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Thanks for showing this amazing game, itīs been quite a ride. As many people have said already, this game was original and ahead of its time, and itīs a shame about the bugs and that it didnīt get a real release. If there had been more games like this, maybe FMV would have had a quite different reputation. I was surprised that Sheeva couldnīt be romanced any more than just a little dancing. In a game where you can bang or dome bang almost anyone she seemed like the person it was guaranteed you could sleep with.
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Dec 31, 2014 16:11
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I still don't get the point of Sheeva. With the other characters you can sleep with/obtain information or plot points from, Sheeva's whole point seemed to be 'listen to me give you some rambling words disguised as a fortune' or something. Anyway, the final ending seems to give the game a bit of satire regarding high society and how full of poo poo a lot of it can be, and I can appreciate that. Definitely added another layer to an already amazing game.
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Dec 31, 2014 16:51
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facebook jihad posted:I still don't get the point of Sheeva. With the other characters you can sleep with/obtain information or plot points from, Sheeva's whole point seemed to be 'listen to me give you some rambling words disguised as a fortune' or something. I think the only person who gets the point of Sheeva is Sheeva. That may be the point. Great work SGF and Spaxter. This was a really interesting game and an entertaining LP. I'm quite taken with the idea of someone remaking it in polygons instead of FMV.
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Dec 31, 2014 17:13
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Oh, Vito, you card.  Thanks for a very nice LP, supergreatfriend. It was a fine ride and I can't imagine how it could have gone better.
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Dec 31, 2014 17:17
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Woooo, that was one heck of a ride. Thoroughly enjoyed the LP and the crazy ride it has been. Great job SGF, you deserve a dome of some sort for all of that. I really wanna play this crazyass bullshit myself, is there any way to obtain the game at all? I know at the very beginning of the LP SGF mentioned that this game was virtually impossible to get but there's been stuff on GOG and some things on the other threads but any leads would be helpful.
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Dec 31, 2014 17:51
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Thanks for the last epsiode and the LP of this game, it's actually pretty astonishing how much content and alternate paths there are in this game once you get past its goofy exterior. And like said at the end, it's a shame it didn't really see the light of day but that's the good thing about good LPs, that they rediscover old and overlooked games. I got Mode during the time it was uploaded in the thread with the blessing of Spaxter and after one or two full playthroughs and trying some different outcomes, went to look at some of the clips on the disc. I used to do it all the time growing up where I would spend more time looking at the assets of games than actually playing them, which was easy in the days when a lot of them were this type of early FMV centered game like Mode, Myst etc. At any rate mostly my experience was watching the clips on the disc and then trying to figure out how to access them in the game. I saw much of the route with going to Ed's room and sabotaging the final performance, though could never figure out exactly what to say to Ed on disc 1 to open up that route. I saw the Vito striptease sequence on the disc and had no idea where it would come up, thought it was a variation of what would happen if you convince Vito to cancel the performance. Even though there was the previous comment from Spaxter in the thread about "there is an outcome you can only get if you don't have the dome", I wasn't expecting that this is how it would come up. Even though I knew it was coming when SGF was talking about there being another ending to Vito's final performance, now that I see it in its actual context, man it's great. About Ed's misgivings and Vito's cancellation of the performance, it's true they feel pretty weird and undermined after this ending. Though since we don't know how the Dome works, it's possible they could be concerned because there might be long term negative side effects of being domed. If it has been shown to kill and knock people out, after all. Or the risk that the domed people might decide to form an actual cult afterwards or whatever. There's a few other interesting things on the disc, like a bunch of extra videos for the screen at the entrance of the MODE event. One of them is a clip of Charity on the screen saying "(real name of the guy), also known as Killer Klown, was found dead today at..." which goes with the ending where he overdoses. I don't recall if I got this to appear in the game or not. Many of the final news broadcast clips of Charity also have a version that fits on the screen in the entrance. facebook jihad posted:I still don't get the point of Sheeva. With the other characters you can sleep with/obtain information or plot points from, Sheeva's whole point seemed to be 'listen to me give you some rambling words disguised as a fortune' or something. My thought with Sheeva was always that she is a different route where she decides to give you some type of great power through the dome. I saw the clips of her from this update when going through the disc and at the time thought there must be an ending where she gives you a "gift" of zapping you with a dome on each finger for 10 times the power of a normal dome and it turns you into some kind of superhuman enlightened party crasher or gives you a big epiphany similar to the intended effect of Vito's final performance. Many of her lines are talking about her giving you help or a gift and that you should see her later. I was hoping to find out how this panned out in the LP, but I guess it's impossible (or very hard) to access in the game itself. Who knows, though.
