SCRAP BOOK - Vignettes, Souvenirs, Pensées as a series of tiny Zine Games

devlogs
1

Since the early 2010s, I’ve been extremely interested in small, idiosyncratic games; games by the likes of biggt, Jack King-Spooner, Jack Clover, thecatamites etc. etc. Small, self-contained pieces that often deliberately subverted aesthetic sensibilities and conventional game design wisdom, by force of an unbridled creativity, or a newness of the developers behind them.

“Zine games”, people like Anna Anthropy called them.

Runner_Y5RuFXPbpS

I’ve already given that kind of thing a go in the past with a short game called “NO ME”; but somehow it felt like a half-year spanning learning project didn’t exactly capture the same spirit.

So instead, I dusted off this tiny concept I’ve had for a while! “SCRAP BOOK”, a series of potentially very many teeny tiny games that exist only to sketch, practise, get an idea out and other such things.

And the first part… Isn’t quite out yet? But you can still play it already, if you want:

SCRAP BOOK I - The Terrors of Ice and Darkness (Windows)

Password: iamjamiamcool

This game’s been in development for… one day? Yeah, one day on the dot, atm. I started last night, and even slept in the interim! It’s also only 3 minutes long and there are oodles of locusts in it. (no idea how to fix the damn ledge collision…)

Mostly, this is just going to be cataloguing what I’m doing with this little series of doodles, and what I learn in the process. For this one, I’ve already learned that even just GMS2’s in-built shaders can create some impressive atmospheres. Still lots more to learn…!

Also: If anyone wants to join me in making a small, no frill experiment and compare notes, please feel free to join in! A scrapbook can be personal to one or more people!

2

Just played this and enjoyed it. No particularly insightful comments on my end, great work, keep it up.

3

this is not a commentary on the game or devlog in question, but as Admin, i feel i need to clarify some

Official Aregames.art Statements

on some terminology and themes featured in this thread:

  • biggt, Jack King-Spooner, Jack Clover: ‘That’s What’s Up’ :handshake:
  • “Zine games”: Praxis. Canonical.
  • conventional game design wisdom:
  • thecatamites: Ride or Die for Life

Thanks everyone, please resume typical posting rituals

4

I hope the amount of bile on my words when I used that term was somewhat detectable, heehhh.

(But, ough! I should stop explaining things that people in this place are aware of! I don’t know why I’m starting my posts with a synopsis, this ain’t an essay lol)

Thank you kindly :] It’s teeny tiny and as such not hugely substantive, but it’s been fun to make, and I do feel I’m growing with the task.

5

I did some small audiovisual polishing, and after only 2 days of active work (one rest day in the middle) I’d say it’s ready for the road now. Same link as before, but no password now:

Download for the full, complete thing here.

I also already have the script for the second one done- it’ll be a short memory of a time I almost died as a kid:

cw: drowning

notepad_s7gy3P1P9p

6

hey! hi! oy! bookmarked the game about two weeks ago when after i read this topic, finally found some time to play it in peace (sidenote: i played on linux with proton, the game runs perfectly fine)

first impressions: this rules! i like this a lot, i don’t have any meaningful criticism as of now (the zine/game overall is just GOOD), i can say than i like the aesthetics of the game, and the writing had its impact on me

great work, please keep going (i’ll bookmark some of your other games for later if i can allocate some time to play), i love this format

Also: If anyone wants to join me in making a small, no frill experiment and compare notes, please feel free to join in! A scrapbook can be personal to one or more people!

i created and published 007 earlier this week, it’s mostly another experiment on interactive expressionism and unusual usage of text. an older project, but more akin to your scrapbook format might be my “game” empty (2021), the writing makes me wince a bit now but i was young and i’m still proud of it in retrospect (it uses the silver font too lol)

7

hey! :> thanks for giving the game a go, and sorry for how late my reply was.

ive downloaded your game too and will hopefully get to playing it ASAP! ive been slowly easing myself back into the role of a video game player as well as a developer, and ever since ive recently played some excellent short games, im looking forward to breaking into what youve made, too!

as for news on SCRAP BOOK - i started the second one earlier today. theres not much to it yet, but the script may well be the most brutal thing ive ever written on a number of levels.

Runner_vgNI7C41cP

maybe the title, “Stars N Psychosis”, is some kind of indication for that - or then again, maybe not…

either way, im unsure how long or short development on this one will take. i want to say it shouldnt be longer than a month, but that really depends. i started utilising quite unusually advanced things in my code of-late (perhaps excessively advanced for a zine game?), but hey, im still having fun. (as much as something with the subject matter of this game can be fun to develop)

for what its worth, this is going to be my first short zine game without… essentially any filter at all? i dont pull any punches. i allow myself to say anything without holding back. and - in a sense, im paying respect to one of my idols, the late english playwright sarah kane.

8

hey, i’m bumping this topic real quick to voice that shortly after my previous post, i fully and entirely ran out of steam for making zine-games.

i tend to wish to make these games when a major thought, or a difficult-to-process feeling overtakes me - and at the moment, i don’t have much of that going on (at least not much that feels like it can be contained, tamed with making a short video game :(

this isn’t to say that i have absolutely nothing smaller on the boilerplate, but i think SCRAP BOOK will likely lie dormant for a good while. these games tend to work out when they’re quick to make, and the ideas i’ve had since SCRAP BOOK I haven’t been… that.

i don’t know what i should do with this topic for now - i feel like i’d want to create some kind of “catch-all” topic for smaller endeavors that i’m trying for, but i’ll have to ask our glorious admin for advice on that.