Is creating these external files required in order to play the game

[Mordakai]

I am curious to know if there is an option to turn off the creation of files like what happened in the trailer. It's not because I'm scared of stuff like that, but the option needs to be there, especially for the those of us foolish enough to use something as silly as Windows 10 :P

[0ver_flow]

It's not poor game design, you've failed to see a lot here. There's nothing wrong with Windows 10. I've almost beaten the game. You don't need to alt+tab, you need to F4 and press ESC. Wow, hard.

Anyways, I don't see how you're having this issue. Hope you find a way to resolve it.

[Mordakai]

Yeah, I kinda figured at this point, that with everyone acting like it is such a great idea, that it isn't for me. I find the aspect of needing to Alt-Tab during any game or having to switch the focus away from the game to be really annoying. So me playing this game, my experience would be that of pure annoyance and not getting scared. If anything, the whole external file creation hits a little too close to home for me, especially since I have actually had a virus do that to me a few years ago.

Another thing that has annoyed me is generally the kind of feedback I have been getting from the community behind this game has been somewhere in between aggressive and spiteful, with only a few exceptions. I would then mention sheer ignorance of the fact that I have previously stated why I don't actually use Windows 10, but obviously that has pretty much fallen on deaf ears.

[Mordakai]

Postat inițial de A7exZZZ:

That's like complaining about having to jump in Super Mario Bros. in order to win.

Wow. Guess now wouldn't be a bad time to explain why having to continually shift the focus away from the game is annoying.

Ok, where do I start?

Point 1: Logic. The trailer for game contains a small portion where the game displays a message: "Check the desktop". Desktop? What Desktop? I don't see a desktop computer in the game anywhere around here. Maybe I need to backtrack to find it, and it might have a file on it that will point me towards what I'm supposed to do. Done backtracking, found no desktop. Head back to the blood-splattered message, no computer. This is getting me nowhere. Continue searching, find no desktop anywhere in the level. Getting lost and confused, I give up, doomed to never complete the game.

And this is what your average gamer would do. Your average gamer would never think to look at their actual desktop. Furthermore, since everything else except for these "hints" can be done in the game, it only adds to the annoyance factor. Also, comparing this mechanic to jumping in a platformer: at least jumping doesn't shift the focus away from the actual game, nor does it remove the immersion or annoy the crap out of the player constantly while they are trying to have fun (does constantly having to NOT play the game qualify as fun for some people? I may never know). Jumping in platformers benefits the player, jumping to avoid getting hit, or jumping to break a box so you can progress. It doesn't intend to annoy or otherwise distract the player from the game.

Point 2: Alt-Tab or shift focus. Let's make a list of things your average gamer would Alt-tab during a game or otherwise shift the focus away from the game for:

1: Walkthroughs
2: Playthroughs
3: To do some work
4: To put on entertaining music
5: Chatting to friends

Nowhere in that list do we find: "search for hint in a file the game has created because logic doesn't work here". Next point.

Point 3: More going on than a mere savefile.txt. Gamers everywhere are ok with the creation of a save.dat, and I won't be debating why that is. But it is so easy to compare IMSCARED to a piece of malware, I wouldn't be surprised if people who finished the game disappeared altogether. Let me ask a question: What happens to the external files the game has created when you "beat" the game, assuming you can? Do they get cleaned up? Do they linger around to continue consuming HDD space? Do they slowly get copied and pasted until there is no HDD space? I think it is safe to assume that none of these questions will get answered properly.

Moreover, the only other time I have seen something this malicious and uninvited in a game has been Nyet III, and even then only some versions of it. Some versions would quit the game on dying. In fact, if the developer of IMSCARED wouldn't get sued for it, I think this would get taken a step further, like forcing your computer to shut down within a minute of seeing the message and doing nothing about it, or deleting your encrypted files, or the grandaddy of it all, figuring out a way to send high voltage electrical shocks into the use via their keyboard. I mean, holy cow, how many games do something like this?!?

In other words, the whole external file creation gimick is total rubbish, and it is the core of the game. In other words, it is a bad game. End of story. So now onto the annoying parts that people might have a better time understanding.