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Dec 31, 2014 18:11
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kimitachi posted:Woooo, that was one heck of a ride. Thoroughly enjoyed the LP and the crazy ride it has been. Great job SGF, you deserve a dome of some sort for all of that. Some time during this thread or the previous one, somebody uploaded an ISO of Mode, and its predecessor Midnight Stranger, after getting the permission of the creator Jeff Green aka Spaxter who reads this thread. Not sure if it is still active anywhere though. Also you can order a physical copy of the game from him at his website https://www.strangermedia.com
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Dec 31, 2014 18:14
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asvodel posted:Some time during this thread or the previous one, somebody uploaded an ISO of Mode, and its predecessor Midnight Stranger, after getting the permission of the creator Jeff Green aka Spaxter who reads this thread. Not sure if it is still active anywhere though. BiggerJ posted:Links to previous threads (may require archives): First thread, second thread. Tamrael posted:Permission/Disclaimer/Please Don't Ban Me:
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Dec 31, 2014 18:36
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If you asked anyone "Who was gonna be the most naked in this game" how many would guess Ed?
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Dec 31, 2014 20:47
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Incredible and epic, SGF. You could not have ended it better. I just looked at the first MODE video. It was uploaded on October 27th, 2012, about two months before the end of the world. Now, two years later, we can say this party survived the Apocalypse.  Bravo.
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Dec 31, 2014 21:00
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Oh, Solomon. Fantastic LP as always--thanks for seeing MODE all the way to the weird end(s).
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Dec 31, 2014 22:42
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Hirayuki posted:Oh, Solomon. I was so happy to see Solomon. I really wish he had gotten a bigger part, I loved that guy. Great LP, SGF. Thanks again for it. It has been a long road.
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Dec 31, 2014 23:32
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Jegan posted:You can't do the sabotaged ending without the dome, right? Although considering how that went, I imagine it wouldn't be too different. Still, you have to wonder why Ed was having second thoughts about it if that's all "The Big Flame Out" was. You need the dome for the sabotage ending, since you would've had to get it to get the right conversation path with Ed (without it, he just tells you that you need to get a dome). As for why Ed is so concerned about Vito's performance, the surveillance videos make me think that Ed doesn't like that Vito plans to make a group of people experience a hallucination without their knowledge or consent. He probably feels that this is an unethical use of the technology he invented, while Vito feels that the types of people who attend his parties aren't worth that kind of concern. Before we know that the final performance is just a joke and the Edom was made up, those videos make it look like that Vito's up to something more sinister. Of course, if Ed finds Vito's plan objectionable, he probably wouldn't approve of Riel using the dome as a weapon. For that matter, maybe Ed's not aware of the more unsavory side of Vito's dealings.
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Jan 1, 2015 02:23
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It seems to me like Ed's generally aware of everything, but Vito is his father figure and Ed isn't quite sure of himself enough to do more than voice objections (even as he continues to work on tech that he knows will be used in ways he's not happy with).
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Jan 1, 2015 02:28
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KirbyKhan posted:If you asked anyone "Who was gonna be the most naked in this game" how many would guess Ed? I dunno, Mia was hard to top after that steam room scene. Though Ed...yeah.
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Jan 1, 2015 02:39
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I think Ed was also worried that Vito was getting too invested in the mythos he was creating. Sometimes folks can get too invested in their own bullshit.
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Jan 1, 2015 03:02
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Speedball posted:I dunno, Mia was hard to top 
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Jan 1, 2015 03:06
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That's pretty much the perfect way for him to end that performance. Love the idea that he was basically playing a giant joke on people.
