There's one more character to cover here: Luke Carder himself. Where the Scrybes represent the follies of game development, Luke represents the other side: the fandom. He sticks with the game no matter what happens. He will play Leshy's creative janky mess. He will play the dated original. He will even play P03's soulless product. He ignores all calls to stop and let it all end before it ends him. As long as there's something that is called Inscryption, he remains too emotionally attached to let it end, allowing P03 to carry out his scheme. Where the Scrybes are a critique of developers, Luke Carder reflects those of us engaging with the industry from the outside, unable to get off the bandwagons and move on.
Oh, that is a good read but I am not sure if that was the intent. I feel like Luke more often represtented ones that try to reveal all the shady shit just to get punished in the end( he literally gets shot). I do think your interpetation has marrot especialy since Inscryption was Luke's childhood
@@obitosenju3768 Luke can be both. He can be the super-fan that refuses to admit when the game has gone sour and isn't worth playing anymore, while _also_ representing the kind of fan that wants to know _why_ it went sour in the first place and starts to dig, which gets him in trouble. Happens to fandoms all the time, even; a good game goes bad and then jilted fans start to ask "Why?" That's usually when a lot of the more wretched sides of a fandom come out, throwing around accusations and slander without any real evidence to justify it - though it _does_ also often do the same thing to the devs/publishers, forcing their hand and making them reveal all the skeletons in their closet that may, indeed, have been some or all of the reasons why the game went south.
My dad in his last portion of life reminded me a lot of Leshy. His thriving love of competition faded when he knew the clock was running out. He just wanted to appreciate the experience together, and not focos on meaningless numbers. I think because he already had a meaningless number hanging over his head.
i relate to that as well. My dad died of melanoma half a decade ago. When a person realizes their life is suddenly cut short, and neither you nor they can do anything about it, there’s something existentially dreadful about it. They lose any future ambitions because they dont have a future, and you’re forced to watch them try to live the last couple of months they have in a bittersweet haze of doing all these things they had on their bucket list or whatever. Then on top of that having to watch them physically wither away on top of that, i dont wish that condition on anyone. The ending where Leshy has to come to terms with his death, and in his final moments becomes extremely vulnerable with you, just stating he wanted to play the game this entire time, and seeing small signs of his increasing panic as the game deletes itself around him, it’s incredibly real and raw to me in a way that hurts but also is cathartic. My dad wasnt the first or the last person to have that kind of fate, it can happen to any of us since its ultimately out of our control. This game handled the concept of AI that are not supposed to understand the concept of death having to actually face it incredibly well. Leshy isnt a human, but he’s felt the full array of human emotions, even the fear and experience of death, and that makes him relatable not as a bad guy or as a good guy, but as a soul caught in an incredibly horrible situation that he never signed up for.
Another point I want to make about Magnificus being the ideas guy and blaming Goobert for all his failures: We actually see all of the methods the Scrybes go by to acquire the OLD_DATA. PO3's Dredger uses the dredging machine. Leshy's Angler uses a fishing rod. Grimora's Kaycee uses the well and bucket in the crypt. And Goobert... I honestly didn't get how Goobert was searching for the OLD_DATA until my most recent 100% playthrough, but on that playthrough, I made a realization- the room next to Magnificus's chamber. It's the only place in the entire tower with visible water, and it's always felt very out-of-place. It HAS to be where Goobert is OLD_DATA fishing. And you know what's in there? Leaky pipes, and a couple of water basins barely the size of a sink basin. No wonder Goobert had never gotten the OLD_DATA! Magnificus gave him absolutely barebones and partially broken equipment to do his job, and then blames him for it not working! Sound like any managers anyone knows?
It's funny, Daniel Mullins' entire body of work has been an ongoing indictment of the games industry as a whole and the LLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOIRRRRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEE all ties back into it, especially the one constant element of the plots: Gamefuna. God I wish more people played The Hex it was so good
Apologies for the essay in your comments, but I want to mention something I picked up in the final hours of inscryption that gives your classical tragedy take on the scrybes enough weight that I think it wouldn't be unreasonable to say that them being tragic figures is the central conceit of the plot. Yes, every one of the scrybes is a deeply fundamentally flawed person and each representative of a different kind of awful person you'll meet in game design, but something else that's important about them is that they each bring something vital to making a game that's truly excellent to the table. Leshy, as stated, is there to tell a story. One he's poured his heart and soul into, and everything he does is in service to the story. To that end, I'd argue that his disappointment when the player fails is less that you're not living up to his standards, and more that you're not getting to see more of his story. He's more disappointed that he failed to create a scenario in which you could reach the end. I read it as being disappointed in himself because he's just not that good at the other aspects of game design. P-03, again as stated, is the systems guy. He wants complex interactions, optimized gameplay, and all the other stuff doesn't matter in the least. His faults are plain, upfront, and discussed plenty here and elsewhere, but at the end of the day he does bring something far more technical and engaging to the table as far as raw gameplay goes. Remora is where they start getting more complex (honestly, probably because these two get practically no screen time in comparison with the first), but the concepts they represent are far more fleeting. Remora in particular *is* the concept of finality herself. Her goal, from the bottom up, is not to delete inscryption but to make it a *finite* experience. At the end of the day, a game that's truly great needs to give people permission to walk away from it. Making sure it does not go on forever, making sure it comes to an actual conclusion instead of meandering through endless plot or becoming needlessly complex and bloated is her domain. Magnificus, then, is sheer unbridled *spectacle*. The awe of stepping out of a cave and into the sun for the first time, the rush of getting your hands on the ultimate weapon, the shock, disbelief, and sheer "Oh hell yes" of being handed a lovingly 3D modeled and animated duel disk in a game about playing cards. Without a magnificus type, you have a totally acceptable, reasonable game that is generally unmemorable. None of them are capable of making a satisfying game on their own, full stop. But if they had set their minds to working together instead of bickering at each others' throats, then the game they were trying to make would have been far greater than it ever was. But they'd never do that, because that's not who any of them are. That's the crushing tragedy that inscryption brings to the table, and something that it feels like nobody ever seems to talk about because oo what about hitler's deck of cards.
