/follow
All The Girl wants is a little time by herself, but that's not going to happen so long as The Bodyguard is on her heels. Luckily, he's prone to distraction, and The Girl isn't above using some rather unusual abilities to her advantage. A short point-and-click puzzle game made in just 72 hours for the Ludum Dare "alone" themed competition that will make you wish it was a whole lot longer.
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The ending seems unnecessary to me. Otherwise as the review says, it shows promise.
Interesting to say the least. I've found 2 endings, don't know if there are more.
Graphics 10/10
I would have liked more seriousness to the game. The bodyguard is an idiot.
The ending? Why? WHY?
I don't know - interesting idea, but as a woman, I think this comes too close to what too many women (and some men) experience. I would definitely encourage any person who has had a stalker or been in an abusive relationship to avoid this game. I know the dialogue tries to move away from that, but ultimately I really don't think this is an appropriate game for the site. Maybe if the size/gender discrepancy were not there?
The slapping scene was particularly disturbing.
I'm not a fan of hurting the cat.
Even with the rating I would say a bit sick to me - both endings - and the middle.
I know it was a short time competition entry but for that stuff to work it really needs some sort of humour or story line or skill or something!
Did anyone else see the little companion cube on third attempt?
Did anyone else see the Scarface poster on the third attempt?
"Enhanced"? Looks like the guy wanted to spruce it up with some violence, I totally did not expect blood splatters when the cat jumped out the window.
The concept is good but not all of us are that violent.
@Eoz
I saw the Scarface poster on my first attempt. Very nice work.
Why is everyone so worked up about the theme?
The whole game is just a short little exploration of a frantic situation that the protagonist is trying to escape. What is the point in exploring ideas like this if they have to be curbed. Those sorts of things quickly develop feelings about the protagonist and towards her pursuer. Which is hard to do in this short space of time, but was done well in this game.
The endings are pretty extreme, but not unnecessary. The body guard threatened to kill her and had slapped her around previously. Throwing herself off a building or shooting him in that screen were her only two options to me. We don't know what came before this game, she may have been abused for a long time before hand.
Considering there are force fields and toxic waste containers in the house, the outside may indeed be dangerous. Dystopian apocalypse dangerous, if you catch my drift. Still, disturbing (but, on the entertainment level, entertaining) behavior of the bodyguard
TeeGee
suicide, murder, physical and mental abuse with no theme, fun, humour, background, skill or anything else is just gratuitous - yes we all like the beat em up games - I loved the red dies green lives - what ever it was, and the great one where the idea was to kill your toon - this went beyond that, but a long long way, especially the slapping around bit. AND NO SKILL OR THOUGHT WHAT SO EVER It was all out of kilter. Sorry if you cannot see that. I am sorry this game will not get rated out of existence, it is too close to rl abuse and choices for too many
the few instances when a curse word actually felt more unneeded to me than the slapping scene or when th girl kills him. i mean obviously this guy is stalking her! and obviously she doesnt like it. but i didnt get why that made them need to cuss. well, i do but, you know what i meant!
I was moved by it...certainly more than I expected to be by such a short and simple concept. It's obviously the kind of game that's going to strike different people very differently, and I don't think anyone needs to be sorry about that.
I agree that it's too close to some people's real experience of abuse. Particularly the slapping bit. The game had no redeeming qualities for me I'm afraid. Surprised it's on this site.
I'm glad of how close this game comes to real abuse or whatever; It really moved me. I'm impressed. Good job, developers.
Yaddab
The fact that it is close to a legitimate situation of abuse is to stir emotion. Games like this aim to stir feelings and thought rather than keep bumping up a score counter.
I feel like the game set out to create a sense of danger and disdain towards the enemy character rather than pose a video game challenge utilising "skill" as you put it. I believe it did this very well in it's very short length.
Sorry if you can't see that.
I'm surprised how many here are offended by the 'abuse' theme. We have games where people are killed violently, and people are okay with it. Because it's abuse, it becomes taboo? Sure, abuse is not a good thing, but this is only a depiction of it. Separate art and reality.
The reaction to this game has been interesting and enlightening to say the least. Certainly I don't think the themes that some people are taking from this are those that the developers intended... but that doesn't mean the opinions of those people are any less valid.
My own opinion when playing and writing this game up was, based on the setting and the actions, that
The Girl has some sort of strange powers or something and is being kept in a facility (hence the weird rooms and electronics and force fields and the fact that he refers to himself as her bodyguard) while The Bodyguard is supposed to be watching her and won't leave her alone.