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Jan 1, 2015 03:48
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So, a thought. Charity was recording the conversation on camera. We can assume that the cameraman had a dome as did she. But did would whatever was happening during the performance actually affect the camera recording? Would they realize some time after they reviewed the footage what was going on?
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Jan 1, 2015 05:44
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Krysmphoenix posted:So, a thought. Charity was recording the conversation on camera. We can assume that the cameraman had a dome as did she. But did would whatever was happening during the performance actually affect the camera recording? Would they realize some time after they reviewed the footage what was going on? That's the best part of the show! Watching everyone make fools of themselves and only realize it afterward.
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Jan 1, 2015 06:31
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Thanks for your hard work on this journey. The MODE LP just topped The Void as the most intriguing LP on the boards. I feel like we really connected here, goons. In a tentacle-y, transdimensional way.
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Jan 1, 2015 13:01
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Thank you, Supergreatfriend and Spaxter, for making this all happen. It's been amazing and stimulating. I only wish the game could get a re-release on GOG or a similar platform so that more people could see it, and so it could be played without DOSBOX, CD swapping and frequent crashes...well I voted for it, and you all should too if you haven't already! http://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/mode In the meantime I think I'll download the game, toss our good friend Jeff Green a few bucks, and start spreading the word of MODE to the masses.
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Jan 1, 2015 19:22
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Slate Action posted:I only wish the game could get a re-release on GOG or a similar platform so that more people could see it, and so it could be played without DOSBOX, CD swapping and frequent crashes...well I voted for it, and you all should too if you haven't already! If I remember correctly, GOG already rejected it as something not currently fitting their catalog back in 2012.
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Jan 1, 2015 20:17
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Thanks for the wild ride Supergreatfriend, it was a interesting game and nice example of trying out a new way to make a game.
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Jan 3, 2015 00:20
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[Jack]This was good. This was very very good.
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Jan 3, 2015 09:42
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Final notes: The reason Charity was instructed to run through a gamut of emotions was so that the recording could be edited into another one of those responseless mood bar sequences, the user selections representing their statements to Charity's news gathering team. Apparently the programmer skipped that bit. But then, really, did we need another one? There's a question of consistency, but I guess I liked them because they presented the impetus and opportunity (as exercised for our considerable amusement by SGF) for the user to perform, to actively create content. The medium becomes the audience. I doubt that most players do it (and SGF only did for emphasis or as his alter ego), but I always imagined people speaking out loud their responses before clicking on the part of the bar that they think represents the "mood" of what they've said. This seems unlikely to produce success, since what are the odds that, given the tiny number of actual possible responses programmed, that one of them will work with the limitless potential input from all possible players? Is there any writer that could produce such magical text, and at the same time develop characters and try to tell a story? And yet, once you've accepted that it can't be done, deciding instead as a user to treat your "gameplay" like a role you've taken on in an improvisational theater piece... well, you might just find how often it can be made to "work", and how every now and then it seems to REALLY work and for a fragment of a second you can almost believe that your mind is meeting with another living mind... It's that elusive and exciting suspension of disbelief that I'm tilting at, however quixotically. But with such a high degree of interaction and so little data to work with the onus is on the player to complete the illusion. I have said that I consider this particular approach to media to be science fiction, in form if not content. The user is actively participating in a low-resolution simulation of a high-resolution future technology. Sheeva's casts of the I Ching are meant to be selected by random generator, and the things she says are taken from the actual commentaries to the I Ching (Wilhelm Edition), the selection of hexagrams they reference having been selected through