games

Today’s entry reminds us of the little things that make up the avalanche of larger initiatives that end up being famous, well-known, or significant throughout history. The game is mostly straightforward in its presentation – you plant seeds, water the trees, and grow new ones, taking the fruit and seeds from those to nurture new and different trees, eventually ending up with a forest.

Tetris is one of the most well-known classic games, in part because of its simplicity but also its challenge and wide-ranging ease to pick up. That’s why today’s entry from Pekka is charming to me, and that’s before factoring in the nice homage to Pekka’s mother, who passed away a few years back.

Jord and Mark created a bit more of a repeated exercise as far as game journeys and quests go, with their very inspiring entry that puts you literally at the center of action as you work to reveal sayings and words to motivate you. This is something that is part and parcel of any questing and adventure type game where you’re in a top-down view, but there’s a bit of nuance to the experience in the fact that you’re lighting the way as the player and displaying the words and thoughts in very different ways per screen.

Decision points and divergent paths have been a staple in games for many years now. Even if some people are cynical about choice in games to the point of declaring them as wider, yet still linear, narratives, it’s still important to be able to have choices to make. Today’s entry by Marc seems to take the visualization of the divergent choice to the extreme, making an effort to present two views of the same room simultaneously in an optical illusion meant to confuse and befuddle a bit. 

It’s been a while since I played a really good whack-a-mole type game and today’s entry, contributed by Ham definitely puts that in context to something very close to the real world in terms of moving and opening boxes. This is a little bit funny especially with all the Marie Kondo minimalist stuff going around and being sure that what you carry with you is stuff that you find valuable, but anyone in any move will still have a ton to carry with them. The act of unpacking multiple boxes as they appear on the screen is a great simulator for this, especially with regards to the fact that there are some boxes harder to unpack than others.

Today’s entry from Travis is a bit bleak-looking at first impression, as it talks a bit about the day after Valentine’s Day and has a rather dark setting in the form of a cemetery that you have to tend. It’s a bit of a sobering take on things especially after yesterday’s rather saccharine entry about couples, but I’m thankful for this regardless, because there are relationships that do have two outcomes to them in terms of either being together or ending in heartbreak or loss. It’s just simple reality that not every coupling ends up in happiness, and that some people do end up with the timing of being alone on or after Valentine’s Day.

Today’s rather cute entry is appropriate for Valentine’s Day, as the game involves using a unique set of mouse movements to make sure that the couple both gets fed a generous amount of popcorn and soda. It seems like a simple if not bright way of presenting a common scenario on dates at the movie theatre or chilling with Netflix at home, but more than that, it’s an interesting message of teamwork and supportiveness towards meeting goals – as small as eating popcorn or perhaps as big as a massive project or life achievements.

Pets are family, and today’s entry from Karina Pop shows the first steps in welcoming a pet into your home and your family. As someone who is a pet owner, and who regularly has a weakness for cute pets, Karina’s realistic looking contribution for a first few meetings with an adopted dog definitely had an impact on me. I’m reminded of a lot of times when I had to get to know new pets, and they got to know me, as we settled in to a new life together, one much better than being in a shelter or out on the street.

We’ve seen Jordan’s contributions before in the form of “First Smile”, the 14th entry in Meditation Games, where a simple color change changed a worldview. With “First Laugh”, we get a little bit more of the same, and even though it’s a bit expected it still has the desired effect.

It’s a little bit appropriate that today’s Meditation Games entry from Brie and Linsey is the 42nd one, because of the fact that Douglas Adams once penned a work that set it as the answer to life, the universe, and everything. True to the moniker for the project, Seek is a little mini game where you are contemplative in a beautiful view of the Northern Lights as you pick things and symbols to be present as part of your reverie.