Comments on: Preview: The Graveyard – Update

By: Some Stuff In A Box: Vanitas | Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Some Stuff In A Box: Vanitas | Rock, Paper, Shotgun — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 12:42:32 +0000

[...] emotions, rather than coherent narrative sense. And Tale Of Tales have certainly done that for me in the past. But with Vanitas I hold up my hands an admit defeat. It’s a box with some stuff in. I [...]

By: Dave Gates

Dave Gates — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 10:09:15 +0000

“i’ve only just played it and I think people attacking it” are a little childish. Sorry bit hungover.

By: Dave Gates

Dave Gates — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 10:06:42 +0000

I find this all a little sad, i’ve only just played it and I think people attacking it. It isn’t pretentious, its trying something new. I’m a little tired of the way that every game released has to adhere to a set group of rules in order to be liked, otherwise its just labasted. The simple fact of the matter is if you don’t like it buy an Xbox and play Billy Big Balls Big Gun Explosion Time and watch the Scorpion King while you’re doing it. If on the otherhand you want to try something intersting and different then I really think you should give this a try.

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By: Space Marine versus Battle Babe versus Elderly Lady « gamersnewsbits.com

Space Marine versus Battle Babe versus Elderly Lady « gamersnewsbits.com — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 20:17:29 +0000

[...] Reviews from the time of launch: http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/03/the-graveyards.html http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2008/03/20/preview-the-graveyard [...]

By: The Sunday Papers? | Rock, Paper, Shotgun: Pagans repent! The Endless Bear is your true God

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 16:58:52 +0000

[...] Harvey Smith out and writing about games. He talks a little about The Graveyard on his blog, which we wrote about last week. He riffs off the game, imagining how he’d like to do a larger game about [...]

By: Rodin

Rodin — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 18:58:50 +0000

With all the cookie cutter games out there I’m glad there’s a team like ToT attempting to come up with games that offer something different. You can’t get much more different than designing a game that features you as an elderly woman hobbling though a cemetery. This is the complete antithesis of most games. I mean come on now. Where’s this lady’s gun? Isn’t she going to whack someone or something? Is she going to poison those lovely birds? I can hear a police siren in the distance. Is she hiding out from the law? She’s a serial killer, right?

So, yes it is really different and I applaud ToT for that. But as a few other people have mentioned, the experience, at least for me, falls flat. I think being shown the world through the experiences of an elderly woman does take most people to a place they may not have experienced, but I’d much rather just walk in a cemetery myself. Well, at least this cemetery. There is quite a bit of beauty to the environment and atmosphere ToT has created, but I’d like it to be so much more lush and immersive. I also hope ToT begins giving players the ability to switch to first person view in the future. What better way to explorer a 3d artwork than seeing it in first person? I also lost a lot of interest when I realized that I wasn’t allowed to venture off the main path much. Let this granny explore every nook and cranny.

I’d love to see what ToT could pull off with a larger team of artists and developers. I’m sure they would too. I think trying to design a game these days with such a small team is always going to make you fall short of creating a truly rich experience.

By: Omnibus: March 16th - 22nd | Rock, Paper, Shotgun: Pretentious, moi?

Omnibus: March 16th - 22nd | Rock, Paper, Shotgun: Pretentious, moi? — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 14:31:01 +0000

[...] The Graveyard. Poignant art “game”. Free Armageddon Empires expansion. Just deserts. The Hangover Sick-making indie game. Questionaut. Ace edutainment. [...]

By: Rook

Rook — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 02:13:04 +0000

I think there’s such a wealth of stuff out there that is free, that pricing seems a bit strange. Especially when you’re packaging it in the traditional “here’s the demo, now buy the game” that we’re all familiar with.

By: Catch.153

Catch.153 — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 02:08:11 +0000

Nothing personal, be I can’t help feeling that we are a spoiled bunch to be complaining so much about a free program like this. It’s a good setting for the song/poem that lets us contemplate our mortality.

How often does one put himself in the shoes of an old lady on death’s door? It causes the player to contemplate the fragile, infirmed life of the elderly. Isn’t that a success in itself?

I hope that is the goal. After reading about The Path, I am worried that the studio is just trying to be macabre for its own sake. It seems like some people like American McGee are obsessed with grim themes of mortality and death because they like it. Maybe they find the macabre attractive in the same way people are fascinated by computers and other interests. That’s not a very healthy way to live. It’s wholesome to contemplate death to a point, but let us not forget about the beauty of life.

By: John Walker

John Walker — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 00:48:34 +0000

Tom: “Its more just a peice of interactive digital art-painting to me.”

Yes, and to them, as it says at least twice in the post. That was somewhat the point.

Chaz: I somewhat doubt you’ve died during any of your visits to graveyards.

Asking for money for your efforts is “pretentious”? I’m really quite lost. These are two indie developers creating idea pieces, giving away their game but asking for a tiny £2.50 pretty much as a donation. It’s demoralising to see people think this a bad thing.

As I wrote above, I was disappointed by The Graveyard’s lack of exploration – I wanted to be able to wander up the paths, look at the stones. But as a moment, as a brief experience, it presented something that enchanted me. It was a spoonful of something I’ve not tasted before.

By: brog

brog — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 00:20:44 +0000

disappointed. games as art => fail.
walked through a real graveyard a week or so ago, read the tombstones that were still readable. felt the sadness of stones with secret stories; the mother and daughter who died on the same day, next to the father who died forty years later; a girl whose year of death equals her year of birth. in several cases, more text is added to a stone at a later date: “also: christianname surname, his beloved wife, now reunited”. a quiet smile.

“the graveyard” fails to elicit the same emotions, or any.
fails also as a game. the only time something happens is while you’re not playing (damn cutscenes again). when you’re ‘playing’, all you do is hold a key. awesome. at least the marriage (awful) and passage (actually really quite good) tried to use game rules to express their idea.