"Psychology"/Awareness Games.

What're we talking about?

Short games that are constructed to explore/evaluate the psyche in some engaging and unusual way (i.e. not moral choice systems), either to raise awareness of an issue, instill a sense of empathy/understanding in the player or simply cause the player to think.

Let's play a few.

Loneliness - Length: 1 min~

You are a dot. There are other dots. What should you do with them? After playing, I highly recommend watching Extra Credit's breakdown.

Elude - Length: 3 - 5 min

Awaken the birds (passion) and climb to the top of the trees to the best of your ability. As far as I understand it, this game was expressly made to be given to families of those suffering from depression or bipolar disorder as a way to for them to understand/empathize with what it feels like. I feel it to be quite accurate. There are two endings, so you might want to play through it twice if you want.

Loved - Length: Variable. One play through is about 3 - 5 min.

This one has been around for a long time so I won't be surprised if everybody's already played it. Of all of this type of game I've played, this one was easily the most affronting.

The Company of Myself - Length: Very variable. 10 mins?

For people who actually want to play one that actually resembles a game. Is pretty challenging (in a puzzle sense, not platforming) and has an interesting mechanic. However, it took me a while to get through.

So. Discussions/thoughts?

 

Oh man, I love these games.

 

There were a couple of games that I think are applicable brought up in this thread. I've played The Company of Myself and Loved before too - the former is good, if a little cliched, whilst the latter plays too much like someone's creepy fetish simulation for me to take it seriously. Unfortunately I don't keep track of these games a lot, but I might have a couple of dubious offerings:

pOnd - 3 minutes
This is a game about loving the simple pleasures in life that is definitely worth playing through to the end.

Pazzon - 10 minutes
By Jesse Venbrux of Karoshi fame. He's made a few such games so this is as good a pick as any.

Games like Knytt and Crayon Physics Deluxe definitely engage my thinkybrain, but they strike me more as atmospheric games than ones that have any central message.

 

There were a couple of games that I think are applicable brought up in this thread. I've played The Company of Myself and Loved before too - the former is good, if a little cliched, whilst the latter plays too much like someone's creepy fetish simulation for me to take it seriously.

On some level, it's supposed to. After all, Loved is about security vs. freedom, and also explores the idea of submission. You know, how submission and yielding will make the game easier and safer, but less colorful, and how disobeying will make the game colorful and vivid, but more difficult and harder to see the hazards ahead. The "voice" speaking to you is supposed to sound immediately intimate: you get to characterize it. You subconsciously project on it (and I can see that you projected negatively enough to get a disconnect, either that or your empathy/ability to suspend disbelief is low). From the get go, I found that my instinct was to get it to like me. I've played through pretty much all of the possible endings to see all of the dialogs (including some hidden easter eggs), but the natural ending I come to, when following my actual feelings, is the exchange: "We will meet soon. Are you excited or frightened?" (Excited) "I am so happy that you are mine. I always loved you."

I heard somewhere that it's also supposed to represent abusive relationships. If it does, I'm fucked.

Nice submissions... Holy hell pOnd surprised me, though. Don't know if that one should be added to the list or not. I'll think about it!

EDIT: Some more discussion about "Loved". To some degree, the game is an ink blot test where you're just given some stimuli and you're supposed to project onto it/attach your own meaning to it.

The voice's final lines in the "A Slave Obeys" ending ("I am so happy that you are mine, I always loved you") didn't strike me as the voice of an abusive lover, keeping his wife/girlfriend in check and subservient. When I read it and think of it like this, I can see why a lot of other people read it as such. But to me, it sounded... Romantic, and even a bit apologetic (for what it put you through). So, I think it is a very successful inkblot, and that my subconscious is very trusting/optimistic about everyone.

 

I love games like these. It's always fun playing them, even though you know they're kinda tacky.

I call them hipster indie games, or 2deep4u, or something related to that. Doesn't matter though.

 

Elude seemed like shittyfuckingartgame.swf at first, but I think they did a really good job with the treetops bit. The natural gamer rush you get from bouncing higher and higher only to ultimately hit a peak once you "use up" all the things to bring you higher, and then being able to pick up a tiny bit on the ones you missed but never reach your peak again is a perfect metaphor. I also felt unstoppable when I was first flying up, which from what I've been told is just what the ups of bipolar disorder feels like.

