Send Manifesto your games that cause pain
by Bonnie Ruberg 
{ Mar 6th 2007 at 1:44PM }
Last night we gave you some tips from the "Console/PC Distribution Gatekeepers" panel about publishing your indie game. One of the main things we told you execs like Microsoft's Ross Erickson kept coming back to was the fun factor. But what we didn't mention is Manifesto president Greg Costikyan's quick rebuttal, "We want games that aren't fun to play!"Apparently, if you're working on a game that causes your players emotional pain, even inspires disgust (Costikyan's own suggestion), Manifesto is the distributor for you. Costikyan called it emotional innovation, and there's something to be said about defying expectations for the gaming experience, but we can't help but wonder what it says about you if your game makes us want to vomit. Wait, it's the innovative use of bodily fluids as a gameplay element. Go forth, pitch it to Manifesto!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Ken @ Mar 6th 2007 2:04PM
What? Are they serious?
Hmm... Interesting Approach...
ALH @ Mar 6th 2007 2:09PM
games that cause pain huh? Nice. I'm all for a bit of game-so-frustratingly-hard-it-makes-you-punch-the-wall
polly @ Mar 6th 2007 2:11PM
Condemned: Criminal Origins is kind of like that. I don't know what it is about that game, but it makes me seriously tense and I can only play it a little bit at a time because of it.
TraV @ Mar 6th 2007 2:15PM
I would say the Silent Hill games are examples of games that cause dread upon playing. There's also SH3's infamous "They look like monsters to you?" I know I can only play for small periods of time and MUST go do happy wholesome things afterward.
benjamin @ Mar 6th 2007 2:20PM
I could only play brief bits of Fatal Frame, I started getting so terrified.
There's also your random crap game that has poor controls and a bad camera and unfair design (the enemy can shoot through walls, but I can't shoot at him? WTF!), so there's that as well.
baby sea tuna @ Mar 6th 2007 2:27PM
It's funny because when I think of games that cause me pain, both mentally and physically, I keep coming back to the Ninja Gaiden series. I had the first one when I was a kid and there are very few games that pissed me off more than the cheap shit that game would pull on me.
Gameplay basically boiled down to: walk forward 5 feet, kill enemy, get hit immediately by another enemy and knocked back 6 feet, continue forward to fight both the enemy that hit you and the respawned version of the original enemy. Lather, rinse, repeat until you've thrown your NES paddle through the TV.
Of course, since the rest of the game was so damned awesome, you kept playing until your thumbs were basically just giant blisters with nails on the end (leading to the aforementioned physical pain.) I'm pretty sure Mega Man, Ghosts and Goblins, and countless others were built with this exact same formula in mind.
I'm guessing, however, the kind of games this company is looking for are ones with emotionally disturbing story elements like Super Suicide Bomber or Shadow of the Sex Offenders. Huh, maybe I should pitch them an idea after all...
Sam G. @ Mar 6th 2007 3:40PM
So they're taking over the Sonic The Hedgehog franchise?
tom @ Mar 6th 2007 3:26PM
how bout they just remake MDK2? That game caused me some serious pain. The final boss was so impossible, I only beat it as the doctor.
Matt @ Mar 6th 2007 5:05PM
NetHack, and definately Mariokart DS...i can cramp my hands up so hard trying to snake for the win...
sheppy @ Mar 6th 2007 4:21PM
Celebrity Autopsy II: Digging Deeper
Including such wonderful bonus rounds as necklace of teeth, pill grabbing claw game, and find the hamster.
Probot @ Mar 6th 2007 4:21PM
"I'm guessing, however, the kind of games this company is looking for are ones with emotionally disturbing story elements like Super Suicide Bomber or Shadow of the Sex Offenders."
I believe he is referring specifically to games like Super Columbine Massacre. Costikyan is a supporter of the game in the sense that he thinks games should go beyond simple entertainment.
http://www.manifestogames.com/node/3048
A big step for games as an art form is to tackle more complex emotions. For example, in film, movies like Schindler's List aren't "entertaining" in the traditional sense, but they are emotionally invoking.
However, I hope we don't see a bunch of simple SCM ripoffs where the game just takes the role of the villan and tries to rationalize their side.
Daniel @ Mar 6th 2007 5:28PM
Metroid Prime Hunters for physical pain.
I agree with Nethack for emotional pain.
Zachary Hinchliffe @ Mar 6th 2007 5:35PM
comment 8 wins
Dracula Jones @ Mar 6th 2007 6:29PM
Tony Hawk's Project 8... just the tutorial. Fuck that tutorial. It was harder than the actual game. It took me like 4 hours to complete it. Some were just too difficult, some were too vague. It caused me mental anguish and I couldn't touch the 360 controller again for days.
Also, Chibi Robo caused me emotional pain when Funky Phil died.