Comment by nine_k
3 years ago
It's a wonderful thing: a toy, not a game.
A game has a goal. Here you are free to experiment without being led or nudged. In the world of computer-based entertainment, it is refreshing.
3 years ago
It's a wonderful thing: a toy, not a game.
A game has a goal. Here you are free to experiment without being led or nudged. In the world of computer-based entertainment, it is refreshing.
I hate almost all games for this need to advance, earn levels, die and start over, compete and score. One of very few games I played when I was young was Test Drive 4*, where I would simply drive around and play, switching wipers on and off. I liked sports cars games, but I would often go backwards or wonder off the track, if game permitted. Also.. Neverhood. And creative mode in Minecraft.
*) Test Drive 3
> hate almost all games for this need to advance, earn levels, die and start over, compete and score
One of the only games I've truly enjoyed for a long time is SimCity. I learned this genre is sometimes called "idle games".
> What differentiates idle games from other types of game systems is that they can progress without player input. When players do engage, they tinker with a system, rather than encountering a confrontation that they can win or lose.
> Idle games invites players to participate in the game world, but does not revolve around them. You are, essentially, not a center of the world but a spectator.
On the Design of Idle Games, Katta Spiel et al. https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3311350.3347180 (PDF)
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Neverhood looks fun! Love the claymation art.
The Neverhood Trailer (1996) - https://youtu.be/OOcWNOxoG6E
> I learned this genre is sometimes called "idle games".
That is very interesting. With "idle games" idea of playing games may be stretched to all different spaces of interacting with the computer/program, touching on learning, relaxation, ideation. Well... food for thought.
> Neverhood looks fun! Love the claymation art.
Neverhood is unique with its aesthetics as it was created with real, huge set made of real clay and cameras recording character walking.
Behind the Scenes - Neverhood and Skullmonkeys [Making of] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrR3jbgocI4
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This is one of the allures of Forza Horizon for me. On the surface, it's an MMRPG, with social, collection, crafting, levels, puzzles, competition, et al, all of that can be turned off / ignored as desired.
With those items off, it's a great place to "drive" around, with different climates, seasons, amazing views, etc. Drive a classic convertible along a beachfront road. Explore dirt roads in an SUV during a snow storm.
It's no driving simulator, but it's a pleasant way to get away from the world for a while. If you've got the winter blahs and like driving / scenery, plug your PC or Xbox into the biggest display you have and get away for a while.
Not to mention kick ass tunes. I’m not sure if it’s a long standing collaboration, but Hospital Records use to curate the music
Judging from yt videos, amazing graphics and feel. Thx for suggestion.
I used to do this on Total Drivin’ on PS1. There were all sorts of ledges and off-track locations you could get yourself onto if you drove off track in the right way, sometimes even wall driving. Many, many hours.
For me was Midtown Madness 2, I used to climb the highest buildind in San Francisco with each vehicle and see how many fall it takes to wreck them.
It's zoning out, letting mind loose. Feels a bit like traveling, too.
I checked how Total Drivin' looked. Have a look at http://dos-scholar.blogspot.com/2011/04/test-drive-iii-passi..., if you want to see TD3.
Try out beam.ng and Microsoft flight simulator.
Have you tried Little Inferno?
Now, that is interesting concept. I will. :)
There's games where the goal is this wandering off. Outer Wilds does this quite well I think.
Ultima Online (unofficial servers)
Also a Neverhood fanboy. Respect.
> it is refreshing
I recommend exploring the top-right link and poking around this person's site. It felt like an old flash website and took me back a couple decades.
The last time I remember seeing an internet toy was over a decade ago: https://experiments.withgoogle.com/browser-ball
I'd count Townscaper as a toy as well.
https://oskarstalberg.com/Townscaper
Fun!
https://oskarstalberg.com/Townscaper/#IzBQKaIkyOM1lbn9IiXdyw...
Oddly satisfying. I really whish there was a good modern graphic city building games with the scale of Som City 2000 or 3000 ...
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I love townscaper.
That is lovely.
If we're linking to internet toys, here's a bit of shameless self-promotion. Something I made a little while back: https://frogulis.net/little-bits/eye-on-a-string
Boing boing boing :D
I like it.
There is also https://thisissand.com/ - very good for long telephone conferences :-)
This was fun. I kept trying to "throw" the sand and use a forward momentum to the falling sand, but that doesn't work. No matter the speed of the mouse's movement, the falling particles always fall straight down. Otherwise I liked it enough that I am saving it for my next conference call as you've suggested
Soda constructor, circa 2000. Draw things with lines. Make some of them springd. Watch them move around. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soda_Constructor
Someone rebuilt it in Javascript. It’s not mobile friendly, so I haven’t been able to try much with it yet. https://peterfidelman.github.io/constructor/
Powdertoy is definitely a toy. https://powdertoy.co.uk/
Woah this is fantastic! thanks for sharing!
What I like to say to distinguish them is that for something to be a game there must be a lose condition
For more on the subject, Mark Rosewater (head designer of Magic: the Gathering): https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/making-magic/what-game-201...
Well, a sandbox game still has game in the name, right?
It reminds me of The Incredible Machine game.
Have you tried Kerbal Space Program? My son and I love to just roam around exploring, and trying to build different rockets and airplanes. We're just not interesting in the game, but the exploration is amazing. It is also a terrific learning tool.