actual casts of the I Ching (yarrow stalk method) ... except for the part about seeing her later. If you got that clip it made it possible to see her little spacey scene, which was supposed to play if you go out onto the roof after the final performance (random eye candy to reward a freakishly lucky player; also, as it turns out, intriguing enigma for those prowling the data files). Sheeva's part was originally going to be more extensive, each "cast" was going to have more impact on what occurred to the player, and she was able to confer on you special abilities, but her role was reduced for space and became nothing more than a quirky red herring. She's such an obvious character in a traditional game for delivering obscure but important clues that I think I liked turning her into nothing more than a bag of wind. I really am not sure if she was even programmed properly in the present version to get you to her little rooftop vision. If SGF couldn't find it, then possibly not. Certainly one of the silliest aspects of MODE is the dome (I loved that one post actually re-titled it as DOME), the idea that Ed -- who, really, has more of the bearing of a gigolo than a digit-head -- has come up with a technology that can produce such varied and extraordinary effects on the human brain - ? I suppose that If I'd been trying to make it even remotely credible I would have made Ed the son of a military brainiac and the backstory that he had stolen some of his father's ultra-classified mind control tech and messed around with it, or something. I think the clue that Ed is actually only posing as a geek is the giant typewriter directly behind him in his room scene (even that obsolete technology is overwhelming for him). Also interesting to see that SGF found the zoom clip in Ed's room that was supposed to bring you to the playback of the most revealing of Vito's candid vids. Another sequence no on bothered to program. This programming issue is obviously pretty serious, given the amount of unlinked material SGF and asvodel have discovered, not to mention the crashing. It makes one wonder how much better the experience might be with a version properly constructed. Slate Action posted:I only wish the game could get a re-release on GOG or a similar platform so that more people could see it, and so it could be played without DOSBOX, CD swapping and frequent crashes...well I voted for it, and you all should too if you haven't already! I don't know how GOG do their thing, but if a reissued version had been simple it would have occurred some time ago. Through a catastrophic miscalculation (which haunts me to this day, like living with an accidental amputation) I failed to secure the master tapes to these productions before they were destroyed, so what's on the discs is the sum total of what there is to work with. Reconstructing the program is actually non-trivial, especially taking the opportunity to correct or enhance, but it is do-able. I am far more interested in doing something new, but getting these early works seen might at least give some exposure to the general form (of which they are still the only two existing examples). There is an Ed to my Vito, a techno-wizard with whom I have been collaborating for many years. His name is not a clever anagram (although the letter-string "bot" is prominent). He and I have been mapping out an approach to this medium for some time, the first step a broadly accessible format of the two existing titles. But there are significant time and money constraints. We discussed crowd sourcing but these productions have negligible cultural presence (yes, this group and these LPs represent an enthusiastic blip of attention, but perhaps not a large enough pool on its own to make for a successful kickstarter). If a source for capital is acquired there is most definitely new production in the plan for which some advance work has been done, an evolved form that moves beyond the mood bar and takes advantage of all lessons learned in earlier productions. As for the moment, I would really prefer to not sell the physical copies, despite asvodel's kind link to my order page, unless somebody wanted to give it as a gift or something. I just make them up as I get orders, which to date have been rare, and in any numbers it would be a nuisance (unless by some cosmic fluke there were so many I could do a professional print run -- like maybe through an administrative error it ends up on a University of Peking Computer Gaming Program required reading list). The first few I made up in the 90s were fairly accurate bootlegs of the original package with 3 discs and booklet, but I've run short on materials and the latest were just a single printed DVD with the disc data in folders. I fully support the downloading, and of course appreciate any ethical gesture you might make by way of donation for the product, but unless that process was likely to generate enough to finance full reprogramming it is not something to which I'll be turning my thoughts. And now this is over. It would be difficult overstating the impact this LP has had on me. Much has been said about the reasons that MODE "failed" in the market, including SGF's comments about its numerous technical shortcomings and an FMV backlash of the time. Forgive me, longtime