Am I the only one who's noticed the strong mushroom theme?
First of all, the game is incredibly trippy. The graphics and gameplay are very buzzy, and the overall slowed down, gentle, naturey feel is precisely the kind of feel one gets on shrooms. The game's style would be great for enhancing that feeling in the player.
Then there's the music -- the whole sound design really. Very, very serene and almost too buzzy. The owl-sound is my favourite -- really sounds supernatural.
Then there is of course the mushroom motif -- mushrooms are everywhere to be found in this game, sometimes in great volume. Check out the drug-art world and you'll notice something about hallucinatory art -- acid paintings have a lot of eyes in them and shroom paintings have a lot of mushrooms. Check out for instance the cover of Kanye West's Graduation album. Shrooms are put into art to trip the tripper even harder, like a stoned person would at the sight of a marijuana symbol. This is often used as a watermark in games. Super Mario anyone?
Two more things. First is the faces. You know, the houses that are all shaped like faces staring blankly at you. There's even one with three eyes. Trippy as hell, and possibly a reference to the way you might look when playing the game!.. Add this to the sheer depth of perspective and the whole aesthetic feel is quite mind-blowing.
Last thing is the length of the game. Yes, everyone complains that it's too short. But it's the perfect length to fit nicely into a mushroom trip. Some can finish the game in three hours -- slow down your brain functions and you'll get a good 6 out of it, especially first time through when you're still figuring out the puzzles.
I know this is starting to sound like a loosely-constructed conspiracy theory, but there's more to it than that. What makes Pink Floyd The Wall a buzzier movie than Indiana Jones? That's rhetorical -- It's obvious, right? It's all about the intention of the designers.
People make games for trippers. This one happens to be good enough to cross over into the world of non-trippers. I say, all power to them!
First of all, the game is incredibly trippy. The graphics and gameplay are very buzzy, and the overall slowed down, gentle, naturey feel is precisely the kind of feel one gets on shrooms. The game's style would be great for enhancing that feeling in the player.
Then there's the music -- the whole sound design really. Very, very serene and almost too buzzy. The owl-sound is my favourite -- really sounds supernatural.
Then there is of course the mushroom motif -- mushrooms are everywhere to be found in this game, sometimes in great volume. Check out the drug-art world and you'll notice something about hallucinatory art -- acid paintings have a lot of eyes in them and shroom paintings have a lot of mushrooms. Check out for instance the cover of Kanye West's Graduation album. Shrooms are put into art to trip the tripper even harder, like a stoned person would at the sight of a marijuana symbol. This is often used as a watermark in games. Super Mario anyone?
Two more things. First is the faces. You know, the houses that are all shaped like faces staring blankly at you. There's even one with three eyes. Trippy as hell, and possibly a reference to the way you might look when playing the game!.. Add this to the sheer depth of perspective and the whole aesthetic feel is quite mind-blowing.
Last thing is the length of the game. Yes, everyone complains that it's too short. But it's the perfect length to fit nicely into a mushroom trip. Some can finish the game in three hours -- slow down your brain functions and you'll get a good 6 out of it, especially first time through when you're still figuring out the puzzles.
I know this is starting to sound like a loosely-constructed conspiracy theory, but there's more to it than that. What makes Pink Floyd The Wall a buzzier movie than Indiana Jones? That's rhetorical -- It's obvious, right? It's all about the intention of the designers.
People make games for trippers. This one happens to be good enough to cross over into the world of non-trippers. I say, all power to them!
