Author Topic: Pseudopod 285: Kill Screen  (Read 26449 times)

Zedonius

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Reply #25 on: June 12, 2012, 05:02:46 PM
First of all, I'd like to say this was a really fun story here. I was actually a bit terrified by the end--something that Pseudopod hasn't done to me in a long time--so thanks for that.

Several people have commented that the 8-bit sounds were too loud and should have been muted. I disagree. I like listening to music/playing video games at low volume levels. I always have. My old roommates would play music turn up the volume on the tv just a bit too much, and it would usually put me on edge. Persistent loud noises just bother me, so the almost over-powering 8-bit sound really made me uneasy, which added to the overall negative ambiance of the story. The reasoning is entirely personal, I know, but still no less significant for me.

Keep 'em coming, Pseudopod.

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hronir

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Reply #26 on: June 12, 2012, 11:51:54 PM
Loved the 8-bit Chopin! Did one of you guys program this or did you pull it from a chiptuner?
Yeah the screams were too loud but who cares! I was in the room with the guy and that made it for me. In fact, I don't think I would have enjoyed this nearly half as much if I had simply read it. The story itself was still nicely crafted but I think that the "over-production" was perfect and necessary this one.

Although part of me was hoping that it would turn out to not be a haunted game. Instead just the relic of tragic murders made by a deranged mind. The danger is long past but the horror remains.
This was my thought exactly. It would have been wildly haunting. But somehow I knew Mr Plot would end up in the room... but I still hoped that he wouldn't!

As soon as humanly possible, I got my daughter off listening to kids music and onto listening to video game remixes from OCRemix.org. She also likes the 8-bit and 16-bit themes, but I still love that she can pick out the ElecMan theme from Mega Man 1 no matter how it's remixed.
Listener, you should also check out http://8bc.org/ if you haven't already. They are down at the moment but when they are back up and running they have a huge database of artists re-creating all kinds of music with 8bit generators. You might enjoy the older stuff by Henry Homesweet as a starting point.



kibitzer

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Reply #27 on: June 13, 2012, 10:45:43 PM
--Half-Life 2.  Especially a particular part in the abandoned town of Ravenholme where you are on the top of a building waiting for rescue on a slow tram while fast zombies are scaling the drainpipes to attack you.  Thank God for shotguns!

Ooh, totally forget that one and absolutely agree! Can't tell you how much I love HL2 and wish that Ep3 would come out. Vain hope.


yaksox

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Reply #28 on: June 14, 2012, 09:13:26 AM
I'm surprised to see so many positive comments for this one. I was going to let my opinion slide until I saw the whole discussion about feedback from listeners playing a part in direction. This was, dare I say it the WORST EPISODE EVER!!! (now get out of my store).
I didn't like the graphic descriptions of mutilated kids. There's just no art to it. This plus part of the last Flash on the Borderland set make me wonder if there's been a change in management...
The description of what was happening in a video game didn't do it for me. It just seemed bare and lacking the power or wonder that good description in a story can bring. It's like reading the ingredients off of a coke can and calling it poetry.

The production effects sometimes add to a story (like that cormorants one) but this time they just felt like they were propping the story up. Multiple narrators didn't help either.
Sorry if this comes across as negative. I do remember and really liked the author's other story published here.



wintermute

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Reply #29 on: June 14, 2012, 10:46:05 AM
I'm normally not a fan of overly produced episodes - the reading should be enough on its own - but in this case, I'm glad the music and the screams were there. They helped to bring me into the story, and (quite frankly) freaked me out.

Does that mean the story itself wasn't as strong as it could have been, if it needed those effects to make it work? Maybe. I don't know. All I know is that the package as a whole was brilliant.

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Unblinking

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Reply #30 on: June 14, 2012, 01:17:00 PM
I didn't like the graphic descriptions of mutilated kids.

I didn't LIKE graphic descriptions of mutilated kids, but they were effective, and made sense for a killing video game.

Sorry if this comes across as negative.

I think I can objectively say that it not only comes across as negative, it is definitely negative.  Hard to describe "WORST EPISODE EVER" as being anything but.

So it's a good thing that negativity is allowed here (and a good thing too or I would've been ousted long ago!). 



Fenrix

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Reply #31 on: June 14, 2012, 03:14:41 PM
I didn't like the graphic descriptions of mutilated kids. There's just no art to it. This plus part of the last Flash on the Borderland set make me wonder if there's been a change in management...

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. The management and editorial staff is still the same.

