Before I talk about more demos I’ve played, I want to talk about demos in general. Steam Next Fest is happening right now, and while it used to be a gerat way to see what is new and coming out, now, it’s just way too massive. There are thousands of games on Steam, and, let’s be real. They’re having sales all the time, so it’s nothing special. Here is my post from yesterday on a few demos I really enjoyed.
What it does mean, however, is that there are tons of new demos. I have been adding them like they’re going out of style, and I think I added six or seven. The thing about–ok, I forgot what I was going to say here. But I will say that there were a few games I didn’t like, a few I did like, but not any today that I really like.
I’m going to analyze what catches my eye when I’m playing a demo and what turns me off.
First of all, if it’s first person, chances are I’m going to turn it off rigcht away. That’s just because first person almost always makes me nauseous. I don’t know why Cerature Kitchen (The Rat Zone) from yesterday didn’t, but my theory is beacuse it’s not trying to be photo-realstic, so my brain can accept it as not real.
Another thing that irritates me is if there’s no tutorial. Look. I can figure most shit out, but if there’s not a basic tutorial, I’m going to be frustrated. I played a game that I really wanted to like, but I was lost as to what to do. And it’s a type of game I play often. There are certain tropse that it did not follow, much to its detriment. People like to give tropes a bad rap, but there are times when they are needed .
Once again, I’d like to say that since I mostly try the demos for indie games, I give them as much benefit of the doubt as possible. However, at the end of the day, if I can’t actually play a game, then there’s no point to it.
Here’s something I hate in any game–timed mini-games. One game I quite liked had a mini game for when you were catching bugs (part of the story). It’s the old ‘hit the button when the bar is in the green zone’ except in this case you have to hold down the LMB (no controller) and let go when it’s in the middle of the green bar.
I enjoyed the game for the most part, but this might be enough to turn me off it, especially as it’s a big part of the game. There are also other mini-games than rely on repeatedly tapping a button–which I can’t do. Or rather, I don’t want to do over and over again. In the year of our lady, 2026. there is no fucking reason to have mini-games that rely on holding a button or tapping repeatedly. Especially not in my cosy games. There is nothing cozy about that. At the very least, they should have the option not to do it.
It’s not very accessibility-friendly, which is something most indie devs are concerned about. By the way, there is a discussion about whether a dev’s personality/beliefs should influence a buyer. Many people believe that you should separate the art from the creator, which is fine for them.
My stance is that if the person is dead, well, I still may not buy their art, but I’m laxer about it than if they’re alive. If they are alive and actively putting shit out there against me and my kin *cough* JKR *cough cough*, then they are for all practical purposes dead to me.
As I’ve explained to people, no one is owed my money. I can spend it (or not) however I want. Others may find my reasoning specious, but I don’t care. In addition, if someone denies my humanity or thinks people like me should not exist, then why should I give them any money?
In America, conservatives are obsessed with letting the market decide what is and isn’t saleabe–until it goes against what they believe in. They were obsessed with cancel culture* for a time, but that’s capitalism, bay-beeee! If enough people don’t like a product and don’t buy it, it’ll be more expensive/taken off the market. These are the same people who orgasm over the word ‘capitalism’. Apparently, they don’t know what it actually means.
Well. This went in a direction I did not expect. Anyway, I will write about actual demos tomorrow. Probably.
*This doesn’t exist, by the way. It never did, and it was so frustrating to hear conservatives whining about it. Also, the fact that they bleated on and on about how queer people were out to get them. Do you honestly think if we had that kind of power, we wouldn’t be using it? Believe me, if I could cancel, say, JRK, I most certainly would. She would be gone before you could even say, “Where is–“.
It’s wild to me that we queers are portrayed at this power-having monolith that is out to destroy America when we are getting laws passed against us by the hour. Again, do you think if we could wave a magic queer wand and get rid of all the queerphobic politicians in office, we wouldn’t do that?!
It really pisses me off how queers have been made out to be the bogeyman when we are barely holding onto our civil rights with the ips of our fingernails. But there always has to be someone the conservatives can point to as the bad guy in order to turn the heat off them. And to make their followers focus on the wrong thing. Because if their followers ever realized who was fucking them over, well, they would riot. Oh wait. They did. But against the wrong people. Dumbasses.
We queers just want to live our lives. That’s it. That’s the big, bad, queer agenda. Just like anyone else, wo want to be able to love whomever we want. That’s it. What a scary agenda! Also, most of us just want to be able to live our life in peace. My agenda is to order some Korean fried chicken tomorrow.
I have no idea how I went off the rails with this, but that’s how I roll. It’s pretty funny that this post is mostly a footnote, but I do love me a good footnote.