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You Have To Burn The RopeApril 9th, 2008 |
Sheer genius. Play it now.
And if you manage to actually get all the way to the end (which I doubt!) be sure to go all the way through the credits.
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I don’t get it.
“maybe press refresh and start again”?
Hehe.. sorry, couldn’t resist. Was that Brett and Jemaine singing? Love that sense of humor.
I totally burnt that rope. The instructions, unlike the cake, were totally not a lie.
Here is a video walkthrough for people who have trouble completing the game:
I’ve been spending too much time moderating forums. When I checked the link to your post, I almost tried to delete your post and warn you for using referral links..
Well, that was certainly to the point.
Best. Game. Ever.
Everyone apparently wants games to be art, so let’s see… [SPOILERS AHEAD!] For the record, I don’t believe this crap. It’s just one of many interpretations I can devise.
You Have To Burn The Rope is racist sociopolitical commentary on affirmative action, promoting revolution through the use of violence against Obama Barack, should he be elected to the Office of the President.
* Black “start” screen represents an empty and lonely void that whites are bound to experience if they don’t act.
* Player is thrust down a pit, possibly a sewer, as an angry white male where the player can move in only a single direction: forward.
* Character appears to be donning a derby hat, wearing red shoes, and equipped with throwing axes.
* In the U.S., the derby hat is associated with “the well-to-do that had risen from the working class.”
* The red shoes can be construed as red-laced shoes, which are associated with skinhead gangs. Skinheads are traditionally members of the working class; however, in the last forty years, many white male skins have aligned with white nationalist, sometimes extremist, movements.
* The throwing axes are weapons of courage and persistence because close combat requires a personal touch. The player is told that these weapons will have no effect on the “boss,” further emphasizing a current state of hopelessness.
* The “boss” is shown to be a black, block-headed monster that towers over the player. The size and systematic viciousness of the boss encourages the player to seek a safer path around.
* The path around, however, is arduous, necessitating that the player exert a greal deal of energy to reach the top. This path provides the player with a torch, perhaps a torch of liberty.
* Once at the top, the bridge to the other side appears destroyed with gaps where one misstep can be injurious to the player and force the player to try again. On the other side, there is no escape. The boss must be killed.
* Killing the boss requires burning the rope, which appears to be the type of rope used for the nooses employed by lynch mobs; however, the tremendous size of the boss monster precludes using the rope in such a way.
* The rope hangs above a chandelier that symbolizes power and privilege. By fuelling hatred, the player can bring down the power and privilege allegedly gifted to the boss and thereby destroy the boss who holds the player captive.
* Furthermore, the limited direction, appearance and equipment of the character, long narrow tunnel, and other environmental factors suggest that mandating racial equality unfairly restricts the freedom of those who earned their societal privileges through blood, sweat, and tears.
That’s awesome, one of my best boss kills – ever. What am I going to do with the rest of my day? I’m gonna grind that instance until I get my last piece of tier 100 – all – day – long!
It’s the best game since “Pick up the Phonebooth and Die”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pick_Up_the_Phone_Booth_and_Die
Playable here:
http://www.spatch.net/games/play.cgi?game=putpbad
Heh… Morgan, it was an April Fool’s joke of a game. And it’s meant, mostly, I think, as a comment on games themselves — as it itself asks, why does games have to be long? And if they are long, are they just the equivalent of hitting refresh? And what about games whose choices are false, because there’s only one path to success?
Well, the creator claims that it isn’t an April Fool’s joke…
It’s a pretty good primer on modern boss design: communicate the goals clearly to the player; let them feel like they’ve figured out the trick, without letting them get frustrated.
To translate to a AAA title, make them burn the rope three times.
Whoa Morgan. I, however, took the game to be a satire on the genre. I specifically was looking through the MMORPG filter – hence my reference to WoW tier items and farming the instance. The seemingly simplistic questions they are asking are great. The refresh question – MMO instances (or most other RPGs I’ve played) – I’m surprised they didn’t have multiple skins for the boss and the rope and have different “levels”. That would have really driven the point home.
But yeah, I can see your point too…but if you are correct that would be a whole different issue where the author(s) subconsciously injected topics they didn’t mean to (yes, I’m being naive enough to say that).
Glad you liked it Raph. We’ve been trying to get the developer to implement our API so we can award a Kongregate achievement for burning the rope…
where one misstep can be injurious to the player and force the player to try again
Try right-clicking. =P
Solok wrote:
But yeah, I can see your point too…but if you are correct that would be a whole different issue where the author(s) subconsciously injected topics they didn’t mean to (yes, I’m being naive enough to say that).
That’s not an unfair leap. We are all naturally disposed to fear the dark and embrace the light. Black and white represent this disposition.
For example, let’s look at Star Wars. Star Wars is commentary on the relativistic nature of humanity, or basically, how what’s “good” and what’s “bad” is a matter of perspective. The Jedi are initially shown to be well-meaning, dressed in white robes and evasive of the “dark side” of the Force. The Empire are initially shown to be their polar opposite.