If we only ran flowery descriptions filled with cosmic horror, we'd get criticized for that. If we only ran esoteric art pieces we'd get criticized for that. Sometimes you need a monster story and some gore.

Wait until tomorrow. I'm sure you'll like that story more.

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Bdoomed

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Reply #32 on: June 14, 2012, 06:37:45 PM
So it's a good thing that negativity is allowed here (and a good thing too or I would've been ousted long ago!). 

^__^

I'd like to hear my options, so I could weigh them, what do you say?
Five pounds?  Six pounds? Seven pounds?


Red Dog 344

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Reply #33 on: June 16, 2012, 04:35:46 PM
I was not too impressed with this one, but I'm not a gamer.  What bothered me most was the passivity of the protagonist, his lack of intelligence and initiative.  At some point I needed him to be more than a victim.  Adding another "real world" character who also had opinions on what to do next might have helped.  I don't mind stories where the protagonist dies in the end, but this guy seemed like a lamb to the slaughter.

I'm reminded of "Dude, You've Got to See This"... it would be creepier to watch someone else freak out over this old game and its cheesy sound effects, while you remain unmoved.

I had mixed feelings about the sound effects and extra voices, but overall I think it worked out, and suited the unique story.  Pseudopod is allowed to take creative risks now and then, I think; sometimes they will fall flat, and sometimes they will add something marvelous.



eytanz

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Reply #34 on: June 16, 2012, 06:45:51 PM
I liked this story a lot. It went exactly where I expected it to, but it did so very well. I saw looking back on the thread now that the author thought of Maniac Mansion where he was writing this - that's exactly the image it evoked in me :)

As a regular complainer about Pseudopod's attempts at more elaborate sound productions, I found this one a clear improvement. No perfect - it did make listening harder for me - but it didn't make it impossible and it actually added more than it subtracted, in my opinion. So I'm happy to see that they're refining the process.

One minor nitpick - the executable that ran the game was called "starttheplot.exe", IIRC - but an old school game would be limited by the DOS character limit which means the name would have to be at most 8 characters. It should have been STRTPLOT.EXE or THEPLOT.EXE or something like that. I played a *lot* of video games in the 80s so that jumped out at me :)



Unblinking

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Reply #35 on: June 18, 2012, 02:09:11 PM
One minor nitpick - the executable that ran the game was called "starttheplot.exe", IIRC - but an old school game would be limited by the DOS character limit which means the name would have to be at most 8 characters. It should have been STRTPLOT.EXE or THEPLOT.EXE or something like that. I played a *lot* of video games in the 80s so that jumped out at me :)

You're right about that.  Good point!



Jeff C. Carter

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Reply #36 on: June 20, 2012, 06:39:36 AM
I really didn't think this one would penetrate my calloused genre fan defenses but it was definitely effective...the slow blade penetrates the defenses I suppose.

This brought back countless hours spent in a dark room or basement staring into the glow of a tiny screen in a beige plastic box.  The nostalgia alone was haunting and the descriptions of the jpg inserts of mutilated bound children were chilling.

I dug it!

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The Stu

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Reply #37 on: June 20, 2012, 08:53:05 AM
Kill Screen was one of the best Pseudopod stories I have heard!  I thought the music and screams really worked to make is a creepy story.

Congratulations to everyone involved.



ThomasTheAttoney

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Reply #38 on: June 27, 2012, 02:10:18 PM
 Good, even though it is mainly a guy watching a video game.  But in Kill Screen, the descriptions are solid.  The game is made interesting without the story telling us that everyone thought it was interesting.

If you can remix it, turn down the back ground music.  Made it hard to hear when there was background noise.

Good story.
Thank you.



Pirvonen

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Reply #39 on: June 27, 2012, 04:24:22 PM
To have all that building up of tension and expectation for a climax lead to a simple penetration with a knife, nothing complex and interesting for "Mr Plot's favourite victim" was kind of disappointing. But I guess you can't have a long peak -- that would be a plateau.



ThomasTheAttoney

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Reply #40 on: June 29, 2012, 11:06:36 PM
You have presented things before that were good, so I was disappointed to see:
"Screams are supposed to be loud and unnerving."
Saying something obvious as if it is of great importance is a definition of a blowhard and is little appreciated in this forum.
I know you can contribute something that advances the discussion.



Bdoomed

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Reply #41 on: June 30, 2012, 12:58:17 AM
You have presented things before that were good, so I was disappointed to see:
"Screams are supposed to be loud and unnerving."
Saying something obvious as if it is of great importance is a definition of a blowhard and is little appreciated in this forum.
I know you can contribute something that advances the discussion.

