Capsule Silence XXIV
October 1, 2016 8:30 PM Subscribe
Capsule Silence XXIV is a first person sci-fi action game for Mac and PC featuring music by chiptune band Anamanaguchi. After a dispute with developer NHX, the band leaked an early development build of the game on Twitter. And if you're up for a short, quirky exploration game, you should pretend that everything I just said is true, go to the band's website, click "PLAY CAPSULE SILENCE XXIV," download the game and give it a try. Otherwise, read on ...
The Twitter dispute was not, of course, real, as GameSpot learned to its apparent chagrin. (Skip this link if you don't want grumpy spoilers.)
Nor is developer NHX real. The only working page on the developer's site is a glitchy interactive music video involving wobbly jello anarchy symbols.
The leaked pitch deck for the game from NHX was definitely not real, but will reward the careful attention of interested investors anyway. (This is the same PDF included in the game download .zip.)
But the game is real and is delightful. It was developed not by NHX but by Ben Esposito of videogame art collective Arcane Kids. As described in loving detail by Zack Kotzer for Killscreen, the game started as a sort of virtual clubhouse to let fans explore Anamanaguchi's music, and then "got a little bit out of control." (We've talked about Arcane Kid's Sonic Dreams Collection project [previously] -- see the Killscreen article for a whole lot more about Arcane Kids and what they're up to and What It All Means.)
If you're not up for playing on your own, consider this playthrough by Nick Robinson and Griffin McElroy of Polygon. (We also discussed their excellent Car Boys series [a few weeks ago], which has since launched into its own glitch-based mythbuilding.)
Finally, if you want to skip right to the end and download the music featured in the game, you can do that right over here.
The Twitter dispute was not, of course, real, as GameSpot learned to its apparent chagrin. (Skip this link if you don't want grumpy spoilers.)
Nor is developer NHX real. The only working page on the developer's site is a glitchy interactive music video involving wobbly jello anarchy symbols.
The leaked pitch deck for the game from NHX was definitely not real, but will reward the careful attention of interested investors anyway. (This is the same PDF included in the game download .zip.)
But the game is real and is delightful. It was developed not by NHX but by Ben Esposito of videogame art collective Arcane Kids. As described in loving detail by Zack Kotzer for Killscreen, the game started as a sort of virtual clubhouse to let fans explore Anamanaguchi's music, and then "got a little bit out of control." (We've talked about Arcane Kid's Sonic Dreams Collection project [previously] -- see the Killscreen article for a whole lot more about Arcane Kids and what they're up to and What It All Means.)
If you're not up for playing on your own, consider this playthrough by Nick Robinson and Griffin McElroy of Polygon. (We also discussed their excellent Car Boys series [a few weeks ago], which has since launched into its own glitch-based mythbuilding.)
Finally, if you want to skip right to the end and download the music featured in the game, you can do that right over here.
Capsule Silence is one minute of free-roaming fantasy sci-fi, ending with a challenge from an orc and a technical barrier. The combat functions refuse to work, you can pick up the gun but the bullets refuse to materialize. You’re forced to dig deeper into the game’s files to see if there’s a stick in the engine, at which point you’ll be dropped into what can be described as vaporwave’s answer to Pee-wee’s Playhouse: a low-polygon loft complex where the digital bodies of Anamanaguchi presumably rest their weary heads. Their rooms are coated in web-culture ephemera: Minions, Dance Dance Revolution stations, fake movie posters from Something Awful’s bygone Photoshop Phridays. Something like a mood board reimagined as actual piles of clutter. Under a stack of Furby boxes is a hatch to a secret meme room.
hah, ok that's pretty funny
posted by Sebmojo at 12:04 AM on October 2, 2016 [2 favorites]
hah, ok that's pretty funny
posted by Sebmojo at 12:04 AM on October 2, 2016 [2 favorites]
Remember those days when software downloads would include system requirements?
posted by Thorzdad at 4:32 AM on October 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Thorzdad at 4:32 AM on October 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
System requirements: the .zip file contains an app for Mac and an app for Windows. This was built with Unity, so checking the Unity website it sounds like the minimum OS is probably Windows XP+, Mac OS 10.8+.
posted by john hadron collider at 9:11 AM on October 2, 2016
posted by john hadron collider at 9:11 AM on October 2, 2016
One more thing for the list of things that could reasonably be Frog Fractions 2 but apparently aren't!
posted by aubilenon at 1:09 PM on October 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by aubilenon at 1:09 PM on October 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
Yep. Soon as i fired the gun, I got a console thing, but i couldn't really tell if that was an error or not, and i ended up quitting out of it. Seems to have some issues with setting display on large monitors, too.
posted by lkc at 5:38 PM on October 2, 2016
posted by lkc at 5:38 PM on October 2, 2016
Oh good, somebody made an FPP about this - I saw a bit of the Polygone Let's Play, and it's looks more fun that most 'real' games. I first got into Anamanaguchi through their soundtrack to the Scott Pilgrim game, which is brilliant.
fake movie posters from Something Awful’s bygone Photoshop Phridays
Everdread, who is SA's most recent star photoshopper, also worked on the final boss of Undertale.
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 7:06 PM on October 3, 2016
fake movie posters from Something Awful’s bygone Photoshop Phridays
Everdread, who is SA's most recent star photoshopper, also worked on the final boss of Undertale.
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 7:06 PM on October 3, 2016
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posted by Sebmojo at 11:55 PM on October 1, 2016