itch.io

Contact! Seems they've been keeping up with us

Some images I found- related to an old forum posting about Universal Research Laboratories, which was acquired by Stern in late 70's.

I'm remembering some of the stuff they talked about made me genuinely sick. Can't really put a finger to what it was, though.

Some things I'd apparently sent a friend. From the forum, I think

That's not worrying! That's good! If they're looking for us, maybe they want to tell us something?

???? This is the right account, right? I'll reach out when I'm home, at work now.

Can a machine be alive like a person...

Can you post an image of the manual? Even if it's low quality?

A network of biothings... This might be what I was looking for! If you have time, please let me know what else you find.

I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. Some people posted like. Images they said were generated by these bio computing chips.

They kind of made me ill to look at, if only because, like... They're almost dreams, right? 

I want to know how alive they were, I guess. If they used them for this game, like. God. What are even the ethical implications of something like this? Were they involving kids in this testing?

I don't know. Let me know what you come up with, please.

Pretty sure they looked something like this. The pictures, I remember. Don't remember what the percentages symbolized, but like. This is kind of why I reached out, here. Feels related.

Hey, is this Redditor still active? Could someone reach out to them and ask if he's remembered anything else?

Like, we know this machine was made by Stern- but he mentions a sound. I'm really interested in the sound. What did it sound like????

Exactly! That probably would help with the motion sickness common with VR, honestly. No need to make the player feel motion, just overlay it onto the pinball machine.

Maybe it was augmented reality instead of true VR?

What's the name of the paper? What's the pseudonym? That timeline lines up...

I know this paper is cryptic, but what are it's contents? Why do all these labs have it saved? I'm sorry, it's just been so long since I've thought about this at all- but now that I'm thinking about it again, I'd love to know more!

Oh WOW- yeah, that definitely feels like something that'd fit in Uzumaki. I found some of the original voice lines from Bezerk- I definitely think this functionality would have been great for a horror game. Maybe Stern was chosen to develop it because of their synthesizer work, and just threw in whatever extra tech they had lying around?

The fact that the original poster mentions that the 'sound' of the machine put him on edge... yeah. I can imagine the synthesizer was a big part of the machine.

Hi! I stumbled upon this topic, and it reminded me of something I was looking into a while back.

I'm not really a fan of pinball machines- they're too random in my opinion, and I get really frustrated. However, what I am interested in is video games- which Stern Electronics were heavily involved in until the video gam crash of 1983. At that point, they began to slowly transition into the pinball business- which they'd originally been in, they just put all their eggs in the wrong basket when the crash happened.

Anyways, that's beside the point. What I wanted to get at is that they were pushing the envelope of what was possible with videogames at the time- their most popular arcade machine, Bezerk, utilized a speech synthesizer to give the enemies more life, which was rare at the time!

Now, when I was trying to find out exactly what kind of chip this was (which has been hard, a lot of results tend to relate to the similarly titled manga "Beserk"), I did happen across an old forum that discussed the acquisition of Universal Research Laboratories by Stern in the 70s. Unfortunately, this was not related to what I wanted to learn, but it did lead me down a rabbit hole that feels like it might be related! URL was constantly dumping money into R&D (one of the reasons they had to file into bankruptcy), and it was rumored some of the stuff they were working on was pretty ahead of it's time. Advanced language models, a Deep-Blue esq chess supercomputer- and, to my shock, a biocomputing chip. The forum speculated they were using organic material from mice, along with a cocktail of chemicals to keep the material alive, healthy, and capable of interacting with the electronic systems. It was kind of horrifying, honestly! I couldn't stop reading.

I cannot find the forum for the life of me, now. I wished I'd saved the site, but it was a bookmark I lost a computer or two ago- and it seems to have been wiped from Google by shitty new search engine optimization. I do remember conversations about a limited color palette, to not put too much strain on the biomaterial, and strange, dreamlike graphics.

And holes appearing in the graphics. Like... black holes, almost, drawing everything in, as the biomaterial began to degrade. It's possible these chips were selected because their glitches and limitations fit in with the visuals of the Uzumaki manga? 

I'm not sure! Again, I don't actually have solid evidence of these things, and that forum is long gone. If you were on it, or remember anything about this, please, reach out!

Universal Research Laboratories, which Stern acquired back in the 70s, was dumping a lot of money into R&D before they went bankrupt. It's possible they'd been developing basic VR systems a few years ahead of the curve- Stern was in arcade games until '83, so it's also possible they took some old parts and collaborated with other companies to create a basic VR prototype.

Pinball would have been good, honestly- physical feedback you can overlay with graphics, and each sensor would be tied to a specific location, so you could rely on the physicality of the system to provide feedback to the user's headset.

Hi! It is. Been a bit of a slow pace as I've been busy learning a new job, but I have been picking away at the next update!

<3 thank you so much!

Well. I'm not entirely sure how I missed this comment for a whole year? I think they are both unique enough to be viable, and this game is at a playable state at the moment- I've just been workshopping and rewriting parts as I have the time.

I think Spirits and Glamour overall is easier to run, while Soul and Bone has a little more mechanical depth, but as a result has more to sink your teeth into! Up to you if you want a more freeform or tactical experience.

Sure thing! Thank you so much for pointing it out; it's just been fixed! Sorry about that; I didn't realize that by changing the background, I should have changed the hyperlinks as well!

I'll think on that!!! Thank you again; this is incredibly helpful!

You bring up a fair point! That option is supposed to allow you to dodge the consequences of a mixed success; but at that point, it's almost like you didn't roll the move at all. Thank you so much for the feedback; I think I'll change that option to something more interesting in the  next update!

Well! I do think that by separating moves into the categories, it helps to at least codify what moves would fit into specific scenarios! There is only one move that I've been considering removing ((Inspire)) but beyond that, I do think all the moves are necessary. Its hard! I want to ensure that there are enough moves for specific triggers that I want to be hit. The rest of the book isn't too long, so I hope that helps GMs focus on the moves, but beyond that, it is just hoping. 

Additionally; the table of contents is difficult! I'm not exactly sure what is important to put in there, as chapters 2 and 3 have quite a bit of content, so its matter of figuring out how to organize that.

As for your last question! I'm not sure. Every time I think the game is in a finished state, I realize I want to add another playbook, or downtime action, or mechanic. The game IS nearly done, as it just needs a good editor, but until then! I'll have to see. I do want to keep it under 60 pages, however, for easy readability. 

Huh! I didn't really consider the amount of moves! As I created the game and playtested, I just considered what specific actions I wanted flavored by moves and built them as I went! I suppose having 3 separate categories of moves might have contributed to the high number as well!

Nope! You'll just have to go to your library and download the new version whenever it comes out! Itch will give you the option to repurchase it for some reason, but it's absolutely not necessary!

I do have a Twitter! You can dm me there @TendenciesG!

I'd also recommend reading the demo? But the page itself has been updated to make what the game actually is a little clearer. Thanks!

HUH! Good point. Thanks! I'll fix that now

This fucking kicks... thank you so much for playing...

Um! My game uses cards and post it notes to build a house that stands against the end of the world! I'm pretty proud of it, as its the first microzine ive made in a bit. You can check it out here! 

https://hellabigworks.itch.io/how-to-build-a-home-for-the-end-of-the-world

The King of The Ants

Hiya!!!! I'm Dusty. I'm an amateur tabletop dev, and all of my work has been published on itch! No commerical games yet ^^;

My idea is something I've been thinking about for a while, but have never actually started? It's inspired by the Hunter x Hunter Chimera Ant Arc, or more specifically, the character arcs that come forth during that arc. I'm very excited to work on it!!!!