Strip Em All Builds Puzzles Out Of Psychology

IanDavis

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Aug 18, 2012
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Strip Em All Builds Puzzles Out Of Psychology



This experimental comic-style puzzle game uses psychology rather than logic.

If there's one thing that adventure games have taught us, it's that logic can be a fickle thing. For every predictable inventory conundrum, there are at least two [a href=http://www.cracked.com/article_19974_the-6-most-absurdly-difficult-video-game-puzzles.html]Rubber Ducky puzzles[/a]. Perhaps recognizing that logic had no place in adventure games, developer Athletic Design created [a href=http://www.athleticarcade.com/stripemall/index.html]Strip Em All[/a], a "psychological point-and-click adventure," where each puzzle explores the inner workings of the mind.

Each of the seven episodes are presented as a comic whose panels are out of order. More importantly, some panels can be swapped for alternate versions, some radically different than the original. With just a few changes, a comic about two kids talking about the promise of life becomes a story of a cynic bemoaning its futility. The goal isn't just to create a coherent comic, but to create one that demonstrates a given psychological profile.

Talking with Polygon, developer Ola Hansson [a href=http://www.polygon.com/2013/7/12/4518374/strip-em-all-the-game-that-uses-psychology-to-solve-puzzles]explained[/a] why he made Strip Em All. "My main motivation was to prove [game designer] Chris Crawford wrong," Ola said. "He has often said that computer games are all about spatiality - moving around in a world or manipulating objects - and not about humans. This spurred me to make a game which is all about humans and not at all about spatiality."

It's certainly an odd title, and can be more than a little confusing at times. Perhaps something like this has application in the classroom. Psychologists can teach about the inner workings of the mind, and game designers can teach how not to make stupid puzzles with pixel hunts. Regardless, it's free and you can play it online [a href=http://www.polygon.com/2013/7/12/4518374/strip-em-all-the-game-that-uses-psychology-to-solve-puzzles]here[/a].

Source: [a href=http://www.athleticarcade.com/stripemall/index.html]Athletic Design[/a] via [a href=http://www.polygon.com/2013/7/12/4518374/strip-em-all-the-game-that-uses-psychology-to-solve-puzzles]Polygon[/a]

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Rutskarn

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Feb 20, 2010
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Jesus Christ...

Setting up the antidepressant series, then "altering the dosage," gave me a late-night chill.
 

KoudelkaMorgan

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Jul 31, 2009
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I couldn't get past the steroid trucker one. I tried every order I could, and it still said that "it made sense, but not in order" so I stopped. It was interesting though.
 

knight steel

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Jul 6, 2009
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KoudelkaMorgan said:
I couldn't get past the steroid trucker one. I tried every order I could, and it still said that "it made sense, but not in order" so I stopped. It was interesting though.
I got stuck there too Goddammit that ones too difficult -_-
OP:Interesting game-they are too strict with the order taking away the fun.
 

Dead_Boy

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May 4, 2009
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So instead of making a game about spatiality and manipulating objects, he made a game about reordering interactive tiles... Don't think Chris Crawford is too impressed.
 

SamtheDeathclaw

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Aug 8, 2009
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KoudelkaMorgan said:
I couldn't get past the steroid trucker one. I tried every order I could, and it still said that "it made sense, but not in order" so I stopped. It was interesting though.
Click the radio! It's small and it took me like thirty minutes to find. After that, you just have to figure out which of the two is the egocentric.
It's a psych student's game, you have to understand exactly what constitutes a egocentric. One of the two men is a egocentric, the other is not. (And you get a bonus strip about a car crash for some reason)

The antidepressant one is the worst moon logic puzzle I've played this month, though. Remember the magic switch, indeed.

edit: Messed up egocentric/narcissist, appropriately.