Nothing To Hide

[Gilrond-i-Virdan]

Nothing To Hide

An anti-stealth platformer game set in dystopain mass surveillance world. As developers describe it:

Nothing To Hide is an "anti-stealth" game where you are forced to help in your own surveillance. The puzzles are challenging but fair, with depth in a deceptively simple mechanic, similar to games such as Braid and Portal. It's a story of a teenage girl riddled with insecurity in a world obsessed with security. She's never had a private thought. If you can't hide who you are... you have to hide who you really are.

The game is being crowdfunded now and developers are looking for more backers:

https://back.nothingtohide.cc

There are demos available:
HTML5: http://demo.nothingtohide.cc/
Linux, OS X, Windows: https://back.nothingtohide.cc/pc (I like how they use the term PC properly here ).

On top of that, the game is going to be open source: https://github.com/ncase/nothing-to-hide

 

[Gilrond-i-Virdan]

The idea of using the visual range reminds me Closure: http://closuregame.com

 

[Gilrond-i-Virdan]

8 days left. I played the demo - it's very funny. Especially posters like "Watch what you hear"

 

[FoggyFishburne]

Watched the video, yeah looks interesting. I'm liking the sense of humour. Unique and cool presentation. Groovy presenter. Yeah, looking good.

Though I don't fucking back any kickstarters or any other crowdfunding... thing. That process is a shoddy practice. You're rewarding people beforehand. You're reducing the incentive for them to produce anything of quality since they've already been paid. There's no quality insurance and no promise that the game will be anything like the initial concept when the developers first pitched it. Also, nostalgia seems to be most prevalent on those crowdfunding projects and I'm not sure if there's any room for innovation when the backers have asked for something very specific and only want to rehash old genres rather than thinking ahead. That last one doesn't apply here but I've seen it a lot and it's disgusting.

In any case, I wish her luck. It looks cool as hell. But out of principal, I won't be giving her any money.

 

[Gilrond-i-Virdan]

You're rewarding people beforehand. You're reducing the incentive for them to produce anything of quality since they've already been paid.

So far I observed exactly the opposite. You give developers incentive to produce something good by showing direct interest. Developers funded by publishers on the other hand have no direct feeling of interest which comes from their fans and supporters. Instead, publishers dictate to them "what people are likely to want". Which does not guarantee quality directly, but most often guarantees what publishers think will be easy to sell (which can translate to not supporting original ideas which publishers might find too complex and not appealing to the majority of the masses).

 

[GuyNwah]

I don't think we want to turn this thread into an argument over the merits of crowdfunding, when the OP meant to discuss the merits of the game. I certainly don't want to see the matter of crowdfunding used to make unfounded denigrations of the game, the author, or her professionalism.

 

[Gilrond-i-Virdan]

To clarify, the game is developed by a small team, not by one person.
See: https://github.com/ncase/nothing-to-hide#credits

 

[volsung]

That's an interesting idea. I like seeing new things coming up and not just the old rehashed concepts all over again.

(...) crowdfunding (,,,) is a shoddy practice. You're rewarding people beforehand. You're reducing the incentive for them to produce anything of quality since they've already been paid.

You can see it that way, or you can consider that many publishers are not willing to fund or support projects that do not conform to their idea of big profit. Normally, art is not exactly profitable. If a few people want to make something creative, interesting and refreshing, it might not be considered a good investment and they might need to resort to crowdfunding. Additionally, bypassing the entire publisher power structure, crowdfunding comprises a social statement reminding companies who fills their pockets. That said, it can be tricky to manage your funds and meet your goals on time.

I think it would be a sad world if all artistic creations or anything that is good depended on getting paid. You know, most true artists do what they do because they enjoy it (while sometimes earning something in return). That's why there are street performers and underground bands. And indie devs. And fan art.

I'm not saying artists don't eat or work for free. All I'm saying is a lot of people out there don't need money to let their creative juices flow. What they need is support. And perhaps with the feeling of stability they can work better, not having to adhere to absurd delivery dates or corporate limitations.

 

[Gilrond-i-Virdan]

It's good to stress, that crowdfunding actually enables projects which otherwise couldn't be developed because they are resource intensive, while at the same time legacy publishers don't have any interest in them. So it's not shoddy, but useful practice which enables more creativity. This was attested by many developers already.

 

[Gilrond-i-Virdan]

There is an interesting section in the game (Uncopyright):

NOTHING TO HIDE HAS NOTHING TO HIDE

We're open source, openly designed, and with your help, openly funded.
But most of all, uncopyrighted. That's right - Zero Rights Reserved.

You're totally welcome to:
- "Pirate" this game.
- Record and monetize Let's Plays.
- Re-host this game on your website.
- Use the art/music/code in your own projects.
- Make a mod where the main character is replaced with Princess Luna from the hit cartoon show, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. Well, actually, you'll probably get a cease and desist from Hasbro for that. But not from me.

By giving up "power" over our art, our art can have more power.

 

[Gilrond-i-Virdan]

32965 / 40000.

Some fan art about Nothing to Hide:

https://twitter.com/ockeroid/status/440613947964551168/photo/1

 

[Gilrond-i-Virdan]

An update from Nothing to Hide project.