I really love this game; I think it's elegantly written. What a lovely stylistic choice to split "something" and "anything" into two words each, despite the constraint it puts on your word count, so that you could be so careful and deliberate with your writing. The kind of game that reads like a poem.
Mechanically, I love it. I love this idea that there is no long-term relief for the grief in this specific situation. I think you nailed the blend of mechanic and metaphor. As someone who has dealt with grief and mental health challenges, that means a lot to me to see reflected so candidly.
In my mind, there is a bigger-picture zoom-out to the metaphor of this game, which is that this is not the way to heal a hole in your chest. But it also makes me think about how when you're in that moment and experiencing that pain, literally or metaphorically, it can be really challenging to do anything other than try to get respite.
Apologies for the ramble. Really love this game. Thanks for making it!
I'm sitting here, reading and rereading this. It feels so wonderful to be fully seen in a project. I really appreciate that you perfectly recognized and captured the essence of what I was going for! You weren't rambling at all!!!
Also, THANK YOU for catching what I was doing with "every thing", "some thing", and "any thing". I wanted to keep a very specific tempo for the first two "stanzas", and seperating them out really helped emphasize that.
I'm so glad this comment made you feel so seen! I'm still thinking about this game today, to be honest, so really, again, well done on your design work and ability to catch hold of a player's mind.
I hope you don't mind, I took the liberty of mentioning your game as a beautiful parallel to FinleyJinley's game "You Persist" - I think that game frames a similar experience as (what feels to me like) the other side of the coin - that taking a step back, and allowing life to continue. I mentioned to them that these two games sit like little neighbors in my mind, in the best possible way, and I wanted to share that with you as well!
Oh that's really cool! Taking a look at "You Persist", I have to agree, it's the flip side of this experience. I also saw Norbez Jones' game "Then Try Again" and think its another really good companion piece for this set, a more externalized source of anguish that you grapple with.
I like the presentation of the entry and general idea of the mouth in the chest. It sparks imagination.
However, I would welcome something more advanced or innovative than flipping a coin. Using the die could introduce hunger cooldown in hours, plus modifier equal to the size of the meal or something. That could push the bearer of the chest-mouth into neverending hunt for food (real or metaphorical) with different windows in time during which they could feel full.
Yeah, constrained by the 36 word limit, and the self-imposed 3 words per line really constrained what I was doing with this. For me, the important part of having it be a coin flip is that whatever you are trying to stuff into yourself to sate the hole doesn't actually matter. At best, you only get a little bit of relief before it starts again. This is the part that really more ties it to the metaphorical representation of being stuck in a spiral of grief or depression.
Thanks, that means a lot, means I nailed what I was going for. I've definitely been in the sort of spirals this poem-game is about, I hope you've been able to pull out of them too.
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I really love this game; I think it's elegantly written. What a lovely stylistic choice to split "something" and "anything" into two words each, despite the constraint it puts on your word count, so that you could be so careful and deliberate with your writing. The kind of game that reads like a poem.
Mechanically, I love it. I love this idea that there is no long-term relief for the grief in this specific situation. I think you nailed the blend of mechanic and metaphor. As someone who has dealt with grief and mental health challenges, that means a lot to me to see reflected so candidly.
In my mind, there is a bigger-picture zoom-out to the metaphor of this game, which is that this is not the way to heal a hole in your chest. But it also makes me think about how when you're in that moment and experiencing that pain, literally or metaphorically, it can be really challenging to do anything other than try to get respite.
Apologies for the ramble. Really love this game. Thanks for making it!
I'm sitting here, reading and rereading this. It feels so wonderful to be fully seen in a project. I really appreciate that you perfectly recognized and captured the essence of what I was going for! You weren't rambling at all!!!
Also, THANK YOU for catching what I was doing with "every thing", "some thing", and "any thing". I wanted to keep a very specific tempo for the first two "stanzas", and seperating them out really helped emphasize that.
I'm so glad this comment made you feel so seen! I'm still thinking about this game today, to be honest, so really, again, well done on your design work and ability to catch hold of a player's mind.
I hope you don't mind, I took the liberty of mentioning your game as a beautiful parallel to FinleyJinley's game "You Persist" - I think that game frames a similar experience as (what feels to me like) the other side of the coin - that taking a step back, and allowing life to continue. I mentioned to them that these two games sit like little neighbors in my mind, in the best possible way, and I wanted to share that with you as well!
Oh that's really cool! Taking a look at "You Persist", I have to agree, it's the flip side of this experience. I also saw Norbez Jones' game "Then Try Again" and think its another really good companion piece for this set, a more externalized source of anguish that you grapple with.
I like the presentation of the entry and general idea of the mouth in the chest. It sparks imagination.
However, I would welcome something more advanced or innovative than flipping a coin. Using the die could introduce hunger cooldown in hours, plus modifier equal to the size of the meal or something. That could push the bearer of the chest-mouth into neverending hunt for food (real or metaphorical) with different windows in time during which they could feel full.
Yeah, constrained by the 36 word limit, and the self-imposed 3 words per line really constrained what I was doing with this. For me, the important part of having it be a coin flip is that whatever you are trying to stuff into yourself to sate the hole doesn't actually matter. At best, you only get a little bit of relief before it starts again. This is the part that really more ties it to the metaphorical representation of being stuck in a spiral of grief or depression.
Ouch. This one hurts, but I love the simplicity of the mechanism.
Thanks, that means a lot, means I nailed what I was going for. I've definitely been in the sort of spirals this poem-game is about, I hope you've been able to pull out of them too.