The part where you spoke on Game dev education hit way too hard for me. On the second half of a two year course about computer science and the tutor who was supposed to teach us most of the programming and game dev stuff simply vanished to go on sick for the whole year after making promises on everything we'd do in the first year. This was apparently been a common thing for him within the past 5 years. Came back few weeks before the end of the first year and a couple of us had to use mario maker as our assignment submission because he wasn't there to teach us anything. Second year, found out the game development module was only for the first year and we had that tutor again for software development. Stuck around longer than last year but it was the same assessments and worksheets as the year prior. Cherry on top is how every time someone asked him a question he wouldn't actually answer it himself, instead sending over ChatGPT responses. Now he has gone on the sick again, and we recently found out he isn't even home resting or anything. He has been on a vacation.
@@TimeTime-i4n To be fair, Magnificus deserved a little, seem as one of his students is a head in a pike, the other is bunch of goo, and another is going insane.
@@thechosenone5421 Yeah all the scrybes know they're in a videogame. In Kaycee's mod we learn that Kaycee would often chat with Leshy and give him tips on how to make the game more fun.
@@thechosenone5421 Yes. All Scrybes want to play the game. All of them (Except for Magnificus) have already, at some point in time, being the one in control of game. So Leshy going all "Your soul is a card now", along with the "Oh look, another traveler. Let's play this game of which I'll not explain the rules because I explained It to the previous one." It's all just role play. As he doesn't re explain everything from the start, as It's still the same player, and since only the avatar is turned into a card, this is pretty much his way of saying, "Here, let me give you a help". After all, the protagonist of Inscryption, Luke Carder, never really loses his "soul" whenever we lose a match. And since It's canon for two to three loses to happen, we can safely assume that Leshy is just dramatic.
You've really nailed down what I love about Daniel Mullins' body of work. There are lots of games that have meta gameplay and narrative elements but a lot of them are just for novelty. Daniel's games aren't meta just for the sake of it. Instead they use it as a powerful tool to draw the audience much closer into the stories. By reaching out from beyond the fourth wall, they drag the player right into the center of this inner world showcasing the darker corners of game development. I'll admit that I'm also a sucker for the "lore" and ARG stuff but it's more like a juicy worm on the fish hook rather than the real reason I'm swimming in the pond to begin with.
When your friends were describing the way the video game class worked, it reminded me a weird amount of how my mom talked about working in the theater. She was a hair/makup artist and shes refered to the opera/ballet as a "cult" in a tone thats light hearted but still serious. Shes spoken about how often people in the arts are always going on about how its a privilege to work in that industry, how its all about being there as long as possible. She was working 80 hour (at least) weeks, had a 2 hour commute, the wig makers used chemicals that often resulted in burns. She was always on call, and returned to work with bearly any maternity leave twice. Shes chronically ill, and got a thyroidectemy before returning to work after bearly any time. Shes spoken about how, on my first day of school she wanted to take the day off work to take her kid to school and be there to pick me up. Her boss asked why she needed the full day off, it wasnt like she *needed* the full day, she could come in after she dropped me off. I think, theres a tendancy in any artistic field, to glorify sacrifice. The artist who bleads for their work is more worthy than the one who takes breaks, the game dev who works so hard they dont see their home for days is more worthy than the one who sees their family on a regular basis. The woman who walks out of sergery and into work is a good employee, the one who takes takes time to heal is not.
The sharp contrast between what I imagine P-03 to sound like, and the voice given to him in this video keeps making me laugh. In almost every way his character is spun, I give him this snarky nerd voice that sounds like someone who seems himself as above all others simply by default, meanwhile the voice in here sounds like Rouge the Bat from Sonic. Honestly, im still here for it, I love the gay robot man hes awesome
The rogue the bat comparison is sending me. My directions were “snarky and tired” and gay robot man is what I’m going to call that voice from now on thank you.
When I first discovered Inscryption, I didn't see that it was made by Daniel Mullins. I only found out after act 1. It really speaks to Daniel Mullins skills that he made a game that catches everyone attentions when he first released the game. I played the demo so much that I easily beat act 1 on the first real try. I was kinda sad that I didn't get more out of act 1. But after act 1, the story and characters just dragged me in. I think that's the real power of Inscryption. It draws you in with a mysterious card game that then pulls you deeper with the mystery "What actually IS Inscryption?" I feel like the message of "How games development becomes toxic" is kinda lost in the evilness of the Old Data. Lovely video essay though, hadn't really considered it myself about how Inscryption is an analogy of the Video Game industry, but it makes perfect sense. Also, love the fact that you site your sources used and games shown like that
Yeah, that's always kinda been my read too. Like, clearly she _was_ searching for the Old Data in the past. But unless I'm misremembering, she never got it either. Leshy was the first and only of the four to get it before the events of the game we play through, after which point he re-wrote everything and trapped the other scrybes. So I read her less as being a hypocrite, and more someone who realized how dangerous the Old Data would be in *any* of their hands, (especially after P03) while still feeling a bit of remorse that she never really got the chance to showcase her own creative vision before the end. While she's not perfect, she definitely still reads to me as the least bad of the four, with Leshy not too far behind.
