![]() ![]() ![]() “It had nothing to do with the game design, it just had to be in there,” says Tholen. ![]() Back before Google’s magical search opened the web up like a scalpel, you needed directories to find good stuff, so places like GeoCities had Neighborhoods, where you’d find science-fiction and fantasy pages in Area51, games in TimesSquare, and music on SunsetStrip. So how to help players get around? Tholen tells me that the first, and most obvious, thing to do was to create a homepage directory. But for Jay Tholen, the creative lead behind Hypnospace Outlaw, it’s critical that this internet feels real and fun to read. In other words, you surf an artificial internet where clues to finding the things you need could be anywhere. As the maker of a walled garden of websites called Hypnospace, MerchantSoft imposes a lot of terms and conditions on its users, and you’re one of its enforcers, policing its rules, from content infringement to profane activity. It’s 1999, the cusp of Y2K, and you work for a software corporation called MerchantSoft. ![]() How did did the three-strong team behind Hypnospace Outlaw make something so playable out of something so chaotic? The answer lay in looking at how the early internet worked. It’s funny, bizarre, poignant, and sometimes dumb, just like the early internet that it spoofs.īut it’s also a game, so its wild thickets of pages, all written by distinct personalities, are also navigable and carefully laced with puzzles to figure out. Hypnospace Outlaw is a game about surfing a fictional 1999 internet, a web of GeoCities-like pages made by a community of weirdo artists, rock stars, scammers, edgy teens, pastors, hackers and spiritualists. Once you've reported 3 or 4 of these violations you'll see that the little bar at the top of all his pages should now be filling up with red, say "eligible for flagging" and have a little button next to it marked "flag".Ĭlick this button on any of his pages at any point during November 5th and you should pop the achievement.This is The Mechanic, where Alex Wiltshire invites developers to discuss the difficult journeys they’ve taken to make their games. You can also report the Zane Sucks Club banner on Jennifer's (Corey's "girlfriend") page for a little bit of extra cash but it doesn't count towards Corey's violations and you can't flag her page. Then click the link to reach the Zane Sucks Club page where everything can be reported, including 3 separate moving "Zane Sucks" banners at the top. To get started you can flag both the badge and the little bit of text about knocking Zane's teeth out for harrassment. Once here check out Corey/ThatBrassyKid's page and scroll down to the bottom to find the badge/link to the Zane Sucks Club. Once you've closed the first case (copyright infringement pictures of Gumshoe Gooper) you'll be given access to Teentopia and the harrassment case. So this is super easy to do but can be completely overlooked if you're rushing through the main cases. This is the only point in the game that he has any violations and flagging pages is disabled once you reach the HAP. This is specifically for flagging Corey's page for removal on November 5th. Although you can get it within about 3 minutes of starting a new game so it's hardly a big deal. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |