Reply to Re: Crazy Old Tim Plays all the DMODs of 2001
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106: Doomsday Author: Kbot man Release Date: December 2, 2001
REPUTATION NOTE: This DMOD is one of the very select group to have a rating below 1.0 (0.4) on The Dink Network.
So, Kbot man. Quite a name you've got there. What have you got to say for yourself?
"You're a ghost. So simple. So boring."
Accuracy! Let's give him a hand, everybody.
"Doomsday" is an insanely underwhelming effort. For some reason, it won't show up in DFArc at all. I could only get it to run by typing "dink -game doomsday" at the command prompt. Tragically, this approach broke my screenshot-taking solution. It's too bad, because there are genuinely interesting sights in this one. Really!
Let me start with what isn't here.
1. Scripts. The STORY folder is empty - that's right, this DMOD does not employ a single script. Furthermore, no sprite has one of the original game's scripts attached to it either.
2. Hardness. Not a single sprite or tile has hardness of any kind. The only thing that may impede the ghostly Dink are the edges of existence itself. This also means that there are no warps.
3. The status bar. Status is never drawn in this DMOD. I'd have used the chance to noclip everything over the rest of the screen and make larger, more involved scenes, but haha, that would take effort!
There also aren't any new MIDIs, but there've been plenty of DMODs with none at all, and this does at least employ two from the original game.
Those things are so basic. I never thought I'd see something released as a DMOD that lacks all of them. Oh, the release is labeled as a "Beta," but I know bullshoot when I see it. This isn't so much a beta as an afternoon spent messing around in DinkEdit and then released for the Hell of it.
What we do have is an awful lot of screens with the default awful grass tiling and, in some cases, a few other types of poorly-done tiles. Upon some of the screens (less than half) have been placed a variety of sprites, many of them animated using brain 6. Naturally, you are unable to interact with any of them in any way.
It isn't the worst DMOD ever. I wouldn't put it higher than third place in that category. There was something almost effective about it.
Unlike the "Beta" nonsense, I actually buy the "ghost" premise as more than an excuse for how little work has been done here. Between downloading the mod and playing it, I'd forgotten Kbot man's statement, but within a minute of loading the DMOD, I felt like a ghost. And I have to tell you, It felt terrible. An endless futile longing. Complete impotence, without any ability to influence or accomplish anything. I am not kidding when I say that this DMOD is an existential nightmare. As somber music plays, Dink's spirit wanders hopelessly among grim tableaux. Corpses, destruction and fire abound in bizarre and nonsensical scenes. And you - you can't even die. Why would you have a status bar? It's no good to you.
Maybe you've heard of the movie The Room. It's become famous for being hilariously ineptly made. People have turned it into a cult comedy favorite based purely on how nonsensically terrible it is. A few years ago, I watched it, and I saw it differently than everyone else. It's awful, yes, but every so-called "review" I've seen, despite going over the movie in exhaustive detail, completely misses the point of the movie, treating it as a collection of plotless scenes.
In contrast, when I watched The Room I was chilled to the bone by one of the most excruciating stories of human cruelty I've ever seen. Tommy Wiseau actually had one hell of an idea - if only someone competent could have executed it. Even as messed up as it is, it's still a powerfully stomach-turning story - I can't imagine what it would be like if actually done well. The Room was a story of an unstable sociopath manipulating the men in her life using joyless, empty sex, and some of the elements for a great story were definitely in place, buried under a mountain of incompetent filmmaking. (I wrote more about that movie here.)
"Doomsday" isn't much like The Room - for one thing, there's a lot less effort put into it. But both works remind me that sometimes, a powerful idea can be seen in the very worst work out there. Dink's ghost wandering in a world where he can never accomplish anything is such a good idea that it resonated with me even in this absolute abortion of a DMOD.
REPUTATION NOTE: This DMOD is one of the very select group to have a rating below 1.0 (0.4) on The Dink Network.
So, Kbot man. Quite a name you've got there. What have you got to say for yourself?
"You're a ghost. So simple. So boring."
Accuracy! Let's give him a hand, everybody.
*************This DMOD, "Doomsday,"**************** ********Has been awarded the prestigious********* ****DINK FOREVER MEMORIAL AWARD OF BADNESS***** *********On this day April 11, 2014**********
"Doomsday" is an insanely underwhelming effort. For some reason, it won't show up in DFArc at all. I could only get it to run by typing "dink -game doomsday" at the command prompt. Tragically, this approach broke my screenshot-taking solution. It's too bad, because there are genuinely interesting sights in this one. Really!
Let me start with what isn't here.
1. Scripts. The STORY folder is empty - that's right, this DMOD does not employ a single script. Furthermore, no sprite has one of the original game's scripts attached to it either.
2. Hardness. Not a single sprite or tile has hardness of any kind. The only thing that may impede the ghostly Dink are the edges of existence itself. This also means that there are no warps.
3. The status bar. Status is never drawn in this DMOD. I'd have used the chance to noclip everything over the rest of the screen and make larger, more involved scenes, but haha, that would take effort!
There also aren't any new MIDIs, but there've been plenty of DMODs with none at all, and this does at least employ two from the original game.
Those things are so basic. I never thought I'd see something released as a DMOD that lacks all of them. Oh, the release is labeled as a "Beta," but I know bullshoot when I see it. This isn't so much a beta as an afternoon spent messing around in DinkEdit and then released for the Hell of it.
What we do have is an awful lot of screens with the default awful grass tiling and, in some cases, a few other types of poorly-done tiles. Upon some of the screens (less than half) have been placed a variety of sprites, many of them animated using brain 6. Naturally, you are unable to interact with any of them in any way.
It isn't the worst DMOD ever. I wouldn't put it higher than third place in that category. There was something almost effective about it.
Unlike the "Beta" nonsense, I actually buy the "ghost" premise as more than an excuse for how little work has been done here. Between downloading the mod and playing it, I'd forgotten Kbot man's statement, but within a minute of loading the DMOD, I felt like a ghost. And I have to tell you, It felt terrible. An endless futile longing. Complete impotence, without any ability to influence or accomplish anything. I am not kidding when I say that this DMOD is an existential nightmare. As somber music plays, Dink's spirit wanders hopelessly among grim tableaux. Corpses, destruction and fire abound in bizarre and nonsensical scenes. And you - you can't even die. Why would you have a status bar? It's no good to you.
Maybe you've heard of the movie The Room. It's become famous for being hilariously ineptly made. People have turned it into a cult comedy favorite based purely on how nonsensically terrible it is. A few years ago, I watched it, and I saw it differently than everyone else. It's awful, yes, but every so-called "review" I've seen, despite going over the movie in exhaustive detail, completely misses the point of the movie, treating it as a collection of plotless scenes.
In contrast, when I watched The Room I was chilled to the bone by one of the most excruciating stories of human cruelty I've ever seen. Tommy Wiseau actually had one hell of an idea - if only someone competent could have executed it. Even as messed up as it is, it's still a powerfully stomach-turning story - I can't imagine what it would be like if actually done well. The Room was a story of an unstable sociopath manipulating the men in her life using joyless, empty sex, and some of the elements for a great story were definitely in place, buried under a mountain of incompetent filmmaking. (I wrote more about that movie here.)
"Doomsday" isn't much like The Room - for one thing, there's a lot less effort put into it. But both works remind me that sometimes, a powerful idea can be seen in the very worst work out there. Dink's ghost wandering in a world where he can never accomplish anything is such a good idea that it resonated with me even in this absolute abortion of a DMOD.
