Actually... I'm going to have to cancel the purchase and try again another day. I'm buying from Google Play but the download hangs at 92% every time. :-(

I have a Samsung Galaxy S2, for your info (not the most cutting edge, but it's the first phone I've ever liked owning so I'm sticking with it until they start coming with genuine AIs onboard).

LuxSup gets the first mention here:

http://boingboing.net/2014/03/26/game-developers-conference-1.html

I've just bought a copy (I tend to pick up your stuff when it crosses my path, but I don't dip into the forum often enough to know about free downloads... damn...).

I spotted this just now. It's probably very much for the layperson rather than those actually working in notgames, but Bientôt L'été is name checked specifically so I thought I'd put it out there:

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20130722-video-games-go-arthouse

After dipping my toes in the water alone occasionally I connected during the last pre-arranged period and actually conversed with a person. At least, I assumed so because there was a definite aspect of themed response to my move-speech acts; unfortunately I had not collected sufficient phrases in the Beta to be a very dynamic conversational companion, so after a glass of wine I rather undermined the whole experience by running up and down the beach like a five-year-old until I had a bunch of things to say... and didn't find anyone to talk to when I got back. 

I don't think I've given feedback before, but my general reaction is that this is a really nice experience. My girlfriend was looking over my shoulder and even at this extra remove she complained far less than she usually does when I'm gaming; and when I'm non-gaming - she had no patience with Dinner Date at all, and quickly did other things while I was soaking up Dear Esther. I think she liked it, in fact.

I found it odd that there was no apparent visual difference between a simulation player and a real one. Having the simulated partner be clearly simulated is logical but I guess I wonder why, being able to create such a vivid and pseudo-real environment, my long-anticipated encounter with another person would be realised via the same trappings of artificiality. It was obvious once my player-partner began to interact that this was what it was, but then I remembered that when I stand at the edge of the holodeck what I saw was another person, physical, not a holo-figure, so there is a precedent set in the game for seeing a "real" person (I assume I'm not describing a fault, but whichever gender I picked for myself my "reflection" was the other - hence my assumption that this was intended to be me "seeing" through the glass wall to another holodeck with another user).

I also spotted that, when my partner smoked a cigarette, the exhale appeared to come from ME, not from THEM. Not exactly disorienting, but odd - more so when I note that, while they are a holo-smoker and they smoke a holo-cigarette, the smoke they produce is just as cloudy-grey as my own; perhaps two layers of smoke could be generated, one with the blue-y tones of the simulation.

I had one instance of the game crashing (the same as mentioned by someone else above); I can dig up the report if you would find it useful. Only one though. While playing the Alpha build there were a few moments in which the avatar glitched. It was when standing/turning on the walkway above the beach (I think); the avatar's foot clung to the surface, twisting in a rather painful-looking manner... Not sure if this is still an issue with the Beta, I'll see if I can make it happen again the next time I play.

A final observation. I think someone else has mentioned this but when I went out, desperate to find new phrases, I activated the visions immediately and at long-distance. Then I didn't mind because time was a factor, but in general I feel the game loses something with this being possible. The most satisfying aspect so far is the sedate pace of walking the beach; the addition of these new features means a hint of anticipation is added to this experience through the "laborious" process of slowly approaching (or of running, eyes closed), watching the thing grow in ones perception, etc.; however, because the new object fades away as the piece is retrieved, that opportunity is quickly lost. I would make some degree of proximity required before the object (and maybe the hotel) can be "clicked".

That said, I find the whole experience strangely satisfying. And if you want two words for the poster quote, I'd make it those...

My PC is several years old and wasn't exactly cutting-edge gamer hardware even then, so can you give me an idea of how demanding this is going to be to run - do you have anything like the rec/min spec data I find so upsetting to look at in the mainstreat titles I buy at my peril?

[=( )=]

I had a bit of fun playing through =( )= and 09801, and like someone else said the visual style was nice in both.

=( )= took two tries for me to get anywhere, but just because I kept moving around looking for something to interact with, so at least I've learnt a lesson in patience as a result.

I liked the set up of 09801, but what I took away from it was serious uncertainty about whether there was a win state to be found. A choice of lose states, yes.

Do you mean sex?
If so, the repetition is not just repetition, is it? It's continued stimulation, through repetitive gestures, yes, but with a linear progression of emotion/intensity, that may go up and down, but is not exactly repetitive. In fact, the male is well known for his limited capacity to repeat the act.

I did mean sex, but I was just thinking, agreeing really, how a basic repetitive action fails to automatically equal boring. A classic game example from the 8-bit days in the UK was "Daley Thompson's Decathalon" (aka "DT's Joystick Knackerer"), in which a nation of kids would happily waggle their joysticks to destruction... so to speak.

Off the subject of sex (and other bedroom athletics), I remember hearing in various documentaries that some agitated autistic children have a very strong calming response to repetitive motion, such as being swung back and forth by their parents in a bedsheet like a hammock. So they seem to be not bored but gaining some satisfaction from repetition too.