@@firekirby123I think at first she didnt want to destroy the game, just wanted her own equal crack at the old data (one that she never got because Leshy got his hands on it first). But i assume once she realized what the other scribes could do with it BEYOND the game (with Po3 proving her likely fears right with trying to permanently download his self into the internet like a virus) she realized that the old data was something that could be used for something far more malicious than what her intentions were. I think she is the most moral of the scribes, and i think thats why at the end she took it’s power for herself to make sure it’d stay destroyed, even if that meant killing the rest of the scribes and herself in the process. Yes she could’ve been happy with Po3 being killed by Leshy, but i feel like she didn’t trust him or magnificus too much either. She probably assumed they could fall to a similar temptation that Po3 did.
I resonate with this message a lot. This is exactly what I'm afarid is happening to the animation industry. Crap just keeps getting worse. But that's why indie animation is shining lately, and it's why indie games are too. I'm an optimist, so I like to think video game creation isn't going to die or be stuck like this forever, not when we're finally realizing how screwed up it actually is. After all, there are still indie creators untouched by the problem and are even drawing attention (however little) to the problem. Have hope. Things will get better.
While you're not necessarily wrong about P03, i think your description of him as a game master is a little uncharitable. Yes he doesn't care much for the story and yes he thinks its so cool to implement a mechanic from Dark Souls, but that's just it, he *likes* mechanics. He *cares* about mechanics, in a way that contrasts with Leshy. Leshy was focused on the experience, on the atmosphere, on the story, and the mechanics were a means to an end on that. For P03, the mechanics are the end, and everything else is something he begrudgingly includes out of a perceived necessity. You get the feeling that if he felt he could get away with it his representation of the game would be pure text interacted with via command line. He's still a terrible person in terms of how he treats his underlings (as are arguably all of the scribes as you point out), but his care for mechanics at the expense of story isnt necessarily a reflection of corprotization so much as a different kind of equally destructive passion.
PO3 cares about the idea of mechanics. But he doesn't respect mechanics. He wants to see new cool mechanics. But he doesn't take the time to think deeply about them. This is best exemplified in the "design your own boss" battle, where he allows you to create a game breaking rule by accident. He is happy to do big set piece bosses, but he doesn't understand how to balance a game. While Leshy too had issues with balance it hits different with PO3. PO3 thinks he is supposed to be the "smart one", the one who designs the fun out of a game. But he is only a know-it-all with a few tricks in his proverbial bag. It is clear that he is phoning it in when he isn't interested. But this hides a deeper issue: he isn't actually any good at designing mechanics.
I just got a few minutes into the section talking about game design in college, and it's already hitting me. I used to be in school for a game design major, and it completely shut down any passion I had for the profession. It didn't help that partway through covid hit, but still, many classes of "here's the bare minimum, now learn it yourself," no real help in figuring out what specific part i wanted to be in, and most classes that sounded specific, just turned into "group with classmates and make a game." I had a music and sound design class, that used a web-based 8-bit music maker/sound toy for about all of it, no real music theory or concepts on how to fit into a theme or tone of a game. The final project was make a level of a game with classmates, and the only requirement that aligned with the class was for everyone to make 10 sound effects with the web app. I mostly did art for that project, barely touching anything audio related. All of this over and over caused my depression to worsen, drop out, and lose the passion i once had.
The rot you bring up goes so much further than the gaming industry . In 2016 the company I worked for was gobbled up by a tech giant. It was scummy and all of us were out by 2019. The worst time was at the start of every project. They'd parade us in front of the clients executive team, presenting our record. It was practically a public shaming because they had "delicate" ways of saying you didn't go to the right schools, had health issues, were not in the boys club, opinionated, valued your personal life, the wrong gender/sexuality or just didn't like the taste of boot.
I’m glad to see there’s more videos going over Inscryption’s actual plot and themes. The arg and all that other stuff is cool and all, but I find the themes to be a lot more interesting as it is the glue and foundation that holds a story together. Makes me think of another video retrospective that analyzed the shared themes of Daniel Mullins trilogy of games.
I saw the title a few weeks ago and went "oh its just someone talking about how inscryption could have been more than it is and not understanding that a game can just be a game" only to find out after actually watching it that it was the exact opposite of what I thought. I absolutely love this video, everything about it hits so well, though I might recommend a better title because the initial impression it gives is the exact opposite of the message of the video lol.
I agree with most of this video, and the in-depth writing is fascinating. You're entirely correct: apathetic games are the death of the industry. Indie was made on the back of passion, of creativity, and of genuine collaboration. Though, I don't think Kaycee's Mod fits? Kaycee's Mod isn't really an exploration of anything further, or more-- and while dwelling on a game makes sense, Kaycee's Mod is, first and foremost gameplay-focused. Even Kaycee's musings (her writings you can unlock after challenges) aren't really new features, new lore, new concepts-- just adding more things we could already assume. Everything new is in the gameplay, something deeply overlooked by the lore videos. It's Kaycee's very writings that leads me to believe that all of the writing feels like it's there just to support the gameplay that rather than the other way around. The audience for it are not the lore-freaks, it's the people who loved the gameplay. It's also a free mod-- not monetized, and, when it was uploaded, updated by the creators continuously on bugs, connecting with the community. The server was a blast. It wasn't a cash grab and didn't read as someone attempting to gain more press for Inscryption. The mod, above all else, felt fun. Not necessarily a work of art, but just fun. Not a sequel-grab, not a soulless inclusion, just fun. I don't think it's inclusion supports the main idea of this video essay, and it feels out of place. Specifically, one of Kaycee's logs stand out to me that feels like the antithesis to this essay. You get to it by beating everything. It, for all purposes, is a finale log. A reward for getting achievements, and slaving your way through Inscruption. But in it, there's no lore. Instead, Kaycee notes how no one will ever see her game-- but, for the time, she indulges in a fantasy, of people playing her game-- her little mod. About the art made from it, the music made from it, she ends it stating she is overflowing with gratitude. I still read it now and it makes me cry a little. It makes me think about talking with the team as everyone talked about little bugs, and scores, and how much fun it was just to play around with Inscryption's main part of the game. It makes me think about all of the fanart I saw, the people I talked with, the community made around it. Kaycee's Mod is not soulless. It's a thank you. Not from Kaycee, but from Daniel Mullins Games. And I don't think it fits in this essay. Otherwise, fantastic video, I loved every second of it. Especially the testimonies-- getting that insight into the game industry feels haunting in a way I can't really articulate.
