Friday 26 September 2014

Rejection!

So Rock Paper Shotgun asked for submissions as a way of choosing a new junior reporter - and I thought "well why not".  It had to be 300 words about a computer game - so I talked about the Stanley Parable as I'd just finished playing it.....  

Just got the rejection e-mail - 1,300 people applied - so I thought I'd throw this up here just in case anybody was interested.

It's your choice to like it or not - The Stanley Parable.

The Stanley Parable might not be a game, it might be art and it’s almost certain you should play it despite or because of both those things. Which as first sentences go has some serious self-confidence issues.

What is certain is that it's easier to spoil the Stanley Parable than an episode of Game of Thrones. This game is all about the journey and telling you anything about it will almost certainly impact on your own experience.

Cleverly and maybe unprecedentedly (no other example comes to mind) Galactic Café made a demo that is a completely separate experience from the game - not a limited chunk of the game cut out for you to experience but something that stands alone: presentation of the tone and style of the Stanley Parable for you to experience without any of it being the actual game. Despite failing to prepare me for what was to come, it's still the best introduction going.

If having played the demo you are still not sure if you want to play The Stanley Parable, then maybe telling you what you won't be doing might help. You won’t be running, jumping, fighting or shooting. There is no inventory to manage, no experience points to grind, no skills to pick and not a single stealth section. You've no troops to manage, no resources to gather and nothing to build. Even other classic game actions are pretty debatable. Was that really solving puzzles or exploring?

What can be shared are the words of the loading screen since it is literally the first thing you see in the game and seldom has a load screen provided better advice.....


e end is not the end is not the end is not…..’