Yes! We have been waiting so long for this!

I just want to let everyone know that I hate cactus. I don't even bother to play his games any more and skip over most everything written about him.

I just can't stand him.

I'm sure he's nice and I've got nothing against him personally, but yeah. Just wanted to get that off my chest.

@| _ | _ | _ |
Why? His games?

That's fine |_|_|_|, to each his own.

Anyway, aw yeah! There's little I'm more excited to play than the next Mondo.

And by play I think I mean experience.

Had been starting to wonder if cactus had died or something. Great to hear some news. Keep up the good work.

Not sure, someone. Its just something about him... about the way his games are presented. It's like, "Oops, I farted and dropped two more games. Now everyone kiss my feet and tell me how good they taste."

It's like... Brain Damaged Toon Underworld looked good. It looked good. But apart from that, the only other thing it had going for it, review wise, is "It's cactus." That's not enough, for me. And it seems that's the only reason anyone has to play any of his games any more. It's as if you have to play the new cactus game so you're not the guy who didn't.

It's like saying "A Jerry Bruckheimer film..." that alone doesn't do anything for me. And it seems the only good thing anyone can say about his work is that he made it. There's rarely any criticism of his work because he's like an untouchable holy grail. Don't touch the Mona Lisa or you'll get fingerprints on it.

I've never articulated what I think of cactus before, so if this is rambly then I apologize. Also, the contents of these post do not necessarily reflect the views of staff at indiegames.com etc. etc.

I guess I think cactus dosen't care about everything.

For someone who hates cactus and doesn't bother to read about his news, you sure just spent a lot of time blasting the guy.

You can spend your time better than this.

"Oops, I farted and dropped two more games. Now everyone kiss my feet and tell me how good they taste."

But is it cactus who projects this or is it his rabid fans?

Seems more like a projection of a fantasy created by people like you. I see more cactus hate than love when news gets posted about him these days. No idea where it comes from personally. It's pretty distasteful.

I kinda agree with the guy that has lines for a name...

I don't really enjoy most of Cactus's games... There seems to be a big fanbase, and a lot of support for them... But I've tried most of his games, and can't think of one that I played for more than 5 minutes without being bored...

Sorry =/

By all appearances cactus seems modest. I think the reason the name carries so much is that at the forefront of all his games is the aesthetic and his particular style, which is often the most attractive and enjoyable part of his games.

i've found a lot of cactus games be embryos, very small and sometimes unpolished, also because the small time he uses to put them working of course. But after all he's a great guy and he did a few very interesting games too.
Maybe he got too much attention but he's not an attention-whore and some of his games deserve it.
It's also normal that he's so often on the news because he makes tons of games, make games like him and you will be too

Wow, line dude. I've got a fantastic Brie/Jarlsberg platter that would go well with your posts.

I never thought I would see the day I'd be compared to Jerry Bruckheimer :)

@haowan: I might've died actually. The last month has seemed like a slow descent into hell, that's for sure.

I've heard a lot of the same complaints that | _ | _ | _ | was saying when people explain why they don't like experimental music too. Some people just enjoy it, but not everyone has to. It's not like his games are a trend or a requirement to be part of the community, some people just like them! It's a matter of taste.

Finally some sense.

Yes, I can spend my time better than this. But I do have an opinion which I felt needed to be expressed. If the Internet is not for the free exchange of ideas, then what?

Once again, I've got nothing against cactus personally. I think crackers hit the nail on the head. It's just such a brand-name now that everything is expected to be great and comes with the instruction that is must be played and must be enjoyed. Essentially that's what cactus' games reviews consist of. "This is the new game from cactus. It does ___. You should be downloading already."

Then the discussion is "Another cactus game!" ... "I've been waiting so long!" etc. etc.

I suppose it started with the 500 Bananas post on tigsource (which is rabid fanboyism at its best of times) which just made me sit up and say no. I mean, they posted that as news. Ever since then, its just... You're not going to make me like this developer "just because."

