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These mockbuster parodies of The Shape Of Water would be doing better if the titles weren't so stupid.
That's the eraser game from this @TheCaptainSauce video:
It's weird because it has a bunch of stories you can play and it seems that they're using some kind of content creation tool to build them. There's clearly a lot of reused items and animations in the stories
And I kinda want to figure out the format they're using and see if i can generate my own and inject them
Inject may be the wrong term. I don't think they're packing all the stories in the app, I think it downloads them on the fly.
The app store suggested Journeys which is a similar sort of thing with reused assets and stories made of a scripted sequence, although Journeys lets users make their own stories
Also all the stories seem to be about infidelity. To the point where it's getting concerning
OK having done some minor testing:
Nope, it's not downloading new stories, they're built into the app (I played in airplane mode)
Nope, it's not downloading new stories, they're built into the app (I played in airplane mode)
Also this game is 1000% being designed like those algorithmic YouTube videos for kids. They are aiming this at like 5 year olds
And trying to get them to accidentally buy shit with their parents credit cards
Still given how obviously mismatched a lot of the animations are, they have to be using some animation system for this. Some kind of very basic visual design thing, as otherwise they're cutting corners in ways that make no sense
Anyway I thought that VIP membership thing was for new stories but NOPE it's for the in game currency which seems to be only used for new outfits and hints
Wait does VIP access unlock penis erasers? ARE THE LIBERALS FINALLY COMING FOR OUR PENISES?!
Anyway if this thing isn't downloading new stories, I don't understand why not.
It clearly would be easy for them to build more of these stories then they could release them every week as an incentive to come back
It clearly would be easy for them to build more of these stories then they could release them every week as an incentive to come back
But maybe the economics of this don't work that way, because it's way scammier
They'd rather build those stories into another game with a slightly different name and release it with nearly identical game play
They'd rather build those stories into another game with a slightly different name and release it with nearly identical game play
Also stories are like 5 pages long and they show up on the home menu as "continue playing" when you beat them. I figured that might mean they have more content, but NOPE it just restarts them
Infidelity is a minor theme
Sometimes
And by sometimes I mean basically always
Oh shit the fire nation is gonna attack
After beating the first page of that story, it gave me an ad for a game where you complete math problems to make schoolgirls clothes disappear
Why is the cat in the microwave I'm having maniac mansion flashbacks OH NO
Is this a game about soldiers making love, not war?
The next ad is about Stories, which is a game just like Journeys, whee you can choose your own adventure through scenarios like "you're pregnant and your boyfriend is cheating on you"
Here's what I mean about animations. Look at this cat walking animation!
Also they clearly don't have a "laying down" animation so you're just standing in the bed, but rotated sideways with your eyes closed
I love this animation. They're trying to show her pulling the covers over her head but they can't warp the blanket so it just pulls up.
So, no narrator, so the Sun talks?
So, no narrator, so the Sun talks?
I'm not saying this game is playing into stereotypes but I'm playing a story based on goldilocks and the three bears and instead of bears some slightly sassy men showed up
Maybe they just can't do big men with body hair, and these are supposed to be a different kind of bear?
Also this same background appears in a different story. They're definitely reusing assets between stories
One problem with making a game that is built of a common shovelware game theme is that you might end up having ads for other games in the same genre in your game. Live by the sword, die by the sword.
Here's that background again
But when will there be a bottom war game?
These puzzle games are too hard! No one can solve the Three Color Problem!
I think I'm going to give up on expecting anything about this game to make sense
Is there an advertising standards agency I can report this mushroom to?
