nice video I really think you have a point with the changes in gaming technology. I also see that more and more games are just asset based and hugely sacrifice player interactivity. That's why I find myself more and more often pivoting to indie games. First of all I guess is because of personal preferences but a huge part is just the attention to detail that is put into some of these games. With AAA titles I feel like every newly realized game just doesnt offer that anymore which is also why im still a huge fan of games like Half life or Portal or the Valve games in general cause I think they just have something that is mostly lacking these days.
part of the art is developing assets, writing plots and good music. the same thing is happening with EDM music production. a famous dubstep producer was caught literally changing up a demo track from a sample library. Look at a game like Undertale. it doesnt have to be AAA graphics to be a piece of art. in defense of Pools, it is targeting a very specific aesthetic and piece of internet lore. its just a walking simulator. Not sure if they made their own textures and objects, but monotony and emptiness is kind of the point.
@@kwaddamage8286 I agree, I would personally be more impressed by an RPG maker game like Fear & Hunger where your arms and legs get cut off. Then a game where I have no arms or legs.
I might agree with the point, but not with the example. To me, this is more of a piece of art than a game(you could probably say that for several games, but moreso with this one). Seeing you walk through it makes me feel a certain way that I can't quite describe, but I think the realistic graphics really help to elevate that feeling. I definitely wouldn't consider it horror in the way we traditionally think of horror. But I did think certain parts of the game were unsettling. The narrow tunnels slightly increasing your sense of claustrophobia. The holes you can jump down activating a fear of heights. Although there are no monsters, the emptiness makes you feel like something _should_ be there. If you imagine something popping up to chase you, the slippery floors and wading through the water would sure make it difficult to run away, increasing your sense of paranoia. Oh, and I will admit, that big rubber ducky in the narrow flooded tunnels did jump scare me XD, but that might just be a me thing. But all that's only certain parts of the game. Most of the game is, as you say, quite relaxing. If it has to be considered a horror game, maybe a new subgenre of horror. As a game, I think this should be free instead of 10 bucks. But as a piece of interactive art? I don't know. I don't really know how art is priced. But I can see it possibly being worth 10 bucks through that lens.
My approach for game design is simple. Documentation first, get your gameplay on paper where it functions without digitization. Click and drag your asset factory elements after.
It's not a horror game. It's an art installation. There's room for this in the gaming space. I wish you had picked one of these AAA titles that have you feeling aggrieved to demonstrate your point rather than the passionate work of one person. I heard your disclaimers, but in practice this is just casting shade on a solo developer. AAA deserves the inditement, so send it straight to them.
Not many art exhibits I've been to have this much duplicate texture work. What you mean to say is that it's a 10 dollar gaming visual perspective experiment...yes that is true.
@@EternalKing-LegendsOfRuneterra What I mean to say is that indie developers are not the problem with modern gaming. Also, art installations are often very simplistic, so this feels pretty indicative of some of them to me.
@@HotDumpsterCrab It's not that indy developers are the problem. It's more so that gaming needs scripting to work. Check out my Indigo Park video for an indy and free example.
@@jamesdean6660 I'm familiar, creepy pasta alternate dimension. Popularized like a lot of concepts like Slender Man etc. Just cuz I know doesn't mean I'm gonna sell it.
Like in my opinion just because you're creating a Backrooms game that isn't an excuse to ignore scripting and storytelling. You're still a dude, you got there somehow, you want to leave, you have hands or legs etc?
@@EternalKing-LegendsOfRuneterra I think everything you said was pretty good and it was nice YT. But this Pool thing is maybe better than you think. I'm thinking it's mostly just a Backrooms Pool Room Level simulator, and it seems to do a wonderful job. I haven't played it, but the tone seems spot on. Imagine you're there. What is this place? It really pushes your understanding of reality. I was watching it freaking out. But I notice you were taking it all in as if it were normal, even at one point going, 'ah yeah, this seems like a nice pool set up.'
@@skrolikowski Strictly speaking a lot of backrooms games say they aren't a part of official backrooms story, because that would imply they have an intended short story to cover and aren't just neat perspective exercises.
nice video
I really think you have a point with the changes in gaming technology. I also see that more and more games are just asset based and hugely sacrifice player interactivity. That's why I find myself more and more often pivoting to indie games. First of all I guess is because of personal preferences but a huge part is just the attention to detail that is put into some of these games. With AAA titles I feel like every newly realized game just doesnt offer that anymore which is also why im still a huge fan of games like Half life or Portal or the Valve games in general cause I think they just have something that is mostly lacking these days.
