's doubtful whether a v.1.0 will ever be released.

I wasn't aware, until I started doing some research on the game this morning, just how much speculation there is on the internet about this game - what the dreams mean, who Madotsuki is, and why she doesn't want to leave the house. Despite being a short game, it has its own wiki, which includes an interesting page on theories about the game and interpretations of different characters and events. I highly recommend playing the game before visiting it, mostly because it won't make any sense, but also because it's full of spoilers.