Point 4: Maturity of the fanbase. I was hoping that since this game is in niche-status and will probably remain that way, I was hoping for a mature, cool-headed member of the fanbase to respond calmly, and explain that while they understand and appreciate my perspective, at the same time the game has been established as a sort of test - something to test the water out on this spin-off of the horror genre. Yeah, forgot I was asking the internet of all places about a game you buy over the internet. Wonderful.

In other thoughts, maybe I should make a video review of this game on YouTube.

[nuna]

Postat inițial de Mordakai:

-snip-

1. Nah, I thought to check my actual desktop. You're a little dense, but that's okay.

2. If you think this mechanic of the game is annoying then simply don't play it. The dev is not going to remove a core feature because you dislike it. Also can you stop acting like you speak for all "average gamers" because you don't. You can only speak for yourself.

3. Once you've beaten the game you can simply delete the folder. If you think the "gimmick" is rubbish then fair enough.

4. I..don't know why you're complaining about this at all. Lol

Again, this is not the game for you. Just simply don't play it. Most of the long winded replies in this thread were sort of unnecessary.

Edit: I'm on Windows 10 and playing with no issues. Didn't have to whitelist anything, didn't have to change any settings, didn't have any sort of problem. I simply launched the game and played. No clue what OP is on about.

[Mordakai]

1: Of course the average gamer would never think to check their actual desktop. Logically, since the vast majority of games do not require shifting the focus away from the game, the average gamer will of course check in the game to try and find an actual desktop. Because this game requires playing it so drastically different, it will never be anything more than niche status.

2: I never asked for it to be removed. I asked for it to be an option because then it can appeal to a wider range of audiences. It might take, what, 10 minutes to code that? It speaks of bad puzzle design. Actually no, it speaks of distinct lack of basic puzzle design, because if it cannot be solved within the game by itself, and you have to look up hints of any form, it fails basic puzzle design 101.

3: So the game doesn't clean up after itself? In other words, it might as well be a virus.

I fully realize that I don't represent all average gamers, but as a horror fan, I want to get spooked by the horror game. In other words, this game fails at being a horror game. It is almost horrifying (no pun intended) that this is simply a terrible game.

I'm going to quote the game's description here:
"Imscared is a metahorror game that protagonizes the player, putting him in a surreal first-person experience. Find keys, open doors and search for the exit to this nightmare. But I need to let you know, it will try to deceive You as many times as it can.

Welcome to the metahorror experience, enjoy your stay! "

Skipping ahead:

"Windows 10 often recognize IMSCARED.exe as a virus: this causes the game to refuse creating files; "

Now, which of these two passages gives away the issues with Windows 10 and the external file creation? The game claims to offer a "surreal first-person experience". That doesn't leave a lot of doubt that the developer intends for players to get immersed, but then the game constantly breaks the immersion. In other words, this game is heavily anti-gamer, and thus really cranks up the annoyance factor.

[RingJ5]

Postat inițial de Mordakai:

"Points"

Wow, where do I begin here.

First of all, yes, I do own this game. I don't have the little mouse next to my name because I bought the early release on itch.io.

Your first two points are made entirely invalid because the part the trailer comes from is in what could best be described as “Act III” of the game. Upon starting the game the first time, it specifically tells you it made a folder on your desktop, and that the folder needs to be there for the game to work. About five to ten minutes in, the game “crashes”, and the error screen specifically tells you to check the folder, which has been updated to include a cryptic note which includes a "password" you’ll need when you restart the game, clearly teaching the player to check the folder if they’re stuck.

By the time they reach the part with that bloody message, they are well aware of how the game works. In fact, the actual in-game message isn’t “Check the desktop”, it’s “Check the todo list” because it’s in the folder with the others, the “Desktop” message being specifically created for the trailer to tease that mechanic.

Moving on to your third point, well, here’s a list of everything the game makes:
4 folders
36 .txt files
1 .html file
1 .ini file

Two of the text files have URLs in them, but both lead to YouTube. The HTML file is just text and an ASCII map. In total, the files the game creates don’t even amount to a single megabit.

Now, however, you might have noticed that I didn’t explain the .ini file. That’s because it’s a segue into a little thing I wanted to ask you. Spoilers for a really climactic moment in the game ahead. If you still want to do a “video review”, or have even the slightest desire to play it yourself at this point, you will want to skip this part.