One of best best exemple of creativity from a relativaly small team recently is Satisfactory. Such depth and attention to details.
part of the art is developing assets, writing plots and good music. the same thing is happening with EDM music production. a famous dubstep producer was caught literally changing up a demo track from a sample library.
Look at a game like Undertale. it doesnt have to be AAA graphics to be a piece of art.
in defense of Pools, it is targeting a very specific aesthetic and piece of internet lore. its just a walking simulator. Not sure if they made their own textures and objects, but monotony and emptiness is kind of the point.
@@kwaddamage8286 I agree, I would personally be more impressed by an RPG maker game like Fear & Hunger where your arms and legs get cut off. Then a game where I have no arms or legs.
I'm waiting for this map to get ported to Blade and Sorcery
I might agree with the point, but not with the example.
To me, this is more of a piece of art than a game(you could probably say that for several games, but moreso with this one). Seeing you walk through it makes me feel a certain way that I can't quite describe, but I think the realistic graphics really help to elevate that feeling.
I definitely wouldn't consider it horror in the way we traditionally think of horror. But I did think certain parts of the game were unsettling. The narrow tunnels slightly increasing your sense of claustrophobia. The holes you can jump down activating a fear of heights. Although there are no monsters, the emptiness makes you feel like something _should_ be there. If you imagine something popping up to chase you, the slippery floors and wading through the water would sure make it difficult to run away, increasing your sense of paranoia. Oh, and I will admit, that big rubber ducky in the narrow flooded tunnels did jump scare me XD, but that might just be a me thing.
But all that's only certain parts of the game. Most of the game is, as you say, quite relaxing. If it has to be considered a horror game, maybe a new subgenre of horror.
As a game, I think this should be free instead of 10 bucks. But as a piece of interactive art? I don't know. I don't really know how art is priced. But I can see it possibly being worth 10 bucks through that lens.
It's actually a psychological horror game.
My approach for game design is simple. Documentation first, get your gameplay on paper where it functions without digitization.
Click and drag your asset factory elements after.
It's not a horror game. It's an art installation. There's room for this in the gaming space. I wish you had picked one of these AAA titles that have you feeling aggrieved to demonstrate your point rather than the passionate work of one person. I heard your disclaimers, but in practice this is just casting shade on a solo developer. AAA deserves the inditement, so send it straight to them.
Not many art exhibits I've been to have this much duplicate texture work. What you mean to say is that it's a 10 dollar gaming visual perspective experiment...yes that is true.
@@EternalKing-LegendsOfRuneterra What I mean to say is that indie developers are not the problem with modern gaming. Also, art installations are often very simplistic, so this feels pretty indicative of some of them to me.
@@HotDumpsterCrab It's not that indy developers are the problem. It's more so that gaming needs scripting to work. Check out my Indigo Park video for an indy and free example.
The whole point is how you feel traversing through the space... it doesn't have to have certain content to be considered good 😑
OP, why don't you know about Backrooms?
@@jamesdean6660 I'm familiar, creepy pasta alternate dimension. Popularized like a lot of concepts like Slender Man etc. Just cuz I know doesn't mean I'm gonna sell it.
Like in my opinion just because you're creating a Backrooms game that isn't an excuse to ignore scripting and storytelling. You're still a dude, you got there somehow, you want to leave, you have hands or legs etc?
@@EternalKing-LegendsOfRuneterra I think everything you said was pretty good and it was nice YT. But this Pool thing is maybe better than you think. I'm thinking it's mostly just a Backrooms Pool Room Level simulator, and it seems to do a wonderful job. I haven't played it, but the tone seems spot on. Imagine you're there. What is this place? It really pushes your understanding of reality. I was watching it freaking out. But I notice you were taking it all in as if it were normal, even at one point going, 'ah yeah, this seems like a nice pool set up.'
Fair I just broke up with my GF. Maybe I was cranky.@@jamesdean6660
Wait.. this isn't The Backrooms: Pool Edition?
@@skrolikowski Strictly speaking a lot of backrooms games say they aren't a part of official backrooms story, because that would imply they have an intended short story to cover and aren't just neat perspective exercises.
People who know me are aware I'm not a hype man. If you want someone to tell you this game is the best game ever that isn't me.
10:51 I agree!