Thank you! I loved Kaycee’s mod, because i loved the gameplay. Sure, i loved the story, and sure, i like ARG’s, but i had some qualms with how they were presented in inscryption and i’m not the only one. Personally, i’m really big on games that love *being* games. I want to enjoy playing them, not just understanding the story, and i say that as someone who fights tooth and nail for the idea of games as a story telling medium. Innovating in gameplay, creating mechanics that interact with the story, and are just downright fun, is valuable i think. Triple A’s don’t want to innovate, they just want to make money based on existing precedents, so i do think that indie games that focus on good gameplay fit into the narrative, not against it. I fucking love Kaycee’s mod man, i love a good challenge, and i love that they embraced people who really enjoyed the gameplay in the first section! The story of inscryption means so much to me, but the hours of playing Kaycee’s mod do too.
Finding this in my watch later has been the highlight of my week. I love finding new creators with this level of passion for stuff no one else is covering, especially ones with such strong editing and writing skills! You really brought me back to the thoughts and feelings I had with the game during my first playthrough, before they got buried by all the ARG stuff and countless runs of Kaycee's Mod. Can't wait to see what else you talk about in the future.
When I recommended inscryption, I recommend it as an experience, with a disclaimer that there is more behind it, but that you want to play it in the dark, alone, and just experience it
Wow, with the quality of this video I expected you to have many more subscribers and views. While I can't do much I can at least give one of each, excellent work and I look forward to any other essays you may produce, no matter the length of time between them.
with how Daniel Mullins is it would not surprise me if Pony island 2 will be about the sequelization of games, but also a complete subversion of this expectation might also be the case
This is an incredible video essay that deserves so much more attention, much like some of the games mentioned in it. The fact that this doesn’t have millions of views is a crime.
True facts about rail roady DMs. When I started building my own campaigns I basically had Back-Up plots where if they killed an early bad guy *he'd be replaced by someome who was worse at his job, which eventually draws the attention of the Big Bad prematurely.* I call it the Murder Hobo Contingency, and it's my way of enforcing diagetic consequences for clown behavior.
Fantastic video! I first learned about Daniel Mullins’ games from Inscryption theory videos a couple months ago. I was interested enough to check out some stuff on Pony Island next, but then when I got to The Hex it was like the final piece of a puzzle, it brought it all together, and I liked the full picture even better than the individual pieces. I had to at least see a let’s play (not a stream) of The Hex, and the only person I knew of and trusted to get it right was Welonz. She and the game delivered, and I know it’s better to play games for myself, but riding along for the whole journey with minimal cuts and no distractions really helped me see what’s actually happening in the game. But anyway, all that is to say, you did a great job getting to the core of it in this video! I like spooky satans more the more allegorical they are, and while I thought The Hex was fairly crystal clear with what it was trying to say, that sort of thing seems to slip through the cracks a lot. It’s often up to people like you to dredge the truth up from the murky depths, and pull off its Scooby Doo villian mask.
i love being able to find creators with passion and dedication to the topics they cover practically spilling out of them as they talk. i’ve watched this video maybe 4 times now over the course of 2 days. it’s rare to find someone so passionate in explaining these things. keep at it. your passion is amazing to witness.