The way Act II ends is with a big confrontation between you and the second form of “the monster”, and for the only time in the entire game, you are given a gun and told that “Six will do”. Only problem is… you don’t have bullets. And there are none to pick up in the field the confrontation takes place in. So, what do you do?

Beat the monster with the gun rather than shooting it?
Craft makeshift bullets by finding materials strewn around the field?
Check the folder?

Now, what would checking the folder do? The game can only make text files, it’s not like those can really help h- oh, look, a revolver.ini file. Open it up, and the “bullets” value is set to zero. Change it to six(or more), resume the game… and you can shoot now. Huh.

Also, while I’m still spoiling, 36 might sound like a lot of text files, but only like 7 are actual messages. The rest are used in a puzzlethat involves using one of the aforementioned YouTube videos to order them in the right way to make another password.

How would you propose these solutions are changed, if the game can’t make files?

And about your last point, you don’t seem to realize how “established” this game is: It isn’t testing anything, the original 2012 freeware version(which this paid version is around five or six times longer than) got quite a bit of traction on YouTube and spawned a few imitators(Space Blaster: Lines, I See You), before appearing on Greenlight last year and near-instantly getting accepted.

(And before you find that Greenlight page and start to go “Hey, the dev lied! He said it was going to be F2P back then and now it’s $4!”, that page was made when it was just going to be a straight remake of the original with a small bonus area. Now that it’s a lot longer than the dev originally planned(around three hours compared to 30 minutes), it’s paid.)

Most of the hostility is because you clearly aren’t familiar with how the game works(which is extremely obvious since you used the “Check the desktop” bit as an example), yet you’re coming in here and calling it a “cheap gimmick” that makes it a bad game.

[Natoriouspig]

Postat inițial de Mordakai:

I am curious to know if there is an option to turn off the creation of files like what happened in the trailer. It's not because I'm scared of stuff like that, but the option needs to be there, especially for the those of us foolish enough to use something as silly as Windows 10 :P

The answer to your original question is yes, they are required, and no, there is no way to turn them off. Your question has been answered, close this thread.

[Mr. Eaten]

OP, stop repeating yourself. Entire debunking of your points multiple times by multiple people... get the message.

Go away. Or buy the damn game and enjoy what it is. IT. WORKS. AMAZINGLY.

The spoilers above prove necessity and unique gameplay.

The immersion is inside what you think isn't immersive, in THIS game.

[Mordakai]

My points haven't actually been debunked as much as you may think, but ironically have actually been proven.

1: I pointed out this game breaks immersion. So far, what everyone has said has proven this point. This game apparently breaks the immersion a grand total of 42 times, because once a file is created you then have to immediately do something related to that file - which means shifting focus away from the game, hence immersion broken. I mean, this is a dark, moody atmospheric "horror" game. So let's have the player switch back to their bright and happy desktop background constantly, because why not? (Bonus points if the desktop picture is that of a Saturday Morning Cartoon) The whole point of this game is to not be a horror game at all.

2: I pointed out that the puzzles fail basic puzzle design and generally cannot be solved within just the game. That has been proven, with the example of the revolver being used for a boss fight. (Can it really be called a "boss fight" if you are essentially hacking a save file to "cheese" the boss?) I should elaborate: even when you do get used to the way the game handles these kinds of puzzles (which I know I will have to fight every instinct to do so), it is still non-sensical, and actually reminds me of old-school graphic adventure game puzzles. You know, stuff like having to slap a fish with a sledgehammer so that it will sing a peculiar tune so that the nearby golden idol will fall asleep so that it drops a key you then use to unlock a temple to see your arch-nemesis grabbing the treasure with a grappling hook that you saw a couple of minutes ago and then disappearing. Tell me that didn't give you a headache just now. The big difference is, they don't break immersion. This game does.

3: You are completely right. In order for you to be completely right however, this game has to not be a horror game. Which it just simply isn't a horror game. I'm not actually scared by this game, I am actually more scared of losing what little immersion I do have. I'm not concentrating on what is happening in the game if I am instead constantly worried about when I next have to Alt-Tab to immediately lose it again. I can't/won't suggest any changes, because I know you people won't listen and will continue to "debunk" my points.

So while you all "troll" and "reply" to this post, I'm going to go and play an actual horror game that fits the needs of the genre better instead of moulding it to non-sensical and illogical standards. Hmm, System Shock Enhanced Edition should do the trick. Or maybe better yet, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl.