You can tell these games do a good job when the gameplay itself invokes the feelings without the player even needing to initially make the correlation.

 

Also - www.trevorvanmeter.com/flyguy/flyGuy.swf

a good one

Woah, it got embedded. Weird.

 

I love games like these. It's always fun playing them, even though you know they're kinda tacky.

I call them hipster indie games, or 2deep4u, or something related to that. Doesn't matter though.

2deep4u seems like a fitting name for this "genre".

Elude seemed like shittyfuckingartgame.swf at first, but I think they did a really good job with the treetops bit. The natural gamer rush you get from bouncing higher and higher only to ultimately hit a peak once you "use up" all the things to bring you higher, and then being able to pick up a tiny bit on the ones you missed but never reach your peak again is a perfect metaphor. I also felt unstoppable when I was first flying up, which from what I've been told is just what the ups of bipolar disorder feels like.

You can tell these games do a good job when the gameplay itself invokes the feelings without the player even needing to initially make the correlation.

Yeah, my feelings on "Elude" line up perfectly with yours. I think your assessment is really fair and accurate.

Also - www.trevorvanmeter.com/flyguy/flyGuy.swf

a good one

Woah, it got embedded. Weird.

Yo, thanks for the contribution! I'll look at it soon and maybe even add it to the first post.

 

Ha. I totally broke Elude. The jumping section's limit is either based on height, or based on the number of objects you jump on. And there's a limited number of leaves that will generate for some reason. So by just bouncing off the canopy and avoiding leaves, I eventually ran out, and now I'm stuck in eternal happiness with a trampoline. XP

Moral of the story! You can be happy forever as long as you pace yourself. And have a trampoline. Guess I found the "third" ending, heh.

 

Ha. I totally broke Elude. The jumping section's limit is either based on height, or based on the number of objects you jump on. And there's a limited number of leaves that will generate for some reason. So by just bouncing off the canopy and avoiding leaves, I eventually ran out, and now I'm stuck in eternal happiness with a trampoline. XP

Moral of the story! You can be happy forever as long as you pace yourself. And have a trampoline. Guess I found the "third" ending, heh.

Heheh, yay, congrats! My fiance was able to do something similar, but I didn't.

 

Loneliness - I didn't feel much from it. That's not how I feel about loneliness anyway.

Elude - Don't know anyone who has bipolar disorder. It must be tough though...

Loved - Amusing game, that voice has a sharp tongue... Is he a friend or foe? A loved one or someone dangerous? (I was excited to meet them )

The company of myself - *cough* that ending >< I could somewhat relate until that revelation lol.

p0nd - omg yes

Pazzon - I don't really get it. But, I think anyone who abuses people's trust, or goes to dangerous extremes is bad >< Tried to progress without killing anything lol No good...

Flyguy - Hope that guy didn't get hit by a bus... lol Nice daydreams if he's fine lol

Original post, (deleted the end)
Played the games, here's a difficult to read wall post if you want...

Spoiler

Loneliness - Hmm... I started the notgame by avoiding all the dots until I was forced to encounter them in order to progress. Then after they started running away, I started trying all the groups... and started hunting them!
I made sure to run into as many dots as possible, sneaking up on them and making sure there was no escape~
In the end it got all dark ....

-_-;;

EDIT : Analyzing it... Well, I don't see why a single person would cause huge crowds to run away from them or disperse unless there's a good reason for a crowd to go out of their way to avoid something. If not a person but a dot, then well there's a world of possibilities as to why every dot comes to life after getting in close contact to the PC dot.
Loneliness? Well, I suppose if that's the theme, then the primary reason is because you are different. The world has been programmed / created / there's such a stream of events occuring to provoke such a reaction.
Is it your fault? If you didn't create the dot, but are in control of the dot... No... It's just how life is. Face it!
Change it! Or die trying~ Unless you are content with how the current situation is.
A bit extreme, but you get the gist.