Nobody's trying to make you like anything :DDDDDD

Please feel free to post links to these reviews you seem so upset about. I can't remember seeing any like that :)

There hasn't been anything posted about cactus in ages, btw. I would have thought the hate had died down by now, but it seems that some people always need a popular figure to hate, even in a tiny and happy scene like indie gaming.

| _ | _ | _ |, of course you're free to have your own opinion, and I support you in that! I think the problem is however that your posts sound more like complaints than opinions, and that's not really productive.
As you said, most of the praise is found in the comments, not in the actual posts. Then again this (and Tigsource) is a blog and not a news agency, meaning the posts might contain opinions as well. If you just ignore everything containing the word "Cactus" I think you'll be fine!

"Then the discussion is 'Another cactus game!' ... 'I've been waiting so long!' etc. etc."

..

"If the Internet is not for the free exchange of ideas, then what?"

Cactus has bad games and good ones too. The only think I would like to see is that if he really wants to make 3d games please move away from GM.

I think this discussion reveals something interesting: in terms of polish, depth, length, etc., there isn't much difference between cactus's games and the average, and his games may even be below average according to those measures, but in aesthetics his games tend to be way above the vast majority of other indie games (and commercial games for that matter). So I think whether someone likes cactus or not just boils down to whether they play games for depth and length and traditional measures of what make a good game, or for aesthetics: for the sensory feeling, for the atmosphere, how it makes you feel to play it and look at it. If you can't appreciate the aesthetics, you won't see what the big deal is.

I think Cactus' games are pretty fun personally, but not all of them, and some of them I haven't even tried 'cause I know they're not my kind of thing. I mean, I like the shmups. Mondo kind of scares me just by the looks of it, so I'm not going to play it. LOL I'm looking forward to BDTUW because of the nonsensical style; I kind of like that, but that's just me, and everyone else has their own opinion.
I can see why Line Man said what he said, because the same thing's been said about other stuff like Pokemon too. There are people that genuinely like a game, there are people that just want to fit in and go with what others are talking about, there are some that won't like the same game, and lastly there are those that won't get into the game at all simply because of all the fuss that's being made over it.

And with that, my breakfast is done! Yay! xP

Paul Eres: I know what you mean, and I agree with you! It's more or less the same thing as with Knytt: The people who played it for the atmosphere and the aesthetic loved it, and the people who played it for the gameplay were disappointed. We all look for different things in games, I think.

Personally, I enjoy both Cactus' games and the Knytt games, and I look forward to playing the next Mondo!

I agree with Knite here. I'm into cactus' work more for aesthetics, characters and story, myself, so I almost never have any complaints. But because of that, there are a couple of games I haven't really tried since I can see from a glance they might not be really "for me" (The Design, Illegal Communication). I don't rage about it, though. It doesn't take any value away from the games I do like.

Really, though, what can you say? Depending on what you look for in games, you'll place more or less value on cactus' stuff. I'm getting really tired of any news about him blowing up into huge debates, though. I mean, compare the short, sparse trailer that the article's actually about, and then look at this discussion! It's sort of funny, but also irritating.

Anyway, I'm really intrigued by the trailer, I'm looking forward to a new Mondo game, and I wish cactus all the luck in the world :)

Cactus games are often ingenious and original.
I love all of them.
Maybe someone a little less than others, but all new games from him are well-accepted and I like to try everyone of them.

I like some of cactus' games, but then there's some that I really detest, especially the mondo games. I think it's weird that people enjoy so much playing a basic 'puzzle' 3D-platformer, especially when the engine is quite buggy one.
My favourite game from Cactus is probably Ad Nauseam, the first level was ace. :D

It took a while, but we got there in the end. Did you notice it, anybody? Actual posts about WHY cactus' games are good.

Aesthetics, mood, atmosphere... All of these things should be mentioned when talking about a game with those qualities.

That was my beef. Not with cactus himself or the games he makes, but the way they're presented. Simply as being a game by him and hence must be the greatest thing since sliced bread... that's not condussive to promoting a game.

