Two games I've enjoyed recently

[enemyofperfect]

I haven't been the best at keeping up with Dreamwidth lately, but have a couple of links to things I thought were cool!

One is Viridi, recced by pink_ink.  It's the most peaceful little free game imaginable:  you have a pot of succulents that grow in real time and don't need to be watered more than a couple of times a week (and will never die for lack of it! ETA: talkingtothesky reports that they do need weekly attention), and you can just sit there and watch them, or the snail that crawls slowly around the rim of the pot, and that's it.  It's more of an excuse to gaze upon gentle green shapes than it is a game.  I find it very soothing.

The other is the demo for Silicon Dreams, which is a game in development (and currently seeking backers on Kickstarter!) where you play an android interrogating other androids and recommending whether they be decommissioned or returned to work.  It is not soothing at all; in fact, it's extremely creepy and dystopian. It's also pretty interesting so far!  I had some glitch in my display that cut off half the dialogue, and I still played through both interrogations to the end.  I feel so bad for all of these android babies!

Comments

[talkingtothesky]

don't need to be watered more than a couple of times a week (and will never die for lack of it!)
Sorry but I have to warn you - that's not true! If you do what I did, and not check the game for a week or more, they absolutely die and you pick them out of the pot and replant everything. I didn't particularly like that I had to check in all the time, so I stopped playing it. Guilt. This is why I won't get real plants. Ugh, I just want games to pause when I'm not playing them! But aside from that, it is a very pretty game.

Will check out the android rec, thanks :)

[enemyofperfect]

Oh no, I must have misunderstood the wiki terribly! Thank you for alerting me, I would have hated to kill my imaginary plants by accident.

I hope you find the androids intriguing!

[st_aurafina]

Viridi went straight onto my phone - that is exactly the level my brain can handle right now. Thank you!

[enemyofperfect]

Aww, I hope you enjoy! I feel the need to pass along talkingtothesky's warning that apparently the plants can die with a week or so of neglect -- although I think there might be a vacation mode that lets you pause them? -- but I still love the peaceful quiet of it so much.

[scytale]

Viridi sounds so lovely!

And Silicon Dreams sounds fantastic.

[enemyofperfect]

They really are, and in such different ways! It's so cool to see the vastly different things that games can do.

[stunt_muppet]

Viridi is such a peaceful game. Even if you do forget and have to replant your plants, there aren't any more consequences than having to start over. There's another phone app that grows a plant as long as you don't look at your phone, but Viridi's crystalline graphics feel much nicer to me.

[enemyofperfect]

There's another phone app that grows a plant as long as you don't look at your phone

Oh, that's such an interesting concept, a phone game that rewards time off your phone!

But yes, Viridi's visuals are just gorgeous. And crystalline is such a good word for them -- the palette combines with the low-poly shapes in such a lovely way.