A Black Fucking Spiral!

[Yokiboy]

Hi Keith,

I got my copy of Untitled very promptly, kudos to the shipping department at Bob Goat Press!  ;)

The presentation is phenomenal. I even convinced my wife that I found it on the train, and she was all "That's paint right? Are you sure you should touch it? There's finger prints on it." Unfortunately I couldn't keep a straight face, and had to give her the truth.

It reads very well, I've read the thing twice by now. The audio CD is a fun bonus. The hard work put into it shows, and I just fucking love the binding of the journal! I'm pretty sure it's not for everyone, but to me it's worth the $45.

However, in my opinion it is a lot more of a novel - yeah a weird fucking experiement of a novel - than a game. It clearly plays with the whole "scentient PC" concept which can also be found in Lacuna Part I, and Over the Edge's Self-Referential Awareness plot. I can't help thinking of Dark City while reading Untitled, and watching Cube Zero during my first read-through was also very fitting.

I will be back with more questions (yes, I still have more questions). I'm glad that I read Robin D. Laws' comments on how you said the game features One Player, Many GMs. The rapsheet only alludes to this by referring to "player" in singular at all times.

Anyhow, I think you've succeeded quite well in making a game in the vein of Lacuna Part 1, where part of the fun is puzzling out what to make of it to begin with. I love how as I keep reading the text I pick up more references to the game itself. However, I only see references to the Red Face cards as Aspects, not the black ones, are the black ones not used, or should the black version of the chart just replace Hearts with Spades, and Diamonds with Clubs?

Real life calls, will post more later.

TTFN,

Yoki

[Keith Senkowski]

Hey Yoki,

Glad to hear you dig it so much (and that you got it safe and sound).  Your wife's response to it is awesome.

Part of me doesn't want to answer any questions about it, but that is the part is the part that wrote the crazy thing.  I may have gone overboard in trying to be cryptic and turn the thing as much a puzzle as it is a story and a game...

The Red face cards are the only ones used for Aspects.  Red for blood, fire, danger, lust, love, and finally wrath...

Keith

[Yokiboy]

Hi Keith,

Ah, I see about the red face cards.

You know what Keith, don't answer any more questions. In re-reading the material I pick up more clues each time. I think I read Lacuna Part 1 about half a dozen times, picking up more and more details each time, and Untitled follows that model beautifully. It is really quite cool. It's like a game within a game, and being provided with the answers does indeed spoil it a bit.

Part of me wish we could churn out something similar as a community, and start dropping those folders around in public places, just to see what kind of reaction it would garner, but then who knows what some fragile mind might do...

Another fun thing would be to order the game for a friend without telling them about it, just have that strange package show up in their mailbox. That's the sort of birthday present I'd like to get as a gamer. Holy shit would that blow me away. Hey, you should totally offer it this way, i.e.with a personally addressed cover page, ala "Hey Yoki, keep this fucking information to yourself, but you must read it. Please try to see through the haze. Oh, they're probably tracking the package by now, so you better haul ass..."

Kick ass entertainment Keith! I definitely give it a big fucking thumbs up.

Here's looking forward to your future experiements.

TTFN,

Yoki

[Keith Senkowski]

Yoki,

It would be cool to just drop folders and let people discover it.  At one point I considered doing a sort of internet bread crumb thing for it along the lines of The Dionaea House (which I encourage everyone to look through), but was never satisfied with my game plan for it.

I can't imagine what someone receiving this thing in the mail when he didn't order it would think.  However, I would be more than game to help someone fuck with a friend... ;)

As for other experiments, I hopping to get Russell to put together a companion audio CD for the piece.  Other than that, the next crazy thing like this that I do might end up being a pop-up book for all I know.  This shit just kinda comes to me in its own time...

Thanks for the kind words Yoki.  I'm glad ya dig it.

Silent K

[Nev the Deranged]

Lately I have taken to purchasing cheap journals, jotting a couple pages worth of stuff in them, and leaving them various places or handing them off to friends.

Most recently I tore the first two pages out of one and started a narrative in media res on the third page, just on a whim.

Probably nothing will come of any of it, but just the idea that I'm increasing the ratio of Found curiosities in the universe amuses me.

It'd be interesting to fill the first chunk of one such journal with UNTITLEDness, and then leave it or send it... or even possibly give it to someone in the know to "start deciphering" a la House of Leaves' Johnny Truant, and THEN leave or send it.

The problem with putting that much work into this sort of thing, I have found, is that you must be willing to LET IT GO and expect NOTHING in return. Chances are good you will never hear anything about it, or have any idea what impact, if any, it had on anyone.

But if you're willing to do it, as I said, just for the sake of adding to the randomness of the cosmos, then it's great fun.

[Yokiboy]

You could always see your stuff end up here.

TTFN,

Yoki

[Nev the Deranged]

Could happen. But it's gotta LIVE first, and that's the tough part.

I'm a big fan of Found Magazine, not the least because they are from my hometown. I saw their show with Postsecret a few months ago when it came through Chicago, and dropped some stuff off with Davy. It was a good time. Wish I'd known about it years back, I used to pick stuff up all the time but usually ended up throwing it out. I have Found some cool stuff though. Once I found some local band's demo cd on the roof of a Popeye's Chicken on Lincoln Avenue. I took it home, washed it off with a toothbrush, and ripped it to my hard drive. It's not bad, either, heh. I dropped an email to the band's myspace page but they never got back to me. *shrug*