Then we see that the Jedi is actually a cult, one built on false promises of good and manipulation. The Jedi are dispassionate, cold, and ruthless. While abstaining from, and discouraging, any sort of emotion, including love, they engender rebellion, treason, and treachery. They even train their children as “Holy Warriors.”
The Empire was established in response to the Jedi, to protect the Republic from a growing threat. The Empire’s leaders were once Jedi, and all too familiar with the cult’s ways. Anakin Skywalker was in love, and wanted to save his lover from an untimely death. Any one of the Jedi masters had the power to do so, and Anakin was certainly capable of learning how, but the Jedi forbade him. When they learned Anakin was pursuing that knowledge against their will, they sent the assassin Obi-Wan Kenobi after him.
Darth Vader and the Empire were the good guys! Yet, we originally see them as the bad guys because they look ugly, wear black, sound like death metal bands, and represent big government. We side with the Jedi because they’re attractive, wear white, sound like soft-spoken new age artists, and represent populism. In the U.S., we have a history of “fighting the man,” having been founded through rebellion, and so that colors our view, too.
Michael Chui wrote:
Try right-clicking.
I didn’t say fatal. 
How many people here went ahead and refreshed several times just to see if there was something different the next time? Refreshing over and over again can of course quickly turn into a tedious effort, but I think this proves one effective concept in game mechanics.
Not sure what to call it. I can’t call it repetition, but this game gives you a desire to explore. Maybe when you make a game, you want to imagine that your game’s so good, that it naturally gives players a reason to explore simply through its story, game play, or whatever.
But as a game developer, you also have to understand that the urge to explore can be a game element itself. You can depend on the fact that the player has just been intrigued by you, intentionally, and you can give a reason for the player to go back and look at things twice.
Honestly, this sounds like a pretty great way to develop a game. It can save development time. If you got the right system built, you can change the game or area enough each time around as to where the player never feels like they’re repeating the same thing, even if on your end, only minor changes are made each replay.
This game utilizes the full 2.2 ghz my computer allows it, and is still unplayable (Symbolic? Maybe). It worked once, and I finally got to burn that rope.
It’s just a synopsis of single player World of Warcraft.
Not sure what to call it. I can’t call it repetition, but this game gives you a desire to explore.
Cross-reference “Montessori” with “concentration” and “repetition”.
This felt like the final boss encounter of Portal without the total buildup that made THAT ending self consistent and that song all the more poignant.
What I find more interesting is how much people can talk about even the least amount of actual topic
And Morgan, let’s not leap to conclusions about what revisionist history has brought to the real Star Wars lore 
Heh, awesome game.
In quick reference to the SW thing though… why would you think that *any* of the Jedi could’ve saved Amidala? Even Palpatine didn’t have the knowledge to do that, the one Sith that did have the knowledge and power to prevent death hoarded that knowledge, never passing it on. No one could’ve prevented it given how quickly it happened after that. You can actually make all of the other twists and have it come out alright, but you can’t posit that Amidala could’ve been saved by anyone. Especially since the one loophole that does get discovered is only known to Obi-wan and Yoda, is only discovered *after* the fact, and does in fact require that they die first 
Yea, but was it a Schrodinger death though? I always felt that the death was *caused* by tempting Anakin down the dark side path, even though its prevention was the carrot. Palpatine can’t afford to have confused servants with split loyalties. His free will was always laced… like a bad apple perhaps?
Amidala could have been saved by Anakin getting a valid therapist in the first place.
That is where the Jedi failed him. Their austere celibate lifestyle was incompatible with what Anakin really needed. Yoda felt that one coming but didn’t recognize it until too late.
And all hail the full-fledged derail
Why exactly did Amidala die, again? I think the official reason was “lost the will to live.” She was about to give birth and become the sole care-giver to two babies and that wasn’t reason enough to persevere?
Good riddance, I say. Uncle Owen may have been a short-sighted curmudgeon, and the Smitts went and got their planet blowed up, but they’re both a far sight better parents than than that weepy little Nabooan Coruscanti Princess.
I think the official reason was “bad writing”. After all, if one was trying to match the three real Star Wars moves, then she has to live long enough for her daughter to remember her.
Don’t forget to watch this one too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjWMXjjdBgI&NR=1
Actually I’ve always been bothered by the saying “the dark side” I always felt that the Sith should just say “the Force” emphasizing they think the Force is a tool to use, not good or evil, since I’m sure they don’t believe they are evil.
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Raph’s Website »You Have To Burn The Rope
about the internet is the ability of people to make incredibly stupid things (read: brilliant and simple) and share them with people who enjoy such things. This is one of those things, and I enjoyed it. Stay for the credits… Burn the Rope (viaRaph(like most everything else lately…sorry!))