artm's shared items

Lovecraft’s “Commonplace Book” was a notebook in which he jotted down his various ideas, many of them disjointed and cryptic; most of these musings never became real stories. The Commonplace Book Project is a collection of text adventures (interactive fiction games) which are based on these notes. Great idea!

I’ve only tried out one so far: Ecdysis. It’s based on the note “insects or other entities from space attack and penetrate a man’s head.” Good one, right? Well, without spoiling anything, this game is a great mindfuck and does a more-than-competent job of capturing what’s great about Lovecraft’s stories: the feeling of overwhelming dread. It comes as a playable executable and is good for newcomers to IF.

I always thought it was funny that Bethesda made (correction: produced) an FPS out of H.P. Lovecraft. What’s next? Vin Diesel as Cthulhu, riding a motorcycle out of R’lyeh as it explodes behind him? Directed by Michael Bay? Okay, that actually does sound appealing in its own way.

(Source: The Random Gnome’s Lair)

-Kyle Gabler, 2D Boy

EDIT: Gabler’s 7-day prototype Tower of Goo is the inspiration behind this game.

If Sumotori Dreams is a drunken sumo wrestling simulation, then NekoFight is a capoeira simulation going through meth withdrawal. It is not a pretty sight, oh no.

Arrow keys move. Press X and C to kick and Z to “grab,” although I’ve never managed to grab anything in this game! Hell, it’s tough just to enjoy any physical contact with my opponent before I flip myself off the screen!

(Source: dessgeega, via The Gamer’s Quarter forums)

“I see you!”

Iwanaga is a side-scrolling boss rush that’s most easily likened to Treasure’s insta-classic Alien Soldier. And the manual aiming of the player’s gun is reminiscent of another underrated Treasure game, Sin and Punishment. Not sure that the game quite lives up to either of those titles, since it gets a little repetitive, but it’s still a fun romp with a particularly nice horror atmosphere. I love the design of the characters and the limited color palette reminds me of my Sega Genesis.

There are three difficulty levels. On “Normal” and “Hard” difficulties, you must manage your usage of the two weapon types. Using one repeatedly will weaken its strength, but also power the other weapon. Each difficulty has its own ending.

(Source: Tim)

We recently mentioned an interactive museum installation by ART+COM in the City Museum of Reykjavik. Recently the company opened a new installation at Berlin’s Museum of Natural History, where the so-called Jurascopes lets visitors experience dinosaurs through custom build telescopes.

The Jurascopes were created for the new permanent exhibition at Berlin’s Museum of Natural History. When visitors look through a Jurascope, they will initially see the skeletons in the hall, but then they choose a dinosaur and the animation will start. The animal is brought to life by adding inner organs, muscles, and skin one after the other. Once it has become alive it will start moving in its natural habitat. After 30 seconds the dinosaur will return to its position and become a skeleton.

The exhibition has a total of seven Jurascopes and two of them are barrier-free, meaning that they can be experienced by several people at the same time.

The Jurascope is based on the Timescope which was also created by ART+COM.

Read more at ART+COM.

At first only the dinosaur’s skeleton is visible.		Looking through a Jurascope will make the dinosaur come alive.

Kotaku have an awesome piece of footage up at the moment from GC07 which was really quite impossible to pass up posting here too. Not strictly an Indie Game, but then not exactly a game at all.

Phillip Worthington’s Shadow Monsters is essentially the greatest peripheral in the world. You simply make shadow puppets in front of a projector, and then the projector itself adds sound effects and animations to your actions. Something that in writing sounds a little underwhelming, but in action is so ridiculously cool I may actually quit my efforts for a film degree and become an official Phillip Worthington Stalker here and now. It’s pretty damn amazing, and with all the Wii’s efforts to innovate with a remote control so well chronicled, it’s pretty unbelievable that this is the first time I’ve actually heard of this. Impressive stuff.

(Thanks Kotaku for your continued greatness! Also the video is their own footage so it really didn’t feel right to just embed it here. Also I have no idea how to do that. So I guess you have one more click to make, but it’s probably the greatest click you’ve ever cluck. For True.)

Wolfire Software’s Black Shades puts you in the role of a psychic bodyguard. Yeah, I know, that’s already pretty damn awesome, right? Well, the game itself does a good job of living up to its description, although it was made for a short deadline and it shows. It’s a full meal, just don’t expect a lot of gravy. The scoring system, for example, is pretty much vestigial, and level transitions are non-existent. And when the game ends, it just ends!

In each of Black Shades’ levels, a VIP dressed in white wanders around a randomized city. Also in the city are civilians and assassins, who are indistinguishable except for their weapons and movement patterns. Using your psychic powers (either “psychic aiming,” which slows down time, or “soul release” which lets you leave your body and scout out the area), weapons (a different one in each level), and physical moves you must protect the VIP from the assassins.

The game does a great job of making you feel like a psychic bodyguard with very basic graphics and simple game mechanics, and that’s really something. It’s so satisfying when you catch an assassin rushing in with a knife, only to plug him with your gun… or when you spy a sniper across the street, and knock over the VIP as a bullet whizzes over his head.

This game is made by the creator of Lugaru.

(Source: Soldat Movies)

Zygote is an interactive ball that responds to user interaction by changing its colour. People will play with the ball at concerts, which will trigger the colour shifting.

The concept behind Zygote is quite simple: inflate a one-and-a-half-meter sphere with helium. Then put a cube of touch-sensitive coloured LEDs inside it, and throw it into the audience. Giant balloons have often been a trick at concerts, but Zygote adds a new dimension to the fun, by allowing the audience to manipulate the appearance of the object.

More info can be found at Tangible: Interaction Design.

Also check out the video.

Via Engadget.

People can change the colour of the Zygote ball by hitting it.		The ball can add another dimension of interaction for concert-goers.