Digital: A Love Story seemed to be the winner because there was a tie and I’m using my ability to “vote.” Plus, I asked around on the internet.

*Major spoilers ahead!*

When you enter the game, you are prompted to enter your name and you are taken directly to your computer screen. You realize that you have a message and you read it. You receive a dialer, which you can use to open BBS systems and interact with other users much like a forum. Immediately, there is a BBS that you can go to. You eventually encounter someone who you message thoroughly and this person seems to like you. Her name is Emilia. It starts to get odd because she starts to talk about running away. Then you don’t hear about her any more until you get a message from someone that forwards a message from Emilia that is mostly gibberish. You learn about a mother artificial intelligence and a virus called the Reaper that has been killing those AI. Then you learn that Emilia is an AI and the Reaper deleted her. You then find a way to bring her back and she tells you that she loves you, but she has to sacrifice herself to destroy all the instances of the Reaper.

Okay, large plot summary aside, there’s something great about this game. It’s the focus on love that it approaches. It is definitely a wonderful love story. Another great thing about it is that it doesn’t really care about what gender you are and it doesn’t perceive love as something just for sex or marrying officially for that matter. It sends a message that love is mutual between two people. Like how family members love each other or how friends will absolutely love each other. Even so, this love is still something special to you and Emilia. The best part is that the game simulates how people can love each other even if it’s over the internet. This is a very modern idea as there are many people now that try to use online dating or how people don’t know each other in real life, just what they put in their Facebook statuses and messages among friends. During the last moments of the game, I kept messaging Emilia back until I just went ahead and compiled the program, it was very touching and even a little heart breaking. I really enjoyed Digital: A Love Story and I hope you did too! I’ll be back in a couple weeks to discuss the Ludum Dare!

Indie Search!

We’re here for our second bout! Read these descriptions, play the games and vote on which one you like the best!

Katawa Shoujo by Four Leaf Studios. http://katawa-shoujo.com/

This game is 18+ NSFW

Katawa Shoujo was first conceived in a 4chan board. That’s where the studio gets their name, Four Leaf Studios. It’s a visual novel/dating sim about disability and love. The game follows the main character Hisao who is thrown into a school especially for those with disabilities because he has a terrible heart condition. This leads him to encounter many girls, such as Emi, a cheery girl that lost her legs in an accident. Rin, who doesn’t have arms due to a birth defect and many others. Hisao stumbles through this strange school and may or may not find love. Sadly enough though, Four Leaf doesn’t plan on making another game

Evoland by ncannasse. http://ncannasse.fr/file/ld24/ld24.html

Evoland is the winner for Ludum Dare 24. The theme was Evolution. Evoland is a game advancing throughout game history. It starts off as a slim monochrome game that you can only move right in, but as you open treasure chests though, you can go into 16 bit and 32 bit games. It’s a pretty good game if you want to capture the nostalgia of old rpg’s like Zelda.

Balloon in a Wasteland by jmtb02. http://www.kongregate.com/games/ArmorGames/balloon-in-a-wasteland

This flash game centers around surviving and trying to escape. In Balloon in a Wasteland, you crash in a mysterious place and you realize quickly that it isn’t safe. You have a pistol and you try to repair your balloon to flee. As you are fixing your balloon, waves of enemies come upon you and hinder your progress. Later on, you can upgrade your gear and abilities so you can escape faster.

I won’t have questions this week as people didn’t answer any last week. If you want questions, tell me in the comments and I’ll do them next week.