Thank you for the comments about Why You like cactus' games. That's quality game talk, right there.

Aside from a few posts, my respect for the people that come to this site has gone up exponentially due to the comments here. I saw respect for others opinions in spades, and that's damn refreshing when it comes to video game talk.

quoting Paul Eres: "but in aesthetics his games tend to be way above the vast majority of other indie games (and commercial games for that matter)."

WHAT???? O.o
Ok Cactus has an unique style, but c'mon...

i'm another one that find the mondo series the worst games he made, and they has no aesthetics, they just looks ugly and lower-bounded by GM 3d capabilities.

I'm so waiting for Brain Damaged Toon Underground...

Eclipse: I think you're confusing 'aesthetics' with 'graphics' or something -- I meant aesthetics as in style or mood. And the Mondo games have a very unique style. Even the way the text is written is a part of it "Cancer is a small piece of death", "right under your feets", etc. Plus the black and white and all the scary sudden noises and the weird voice generation sound effect things, and all the sudden surprises like when the tribal things just suddenly attacked. If you don't like that kind of stuff, that's fine, but it is stylistic and distinctive and it's to some people's tastes.

If you can't play them due to the tedious puzzles (and I agree with you there) just walk the "playthroughs" that Deceased Crab and his girlfriend did of them on YouTube, you can get most of the aesthetics without having to deal with the puzzles or tricky levels. I feel that the mondo games and psychosomnorium are his best games in terms of aesthetics, with 'arms', clean asia, and burn the trash being his best games in terms of gameplay.

psychosomnorium I found rather boring. The aesthetics you mention were hardly existent, everyone raved on and on about a somewhat boring game with a pathetic storyline ... to make things worse it also had really badly done puzzles (why do I have to backwards about three screens in?

This was the first cactus game I had played and it turned me off him completely. I am all for aesthetics in games, that game however seemed lacking in all departments.

Aesthetics versus Gameplay is an interesting idea/debate about which I haven't really heard or talked much. While I understand personally that without one the other pales rather quickly, it would make for an interesting experiment to see just how far the lines are drawn on this, methinks. For example, a skilled game designer/developer could make 3 games based upon the same concept. One would be aimed entirely at gameplay, one aimed entirely at aesthetics, and one as close to an ideal combination of both as possible.

I also realise that while the two things are codependant, they are also very separate. Some games are made to portray an idea or an experience of some sort, and a certain type of person will enjoy this, and some are made to be played for fun and whatever else it is that people play games for.

I sense a connection between this and the linear-nonlinear and the movies vs games and art/not art debates as well.

yeah, i think cactus is an overrated hack. the "mondo" franchise sucks.

"I just want to let everyone know that I hate cactus. I don't even bother to play his games any more and skip over most everything written about him.

I just can't stand him."

...

"I'm sure he's nice and I've got nothing against him personally"

...

"Not with cactus himself or the games he makes, but the way they're presented. Simply as being a game by him and hence must be the greatest thing since sliced bread..."

...

"I just want to let everyone know that I hate cactus. I don't even bother to play his games any more and skip over most everything written about him.

I just can't stand him."

You're awesome Mr Lineman. Awesome.

I look forward to the next Cactus post where an anonymous guy comes out and posts this again

*wanders off singing "It Must Be Love"*

Fuck Cactus, and all of his half-assed mini-games, and especially all of the dick riders on his goddamn tiny cock.

:p

I should apologise for my first post. You're right. That was over the line (pun not intended). To cactus, I apologize and to everyone else who read that first comment of mine. For shame onto me. Simple name-calling is beneath even the freeware game players of the internet. Especially if we ever hope to ride a crest into the mainstream, its not fair to tear people down for putting in a lot of consistent effort.

I'd like to think that something came out of the finer points of this discussion, though. My first point was not one of the finer, though.

I'm glad this came to a satisfactory conclusion.

One more thing:
"That was my beef. Not with cactus himself or the games he makes, but the way they're presented. Simply as being a game by him and hence must be the greatest thing since sliced bread... that's not condussive to promoting a game."