Elude - Mmmmm... Well initially I immediately went to the left, walking somewhere random, until I hit a wall. Then I went back and saw instructions and deliberately ignored them about using resonate...
When I saw the jump part, I ignored it and walked on, but unforunately there was a wall in the way... SO I finally gave in and started resonating all over the place and spent a good deal of time in the forest. When I got glowly several times I just kept going for birds until finally I jumped too high...
VROOOOM, I made it quite high into the sky, jumping on flowers and leaves, and CRASHHHHHHHHHH I fell down. Bah, went back to the place and did some bird collecting and then the stupiiiid monster came for me.
Of course it got me since I wasn't being too slick. And when I was in the pits I just walked ot the right, causing me to sink and the walls to shrink, man did it stink.
Finally when I got back out, did the same old, same old. Made it to sky land and did a better job, making it ALL the way to the top and then there were no more leaves. Ha...
Back in the fray, I collected for a sec, before once again Mr. tentacle came. This time I went as high as I could, but to no avail... But, instead of letting it grab me, at the last second I jumped fully into it lol

This time went to the left, and then happily went all the way to the right as I heard scary monster sounds
THE END

... Second playthrough, I spent 10 mins or so just collecting birds constantly, until I finally accidently jumped too high, and crap went to happy land. This time though, I decided, I'll just enjoy it, no need to do something dangerous like hopping on falling leaves and flowers into the sky to die! This time, I just ran around catching them and guess what?
I never fell! Happy land forever~ Resonating all day long, no more birds to collect either~ wahhhhh

(Some time later)
.... Okay went back and managed to trigger falling back down, did a few birds, then fell into darkness; got out, went back to darkness, got out, went back to the end, but this time I went near the edge and turned around slowly.. hurrah! Happy(enough) end.

EDIT : Okay, analyzing elude... I don't know anything about bipolar disorder. Feeling amazing one second and in an endless nightmare can't be described by such a simple game... But, it's good to spread the message of pretended or at least logical understanding.
It must be hard for a bipolar person who does not have any support whatsoever. I'm not sure if you can allude that the birds and flowers and leaves, etc are people..? In any case... I'm not sure what I can take away from the game. Always look for a way out? You should always hope for a better tomorrow? Come to accept and understand the way you have to live, and help others go through these trials and tribulations, so that you'll be able to walk side by side with each other, and not alone?

Loved - Oh yeah this one. Anyway, Man (boy) -> girl -> boy (man). Was worried about failing that last part lol so closeee. Tried several alternative endings but hmm, nothing special.

EDIT : In this one eh, I first chose to follow grudgingly and dubiously the crazy voice in the sky. Never defied once! Kind of a fun game, wondering what will happen next, depending on your actions.
I don't know what to make of it personally.

In the end, I'd be dubious about obeying such prodding voice. But, too much color is hard on the eyes... Too much detail is bland... Some people like having everything spelled out for them, but having enough freedom to help you on your way is worth it. I mean, for example if you follow every command you cannot uncover the secret area without blind luck. But, if you have some color in your vision... Some rebellious freedom, then the passage will pixelate, and be uncovered if you keep a close eye on your surroundings.

If the voice says it loves you, then well that's good. As long as it doesn't hurt you, then why not accept and trust it within some reason. Trust, but keep your world open to possibilites.

[But there isn't really a right or wrong ending. So, whatever you choose, it is yours. Now if someone else force chooses for you, then that's a different situation...]

The Company of Myself - (reaches the end, reads the epilogue) LOVELY GAME
Pretty interesting, but yeah. Jack ends up being a murderer? Gahhhhhhhhh
Is it torture to leave him to such an endless broken set of events, where he can never face reality?
Sometimes I think it'd be best to be able to reset a person. Give them a memory wipe and ...
........................................... okay maybe I don't want to encourage such possibilities

p0nd - OMG that was awesome lol... I think he must have breathed in a mushroom though... ....
I was clueless the first time, trying to move, and ended up getting a game over without doing anything lol
Thought for a second it was a joke, but after I figured it out, it was ... sorta relaxing... breathing along with it, quite nice.... then I just laughed when things went berserk xD TAPTAPTAPTATPATPATPATPATPTAPTPATPATPATPATPAPTAPTAPTP BREATH IT INNNNNNNNNN AHHH ... lol
nice nice...

