Gone Home from The Fullbright Company

[Nappi]

I just noticed the $20 Season Pass but couldn't find any additional information on it. Does anyone know how much content it will add and what is the schedule for the DLC?

[elmuerte]

yes

[melmer]

Greenhouse expansion innit

[BigJKO]

Next thing you know there's a Nissan Leaf parked in the Gones' driveway.

[Korax]

And every room has a Crest toothpaste collectible in it.

[dibs]

Will it be horse bag compatible?

[Erkki]

Will it be horse bag compatible?

I'm assuming the horse bag will represent throwable game objects like couches?

[pabosher]

As a sort of special pre-release (the episode will officially be going live next month), I figured you Thumbs might like this episode of my show, recorded at GDC, where I spoke with Steve about stuff. Including chat on gone home, game design, and labelling theory! Check it.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/45811403/DR0000_0093.mp3

Oh, and please don't post it outside the forum. When it eventually goes live proper, I would like my stats to be relatively consistent/stable.

[Argobot]

Here's another write up on Gone Home. The more I read about this game, the more impatient I get to just sit down and play it. 

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2013/apr/26/gone-home-telling-everyday-stories

[axemtitanium]

Here's another write up on Gone Home. The more I read about this game, the more impatient I get to just sit down and play it. 

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2013/apr/26/gone-home-telling-everyday-stories

 

Steve "Gone Home Gone Home" Gaynor. I really want this game as soon as possible.

 

Also thanks for sharing pabosher. I haven't listened to the whole thing yet but the beginning is good!

[melmer]

Got your box quote right here

 

Gone home a story exploration video game, it is a game, it’s a computer game, its not a game because its not a board game it’s a video game, it’s a interactive thing on a video screen.

- Steve Gaynor

 

courtesy of paboshers podcast

[Erkki]

Great interview, pabosher! You managed to get a conclusive answer to the question "what is game?" out of Steve (IMHO).

[pabosher]

Great interview, pabosher! You managed to get a conclusive answer to the question "what is game?" out of Steve (IMHO).

 

ahahahahaha

 

Thank You. For my next trick, I shall reveal why exactly it is that the name Chris Gunga Galunga Remo never stuck.

 

--

 

On a serious note though: Steve is the best. I think the chemistry comes across well, and he's an incredible radio personality. Intelligent and well-spoken, super easy to ask vague-questions to, and receive definitive answers for.

[Erkki]

ahahahahaha

Thank You. For my next trick, I shall reveal why exactly it is that the name Chris Gunga Galunga Remo never stuck.

PS I was being serious actually, and not referring to the "it’s a interactive thing on a video screen." I think somewhere in the discussion Steve made a very good argument about what should be considered a game - anything that requires player input to progress on conveying its meaning, or something like that.

It was not the one sentence though, but the whole discussion around that that was interesting.

[pabosher]

Ah, well thank you! And yeah, I think the whole 'labels' discussion is super interesting, especially as I see them as pretty crucial to perception, and he sees them as largely inconsequential.

[melmer]

http://thefullbrightcompany.com/2013/06/21/why-we-are-not-showing-gone-home-at-pax/

Up side of all this is that they'll probably get ten times the publicity today for not showing at PAX

They need to release a new trailer 30mins ago!

[Gormongous]

http://thefullbrightcompany.com/2013/06/21/why-we-are-not-showing-gone-home-at-pax/

Up side of all this is that they'll probably get ten times the publicity today for not showing at PAX

They need to release a new trailer 30mins ago!

 

That's a fucking fantastic announcement, though. It's nice to have someone take a stand on that, instead of circling the wagons like most gamers do with Penny Arcade.

[Salacious Snake]

I appreciate the position that Hot Scoops and the rest of the team are taking with this very much.

[melmer]

Penny arcades wrote something

http://penny-arcade.com/2013/06/21/well-that-escalated-quickly

[Twig]

I don't know the full story about all of this, but that post by Gabe seemed pretty genuine and believable. The people on the Right Side of a debate can be and often are just as hostile and unforgiving as the people they're fighting against. And I know full well what it's like to accidentally explode because a bunch of people are pushing your buttons at once. And I'm not even an internet faux-celebrity! U:

 

Whether or not that was the actual case in THIS situation, I do not know. Doo dee doo.

[Berzee]

From the fullbright article:

 

Gone Home deals in part with LGBT issues. This stuff is important to us, on a lot of different levels.

 

Is this a new revelation or was this previously known?

 

I find myself somewhat disappointed, because it would be nice to play a game about exploring an empty home without also having to endure a bunch of Sexuality Character Development. I don't actually know how they're handling it and maybe it will be tactful or philosophical or at least easily avoided, but I have quit reading many a young adult novel in my day (not as a "young adult", mind, I went back to pick up that genre in my 20s ) because it turned out to be less about (say) pirate ships and more about a kid meeting a girl and thinking "WAT R DEEZ FEELINS???". I've also used walkthroughs specifically to avoid getting railroaded into Romantic Subplots in games when it's apparent that the romantic subplot is going to be Just Awful (99% of them).

 

I s'poz it would be slightly more tolerable if it is about the "social acceptance" aspect of things rather than the character development side of things, but I still worry that even the mighty power of Scoops won't be enough to avoid the inevitably hackneyed way these things are always handled in the midst of fiction. Maybe I should trust them and see if it turns out to be something I can comfortably ignore in favor of stuffing the refrigerator doors full of items from the living room. Or maybe I will shrug my shoulders and say, "Ehh, sounds like a rental."

 

Note: People can and should of course make games about things that are important to them, and I don't say that they should have done differently. =) It's merely a question of the topics that I find tiresome in particular contexts. So, not intended as a criticism (especially because I don't know anything about it!), more just a personal murmur of uncertainty and surprise. =P (It may also just be partially my current mood, in other circumstances I may be quite up for playing / arguing with a game about Serious Topics). Actually, you can probably safely ignore my uninformed complaints (I would just delete it, but the Idle Thumbs legacy includes a rich tradition of uninformed complaints!)

[SecretAsianMan]

I respect the Fullbright Company's position and the fact that they're willing to take a stand on it.  I won't say I totally agree with their reasons (some parts I do and some I don't), but it is nice to see people acting on their convictions and I support them doing so.

[I Saw Dasein]

Well pretty much no games are about sexual coming of age, so if you don't like that topic you've got a lot of other choices to pick from. I also don't really think that "coming of age" is particularly hackneyed; a lot of really great books and movies are about those topics. Even bad-ass action movies can involve that theme, Hanna being a recent example. Personally I'm kind of sick of games about "pirate ships", for example.

I have some sympathy for the PA dude, but seriously, if someone ever tells you that they are offended/hurt/upset about something you say, the correct response is never to insult them.

[Nappi]

I, for one, am intrigued by the LGBT / ghost story fusion. 

 

I've also used walkthroughs specifically to avoid getting railroaded into Romantic Subplots in games when it's apparent that the romantic subplot is going to be Just Awful (99% of them).

 

Just ouf of curiosity, which games were you actually forced to do this?

[Berzee]

Just ouf of curiosity, which games were you actually forced to do this?

 

Mainly it was Jade Empire. That game is a minefield! (Maybe I have exaggerated memories, but most games at least give you a dialogue choice of "Flirt", "Be Mean", "Be Bland and Polite", and "Ignore" with the first option leading to RELATIONSHIP POINTS! But with Jade Empire it felt like the designated romance characters took your willingness to have ANY three-minute conversation with them as a sign of undying affection. It was very awkward. =P)