This is an incredible video essay about a game and topic that I love. Thank you, youtube algorithm, for doing your arcane chicanery once again. Also, you did an incredible job with the production of this video, really well made and lovingly crafted. Easy subscribe
Okay, this is gonna be an UNNECESSARILY LONG-WINDED NONSENSICAL DIATRIBE rooted from this video as I just watched through it so, bare with me here whoever comes across it: When I first opened the video and got greeted with the opening point, my first thought was like "well, maybe people didn't pick up on Inscryption's messaging because it's emphasized way more in the Hex-"then half of the video turned focus on the Hex, then I kept on going. In terms of how some details and messages in Inscryption became lost among the audience, I always like to bring up "death of the author" as a backing point--video games, or artworks in general are no longer outlets of one's thoughts in this economy, it had fallen prey to the market competition and became pure consumer products like the rest of the things. People are taking media for granted and cherrypicking whatever they WANT from it and not exactly what the media ARE. This could very well be a more cynical take on the situation from a bitter artist such as myself, but to me it stands--arts have become less about what they are, but more about what the audience can pick up on and consume. The content creators want to indulge the audience's morbid curiosity, the audience themselves have their own concern than reading between the lines of tropes and messages to get what can fulfill their need for thrills, some people may even go as far as to say that media literacy in modern days is DEAD on the floor--but at this point, I cannot fault anyone for it. The greater picture of things and struggles in individual lives make exploring into media and making attachment with the artists through art itself hard and unworthy of the hassle, and it's sad that it's the sort of rules that most people are forced to abide. And when it comes to the Hex, I do have some personal stories to tell: ever since the Chinese localization of the Hex was out (and yes, I was one among many of the translation proofreaders in the project), I checked over and over in the Steam reviews to see people's reactions. One of my concerns being the core messages of the game will be lost on people much like when it was without full translations--and I'm glad that it didn't happen at all. Video coverage of the Hex all narrate the portrayals of gaming industry struggles, and the Chinese audience generally managed to pick up on the messages the game is selling (well, aside from a few reviews complaining about that the gameplay itself isn't fun--which is half-true to their credits). I was thrilled to see the reception, because what intrigued me about the Hex to begin with is its messaging. As it was said in the video, the Hex dares to tackle topics that no one had talked about before, and even going as far as to contest ITSELF when necessary. All three of the Daniel Mullins trilogy explores the topic of game development in one way or another, but the Hex is the one that didn't sideline it for the sake of a narrative, it instead dived deep into it and explored the subject in a just way. As someone who isn't always impressed by a fancy story but more intrigued by its messages and intents, the Hex earned my great respect, and the portrayal of Lionel Snill still lingered in my head as a "would I also become this way?" sort of thought. I swear to god it would be extremely embarrassing to read back to this nonsense 3 minutes after I posted it, but to hell with it lol, I'm just glad that somebody acknowledged Daniel's mastery in delivering a point in an engaging way
Frankly there’s a million things I could also go into about this video and things like what your talking about, but I find the talks about audience vs the author and homogeny vs being unique especially noteworthy regarding difficulty and what’s “artistic”. I’ll give ya, difficulty and balance aren’t exactly the most artistic things. But they’re also not nothing either. To somewhat ironically bring up the point of Dark Souls, it’s difficulty is in pursuit of its themes. There’s literally the implication that giving up because it’s too hard is going hollow. In Dishonored, you barely have anything interesting or that good when it comes to pacifist while being an evil killer is super easy and fun. That’s to bring up how being good is a job while evil is an easy action away yet leads to ruin. Superliminal is EXPLICITLY about overcoming hardships and staying determined in the face of any problem thrown at you. Need I even mention Undertale? And yet, each of these games and these points are criticized for not being open and accessible to all… which is especially interesting to hear from someone who talks about artist intent and how we should get unique things instead of this homogenousness. (Not talking about you, AF_Productions, I don’t know what your thoughts are on difficulty. I’m more-so referencing a point in this video). Ultimately, there’s always a counter example to everything nowadays so it’s difficult to say anything solid. The difficulty of the games I mentioned is intentional and (arguably) does their job. There are other games that don’t have that intention. There are games where listening to fans instead of dismissing them like trash are applicable… there are other games where this doesn’t apply. There are games we can point to and say “this should be more unique, too bad this industry grinded them down” and other games we can say “this is excluding me for no reason greater then hate, a snobby “holier then thou” attitude and/or incompetence”. And all of this further mystified by the fact we can point to people pointing these things out… and state either being “right” or “wrong” from perspectives and themselves being right or wrong from perspectives.
That's not what death of the author means. Death of the author is a literary criticism school of thought that means the author isn't entitled to have a monopoly over a work's meaning. The text is the final arbiter of what is or isn't a valid interpretation (i.e. whether an interpretation is supported by the text or not. The text being the body of work itself and not just actual words). This has nothing to do with media literacy or lack of it.
I watched the first five minutes, and I can tell that this is not something I need right now. The video looks great. I’m definitely coming back to finish it. Just wanted to thank you for reminding me of Inscryption’s ending. It’s probably the most touching game I’ve ever played and I’d entirely forgotten it. Thank you
6:20 he absolutely forces you down a single path. If you go too far in a single run, he *will* just shout "TOO FAR. TOO FAST." and do the equivalent of Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies. Edit: 23:30 OH THANK FUCK, I TAKE IT BACK. but also, i *will* recommend Flaw Peacock's video on the "trilogy" as while he *does* go into a lore analysis on all three of them to show how they interconnect, and how DM builds on the puzzles over time (for example using Beneath The Ice as a cypher key in Inscryption because he established that language with his audience back in The Hex), when taken individually, they are very much about the story analysis, with the lore more as a means to help better understand what's going on, things like why the Scribes seem to be alive, the fifth scribe, and so on.
I realised this video has stupidly become sort of a comfort for me. Without getting overly sappy and emotional on the internet, since it just feels like screaming into a void, I rewatch it and replay it whenever I need something comfy to listen to in the background and sometimes even the foreground. The visuals, the audio, the narrator's voice, everything is super cosy- and the interview section especially made me reconsider a lot of what I spending my time on and I knew it needed to change. People echoing the same things I'm feeling and the bit about your personality becoming your job and vise versa making me scared shitless. But in all this I just wanted to say thank you! This video has changed the trajectory of me for hopefully the better.
aaaaa this is super good!!! ❤❤❤ I'm really glad you mentioned that about grimora bc as you mentioned yourself she seemed actually decent but had some weirdness in her thematics and final speech that felt a bit out of place and I wouldn't have connected two and two if you didn't mention it! It's really lovely to see someone else finally talk about the game development metaphors here and actually personify the scribes properly as creators and developers
The contrast between Leshy and P03 can also be seen in how they prevent the player from leaving the table. demands you get up, but there’s hypothetically nothing stopping you save his request. P03, however, literally shackles you to the table until he needs you to do something, and only then will he release you.