Uh, okay, let's remember the One Rule here. A compliment followed by being a dick does not constitute civility and respectability.

I'd like to hear my options, so I could weigh them, what do you say?
Five pounds?  Six pounds? Seven pounds?


Balu

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Reply #42 on: July 03, 2012, 11:55:47 PM
I think my reaction was "this is a well crafted and creepy story that is aimed nicely at the comfort zone of our prime demographic".

Hardly the 'comfort zone'. I had to skip this after five minutes because I was in bed, I had a presentation the next day, and I needed to sleep.

It was creepy as hell, especially because of the production. It really caught that alien, digitally generated vibe.




Sgarre1

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Reply #43 on: July 04, 2012, 08:28:38 PM
"discomfort zone", perhaps?



Umbrageofsnow

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Reply #44 on: July 10, 2012, 03:38:39 PM
Wow, all this negative reaction to the production here.  The awesome production is what made this story for me.  Honestly, I wasn't that impressed with the actual story, I didn't hate it, but it's no "The Cord", which was one of my favorites last year.

But the production on this story just took it to a whole extra level.  I have now shared this story with two others, and burned it on to a cd I'm giving to a friend who wanted a good example of a podcast that "wasn't just reading the story" (along with "Revelation of Cormorants"). That's right, I make Pseudopod mix tapes, you got a problem with that?

Part of it may have been that I listened to this while driving around at 2 A.M. in pea soup fog, but this story really did it for me, although I can't find anything about the plot/writing that would have put it above "solid" for me.  It's the greatest success of your audio production experimenting to date! (Because I'd have loved "Cormorants" with our without the building wave noises, although I obviously prefer with.)

I practically jumped at every scream, and not just in surprise, while at the same time perfectly imagining that sound effect being abused in a crappy old game.  And the 8-bit dirge was stuck in my head all the next day.
« Last Edit: July 10, 2012, 03:42:05 PM by Umbrageofsnow »



gjabouri

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Reply #45 on: July 16, 2012, 04:24:37 AM
Catching up on my podcasts ... I loved this one! At first the tinny dirge sound effect was a bit distracting, but I was pulled into the story very quickly and it and the slightly off voices and screams really increased the creepiness of this story. One of the best! Excellent!  ;D



Metalsludge

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Reply #46 on: July 22, 2012, 03:51:36 PM
There are so many strange little freeware games these days that are designed to be scary and to mess with players' minds that I found it odd that the player in the story seemed surprised by the elements in the game that were more clever than overtly supernatural. That said, this was a fun piece overall. I suggest that those who like this sort of thing should check out the many scary games available on the Web and get themselves spooked by playing in the dark.  :D



Wizard of Gore

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Reply #47 on: August 16, 2012, 02:27:11 AM
This story is amazing. The music, sound effects, and reader took a great story and made it one of my top episodes. As a person of the early PC generation I could picture the "Maniac Mansion" or "Monkey Island" graphics, see it as clearly as if I'd played it myself. As far as the endcap mention of best horror game moments, nothing beats (spoiler alert) James in Silent Hill 2 fighting the sexually abusive father manifested as a filthy mattress with a sucking mouth in a little girls room that's on fire. That is the most intense experience in video game history. It still creeps into the back of my head sometimes.



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Reply #48 on: August 16, 2012, 01:30:16 PM
This story is amazing. The music, sound effects, and reader took a great story and made it one of my top episodes. As a person of the early PC generation I could picture the "Maniac Mansion" or "Monkey Island" graphics, see it as clearly as if I'd played it myself. As far as the endcap mention of best horror game moments, nothing beats (spoiler alert) James in Silent Hill 2 fighting the sexually abusive father manifested as a filthy mattress with a sucking mouth in a little girls room that's on fire. That is the most intense experience in video game history. It still creeps into the back of my head sometimes.

Haven't played Silent Hill 2.  Silent Hill had me jumping at the littlest sounds.



Umbrageofsnow

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Reply #49 on: August 16, 2012, 02:20:00 PM
Haven't played Silent Hill 2.  Silent Hill had me jumping at the littlest sounds.

Silent Hill 2 is possibly the best horror game of all time.  You should really play it. I wouldn't really bother with any of the further sequels though...

Eternal Darkness is also a pretty good horror game, but most recent games really interpret horror as just shooters with jump scares (Dead Space, cough.)

I can't remember the name, but I once played a text adventure that was pretty damn scary, which is more what this had me thinking of.