[Natoriouspig]

Postat inițial de Mordakai:

My points haven't actually been debunked as much as you may think, but ironically have actually been proven.

1: I pointed out this game breaks immersion. So far, what everyone has said has proven this point. This game apparently breaks the immersion a grand total of 42 times, because once a file is created you then have to immediately do something related to that file - which means shifting focus away from the game, hence immersion broken. I mean, this is a dark, moody atmospheric "horror" game. So let's have the player switch back to their bright and happy desktop background constantly, because why not? (Bonus points if the desktop picture is that of a Saturday Morning Cartoon) The whole point of this game is to not be a horror game at all.

2: I pointed out that the puzzles fail basic puzzle design and generally cannot be solved within just the game. That has been proven, with the example of the revolver being used for a boss fight. (Can it really be called a "boss fight" if you are essentially hacking a save file to "cheese" the boss?) I should elaborate: even when you do get used to the way the game handles these kinds of puzzles (which I know I will have to fight every instinct to do so), it is still non-sensical, and actually reminds me of old-school graphic adventure game puzzles. You know, stuff like having to slap a fish with a sledgehammer so that it will sing a peculiar tune so that the nearby golden idol will fall asleep so that it drops a key you then use to unlock a temple to see your arch-nemesis grabbing the treasure with a grappling hook that you saw a couple of minutes ago and then disappearing. Tell me that didn't give you a headache just now. The big difference is, they don't break immersion. This game does.

3: You are completely right. In order for you to be completely right however, this game has to not be a horror game. Which it just simply isn't a horror game. I'm not actually scared by this game, I am actually more scared of losing what little immersion I do have. I'm not concentrating on what is happening in the game if I am instead constantly worried about when I next have to Alt-Tab to immediately lose it again. I can't/won't suggest any changes, because I know you people won't listen and will continue to "debunk" my points.

So while you all "troll" and "reply" to this post, I'm going to go and play an actual horror game that fits the needs of the genre better instead of moulding it to non-sensical and illogical standards. Hmm, System Shock Enhanced Edition should do the trick. Or maybe better yet, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl.

Please do, and never post on this hub again.

[Mad]

It is not a game, it is an experience aimed to a specific kind of players: if the game was not mine, I'd surely love it for the .txt "gimmick" you're talking about... But maybe someone (maybe a lot of people, who knows) wouldn't like it.

It is a weird game indeed and I apologize if it's too different from what you're searching for, but you see, the "gimmick" is showed in the first minutes of gameplay (and the game tells you how things work just at the beginning), so you're just in time to ask for a refund!

I'm really sorry the "gimmick" is that bad for you, the game is just trying to give you immersion in a different way from other horror experiences. It's not doing that just to "scare you" or something, it's trying to take you into a personal experience.

If you can't ask for a refund, I suggest you to leave behind the "traditional" way of playing, just play by it's own rules and have fun being deceived :)

[Mordakai]

You know, developer, you are right.

Something I do plan on doing is eventually making Lets Plays of all the games I own. Not reactionary Lets Plays, more along the lines of informative and in-depth discussion of games. Because of that, I like to play through the games at least once in a "conventional" manner and then do the recording for an informative Lets Play. However, this game can't be played in a "conventional" manner, so perhaps the only way for me to "play the game" would be to straight up do a Lets Play.

I would like to apologize for any havok that was inadvertantly caused by my ranting. I would like to make it up by making a suggestion on how one of the game's bugs could be fixed. The steam page mentions that the game sometimes has pathing issues trying to find the players desktop, right? So why not use a one-time launcher to ask the player where to find their desktop or something, then have the desktop location as a configurable option that can be edited in the options menu. It can be a bit of work figuring out a way to maintain how subtle the game is, but if I could figure out a potential way to "play this game" and somehow not lose my mind, I'm sure you can do this.

Sidenote: If I do make a Lets Play, I imagine the workload and setup of making it would be considerable. I would have to mix both Live and Post commentary in order to pull it off due to the external file creation, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Thanks for being an understanding and patient developer.

[MrZoolook]

You're the kind of person that complains about having to shoot guns in a game called "Gun Shooter", aren't you?