#obscuritory

A lot of this has been happening so fast that I don't think I'm even registering some of it? This summer, I got to head up to Cyan's headquarters as part of the big Myst preservation project, and that was just... surreal as hell.

And I didn't even talk about the big study I wrote this summer! I was on NPR talking about game preservation! What the hell! (I saw there was a big 4k+ notes post someone else did about the study, so I decided to just leave that one be and not jump in there.)

A reminder! In just 12 days, it's gonna be time for the All-Day Tea Party Spooktacular for Trans Rights 2020! I'll be playing weird old games all day on Halloween, starting at 10am EDT, to raise money for Trans Lifeline! And against my best interests, if we raise enough money, I’ll be subjecting myself to gross novelty sodas.

In the CD-ROM era, there were a lot of surreal adventure games, but there’s very few as boldly surreal as Obsidian by Rocket Science Games from 1997.

The game takes place inside a mysterious mountain-like structure called Obsidian. But this is no ordinary mountain. When a team of scientists become trapped in Obsidian, they discover that it actually contains a recreation of their nightmares!

There’s a complicated reason why Obsidian exists, and as you progress through the game, you start to realize that this is a hell humanity has created for itself. Beyond simply being a beautiful and engaging adventure game, it also explores questions about the ethics of artificial intelligence – and the consequences when you try to move fast and break stuff.

This is really a remarkable game. If you like surreal adventure games, play Obsidian if you can.

Obsidian (read on The Obscuritory)

As you descend further into Obsidian, it begins to stretch the rules of reality, if not obliterating them. The colorful language of dreams weaves in and out through fragments of mundane scenery; gravity warps and bends, and mysterious doorways lead between worlds as if they’re interdimensional portals. The world is extraordinarily realized, propulsive and haunting and constantly eager to reveal what’s around the next fold in the universe.

It’s that time of year again… with a twist!

This Halloween, I’m hosting the All-Day Tea Party Spooktacular for Trans Rights 2020, a livestream marathon to raise money for Trans Lifeline!

Trans Lifeline is a non-profit organization that provides microgrants and support services for trans people in North America. I’m excited to raise money for them as part of their Trans Heart October charity drive.

Last year we blew past our ambitious stretch goal of $1000, so this year, I’m setting the goal at $1250! It’s a bit lower than the total we raised last time, but with finances tighter during the pandemic, I want to make sure it’s a goal we can reach. And if we hit the goal, we can keep going!

Halloween is my favorite holiday, and I’m gonna go all out making this stream spooky as hell. Content hasn’t been decided yet, but as with every year, in the spirit of this blog, we’ll be playing weird old games and software. We’ll definitely play some old horror games. Plus, look forward to more donation incentives, which may involve strange novelty sodas.

And as always, I’ll be drinking plenty of tea and taking breaks! Even though this is a marathon stream, I want to be sure we’re taking care of ourselves. Bring your own tea! Maybe something fall-y. I should probably get pumpkin spice tea, right?

The stream starts on October 31 at 10am EDT and will go as long as I’m feeling up for it. Streaming more often has helped me build up my endurance, so maybe we’ll get closer to that fabled 24-hour stream this time? Who knows!

It’s been a while! I’ve been pretty inactive on Tumblr since the summer, which was a conscious decision. The SimRefinery thing was huge, and with all the attention it was getting, I needed to pause and reset some stuff in my life. Queuing up daily content on Tumblr was taking up a lot of energy, and with everything in the world kinda broken this year, I’ve needed to reserve more time for myself.

I’m still here though! I’m getting more writing done on The Obscuritory blog, with new articles on Tuesdays (not every week, but always Tuesdays). I’m also active on Twitter at @itstheshadsy, tweeting about weird old games and history.

(I’m gonna have an announcement about the annual charity marathon pretty soon too... stay tuned.)

For today’s stream, I’m playing a couple educational games set in museums! I haven’t really played these before, so we’ll be learning about them together. Stop by!