Lou Natas' last name, the CEO of GameFuna, is literally Satan backwards and Lou as in short for Lucifer. It would also not surprise me at all if he had an 'S' starting middle name to make it Satan S.ouL backwards. I like card games, so when Inscryption came out I wanted to see what else had the dev made, and then it was when I learned they made Pony Island, which I loved, but then it was when I learned they had made another game that no one seemed to have been talked about. The Hex, of course. Since I enjoyed Pony Island so much I wanted to see what was The Hex all about, so I made sure to play The Hex before the release of Inscryption and I was baffled at how good it was and how little noise there was around it. Like you said, The Hex has a bit of roughness around the edges that Inscryption did iron out and further enhanced with a lot of Style and atmosphere, something that The Hex seems to lack a bit with its mostly 2d pixel art style. The Hex is in a place of transition between Pony Island and Inscryption regarding style, but I also do feel like it has the strongest story. Which is also paramount for understanding the more subtle elements from the third game. Heck, the end of Inscryption is, in a way, a weaker version of the ending from The Hex. I'm honestly excited for Pony Island 2, because it does feel like a distillation of all the stuff Daniel have learned. And going without a publisher means that he's unrestrained on the sort of stuff he can talk about. Daniel Mullins is my favorite developer whose theme is all about meta and post modern themes on videogames.
I like that I was randomly recommended this video essay on Daniel's work, because this is the kind of game design talk I live to hear. Whether it's digging into what feels good in the mechanics or tying together all the threads of the plot, I enjoy deep dives into the art of video games. And I especially appreciate this because I wasn't keyed into this particular line of thinking when I played Inscryption. Instead, I was one of the people who had been looking forward to it because of the game jam title that lead to its creation, Sacrifices Must Be Made. My introduction to the game, and my mode of thinking, was centered on Leshy's storytelling and the game's use of sacrifice as a core mechanic in a card game. Bone requiring your creatures to die, blood requiring you to sacrifice your creatures, energy being hard-limited, and mox taking up precious board space (do you destroy the mox now and lose the ability to summon that color, or do you keep it and have a weaker board?), all of the card mechanics force sacrifices and choices through every step of the game...right up until the last phase of P-03 getting high off his own power, proceeding to make your entire vessel deck OP as heck to speed up his plans. And...that kind of ties back into the whole conversation about the industry of mainstream gaming, because "sacrifices must be made" is definitely a strong mindset in that realm.
I'm a self-taught artist. I have seen so many artists leave art school completely baffled and unprepared to do the thing they went to school for, and more than a few of them have told me "You taught me more than I learned the entire time I was there." I won't say it's a scam, but it definitely doesn't do what it advertises. If you're making art, don't seek out a career pipeline, seek out other artists. And if you must join anything, join a cooperative. Never leave your fate in someone else's hands without at least equal say.
Absolutely entranced by this video. Especially loved the interview with your friends, I hope they're in a better space now at least. Excuse me while I share this everywhere.
Subscribed, make more videos like this! I really loved what you had to say about this game, its one of my favorite games in recent years but i feel like people only ever talk about act 1 and the args when theres an entire 2 other acts full of gameplay and story twists that i never see anyone talk about more than dissing them or comparing them to act 1!
Hi! Just found you through this vid, enjoyed it a lot, thank you for the documentation on sources and breakdown! Hadn't realized this kinda context on inscryption and really enjoyed this analysis
THIS VIDEO IS SO GOOD ADJEHEJSJ It's such a novel and interesting analysis of a game that's already been picked apart so many times and I absolutely can't wait to see more of your content!
The way you concisely present your ideas and maintain a clear goal throughout the whole video really makes your perspective shine. The immense effort you've been putting into your channel, livestream, etc. makes this influx of attention on your work more than deserved. Congratulations Pengy!!! I'm exited to see where you take your creative prowess next. :D
Alright alright alright! I got through the first 2 characters of The Hex and then put it down. I love Inscryption with my whole heart and soul, and after your passionate intro to The Hex, I suppose, I will pick it up again. Await my return. I paused at 24:08. This reminder is mostly for myself.
This is one of the coolest videos I've seen on RU-vid and it was from a channel i never heard of before on a topic i never really considered deeply enough when I had the chance to at some point. Keep making amazing things.
I remember tearing up when the scale disappeared, it was like an old mentor, realizing his time is near and saying "Keeping reading, I want to know how it ends" or "Keep playing, I loved how you'd play/sing that song", it reminds me a lot of the final moments of Digimon Kizuna when the partners died, that moment of passing of an old friend.
The game education parts have me so scared because I’m planning to transfer into a game design course once I graduate community college and go to a 4 year college. But this is a genuinely great video essay, it really gave me an appreciation for Daniel Mullins’ writing I probably would never have gained otherwise.
this video has a great deal of things to like!! the most impactful to me, personally, was at the end, when you described how the truly indie & experimental stuff can "set fire to senses you never knew you had". that's *such* an evocative way of describing the sensation that i'm always chasing when i go digging through the obscure!! these games are often obscure because of how specific and incisive they are, and there's a potency of emotion you rarely experience except in art that resonates with you /specifically/, rather than just being good /broadly/. i'm always trying to get the people i know to dive into experimental weirdo art on the internet, because you can't get experiences like that in prestigious commercial art. i really feel your enthusiasm for the weird, beautiful indies. i love video games too.
What an amazing video essay, absolutely love your exploration of the themes, and especially love that you brought in people who are actively learning and trying to get into the industry themselves to comment on these themes. The games industry can unfortunately often feel bleak and souless because of this vision of what "success" means for a game, indie or otherwise, but we often overlook the true passion projects and dedicated devs that just want to make and create artful pieces, good naratives and fun experiences. Look for those games, look beyond the money and to the art and passion of devs, and you will surely find them.