Pazzon - ... meh, played that one long ago.
I don't really get it. Except that temple guy shouldn't eat up those poor little creatures.
And what's the deal with the insane laser guys that kill everything? Fanatics?
Anything taken to the extreme can be ugly... Cool game and... meh...

Flyguy - Curious... very curious... His imagination is quite out there xD Better than being bored... Just don't miss what's right in front of you~ Was worried he died at one point lol

I went into these games very aggressively, but I suppose that's just because
(I deleted the rest... because nobody wants to hear any more rambling / wants to know)

I don't think I have a game to add, although I'll mention Chaos;Head the visual novel I played not too long ago... It might fit loosely into this list. It is a long game though, and it's commercial, though they released a version of it in Japan for free...

 

p0nd is really smart, kind of a nice exploration of the expectations you have when going into a game, and how to subvert them and all that.

 

Loneliness - I didn't feel much from it. That's not how I feel about loneliness anyway.

Elude - Don't know anyone who has bipolar disorder. It must be tough though...

Loved - Amusing game, that voice has a sharp tongue... Is he a friend or foe? A loved one or someone dangerous? (I was excited to meet them )

The company of myself - *cough* that ending >< I could somewhat relate until that revelation lol.

p0nd - omg yes

Pazzon - I don't really get it. But, I think anyone who abuses people's trust, or goes to dangerous extremes is bad >< Tried to progress without killing anything lol No good...

Flyguy - Hope that guy didn't get hit by a bus... lol Nice daydreams if he's fine lol

Original post, (deleted the end)
Played the games, here's a difficult to read wall post if you want...

Spoiler

Loneliness - Hmm... I started the notgame by avoiding all the dots until I was forced to encounter them in order to progress. Then after they started running away, I started trying all the groups... and started hunting them!
I made sure to run into as many dots as possible, sneaking up on them and making sure there was no escape~
In the end it got all dark ....

-_-;;

EDIT : Analyzing it... Well, I don't see why a single person would cause huge crowds to run away from them or disperse unless there's a good reason for a crowd to go out of their way to avoid something. If not a person but a dot, then well there's a world of possibilities as to why every dot comes to life after getting in close contact to the PC dot.
Loneliness? Well, I suppose if that's the theme, then the primary reason is because you are different. The world has been programmed / created / there's such a stream of events occuring to provoke such a reaction.
Is it your fault? If you didn't create the dot, but are in control of the dot... No... It's just how life is. Face it!
Change it! Or die trying~ Unless you are content with how the current situation is.
A bit extreme, but you get the gist.

Elude - Mmmmm... Well initially I immediately went to the left, walking somewhere random, until I hit a wall. Then I went back and saw instructions and deliberately ignored them about using resonate...
When I saw the jump part, I ignored it and walked on, but unforunately there was a wall in the way... SO I finally gave in and started resonating all over the place and spent a good deal of time in the forest. When I got glowly several times I just kept going for birds until finally I jumped too high...
VROOOOM, I made it quite high into the sky, jumping on flowers and leaves, and CRASHHHHHHHHHH I fell down. Bah, went back to the place and did some bird collecting and then the stupiiiid monster came for me.
Of course it got me since I wasn't being too slick. And when I was in the pits I just walked ot the right, causing me to sink and the walls to shrink, man did it stink.
Finally when I got back out, did the same old, same old. Made it to sky land and did a better job, making it ALL the way to the top and then there were no more leaves. Ha...
Back in the fray, I collected for a sec, before once again Mr. tentacle came. This time I went as high as I could, but to no avail... But, instead of letting it grab me, at the last second I jumped fully into it lol

This time went to the left, and then happily went all the way to the right as I heard scary monster sounds
THE END

... Second playthrough, I spent 10 mins or so just collecting birds constantly, until I finally accidently jumped too high, and crap went to happy land. This time though, I decided, I'll just enjoy it, no need to do something dangerous like hopping on falling leaves and flowers into the sky to die! This time, I just ran around catching them and guess what?
I never fell! Happy land forever~ Resonating all day long, no more birds to collect either~ wahhhhh

(Some time later)
.... Okay went back and managed to trigger falling back down, did a few birds, then fell into darkness; got out, went back to darkness, got out, went back to the end, but this time I went near the edge and turned around slowly.. hurrah! Happy(enough) end.