readers of these threads, for reproducing content from earlier posts, but it does bear repeating that this production never actually made it into the market, that promotional copies had gone out and a few hundred copies shipped to mostly mail order retailers, but before a full production run and distribution/promotion could take place Corel decided to pull the plug on their entire CD-ROM division. It is certainly reasonable to speculate that even if it had received a full release it would still have been too oddball and erratic to have had many sales, but that cannot be proven. There were ten articles published internationally as a result of that first promotional effort that referenced MODE, and all but two were positive. The most damning of those was also the most important, the review by PC Gamer magazine that went down in history as one of the worst reviews they ever published and was also clearly a case of singularly successful corporate sabotage (since it brought down an entire division). This experimental, unorthodox, satirical interactive socializing program, which should have been given to their craziest, edgiest game reviewer, was instead given to the guy who usually reviewed flight simulators. At the time I posted an annotated reprinting of this review. This is a link I have posted before but I do it again because I think it is important that you know the real reason you had never heard of MODE before this LP. Just before the distribution of promo copies, Michael Cowpland, CEO of Corel, had been saying loud, idiotic things in the press about how he was going to take down Microsoft, and I'm sure it took but one call from Mr.Gates to get the Windows-friendly editors at PC Gamer to hand off the review of Corel's big new game to someone guaranteed to loathe it. Since the rest of the CD-ROM division was drastically under-performing and everything rested on the success of MODE, Cowpland took this review to mean that Corel had a dog on its hands, and pulled the plug. The point being that whatever its relative qualities, there has been, undeservedly, no audience of any numbers for this thing, ever, ... except for these LPs. Not only is it wildly gratifying to have it, after all this time, find a venue, whatever its scale, but to have it at the hands of such a superlative entertainer, and one so obviously dedicated to the process as to wrest every last scintilla of diversion from the thing ... well it has been a wonderful experience for me, and I thank you SuperGreatFriend, I thank you Goons of Distinction, thank you all!
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Jan 3, 2015 12:25
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I had no idea MODE was so poorly treated, Jeff. Pulling the entire division before even giving the game a chance is a serious dick move. Personally, I am very glad you created it. Thank you.
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Jan 3, 2015 14:36
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This thread is endlessly fascinating! The insight behind development and the absurd treatment the game got after release is crazy interesting. I like how a good LP brings the developer out to expose information that would otherwise be lost forever. Really hoping a kickstarter or something similar will be possible one day, good luck to you man.
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Jan 3, 2015 14:55
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The saddest part is that, as far as I remember, another game used very similar technology (although only one disc of content) and was also a huge departure from most of the graphical content at the time, in terms of types of character interactions (in this case, next to none), plot (almost none within the game itself, most of it presented as backstory through extensive reading or left to the imagination of the player), interface (more or less identical to MODE, but with puzzles of the type that most adventure gamers hated), inventory (none), and technology (they also used the frame-in-frame method for their Quicktime animations, but because there were no people, they concealed the edges more cleverly). There was little to no humor, almost no direction telling the player what to do, plenty of dead-end states where the player could become trapped without vital information, and only a couple of obviously bad alternate endings that were pretty much just extra dead-end states that you had to work to reach. And yet Myst became really popular.
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Jan 3, 2015 14:55
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Thank you, SGF, for a fascinating, entertaining, and thorough LP, and Spaxter, for an amazingly ambitious game. I think every video managed to show off yet another thing that surprised and impressed me.Nidoking posted:And yet Myst became really popular. So much so that in late 2013, Cyan ran a successful Kickstarter for Obduction, "the spiritual successor to Myst and Riven," slated for release late this year. I am both very excited for this and terrified of being disappointed. I always felt that the FMV elements of the Myst games were part of their charm and unique atmosphere, but I expect that the likelihood of them being retained is essentially nil.
