Kaushik's Web.

"I’m in, it’s time to win."

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 23:25:00 +0530

“I’m in, it’s time to win.” - This is obviously a fake post, there’s...

Letter to The Telegraph's T2

Sat, 05 Jun 2010 11:08:00 +0530

BACKGROUND: Well, I saw Prince of Persia: Sands of Time the day it was released. I was not expecting...

Tortuous Love. I have always been a morbid person, though less...

Fri, 04 Jun 2010 22:33:00 +0530

Title: Set to Ravi Shankar's melody

This is a must. Use headphones.

Pixelated yet detailed.

Our depressed "hero".

Forgot to take the screenie of the city.

Tortuous Love.

I have always been a morbid person, though less frequent in my disposition. There is something that attracts people to the macabre, as much as it repulses others.
Thusly, I have always grappled with the idea of physical torture. I do not know what primeval instinct in my genes made me love the topic of torture throughout my years of growing up. Movies and books have always given me the morbid satisfaction of scenes of torture – but not up to my taste. Games on the other hand have never shown true scenes of torture – either you could see the gibby after-effects of a tortured rogue or harem-girl in Diablo II, or walk through dungeons and their torture chambers in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and others.

I have never played a game in which you were the torturer, and could see what was happening to the victim.

Beautiful Escape: Dungeoneer aims to fill this gaping void I might have had while playing and wanting some more tortuous action. It does, and it does not. It does so to the extent of me actually getting slightly disturbed the when I went to sleep. Thankfully, it did not do much beyond that. It isn’t disappointing either, just so you know.

The basic premise of the game is that your character, Verge, is part of a secret cult of sadists known as the Dungeoneers. These people, from various walks of the society, build dungeons (usually in in their house’s basement), lure people in and torture them.
There’s a catch though – the Dungeoneers also film the torture session and upload it on their website – where sadists and other Dungeoneers can watch the session and rate and comment upon it.

It is not violent in its graphics – which are pixelated. You needn’t worry about who is actually watching you play as long as there is no text on display. No, you need to worry about anyone hearing you play this game. The sprites, though beautifully detailed and well crafted, are menacingly scaled up with the undertone that is the background music and the slasher-movie-reminiscent sound effects.

The story, in its concentrated complexity does just enough to make me want to play this game right through to the end.

The title of the game “Beautiful Escape” comes from the “sweetest” end of the torture session that is expected. Torture, is both physical and mental, so the game goes. The greatest goal of any torturer is not to kill the victim, or leave the person in utter hopelessness and despair. The greatest goal of a torturer is to let the victim go with the dregs of his or her will and health. Intact, but only just so -where they would wish they had died, but would lack the spirit to kill themselves.

A sadist’s dream.

The author, Calunio, has done some considerable work with RPGMaker and his taste in music is brilliant. There is something to be said about building an atmosphere – but a low-res game that does all this and disturbs with its choice of music alone? Mind-blowing and utterly playable.

As a final note, let me remind you that this game is not for everyone. Most people will cringe away from this intro to the game as much as the game itself. If you are one of those, stay away from this.
If you aren’t one of those people, you must give this one a try. It’s short, and the narrative is complex, rich and unique.

Beautiful Escape: Dungeoneer

P.S. This game tends to be hard initially with the torture. There are no manuals and no walkthroughs that I’ve seen (you should steer clear from those too). If you are interested, you’ll plough through eventually.

P.P.S. Play it through in one sitting. This is necessary.

My first Time Lapse!

Mon, 31 May 2010 22:20:52 +0530

My first Time Lapse! : It’s a Rickshaw :)

princenox: Doing mathematics now :P

Sun, 23 May 2010 11:24:40 +0530

princenox:

Doing mathematics now :P

What're your gaming roots ?

Fri, 21 May 2010 16:27:00 +0530

[Originally from here] Well this will be a long post, so bear with it. (Also, you asked for it :P)...

Money Matters

Fri, 14 May 2010 20:30:30 +0530

Me: Do you have some free change in your PayPal wallet? Alarond: *ShadowMeld Elf*

Your Actions Have Consequences

Thu, 13 May 2010 12:08:33 +0530

There was an interesting comment on the thread of Execution - an experimental 2MB game. It had...

(via threeframes)

Thu, 13 May 2010 09:04:02 +0530

(via threeframes)

What would you do for true love? Giving your own life for the...

Wed, 12 May 2010 23:39:00 +0530

You at Her grave.

Take that you bat!

And you too!

What would you do for true love?

Giving your own life for the one you love – that doesn’t seem right, does it? The entire point of getting him/her back to life is so that you two can share your lives with each other. A life for another – noble as it may seem (and is) – never works out. What good is the life that your spouse leads – buried in sorrow and sepia memories of you who gave up your life?

