Sleep Is Death

[Wurtsi]

This game looks really weird and experimenty and it's by Jason Rohrer. Check out the slideshow on their site to understand how it works.

http://sleepisdeath.net/

Apparently it's mostly going to support LAN and local WiFi play, as while playing over the internet "one player will probably need to fiddle with his or her router settings".

So it kind of looks like it's just a way to visualize stories you want to tell. It seems kind of awkward, as it's only two-player and you both would have to sit in the same room to play, but I'm definitely interested. We'll just have to see if I can convince anyone I know to play it with me.

[Xeneth]

Super interested in this as well...

That's a shame that it's not really built for online play, but also not really surprising coming out of one guy living almost like the Amish in upstate New York... I'd be surprised if a small but dedicated community didn't spring up and create some sort of connection lobby for interested parties...

"Oh, it would be cool if someone hacked in a protocol and created a server where people could more reliably connec- Oh, hey a guy just did that. Awesome, thanks guy."

That's sort of what the internet does at this point.

That being said, it makes sense that it's not really designed to hook you up with the unwashed. Playing with someone you know, even if it's just a member of a community you're familiar with, sounds almost essential here. It's similar to a tabletop RPG in that the key to telling the best stories is cooperation WRAPPED in small conflicts, (or small conflicts wrapped in cooperation?) which most people seem to lose sight of once anonymity enters into the equasion.

[Jayel]

Looks super. I'd be more interested to play with a stranger over the net. Ability to roleplay amongst people I personally know is a skill I never mastered.

[Erkki]

Looks super. I'd be more interested to play with a stranger over the net. Ability to roleplay amongst people I personally know is a skill I never mastered.

Yeah, same here.

[Octaeder]

Looks super. I'd be more interested to play with a stranger over the net. Ability to roleplay amongst people I personally know is a skill I never mastered.

Yeah, there's a level of disconnect online that you'd think would be necessarty to make the story work. Online you could accurately take any tone needed to get across the story you had in mind. If it's being played locally then my flatmate would likely just give me a slap for being too pretentious/obtuse.

I'll still be interested to see the promised video explaining the second player interface, though.

[HPopper]

This is out now. Anyone tried it yet? Seems pretty neat.

[Psych]

I played through it a few times with a friend and while it has its charms the 'game' is marred by a terribly unintuitive interface. The interactive story telling dimension is interesting, but it really pales compared to real improv, and everything it does could probably be reproduced with a shared white board program.

[Wrestlevania]

I pre-ordered this, but am ashamed to say I still have yet to fire it up.

My excuse is that I'm still partly through reconditioning and reinstalling an old laptop I have, so that I can then play this with my kids over wifi in the house.

[Tanukitsune]

Sleep is Death is also having one of those pay what you want sale, but.... Who would I play with?