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Jan 3, 2015 20:01
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Confused Llama posted:Thank you, SGF, for a fascinating, entertaining, and thorough LP, and Spaxter, for an amazingly ambitious game. I think every video managed to show off yet another thing that surprised and impressed me. Have you tried Uru and Myst V? Uru has been released for free and while they both suffer from the effects of a long and troubled development cycle, Uru is still a really good Myst game while being in full 3D. Better in my opinion than Myst 3 and 4 that were produced outside of Cyan and somewhat missed the mark tonally. Nidoking posted:The saddest part is that, as far as I remember, another game used very similar technology (although only one disc of content) and was also a huge departure from most of the graphical content at the time, in terms of types of character interactions (in this case, next to none), plot (almost none within the game itself, most of it presented as backstory through extensive reading or left to the imagination of the player), interface (more or less identical to MODE, but with puzzles of the type that most adventure gamers hated), inventory (none), and technology (they also used the frame-in-frame method for their Quicktime animations, but because there were no people, they concealed the edges more cleverly). There was little to no humor, almost no direction telling the player what to do, plenty of dead-end states where the player could become trapped without vital information, and only a couple of obviously bad alternate endings that were pretty much just extra dead-end states that you had to work to reach. With Myst, while it was a great game, we have to note that a lot of why it was as successful as it was was due to the timing of its release; it was just as CD-ROM technology was starting to become affordable and widespread and there were not very many titles available so it could really shine as a good demonstration of the new technology that was accessible to people who weren't into video games. If Myst had been released the same year as Mode I don't think it would have been as popular as it was
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Jan 3, 2015 20:58
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What all would be involved in a hypothetical remake of MODE, using whatever assets as could be found on the game discs?
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Jan 3, 2015 21:52
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Thanks for the LP Supergreatfriend and for the game Spaxter, it was a fun ride and its great to see a hidden gem that would have otherwise continued to be completely forgotten. Because its been a while I forgot that MODE wasn't even released; maybe if it did it might have inspired people to do the stuff devs are only really starting to do now. It also sucks because if MODE came out nowadays there would be an audience for it, I know I'd get it.
Accordion Man fucked around with this message at 02:18 on Jan 4, 2015 |
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Jan 4, 2015 02:15
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supergreatfriend posted:As for why Ed is so concerned about Vito's performance, the surveillance videos make me think that Ed doesn't like that Vito plans to make a group of people experience a hallucination without their knowledge or consent. He probably feels that this is an unethical use of the technology he invented, while Vito feels that the types of people who attend his parties aren't worth that kind of concern. To say nothing of the fact that he's going to make all the media attendees complete laughingstocks. I assumed that Ed had cold feet about the idea of helping Vito make a meanspirited joke at everyone's expense. It speaks to the quality of writing in this game that the characters have consistent motivations which make sense when you know all the facts but also mislead the player for dramatic effect when you've only seen part of the story.
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Jan 4, 2015 03:49
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What a way to end things! Who knew that the only winning move was not to play? Thanks very much for the LP SGF, and Spaxter for your many insights. The actors involved in this deserve some kudos too, considering the quality of acting you get in some games even today they did a really good job. I guess it helps that they were monologuing towards a camera rather than dubbing.
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Jan 4, 2015 04:13
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Spaxter posted:Sheeva's casts of the I Ching are meant to be selected by random generator, and the things she says are taken from the actual commentaries to the I Ching (Wilhelm Edition), the selection of hexagrams they reference having been selected through actual casts of the I Ching (yarrow stalk method) ... except for the part about seeing her later. If you got that clip it made it possible to see her little spacey scene, which was supposed to play if you go out onto the roof after the final performance (random eye candy to reward a freakishly lucky player; also, as it turns out, intriguing enigma for those prowling the data files). [...] I really am not sure if she was even programmed properly in the present version to get you to her little rooftop vision. If SGF couldn't find it, then possibly not. Since it requires such specific factors, it's entirely possible that even the painstakingly thorough SGF didn't find it. Hey, SGF, here's one last job for you! BiggerJ fucked around with this message at 09:37 on Jan 4, 2015 |
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Jan 4, 2015 07:06
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Thank you SGF for showcasing this MODE, if you hadn't drawn attention to it, I am sure I would never had seen it. Also thank you Spaxter for giving behind-the-scenes information, it was very insightful to get a developers perspective on this strange little gem.
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Jan 4, 2015 12:59
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Haha! I've been calling for going through the game without the Dome ever since the Mode Events were being streamed, I knew that would do something!
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Jan 4, 2015 21:16
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Is this thread going to be archived? To archivers: this is the third thread, because it kept falling into archives. First thread, second thread.
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Jan 8, 2015 08:59
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VLP archiving is usually 'take a copy of the OP and maybe any following fanart/bonus posts' and it looks like those have all been duplicated into the new threads, so it shouldn't be a problem.
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Jan 8, 2015 11:22
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