The most fundamental biological game is highly repetative, but players rarely seem to get bored of that - at least, not quickly.

Embarrassed I forgot to say, but: a few days ago, I was a little freaked out when I heard the sound of invisible birds squarking in my little kitchen. I assumed the neighbours had bought some annoyingours later, I discovered that my g/f had opened The Graveyard on my mobile phone, and it had just been sitting there for hours, eating my battery. As a result though, I played it again later that evening and my Old Lady passed away for the first time (the one in the game, I mean, not my g/f). I also had a great evening playing (no, "moving through") Dear Esther recently.

[and]

Hello. My first return, typing at least, for quite a while. Basically since the first one, actually.

I'm trying not to play Football Manager 2012, because it's a complete time sink. One I really enjoy, but since I deciding to quit my job and commit to writing fiction I'm in perpetual danger of wasting my life through it.

I've been dipping into a few things off and on, via Steam. I tend to collect things I think I'll want to play at some point, and since I tend to go stealthy whenever a FPS allows it I picked up the first three Thief titles, so I'll play more of number one in the coming weeks I expect.

I found my way to Nifflas's games after coming here, and picked up a few - very good fun, on the whole. The most recent I've tried is Night Sky, which I bought because my girlfriend actually played and enjoyed the demo - a genuine first. Possibly a genuine last as well, since there's a good chance it will take her thirty or forty years to finish it... but as long as she's happy!

Happy New Year, my first visit back for a while I think.

The Graveyard works fine on my Samsung Galaxy S2. However, I found the constant screen swiping required to move the little old lady annoying in a way that the simple slowness of her pace on the PC wasn't.

Howeverhowever...

I was just about to say that long, slow swipes would be more in keeping with the general theme, and when I took a moment to try that out - long slow swipes worked! As I type, she and I are listening to the song and preparing to leave the graveyard to nip into the Android store on the corner.

Thanks for the further welcome.

I don't want to clutter the place up with threads that may be of little interest to the general population (I'm not trying to make you all sound like prisoners when I say that) and while I'm finding lots of interesting things to read my very quick search hasn't yet thrown up an existing suggestion, so in case there is an obvious answer to my question I'll ask it here for now.

I am thinking of developing a concept that (ignoring any graphical interface) could be boiled down to a variation on rock-paper-scissors, but although I studied "programming" at school twenty years ago I have no real knowledge of how to do it now. It's right up there with my ability to speak French: studied at school, never got used, quickly atrophied like the third arm growing out of my back. Looking ahead to an actual platform I would like to create a 2D mobile phone app, but already I'm getting ahead of myself - something I can make work on a PC-with-keyboard would be a singularity moment for me.

So, my question: what software would anyone recommend for me to take my first baby steps in "game" programming? The more dummy-friendly the better...

Thanks for the greets, gentlemen. I'm about to climb back into the teaching saddle after an extra-long summer break, so forgive me if it takes a while for me to properly emerge from the shadows and get involved with discussion...

Hello, Notgames Forum.

I usually go by Noumenon or Nou in the online world, but my real name is Andrew and I'm an Englishman living in Madrid. I pay the bills here by teaching English and I also have a small forum moderation business (which you've probably never heard of) but my creative life is focused on writing. I studied screenwriting over a decade ago, but since then writing has had to become a hobby while I keep a roof over my head through more traditional means (well, fairly traditional; my employment history is... disperate). Now I quietly work on short stories in various genres, tinker with feature length film scripts in the hope of getting them to a submission-worthy state, and I'm slowly planning a number of novels for children, young adults and adult-adults in case I suddenly grow some courage.

And I play games.

I came across this space after playing The Path and The Graveyard via Steam, but I was pleased to recognise some good ol' titles being slung around here while I've been lurking - I had The Ceremony of Innocence back in the day and enjoyed it very much. Over the summer I've been dipping into some of the recent projects created by or linked to by NGF members, and my appetite for more is well up.

I only broke from my intermittent lurking after reading the facinating "Players are Planners" article linked to here (and I'll be running it past some of my more advanced students next week) but the reason I hesitated beforehand was that I didn't really know what I might contribute to the forum beyond a vague air of the uninformed fanboy. However, after scratching the surface a bit deeper I'm seeing (correctly?) that the point of discussion here is to find new and interesting ways to entertain gamers, rather than to dogmatically eschew conventional game content including, which is of particular interest to me, narrative.

Of course, I do have an idea for a computer game (a new stage of the social archetype - it used to be that everyone had a book in them...). It's an isgame, not a notgame, but I'm not a programmer and I didn't sign up here to pitch the concept to anyone. I'm interested in storytelling, and if I can provide assistance to anyone here with their work I'd be delighted to do so. The trick would be demonstrating that I can help - but I have an idea about that too...