I played this game last year and still think about it all the time and keep recommending it to my friends. If any part of this premise is interesting to you, you should play it. The editing and footnotes part is super fun and engaging and the narrative that emerges about the translator and author's relationship is as complicated as promised. Plus the HTML file for playing makes this such an interesting overlap between an analogue and digital game.
I do have not quite a content warning, more of a note to keep in mind before jumping into this game. I'm talking about the power imbalance between the writer and translator roles. The setup is that the editor is from the global West/North while the author comes from elsewhere, with the translator having a hand in helping the author's journey away from their place of origin. That context of the additional power imbalance makes the translator's changing of the author's intentions through translation and footnotes feel more egregious and like an imperialist silencing of a cultural Other.
I can see this as an intentional design choice and I'm just putting it as a disclaimer so people can go in informed. I personally would've enjoyed the game more if I realized this beforehand.
That being said, this is still a brilliant game and I recommend it highly!
Holy shit, thank you so much! I've gotta go back and give it another listen, but I liked the discussion about the Translator's power, and the suggestion to use lightweight character playbooks was interesting and one I might implement in the next version of the game (probably as alternate character creation prompts).
"Let me state that without my notes Shade's text simply has no human reality at all ... For better or for worse, it is the commentator who has the last word" ~ Nabokov, Pale Fire.
A fascinating game with a good portion of the wit and metatextual verve of its inspiration occluded subject, Like Skyscrapers Blotting Out The Sun is an impressive feat of visual and ludic design, about which very few quibbles critical comments can be made*. The good humor with which it approaches its subject, as well as the layout and structure of the game as an object, recommends it to anyone interested in playing games with literary concepts.
*The author uses 'speculative' as the general term for fiction of the estranged, terminology I personally abjure for theoretical reasons; this is unlikely to bother anyone who has not thoroughly dissolved their good sense in the heady draught of Suvin, Freedman, and Chu.
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I played this game last year and still think about it all the time and keep recommending it to my friends. If any part of this premise is interesting to you, you should play it. The editing and footnotes part is super fun and engaging and the narrative that emerges about the translator and author's relationship is as complicated as promised. Plus the HTML file for playing makes this such an interesting overlap between an analogue and digital game.
I do have not quite a content warning, more of a note to keep in mind before jumping into this game. I'm talking about the power imbalance between the writer and translator roles. The setup is that the editor is from the global West/North while the author comes from elsewhere, with the translator having a hand in helping the author's journey away from their place of origin. That context of the additional power imbalance makes the translator's changing of the author's intentions through translation and footnotes feel more egregious and like an imperialist silencing of a cultural Other.
I can see this as an intentional design choice and I'm just putting it as a disclaimer so people can go in informed. I personally would've enjoyed the game more if I realized this beforehand.
That being said, this is still a brilliant game and I recommend it highly!
I helped make a video review of the game!
We loved reviewing the game, it's so cool! Thank you!
Holy shit, thank you so much! I've gotta go back and give it another listen, but I liked the discussion about the Translator's power, and the suggestion to use lightweight character playbooks was interesting and one I might implement in the next version of the game (probably as alternate character creation prompts).
Thank you.
Added your game to Goodreads, which was interesting.. I've included the asterisks in the title. :)
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/66237204-like-skyscrapers-blotting-out-the-s...
Author name is Speak the Sky, but if you'd like a "real" name added, that's possible!
I'll read and review the game there soon. (I'll drop a link when I'm done.)
Nice, thank you!
(Psst, for somereason the text on this itch listing is for Write Skyscrapers - you might want to edit it to be thr description for Like Skyscrapers!)
Thanks! I updated this and Write Skyscrapers a few days ago but must've accidentally pasted the WS text in both.
No problem! I only noticed because I was very confused by the recursive link lol
I absolutely love the layout and concept and very excited to maybe play next weekend
Thank you—feel free to let me know how it goes!
"Let me state that without my notes Shade's text simply has no human reality at all ... For better or for worse, it is the commentator who has the last word" ~ Nabokov, Pale Fire.
A fascinating game with a good portion of the wit and metatextual verve of its
inspirationoccluded subject, Like Skyscrapers Blotting Out The Sun is an impressive feat of visual and ludic design, about which very fewquibblescritical comments can be made*. The good humor with which it approaches its subject, as well as the layout and structure of the game as an object, recommends it to anyone interested in playing games with literary concepts.*The author uses 'speculative' as the general term for fiction of the estranged, terminology I personally abjure for theoretical reasons; this is unlikely to bother anyone who has not thoroughly dissolved their good sense in the heady draught of Suvin, Freedman, and Chu.