Orpheus would never stand for that. So he picked up a gun, marched down through Hades and brought Eurydice back.

Or did he?

Don’t Look Back is a delightful, story-less re-imagining of the Greek myth. Starting from the gravestone of your Beloved, you progress deeper and deeper into hell. Snakes, bats, spiders, Cerberus, demons and other infernal trickeries are up against you – the one “coward” who would not die for his true love. Satisfying platforming, subtle backstory and beautiful, beautiful pixelated art.

Don’t Look Back, Orpheus. Don’t Look Back!

formspring.me

Sun, 09 May 2010 09:22:11 +0530

Ask me anything http://formspring.me/Kazarelth

Make Cheap Flash Diffusers At Home!

Sat, 01 May 2010 22:55:38 +0530

Oh yeah, flash diffusers. The rotten pieces of paper that cost 50x what they should. Thankfully, you...

bibzornot: Rebel Scum! suicidegeeks: via 3.bp.blogspot.com

Tue, 20 Apr 2010 07:17:35 +0530

bibzornot:

Rebel Scum!

suicidegeeks:

via 3.bp.blogspot.com

Mediocre Mornings For someone who has no experience of the...

Sat, 17 Apr 2010 10:37:00 +0530

Minimal "Hello"

Good morning.

Office Calls

Office Calls part II

?

One in tens

One in hundreds

One in thousands

Do I have to sit?

Mediocre Mornings

For someone who has no experience of the mundane life that begins with cubicles, Every Day the Same Dream can be quite the frightening experience with boredom. The monotonously melancholic soundtrack that plays in the background adds to that touch of repressed urge that you feel trapped in your life.

Programmed as an art game, Every Day the Same Dream the monochrome graphics do not inspire. Yet the touch of colour – even the pale yellow of a fading leaf – suddenly changes everything. OR, it changes nothing if you ignore it.

5 more steps.
Every Day the Same Dream does not “dare you to be different”, or tell you that “everyone is unique”. It tells you a simple story with simple acts that can manifest in different ways.
Sometimes, you need to wake up from the everyday dreams. You need to.

keshav: Photography Ain’t That Easy

Sat, 17 Apr 2010 09:36:20 +0530

keshav:

Photography Ain’t That Easy

A Calvin And Hobbes For The Depressed

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 23:43:50 +0530

all-thats-interesting:

The definition of split personality Ahhh, the age old conflict...

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 22:44:35 +0530

Welcome to HappyLand!!!!!1!!!11 :D :D :D

Ooooh what does ENTER do?

RAWWWRGDGFHGHGHGGH

The definition of split personality

Ahhh, the age old conflict between the Good side and the Evil side. Between the Alliance and the Horde, between the Jedi and the Sith and a whole lot of analogies. Except, in the real world there is very little separating good and evil.

In Flipside, the only thing separating good and evil is the enter key. As Hannibal Hildorf, a madman on the loose whose mind is not quite stable. It vibrates between two extremes - of Happyland bunnies, cheerful clouds and pink bumblebees vs. polluted backgrounds, dreary landscapes and evil nurses.

Press the enter key and the landscape flips to reveal the opposite side. Initially you flip to do certain things like attacking or climbing walls (dark side) or jump and be immune to attacks (light side). However, after a couple of flips, you start noticing the differences. First the palpable differences, and then the deeper themes.
In the dark side, you can attack - but you are also harmed. In the light side, you cannot attack, but you do not get harmed either. Which side will you choose? Do you become a rampaging, slobbering madman - a cliche that needs to be sedated and debilitated or do you become the lovable child-man, able to see through the darkness and dreariness of real life through the lenses of a three-year old.

I am guessing that you can play through the entire ~10 minute game with any one side - there were multiple paths when I did see it. This game is worth a try to see just how well you can mod something.

Oh, did I tell you that it was a Source based mod? Yes, well the engine powering this 2D platformer is the same as that which powers Counter Strike: Source or Portal. Yes, you do need at least one Source game to play this free mod (it installs directly into Steam). If you do have one game, then go ahead and download it. It’s highly worth the time you take.

“Cops should say...

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 17:45:00 +0530

“Cops should say ‘Pikaaaaaaaaaaaaaaachuuuuuuuuuuuuuu’ before tazing somebody”

"I am O.” For some reason, when he speaks his name, it sounds like he’s speaking of much..."

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 16:57:00 +0530

““I am O.” For some reason, when he speaks his name, it sounds like he’s...

"Work for money spent Write for beautiful feeling Both can survive though."

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 22:50:00 +0530

“Work for money spent Write for beautiful feeling Both can survive though.” -...