Project Search

Robert Kurvitz, the writer for Disco Elysium, said in 2020 'Games spread like wildfire over the world, in a way novels never can. They cross national borders, languages, ideologies, age cohorts — in a matter of months. They change minds. They make minds . . . Consider dropping book-writing for game-writing. It’s worth it.” To me Project Search accepts Kurvitz's challenge. It tells the story of a VR drone pilot and his buddies investigating portals but does so in short notes punctuated by beautiful abstract 3D scans of Linhai's old town. Characters are fuzzy and abstracted, the world shifts and morphs. The creator of the game, Jiadong Qiang, attributes the game's abstraction and mistiness to the theory of "cosmotechnics" which is described as "the unification of the cosmic order and moral order through technical activities" by Yuk Hui. In short, a culture's philosophical outlook and religious cosmology can be found in the technologies they produce, pushing against the idea that technological development exists linearly. I think this is the appeal to science fiction here. As a Westerner, I don't have the Daoist background this game operates in, but my understanding is that the pagodas and steps the game takes place following are relevant, and utilizing games and 3D scanning is a way of tying modern technology to that cosmology, hence the cosmotechnic approach. Throughout the game you will encounter duality. Double vision, mirroring, even the dual languages of English and Chinese. Either way, the visuals are really gorgeous here. What a treat to look at for people who love to see how digital technology distorts reality, and likes to read about it too. "The rain looks like laser beams in my HMD" is bars. Highly recommend taking the hour to explore this world and thinking deeply about the cultural differences that may arise as you play.

gameplay – B story – B sound – B- design – B detail – B ui – B+ enjoyment – B- === overall – B === note: If Picasso and AI had a baby.

I'm putting this as a "Recommend" because of the interesting thought, beautiful visual design, and fascinating narrative structure to be unearthed. However, I feel like a lot of people are going to be frustrated by the project's inscrutability, and some questionable or unfinished UX design. I feel like it could be greatly improved with some thoughtful interaction feedback mechanisms (sound response, mouse hover effects, confirmation animations) and addressing the input lag/invisible loading with animations. These don't need to even be technically robust; a simple idle loading animation goes a long way.

☀️

doesn't work. do not play.

Was zum Teufel.... Erneut habe ich die Spiele von Herodes durchforstet und diesen Kohlebrocken gefunden. Ich kann es gar nicht in Worte fassen. So stelle ich es mir vor, wenn alles einfach nur noch existiert. Einfach da ist und nur ist. Akzeptieren, weiter existieren und gar nicht erst versuchen das Gesehene zu verstehen. Um es mit den Worten von Herodes auszudrücken: "was zum kohnstarntien is Tide [...] übel sick siggi" Naja.

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