The Writing Simulators Waging War on Loneliness
March 15, 2020 9:55 PM   Subscribe

In light of current social distancing recommendations, indie game developer Demi Schänzel (twitter) has made their game The Library of Babble pay-what-you-want (down to and including nothing) for the foreseeable future. Explore a simple procedurally-generated landscape filled with tiny stories written by other players, and add as many of your own as you like. The Edge Guard podcast discusses how the game's design influences the mood of the player-written stories. Tips and similar games below the fold.

Tips: The quill icon appears and fills up as you get further from the nearest story; when it's completely full and you stop moving, you'll be given the option to add one, placing it at your current location. The compass instead helps with reading stories; it always points to the nearest one you haven't read in the current play session.

Other games with similar concepts include:

The League of Lonely Geologists: A quasi-Victorian somethingpunk game in which you look for piles of dirt, dig up procedurally-generated rocks, and name and describe them however you like. The mysterious portal to the north is key - chucking rocks in gets you rocks named and described by other players. Try tossing plants and your League badge in for a rather more finite side-quest (tip: you can deal with pesky duplicates with the portal). Edge Guard more recently discussed this and similar games.

Kind Words (previously, and also on itch.io): the $5 USD indie hit about being Animal Crossing-esque, listening to lo-fi beats and making and answering requests for kind letters. Edge Guard discussed the rarity and importance of such safe online places that enable and encourage expressions of sincerity.
posted by BiggerJ (2 comments total) 38 users marked this as a favorite
 
Forgot to mention that The League of Lonely Geologists is free too.
posted by BiggerJ at 9:55 PM on March 15, 2020


would this count as a 'strand' type game?
posted by rlio at 11:06 PM on March 15, 2020 [1 favorite]


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