Oh shit new Pengy essay dropped it’s insane how quickly you finished this tbh it feels like it was just yesterday you were sending me your silly little edit progress vids. They grow up so fast. 💛
I came to appreciate those last moments of that game. I remember playing them and seeing all three of those creatures who i came to appreciate in some manner slowly vanishing. And they realized that's what was happening, hell i am pretty sure at least two of them did it voluntarily. And it was just. Very sad.
Wait what, this is the second video on this channel! I was expecting to have video essays to listen to for at least a couple full days based on the production quality and confidence of presentation! Good work! Really looking forward to more, whenever you make it!
I'm SO glad the algorithm recommended me this and utterly shocked at the subscriber count of your channel! When you started talking about The Hex I jumped with glee because it's also my favorite Daniel Mullins game and I find it really frustrating as well how under the radar it is compared to his other output. Thank you so much for this video, it is now one of my new favorite video essays
Just a bit of feedback: For the interview portion, I found myself asking, "How is this relevant to the previous topic again?" I feel like there could've been a bit of a recap that The Hex is talking about these experiences, because going from Inscryption to The Hex to Indie Games to the 12 minute interview referencing the game that I frankly didn't really come to the video for, is a bit disorientating. IDK maybe it's just me
Another thing about leshy, is, that he's an asshole. But he never insults you. He expressed disappointment, and wants you to do better. When losing I candle he says he expected more of you. He pushes you to do better by expressing disappointment. You want to do better so he no longer feels disappointment in you.
"Theyre not good people" He's leaf granpa be nice to him!!!! 😭 --- Great vid so far, I love the analysis and its getting me emotional already at 11 mins lol
Finally finally FINALLY!!!!!!!!! I'VE BEEN WAITING YEARS FOR AN ANALYSIS ON THE STORY AND IT'S FINALLY HERE. I'M GRABBING SOME POPCORNS CUZ THIS IS GOING TO BECOME MY FAVOURITE INSCRYTION VIDEO.
I fell in love with inscription for the gameplay and the initial vibe of act 1. Poured way more hours into kaycee’s mod. Leshy is my favorite dungeon master of all time.
One of the best essay on Inscryption and game development. Thank you! Man, I am kind of glad I was just doing advergame design in Flash and never went to school for game design only.
Leshy's final stand is truly incredible. While other scrybes were trying to fight for power over the game, he just wanted to play it. He may cheat sometimes but he also lets you cheat. He may be cruel but it is for immersion. His last stand being just wanting to play one last time, it is truly beautiful.
Jesus Christ, I'm going to be watching this video at least 2 or 3 times. I love your delivery and way of structuring this entire topic because it's clear that you care about how we perceive it. Your inflections inject enough emotion to know that while you're reading a script, you're remembering and sharing how you felt when you wrote those words on some level. While I only have a passing interest in Inscryption (enough to beat it, but not much else), what you added made me appreciate the Scrybes and what they represent all the more. If you're planning to make more essays, I would love to fling you into a place I know that would be welcoming to that kinda stuff. Either way, great work and I hope you're satisfied too!
_"But although he definitely has that attitude, the thing about Leshy is that he always plays fair. He never forces his hand"_ Game glitches, 8 bears are here now, deal with it.
I'm only just past the introduction, but man, I didn't realize no one has said a word about those last few games you play with the characters. A real shame considering that, despite the roles they all played and what I felt towards them, I did not want them to be deleted. I don’t even think I cared much for the ARG bits, just the game. Edit: Oh yeah, P03 existed. Moving on. Edit 2: I was not ready for the depth we were going to go into about game development, but I'm glad we went there. Its always the art that takes up the challenge to have the uncomfortable conversations everyone poses we should have that gets shafted because they took what they said literally.
30:35 Yeah, this interview part hit's hard. I'm getting close to the end of my first year of game design, and I've had to learn almost everything myself. This is a introductory course mind you, and I hear almost nothing from the teacher unless I explicitly go and ask for help. They're really nice, but they're extremely hands off and I've had to jump ship on my own projects a few times just to be lumped in with a team that knows next to nothing about game design, so I'm basically the only one with prior experience and I'm just expected to be "the guy" and do everyone else's work while trying to be nice about it. I don't expect to be going any further with these paid-for studies, but I will continue to make games on my own, because I'm practically doing that already. I'm also not "industry standard," so I doubt I'd fit in anyway...
i almost cried seeing your inclusion of hello charlotte in your list of strange indie games towards the end of the video. the hello charlotte games have completely changed my life and made me feel seen like nothing else. i know the series has a sizable fanbase, but there's something about seeing it referenced outside of me specifically searching for it online or wooing my friends into playing the games that warmed some sad little piece of me. i love both your videos. your artistic analysis is rly insightful but also i just care immensely about the games you've talked about and im grateful for your focus on indie games ;_____;
Waaaa im so glad i got recommend this video! Honestly I never thought about inscription in this way so it connected a lot of the dots for me LMAO. Overall great video, cant wait to see what you cook up next!
