We gotcher zombies. We gotcher alien life forms. We gotcher mysteriously shifting forest paths full of obscure references and bizarre deaths. In short... we gotcher Link Dump Friday!
Shambles - Whenever I think of Notch and zombies, I instinctively want to bury myself in a hole and cry until sunrise... you know how it is. But in his game for 7DFPS, you've got a gun instead of a pickaxe, and you're trying to survive for as long as you can during a zombie invasion that only gets worse as the civilians and soldiers are attacked. Fun, but needs more Ving Rhames, don't you think?
The Rogue Less Traveled - Matthew R. F. Balousek, Regina Mako, and Steven An are the Voltron-esque configuration of cleverness behind this twist on a choose-your-own-adventure style interactive fiction game. You're on a road looking for gems, but the twist is that it's different every time you play, offering up new hazards and surreal puzzles... and I do mean surreal. It'll probably take some trial and error, and you'll need a morbid sense of humour, but with good writing and a beautiful art style, it's worth checking out.
Poliphony - Here's a lovely little prototype by Heather Penn, Joshua Nuernberger, and Trevor Wilson made for the UCLA Game Lab! As an astronaut who crashes on an alien world, you must explore and learn how to communicate with the alien life. It's a gorgeous little game that will make you wish there was more to it, and despite some bumps in the execution, you'll have your fingers crossed that we see a finished project somewhere down the line.
Golem - Begamer and Yepi deliver this little point-and-click puzzle adventure game about a golem trying to find something to do with itself after being created and subsequently booted out into the world with little ceremony. Click around the town to progress, trying not to make the sort of nuisance out of yourself a giant sentient lump of clay might be, and solve puzzles to get by. It's on the short side, but it's also on the cute side too.
Just out of curiosity, why did you guys stop with the fancy, newsy link dumps? This isn't a complaint! I just really liked finding out who was building new games, what kinds of things were hot on Kickstarter, what our indie developer friends were seeing on the horizon--JiG is sort of the center of my game news world. Are those stories still here and I'm just missing them? It's possible--just started a new job a few months ago and I haven't had a lot of time to keep up with my gaming!
The simple answer, dsrtrosy, is that nobody was interested. :) We have gotten less than three comments from people saying they enjoyed the new format, and it was rare for a single article to get even one (or dare I say two!) comments in an entire month... and even rarer for those comments not to be complaints demanding the old format back. The complete lack of interest (and downright hostile resistance) to that format meant there wasn't much sense in keeping it around, and frankly, it was getting more than a little depressing for me to spend the hours and hours it took writing and finding things TO write about only to have people tell me they hated it. We'll probably bring something like it back in the future, but at the moment the time and effort versus reward and interest just wasn't worth it.
(We still less than three you Dora)
Golem's design is delightfully derpy. Cute puzzles, great for little kids.
BTW there's a symbol that looks to me like a lightning bolt -- that's actually a 4.
In regards to what dsrtrosy and Dora said... I must admit that I didn't like the new format of LinkDump and am glad it's back to it's old ways. However, I didn't criticise or complain like so many regrettably did.
Why? Jayisgames is free and has entertained me for years while asking for nothing in return. The reviews are well written, the game are diverse and the comments aren't all flame wars and filled with "You're a gay fag nazi!" A troll free zone is a rarity in them there interweb hills. This is a wonderful community. Whatever it gives I shall gratefully take.
Sure I've disagreed with people and got uppity on occasion. Maybe even uber-uppity. But we either discuss it rationally or agree to disagree, which Dora especially is good at doing. You have a gift for quashing arguments Lady! I envy it.
I think the main problem was that Link Dump as it was... worked. It was a great end of week filler. A platform for little gems that didn't need a big review and would usually slip through the cracks. Changing it was like if Vogue suddenly became a food magazine, it wouldn't matter how good the recipes were... it just wouldn't feel right.
Upcoming news of game releases, Kickstarter campaigns and developers to keep an eye on, well that's something that should definitely be on JIG but under it's own new heading (we're all suckers for banner art) and doesn't garner the usual amount of comments like a game review does. The fact that what comments it did attract were disparaging is a shame.
I hate to play favourites but I heart your reviews the most Dora. I even once asked if you had a gay brother for me because your words are so delicious. My most shining sycophantic moment. You should never have been made to feel like you were preaching to the disillusioned. You got me on to all things Pony. Hell, I even played Paranoiac after your Tumblr review (and I should hate you for that!).
All I'm trying to rant is that if you did do a JIG-NEWS style entry separate to Link Dump it would find the following and feedback it deserves. Maybe it could even replace Mobile Monday! (I'm still on rotary dial, in your face iPhone! No offence JohnB.) Anyways, for all those people vocally hating there are a bunch of us silently loving. Dora, you smell like awesomeness.
PS. Apologies for the TLDR essay, it's been a long sleep deprived week and I needed to massage my keyboard.
;)
Ditto what Dandy said. I am so grateful for JIG! I'm continually impressed with the quality of the site AND the mutual respect of the community (and/or the dedication of the moderators editing the comments).
I agree with Dandy's comment that there is a place for both the old AND the new type of Link Dumps.
I heart JIG! Keep up the good work!
You guys are sweeter than sweet, and if I were a serial killer I would totally keep your eyeballs in a jar by my bedside. :) That's how much I less than three you.
Anybody got all 10 gems in The Rogue Less Traveled?
Dora, that's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me...
*Gets all misty eyed*
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