it sounds cool, 

it was fun to play, too!

I just arranged some clips from a cool synth showcase. I liked the part where Roger Powell plays a little, so I just played around in audacity, making an excuse for what I like to call my first real go at ”audio mixing” (it's a word too dramatic, but i can't think of a substitute). I tried to get the ”original” vaporwave sound i listen to a lot - that is, sunsetcorp/ (some) oneohtrix point never songs -. 

What do you think? Do you like it/ don't like it? Do you qualify it as ”vaporwave”? What are the technical aspects of music I should look more into? Where should I improve for a future, more original track? :)

*description of my YouTube video (i think it`s best to put it here as well):

all credits to Laurie Spiegel & Roger Powell; original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rfeh1...

Forgot to mention: of course, any feedback is appreciated! I do wish to improve my research/writing skills, so do share yout thoughts!

download GOB here!

This is a review I did some time ago, more will come soon enough! Check my profile for more info.

This is "GOB", be nice and say hi to it.

      With this awfully short review, I intend to introduce you to the process behind the making of "GOB", deepening knowledge and hopefully directing you to a common ground - that is, even more information about games, obscure and creativity -. This is only a demo and so far it goes a LONG way, in a sense that it's charming looks are just a small bit of the whole that keeps you interested, invested in the story of Gob.

      So yes, the progatonists' name is in the title. You are Gob and you wake up in a shitty apartment, hungry. This is everything the game explicitly gives you, the rest you have to figure it out yourself. I enjoy this kind of style, where a story unfolds as you explore an environment. This, along side with it's lenght, leaves a lot of room for interpretation, imagination, almost as if the game gives you little toys (in this case) to play with, except you don't feel as powerful when playing the game. That is tied, I think, to the setting, the background on which I want to elaborate.

      The depth of this game comes from many things, but it's what inspired the making of "GOB" that encourages a more meticulous view. Games like "Garage: Bad Dream Adventure", "Machinarium", "The Neverhood", even "Walk 散歩" present a different interpretation of how to create a certain atmosphere, how to tell a story depending on the objectives you have in mind, as well as the relation between the background elements and the overall experience, what tools could help you achieve the best representation of your vision , what kind of music to use and when to use/NOT use it and so on. They all have their differences, but "GOB" reflects their filtered similarities, coming with something which feels utterly unique. 

      From "Garage: Bad Dream Adventure", it recycles that rusty, scrap dominated imagery, (literally) modelating Gobs' messy apartment, full of what seems to be garbage but somehow makes the setting somewhat cozy. Where it manages to impose itself I think, is outside of the apartment, in the sewer-like area, showing an abandoned place, rather hidden from an ecosystem of which we get a glimpse of when opening the door from the very left side of the screen. That specific room reminds me of an abandoned building from my area and I thought it was pretty cool seeing the similarities - I will keep any bias as far away from this review as possible -.

      Tied to this more abandoned than stuck in a completely destroyed, depraved world setting, is "Machinarium", a game about "a robot who has been exiled to the scrap heap". The scrap dominated, rusty look of things seems similar to "Garage: Bad Dream Adventure" but this main difference about the fate of the protagonist beautifully gets presented in "GOB". I like (and also hate) to think that Gob was left behind, he was once part of a community, of a familly and somehow they got separated, like the little robot in "Machinarium". A more subjective interpretation shows Gob as just some lazy dude, who had a hard time getting used to how life works and how to make money and so he got kicked out of his previous home(of course, i'm thinking of a world more different than ours, but with these awfull, general rules). I would say Gob finds something good in anything, Gob likes his home in a wierd way, it's the loneliness that sometimes gets to him. This world feels more crowded than anything and the best comparison to help you understand that feeling would be the Kowloon Walled City. I would also compare its' world with the communist, gray vision, full of huge blocks, one after the other, with no visible difference between them, whatsoever. Gobs' world is however 10x more interesting and worth admiring from afar. Nevertheless, it's important to point out this aspect, that we are not getting everyhting this world has to offer right away, something was going on before we got to control Gob for the first time. But who is Gob anyway?