I love leshy, he is, someone torn to try his best and not feel good about it, I mean I still feel like saying fuck you for some of the times where I drew trash, I am personally documenting every battle in act 1, I mostly need data on map's 1 and 3, map 2 requires data on that reptile fight, for encounter 2. but mostly verifying things, heck I was shocked to see a card that wasn't typically played in the miner fight, it got me to engage entirely excited, baited breath... the change was a 2 cards being swapped out for adders. leshy's death hurt I didn't cry cause I struggle with crying, but I wanted to cry, I felt the pain and I wore a smile on my face as I played leshy, til he was finally deleted, that hurts.but I was amazed by the scrybes would wanna be a fool to try to recreate that stuff. also to get rid of the bummer mood, FUN FACTS CARDS CAN ACTUALLY DO 0 DAMAGE!(I mean they will attack and deal no damage, verified by op moleman with touch of death and sharpquills, killing the attacker an still being at full hp.) Waterborne cards can be hit by anything as long as they are facing up, which is pratically never outside of trader phase, or baitbuckets getting attacked. Edit: HEY FUTURE ME... are you now watching the hex or rewatching the first 25 mins....anyway to you content creator. I agree with pratically everything, but grimora when they have the old data, I always took it as they would've deleted after getting, because without they had no power, I thought what was implied. don't get me wrong yeah probably their holier than thou stick is certianly something that is to be questioned. but I don't deny it. but yeah awesome video about game design....than I broke into monologue for thirty min to an hour about a version of incrypition where all the scrybes shared power, and had their versions all exist at the same time with updates...mostly talking as Leshy or Mag, to a room full of my plushies... I added that bit in because I felt it was fun, maybe too much. still Hope everyone having a nice day. I'll make another edit when I come back, after playing the Hex watching the whole vid.
I got the Hex in some random game bundle. Played it and loved it with not knowing it was linked to Pony Island till much later on. And I agree. Too many people only care about "The Lore". Lore is like world building. It's great to have and helps flesh out a game, but can never replace honestly good writing. And The Hex was some of the best writing.
I don’t usually comment, but you more than deserve the engagement after the amount of work put into this. This is one of those videos that made me sit and think about art itself and how I can explore it in more ways than I initially thought. I’ve always been partial to things where you get the story told to you without any viewer input like animation and comics since I wasn’t able to get my hands on a lot of video games when I was younger, and now I’m finally really able to dive into the world of video games and see the different ways of storytelling they have and how they go about imbuing the themes they want to convey throughout the gameplay. I’ve also never been one who focuses on bigger themes like industries, but this breakdown of Inscryption and The Hex has helped me work out how it can be tackled so I can better learn and create. Also, I watched a play through of The Hex soley for this video since I wanted to be fully aware of both games and I do not regret spending a whole day on that, thank you for bringing it to peoples attention and for your good taste 👍. I’ll be keeping an eye out for any videos you make in the future
I'm always so overjoyed when people actually talk about The Hex! I watched Jesse Cox play it and I couldn't believe that so few people talk about it now!
Only just finished the intro part, but it perfectly describes how I feel about Inscryption as a whole. When I first saw Markiplier's playthrough of it, I instantly downloaded it after the first episode because I was just so intrigued by the mystery and aesthetic of it. It felt so new and different, everything in the game looked and felt so tactile and beautiful but once it got into the second half of the game all that magic was just lost. It became just another indie pixel art mystery/horror game with a kinda cool story and an ARG tied to it. Tbh, the only thing that kept me playing were the mechanics of the game and the reveal that there were 4 types of main cards rather than just Leshy's beasts deck. I'm glad I did keep playing though because the part where Leshy returns felt like seeing an old friend. A return to a much simpler time. That was the best part about the whole game to me. The interview part made me really worried and made me feel down. You see, I plan to make a little cozy fashion game and I was thinking of asking or hiring someone to do the coding of the game for me, with me making all the the rest of the assets, but after hearing that programmers are actively discouraged from adding to any projects creatively and are there just because they can lend their skills to someone else's project, it sounds like hell and I would never want anyone to go through that because of me. However learning to code or program also sounds like hell and from what I've gathered from other videos talking about it, it sounds like a major time sink, you should only do it if your genuinely passionate about it and you should never have your first project be your big idea project. While that also describes many other skills, I'm only interested in the skill as a means to an end, rather than being interested in the skill itself. There's also the issue of me having next to no problem solving skills, I've had anxiety regarding maths for as long as I can remember and it just seems very overwhelming in general. Guess I'll probably never make this game.
Welp, I guess I’ve found a new channel to subscribe to! Your perspectives are great, although tbh I could hear your voice talk about the history of bricks and still enjoy it.
Dwelling on things until they lose their meaning... that kind of describes my creative process. I spend so much time buried up to my neck in my stories, working over every part of them again and again, that I need to write down lists of the original points of the story's elements, lest I forget. I had to outright write myself a letter about how I had turned one of my own characters into a flanderized fanfiction version of herself, I'd spent so much time obsessing over her psyche. That was last week.
Games can be vehicles for entertainment and art at the same time. Some people commit this sin of viewing fun and entertainment as taboo words when it comes to game development and/or reviewing. Art is meant to stir your emotions. So why are we removing enjoyment from this equation? Games can focus on being entertaining and still be art.
I started this then had to pause cause I got really busy for a bit. Wish I had time to come back sooner. This was super good, and I feel like you bring up really fresh perspectives and actually struck a nerve with me for how bad the industry was even though I've become a little desensitized to it at this point. This video kind of disgusted me in the intedend ways. I was so relieved when you opened the video engaging with Inscrpytion as a story and a piece of art, that's something I'd been looking to talk to someone or at least hear someone else's thoughts on for months but it's always felt very surface level. The last 2/3rds were something else though. Thanks for the list of games in the description, gonna check some out.
Damn, I never knew about Mullins' other works. I only knew him through Inscryption and this video has provided so much needed context for me. After finishing Inscryption I never felt the need to play it again either. Even after learning about Kaycee's mod but I couldn't find the words to describe why I felt like I should just leave the game alone. You described the feeling perfectly.