Again, I think this is more of a perception thing - you are not a fan of cactus and as a result project this presentation on to the news posts when it might not exist. That's my perception anyway :)

I like how all of you feel the need to discuss cactus in general every time a post comes up related to him. God forbid you stop looking at the big picture or generalisms or anything, and just look at the trailer.

I think the trailer looks interesting. Maybe not as much footage from the upcoming game as I'd like to see, but it's enough to get me thinking about the game again. I'd be curious to know whose head is on fire there. Because that looks like a Mondo character head.

I think because of his style Cactus is easily criticised. It's fair to think he's been getting too much attention, but in my opinion you shouldn't blame him. From what I've read in interviews and posts, he's a really nice guy - as has been said, he doesn't have some sort of cage where he traps people and forces them into fandom.

I've always liked some of his games, and disliked others, generally due to personal taste. I'm looking forward to the new Mondo since they're something I would love to see more of - first person games where it's not all killing things.

That is an incredibly useless trailer

Well, isn't that what a "teaser trailer" is?

Deceased Crab- if I actually looked at the trailer I'd say for what it is... It looks like a load of unentertaining rubbish.

A teaser trailer by definition is supposed to tease me. But it just didn't. It bored me and lowered my expectations for this game.

That said I don't really enjoy cactus' games and because of that I don't fully grasp why he has such a rabid fanbase. Cool if you do like though... I suppose.

I personally feel the way this trailer is done is appropriate to the Mondo games. They're atmospheric and minimalist, and just seeing the little additions to the atmosphere is exciting enough.

So... people blame Cactus for having a lot of fans that enjoy his games or something? Man, if you don't like something just scroll down to the next post and keep going. You don't have to come write a comment that you know is going to upset some good hearted internet folk, leading to 40 something comments of bickering back and forth.

If you don't like something, you don't like something. There's no point to prove or argument to discuss.

I see a lot of games or articles on this blog that I don't find interesting or fun. Do I stop and complain about every update that I don't enjoy? No, I have better things to do. I simply come back in a day or so when something interesting is posted. A lot of you should learn to do the same.

Like it or not, cactus is an indie game developer, and his stuff is probably going to appear here. Don't like it? Tough. Some people want to see it. Some people are waiting eagerly to see new content from cactus. The world doesn't revolve around you. Take your beefs and keep them to yourselves, especially if you're in a clear minority opinion.

If I went and wrote a multi-paragraph diatribe about how disinterested I was in everything that didn't interest me, I'd have no time left to do anything.

Really, you guys bitching about Cactus getting press of any sort? You have psychological issues and should probably seek help, or at least quarrantine yourself from the internet.

yawn...

I like cactus because he tries to make games that are different than mainstream games. Usually the "different" aspect of the games is mostly visual over a twist in a gameplay element.

However, that is pretty much the only thing that perks my interest about his games. I like this 3d game he's been working on because of its odd camera angles and etc, trying to make a game freaky. I can't say much for gameplay, but I like how the world is presented.

Ahahaha are you really recycling this same debate again?

It's like the 10th time someone says he doesn't like MAED BY CACTUIS PORDUCTINOS games and then there's 50x guys going NONO THEY ARE VRY GOOD DONT EXPRESS YOUR OPINION IF ITS NEGATIVE PLEASE.

Like come on. Do you really have to do this every time?

He gets this publicity because he makes 200x games per month but they are full, working games no matter how short they are and they're not some generic anime-influenced horseshit or mario fan games which makes them stand out.

So because I don't agree with the general consensus I'm not allowed to say mention my opinion?

I hail my new dictator in happy smilie land.

A lot of long posts here!

I've been waiting to see a new mondo game.

@Deceased Crab: Agreed. ALSO SOMETHING AWFUL IS SOMETHING AWFUL HURR HURR I AM SO ORIGANIL U R GOON UR GOON ALRIGHT HURRRRR

Dear god I need to stop this shit I keep doing.