      We don't know who Gob is yet (or WHAT Gob is), but from what I understand, its' origins will be something we will get to discover in a finished version of the game and implicitly we will also solve the mistery that is the world itself. But until then, it's nice to know we have an objective and this objective presents similarities with the one from "The Neverhood". Both Gob and Klaymen are trying to find out who they are, where do they come from, their origins. But what I like about both of these games is the antithesis relationship between the protagonist and the world itself. I'm talking about how the character percepts the world vs. how the world tries to tell the character to percept it. In both cases, the protagonists seem goofy, not too invested in the dangers ahead, rather not taking them seriously enough, thats your job as a player. But the characters themselves seem unhinged, despite the worlds' effort to show it's dark, "realistic" nature. I like to call it naive horror, and I enjoy this style A LOT as of late. 

      So that would mean they don't belong in that world? I disagree, in fact, returning to the game in question, the sewers, the apartment would not be the same without Gob. The atmosphere is given not by how empty the whole place is, but by how Gob got to live in this emptiness, leaving you thinking "Could there be someone else here?". It's unsettleing to think Gob kind of disturbs what used to and must be a specific silence, the "sewers full of grafitti and junk" one, with occasional gusts of wind and water dripping from wherever. Something just doesn't feel right. That "horror" feeling translates well to "uncanny", something that almost feels right, but your mind keeps telling you that it's wrong...That feeling is present also in the game "Walk 散歩", which heavily inspired the team behind "GOB". That "uncanny feeling" is outlined in their game as the most important aspect in my opinion, Gob being the subject of a world kind of similar to ours when we look at some basic logic rules and he just doesn't fit in right away. Almost as if it's something wrong with us, the players. Its' "cartoon-ish", dumb face creates that feeling. (NB: I love Gobs' face, I'm sorry Gob)

      Not much music is used to tell the story, there's a radio in the first room with some interesting tunes, but I think the game focuses a lot on the sound design itself. From the sickening silence of the apartment, to the overwhelming winds that pass through the sewers, creating that underground, ambiental sound. I personally associate it with a metro station, late in the night, when you wait for the train and the train is not necessarily close, but you can hear the winds created by the speed of it hitting the curved walls. Then, you have the birds singing in that one room where you get to see a little bit of the outside world. My favorite part however is the buzzing (similar to a fridge) of the vending machine, which is also officially my favorite design for a vending machine. Details like squeaking on most of the things you touch embed that rusty feel which defines the atmosphere.

      I will merge the technical points with the design choices in this paragraph simply because I didn't manage to fully understand the technical process, but I encourage you to learn more about it by checking the link at the very end of the review.

      To put it shortly, somehow, the game is made in "Dreams". Rather, the background is "half painted, half 3d modeled" in "Dreams" and I believe some background elements or whole backgrounds were 3d scanned, Gob too. Gob however needed some work done afterwards because this process is not an easy one. The main point is that "Dreams" is what gives the game this remarkable look. It does not follow any industry standards, in fact it wants to distance itself from them by showing what having fun and trully enjoying the finished product really means. A nice detail is Gobs' phone, a sort of "recreation" of the palm pilot phone. Really, they just had that in mind when trying to create something that works well with the name "babyphone". Fun fact! Gob is actually just a nickname, there's more to that in the finished version.

      The best thing about this game however must be how it treats item management. You can only pick up 2 things, your inventory being only your 2 hands AND you can combine items by mashing them together when holding them. How cool is that? I just can't get enough of mashing stuff.

      Overall, I believe the game nails every aspect it wanted to nail. It's "'90s grungy aesthetic" welcomes you in Gob's little (for now) world, where you get to explore and solve interesting puzzles. 

      I can't wait for a finished version of the game and I strongly encourage you to try this demo. IT'S WORTH IT!!!

*This is an interview I watched before writing the review, give it a listen, it's great.

**The interview with "gammagirl" starts at 4:09:19, but I encourage you to watch the whole video, or at least the "Gob Cast" section, too (the last one).