Analogue: A Hate Story

February 2, 2012 12:46 AM

Analogue: A Hate Story is a mystery featuring transhumanism, traditional marriage, loneliness, and cosplay told through interaction with the AI and logs of a derelict colony ship, lost thousands of years ago. It is the latest visual novel from Christine Love (previously 1, 2, 3) The full thing is not free, but there is a demo.
posted by juv3nal (18 comments total)

Some somewhat spoilery impressions from Lewis Denby
posted by juv3nal at 12:52 AM on February 2

Here's my review, with fewer spoilers (although playing the demo is even better). I'd recommend this game to just about any MeFi user.
posted by shii at 1:05 AM on February 2

Oh hey, speicus did the soundtrack for this!
posted by mandymanwasregistered at 2:08 AM on February 2 [4 favorites]

I've played a little of this so far: I'm annoyed that I won't have time to get really into it for a while. I loved Digital, which I sincerely believe everyone should play as an example of what you can do with the visual novel format. Wasn't so keen on ... it's just not your story, but I thought it had some very good moments. Love's an interesting writer...

(Actually, she made a really good, if almost impossible, romance fighting game based on being able to reproduce calligraphy characters. I like that she takes risks with the form.)
posted by running order squabble fest at 3:55 AM on February 2

(Ah. Which is in the OP. Need coffee.)
posted by running order squabble fest at 5:20 AM on February 2

Can't wait to play this.
posted by empath at 5:42 AM on February 2

Love's an interesting writer...

I think she is the best writer of interactive fiction, full stop. And I think has the potential to be a breakout mainstream success. Someone just needs to give her a team and a budget.
posted by empath at 10:57 AM on February 2

Not that far in, but just wanted to say SPOILER
posted by juv3nal at 11:29 AM on February 2

oh, as regards that spoiler, I don't know if that bit is part of the demo or not.
posted by juv3nal at 11:30 AM on February 2

A (maybe the first?) review (spoilers though).
posted by juv3nal at 11:55 AM on February 2

Yes, mandyman is right, I wrote the soundtrack! (ps. you forgot to say "mefi's own" :P)

I joined the project about two months ago when something or other happened to the musician originally associated with it, so it was a really tight time frame for me, but super fun, and Christine is about as awesome to work with as you imagine she'd be. So there was actually a small team of four working on it: Christine, plus Raide the artist, the editor, and then me.

It really is a special game with tons of care and attention and cleverness packed into it and I've been really gratified to be a part of it and to see the reviews so far. Yay!
posted by speicus at 1:18 PM on February 2 [1 favorite]

I offered to make a song for the soundtrack, but she wanted someone to do the whole thing, and I don't have the time... (also i'm sure that whoever she got was better).
posted by empath at 1:28 PM on February 2

Speicus, maybe suggest that she do a round of funding with kickstarter for the next one, because I really think she would do even better with more time and resources.
posted by empath at 1:31 PM on February 2

I liked the soundtrack, and I bought it! Thanks for the heads up.
posted by smoke at 2:07 PM on February 2 [1 favorite]

Very much looking forward to playing this, given how much I liked Digital. I imagine that if she worked on an iPhone or iPad game, she could do very well, especially if combined with Kickstarter.

On a meta note, I think a big part of the reason why she's so successful is because (if I understand it correctly) she's able to do the writing and coding herself, in no small part thanks to the Renpy game engine. Of course you can do great things with writers and coders working closely together, but there's just something really interesting and unique that can happen when those roles are combined in the same person.

And if you can make stuff without being beholden to commissioners or investors, then the interesting/uniqueness factor can go even further up.
posted by adrianhon at 3:07 PM on February 2 [1 favorite]

I don't know if you've ever played around with renpy, but it does not make it easy to do what she does. The contortions she had to put it through to get Digital to work must have been amazing.
posted by empath at 3:24 PM on February 2

Okay, I'm completely stuck :(
posted by empath at 9:38 PM on February 2

I needed a hint to figure out how to get the final ending, and I found it on Love's comments page.

Here's how I would put it: "Look for something you shouldn't know about"
posted by shii at 12:00 AM on February 3