Man, this is crap. First, it takes a minute to load, then you get to see some swaying for a minute, then it's credits for a couple of minutes, then a black screen and nothing more. Yes, it took a few minutes, but there's no game!

Why does crap like this get posted on Indie Games... Seriously. The posts on this website are getting worse everyday.

Guess I will have to unsubscribe.

This isn't art, This is a joke by the creators. It also isn't a game, so it shouldn't be on this site.

I think it is a game in the sense that it is an exploration of the medium. There has to be place for satire, even if it is bad satire.

Experimental piece of shit would be more accurate as a description...

I haven't played the game, but "Robin Rodrigo Ramirez Rodriquez" is the ultimate name for an indie developer, and the game can't be bad if it was made by someone with that name.

This is making fun of the Graveyard, for those who don't realize. Even the donation bonus is the same as what you get from buying the graveyard.

Yes, this game is not fun, nor is it creative, but it is just following a game that somehow managed to achieve success with just as many exciting gameplay elements and plot turns.

The graveyard somehow got a finalist nomination at the IGF.

We all know by now that IGF doesn't mean much anymore. That the graveyard got nominated doesn't speak for or against the game, only for the hype around it. Still, at least there was a character to control in the graveyard. You had some choices, even if it was walking or standing still. That's more than this thing has.

I like Jwaap's art games better than most real art games. This was pretty amazing.

>:(

A fine 20th birthday this was...

about the lack of interactivity:

you can walk around using the arrow keys, smash into the camera, vomit, kick a cat, and if you fall asleep on your box you hear a song

I thought this was pretty funny. As far as the 'this isn't a game!!' comments go, well there are a fair few other 'diversions' that get labelled as games on here and over at the IGF. This is no different to things like Passage or The Graveyard. In fact I'd say it's a much needed poke of fun at them. Passage was a commentary of life, and a commentary of death in games as much as The Graveyard was. This on the other hand seems a commentary on the aforementioned games themselves which take an extreme less is more approach supported by such weighty subjects.

I think it's important that games like Passage and The Graveyard exist, but games like this in some ways put them into perspective. How we read into what seemingly little experience there is says a lot about how much we want to get out of them. However, bearing this in mind, I might be reading too much into The Gutter... but those credits said a lot.

On a side note I really like the lo-fi graphics.

I pretty liked it; it seemed that the length was quite well judged, and, for me, that the length of the game matched, more or less, the length of time i felt a desire to explore it for.

(there were some glitchy texture problems with things on the floor, and the wall collision was a bit naff, they're not exactly deal-breakers)

Damn, I hoped that the song would actually be sung.

Also, where's the cat?

@Gregg I couldn't do any of that. For me, the so-called game was like what was described earlier, with no interactivity. Did you even play the game, or do you make that up? Does the interactivity come with the donation, which you did? Or do you have a different built than all the rest? I don't understand how you got interactivity, while I didn't.

@Anonymous (above)
Use the cursor keys to move the character (which by definition is interactivity). I didn't make a donation, of course I played the game and of course it's the same build as yours!

@Ilya Chentsov

I found the cat by walking to the end of the street and then walking back again towards the camera. I saw and heard it for a split second after realising the drunk had booted it.

This game rewards you with credits.

To get the cat to come, drink a couple of times, walk around for a bit and every now and then pause for a second and see if you throw up. After you throw up the first time, the cat will come out.

The first time I tried this the arrow keys didn't seem to do anything. He just stood there drinking and then he passed out. So I can see why some people don't think it's interactive. I think it's a glitch or something. Regardless, this is more a parody of these other art games that are out.

Honestly, I think the people who are calling it "shit" should learn some tact. These guys made an "interactive poem" - according to their site - and I tend to believe that it turned out exactly the way they wanted it to turn out. You don't have to like it, but you don't have to go out of your way to insult the creators either.

The Graveyard was too pretentious and this game copied their format. I would have been extremely pissed off if the creators didn't credit Tale of Tales. If you really want to play some excellent experimental games; creators like Jason Rohrer and Ludomancy make games that are far more meaningful than this.

@Steve
I think a lot of people are taking this too seriously. Also, you might want to complete it and watch the credits.

The Graveyard was the game that got me interested in the indie scene. Everyone is saying "man, that's not a game!" If you asked those same people what makes a game they would give you an incomplete answer that would admit some games that by other people's definitions fall outside of what a game is. That's the point you guys: art is the question what is art. Art games is the question what is games.

So I guess that when I hear people say these sorts of inflammatory things about The Graveyard or this brilliant rebuttal, the question that comes to my mind is: why are you even playing indie games? Is it because you don't own an Xbox? Or because they tend to be short and kind of funny? Or because you can play them at work or school without your prof/boss noticing that you are wasting their time? Or is it because you are interested in the scene and the culture and the way that a new medium is growing over time?

You are having the same reaction to this as musicians have to 4:33 by John Cash, and it is SO typical. We all know that he wasn't joking, it wasn't a big gag. It was a statement of an opinion with regards to a subject, and it was music, and it was art.

A person can dislike The Graveyard but still enjoy many other indie games, such as shooters or racing games. Different people have different tastes.

Cool game!:D