i think i was already aware of all of these but it's still interesting to see them laid out in one place.
a lot of them are not exactly about structure, but what even is structure?
there are some games that i haven't returned to even though i want to dig deeper, like eliza.
why have i not completed eliza, but i've gotten through scarlet hollow? and consume me?

i think with eliza i have a feeling that nothing i do really matters--and i also can't fast forward through it like i could with a book? i mean, a videogame just doesn't, as an artifact, fit as comfortably into my life as a book does. i love a good book. it passes from one device to the next. i can get one from the library and hold it in my hands, return it, then get a different copy completely and pick right back up where i left off.

the last big linear videogame i tried playing was persona 4. in that game i lost my save file... oh no... i'm still holding on to that bad feeling :( losing a save file suuuucks.

losing a save file sucks. i've got to think a little bit more about how much of my unwillingness to engage with longer linear works comes from not wanting to lose a save file.

there are some structural requirements. i can tell this already. this isn't about "what makes a bad game", it's more like, "what makes a game something i don't want to work on or have made?"

- i don't play games with high system requirements
- i exclusively use a tablet or touchpad, so fps games are mostly out, unless i can control them with keyboard (see next)
- i don't have a controller, i always play with keyboard
- i don't develop for consoles, i almost never play indie games on consoles, that's pretty symmetrical
- developing for phones is really annoying, because of the storefronts.
- developing for web is totally fine. i like to play web games.
- most downloadable games i don't even play? hmm this one is interesting, it's probably why i keep trying to figure out a web platform for all my games... downloadable games are a pain in the butt because of all the different system requirements. web is a really nice home, i just don't think the games are really allowed to stand on their own there, whereas an executable downloadable has a distinct separate feel to it...
- i play some downloadable games. mac makes it annoying.
- i don't trust web games with save files; that is, i rarely return to a web game and expect it to have anything saved
- i don't make accounts for singular games for the most part (not that these are often requested) well, actually, i would. it's just not very common.

hmm.

or i could just lay eggs...

how do i want to structure my next project? i need a loose principle within which to begin creating, assembling pieces. this is the beginning of a research and analysis project:

what structures have facilitated a desirable return to good works?

what structures interest me or, better yet, fail to turn away my interest?

i'm taking around the important part, as usual. the sacred approach to the temple, maybe.

in this case there is no need to put to words what i found in the temple. you can find it there yourself if you are so inclined. just watch it again.


we are already leaving, our backs to the holy place. free.

my list, shuffled:

• Fit For A King
• Rift Wizard
• Minecraft
• The Gostak
• Uurnog Uurnlimited
• There's a Beautiful Star (HaoLiao)
• Cobalt Core
• Psychonauts (does Psychonauts count?)
• Megane
• Cave Story
• Gravity Bone
• Inside a Star-Filled Sky
• Thirty Flights of Loving
• Iji
• And Other Stories
• N
• Liero
• Moirai
• Ace of Spades (not the one currently on Steam, the other free original one)
• Dwarf Fortress
• Consume Me
• Vertex Dispenser
• GUN GODZ
• zk map for stranger [fr0g] clan official server 24/7 zk map (for stranger)
• Chango
• Save the Date
• Lyle in Cube Sector
• Infiniminer
• Toribash
• Inbetween a Land of Grass
• Slay the Princess
• Elona
• Suveh Nux
• Nidhogg
• Infinifactory
• Cortex Command
• Haven & Hearth
• fast car (mut)
• Black Shades
• Corrypt
• UNDERTALE
• FJORDS
• Little Fighter
• White Butterfly
• LA-MULANA
• Execution (2008)
• Spelunky
• Manifold Garden
• Sing a Song for Freddy
• Yume Nikki
• Brogue
• Gish
• Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor
• The Kingdom of Loathing
• cute jump (sylvie)
• ap  drive (Andy Sum)
• Quadrilateral Cowboy
• Counterclockwise
• Rooftop Cop
• Hero Core
• Myre (card game by Zach Gage)
• Re: Imagine the character

oh, good! that's sixty-four games. now i have to cull. but on what basis :|

Inbetween a Land of Grass