EDIT : Okay, analyzing elude... I don't know anything about bipolar disorder. Feeling amazing one second and in an endless nightmare can't be described by such a simple game... But, it's good to spread the message of pretended or at least logical understanding.
It must be hard for a bipolar person who does not have any support whatsoever. I'm not sure if you can allude that the birds and flowers and leaves, etc are people..? In any case... I'm not sure what I can take away from the game. Always look for a way out? You should always hope for a better tomorrow? Come to accept and understand the way you have to live, and help others go through these trials and tribulations, so that you'll be able to walk side by side with each other, and not alone?

Loved - Oh yeah this one. Anyway, Man (boy) -> girl -> boy (man). Was worried about failing that last part lol so closeee. Tried several alternative endings but hmm, nothing special.

EDIT : In this one eh, I first chose to follow grudgingly and dubiously the crazy voice in the sky. Never defied once! Kind of a fun game, wondering what will happen next, depending on your actions.
I don't know what to make of it personally.

In the end, I'd be dubious about obeying such prodding voice. But, too much color is hard on the eyes... Too much detail is bland... Some people like having everything spelled out for them, but having enough freedom to help you on your way is worth it. I mean, for example if you follow every command you cannot uncover the secret area without blind luck. But, if you have some color in your vision... Some rebellious freedom, then the passage will pixelate, and be uncovered if you keep a close eye on your surroundings.

If the voice says it loves you, then well that's good. As long as it doesn't hurt you, then why not accept and trust it within some reason. Trust, but keep your world open to possibilites.

[But there isn't really a right or wrong ending. So, whatever you choose, it is yours. Now if someone else force chooses for you, then that's a different situation...]

The Company of Myself - (reaches the end, reads the epilogue) LOVELY GAME
Pretty interesting, but yeah. Jack ends up being a murderer? Gahhhhhhhhh
Is it torture to leave him to such an endless broken set of events, where he can never face reality?
Sometimes I think it'd be best to be able to reset a person. Give them a memory wipe and ...
........................................... okay maybe I don't want to encourage such possibilities

p0nd - OMG that was awesome lol... I think he must have breathed in a mushroom though... ....
I was clueless the first time, trying to move, and ended up getting a game over without doing anything lol
Thought for a second it was a joke, but after I figured it out, it was ... sorta relaxing... breathing along with it, quite nice.... then I just laughed when things went berserk xD TAPTAPTAPTATPATPATPATPATPTAPTPATPATPATPATPAPTAPTAPTP BREATH IT INNNNNNNNNN AHHH ... lol
nice nice...

Pazzon - ... meh, played that one long ago.
I don't really get it. Except that temple guy shouldn't eat up those poor little creatures.
And what's the deal with the insane laser guys that kill everything? Fanatics?
Anything taken to the extreme can be ugly... Cool game and... meh...

Flyguy - Curious... very curious... His imagination is quite out there xD Better than being bored... Just don't miss what's right in front of you~ Was worried he died at one point lol

I went into these games very aggressively, but I suppose that's just because
(I deleted the rest... because nobody wants to hear any more rambling / wants to know)

I don't think I have a game to add, although I'll mention Chaos;Head the visual novel I played not too long ago... It might fit loosely into this list. It is a long game though, and it's commercial, though they released a version of it in Japan for free...

I liked the wall post, I'm glad you kept it. I really enjoyed reading your sort of... live, unfiltered reactions to the games! Especially your response to Loved, because your reactions/feelings about it are similar to mine, and most people don't think like we do.

p0nd is really smart, kind of a nice exploration of the expectations you have when going into a game, and how to subvert them and all that.

That's really the best way to describe it, isn't it?

 

related

 

I just came across this game, The Snowfield.

Eerie, at once hopeful and depressing. I just spent 20-30 minutes with it and it seems like the kind of game that can be as deep as you want it to be.

 

http://www.molleindustria.org/ has some good anti-capitalism hipster games.

Oiligarchy and Unmanned are extremely fun to play.

 

Short games that tell a story and WD told me I could post them here (at least the first one) so why not?

http://www.ludomancy.com/games/today.php?lang=en

http://www.adriaandejongh.nl/games/52/