Line Grinder: FlashGirl's The Linear RPG
Created for RPGDX's just-ended 48 hour RPG Jam which saw indie devs creating a "lo-fi" themed role-player over this past weekend, Sophie 'GirlFlash' Houlden's The Linear RPG is precisely what it says on the tin, and all the better for it.
With no interaction other than moving forward or back between checkpoints, Linear lays bare and celebrates what most console RPGs spend all their time trying to conceal with side quests and false alternatives: the underlying point A to point Z gauntlet that you're forced to run.
All the story's told in the background as you grind the line, and similarly scrolls from trope to trope, straight from its first "boy hero rises from bed, oblivious to his calling" opener.
Houlden's a regular in time-limited competitions: see also her 48 hour Ludum Dare entry ULTIMATE VENGANCE POWER 4: The Lemon of Justice!, which is full of surprises.
The Linear RPG [deviantart, via TIGSource]
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Agies
#1 – 1:45 PM March 2, 2009
It's a cute and clever parody of RPG conventions but I don't think it's an actual RPG. Sure, alot of what an RPG entails is abstracted, but the decision making is reduced to pressing left or right and pressing left doesn't really help at all.
bazzargh
#2 – 2:25 PM March 2, 2009
Actually, if you just try to charge on you'll reach longer sections where you just die repeatedly, since you don't have enough health to battle your way across.
If you double back to the checkpoints, your health gets restored, so you can use those to grind experience until you can make it along the bigger segments. Which is pretty much the 'a spreadsheet slave is you' feeling I get off most RPGs.
And the backstory was pretty funny.
David
#3 – 6:35 PM March 2, 2009
Very interesting concept executed well. The writing isn't that great, but I like the style. It isn't a secret that narratives are linear. Why would anyone think it is a bad thing? It's a nice minimalist view on RPGs. It was an intresting few minutes of playing.
Ratdog
#4 – 8:56 AM March 3, 2009
That was a pretty interesting game... What exactly happened in the "story"?
Nevertheless, I found going from point A to point B pretty fun to tell you the truth. What can I say? I'm easily entertained.