While I felt (and still do) that certain violent scenes felt out of place with the otherwise "light" tone the game seemed to be trying for, I can definitely see how people would draw certain parallels between the events in game and certain other real life situations.
At the very least, you guys have all given me something to think about and consider in the future (and I'm sure the same can be said for other creators), and all I ask of everyone here is to keep the discussion civil. After all, just because you don't share someone else's feelings or interpretations doesn't mean they have any less right to feel the way they do. We ALWAYS welcome debate and discussion as long as both sides are respectful to each other; situations like this are some of the most important ways we can learn and grow as people.
I agree. Why are people so hung up on this? It's not an abusive relationship, and it's not a stalker. You may think it seems too similar to either of those, but that's on you. The game was very clear on what this was. This was a case of an overprotective bodyguard. Maybe he got tired of being ridiculed and went nuts. Who knows. It was made in 72 hours. Give the designers a break.
As far as the ending goes, well... I would guess the creator came up with this idea for the gameplay, created the game, and with the little time he had left, came up with some way to end it. There's no need to judge this so harshly. If you were ever robbed at gunpoint, maybe any game with shooting bothers you. Don't play them. It's that simple.
References I noticed: Scarface poster, companion cube (in the shelf on the second? screen, and also a delivery tube with button on the flight screens), Cloud's sword... I found their mincey walks pretty hilarious, too-- hilarious enough that I was afraid I'd be too distracted by it to take it seriously, but in the end, it sucked me in sufficiently that I overlooked it. P:
I was pretty startled by various happenings in the game
the cat! WHY THE CAT?
joining in with pretty much everyone that was startled by his hitting her; it doesn't help that that screen took me FOREVER to figure out
the "first" ending
grabbing his gun and shooting him
was the first ending I got, and until I viewed the comments I thought it was the ONLY ending--I found it pretty abrupt, but also pretty fitting, in a silly sort of 'don't we all have these fantasies sometimes?' way; maybe it was all in her head, hence the numerous pop culture references?
but I really don't think it deserved some of the furious reactions it got here (wanting to downrate it out of existence, really?).
It really is funny how some games, like the series a while back about the suicidal Japanese businessman, receive the label of 'funny' whereas something like this (which I personally think was a pretty successful thought-provoking experiment, with a story I would really like to know more about) elicits such a violent response. Ultimately, I believe that some people are just more sensitive (and susceptible) to some subject matter, to the point of reading a greater level of offense than the creators necessarily intended.
Regarding the story:
A friend of mine to whom I linked the game said that she had assumed the girl was a celebrity, whereas I thought more along the same lines as Dora (that there was a definite undercurrent of sci-fi/magical girl/lab experiment/whatever).
This game certainly succeeded in provoking conversation, anyway!
Game did not work for me. I got a wide but short (height-wise) black bar on my screen, and some somewhat eerie music was playing and changed every 10 or so seconds between two different tunes. Nothing else occurred, even when I tried going through the right-click menu.
-T
[Try updating your Flash Player. What OS, browser and Flash Player versions are you using that gives you that problem? -Jay]
I unfortunately can not get past the attempt of escape. I have clicked everywhere and I'm wondering if my computer just isn't loading something.
I'm completely stuck on how to get past the slapping part. Other than that it's a pretty good game so far.
/follow Walkthrough
Scene 1
Click on the cat.
Click on the cat basket.
Click on the Bodyguard.
Click on the window.
Scene 2
Standing to the left of the beam of light, wait for it to vanish, then time your walk through the cleared space so that The Girl passes through it before the Bodyguard does, who moves slightly slower than she does. This might take some practice.
Quickly click on the window before the beam vanishes again and the Bodyguard can reach you.
Scene 3
Go over to the desk.
Click the desk lamp, and the while the Bodyguard is distracted, quickly click on the far right of the room to leave.
Scene 4
This is a chase sequence. You can click the mouse button to fire off a sort of pulse that will knock things (anything in your path) over as you pass them to trip up the Bodyguard. Time your clicks til right before you reach the item until you've knocked over enough things to make the Bodyguard fall off the screen.
Scene 5
Wait for the lights to flicker out, then click on the Girl.
Click on the spider when it dangles down from the ceiling.
Leave the room to the right.
Scene 6
This is another chase sequence. You can click the mouse button to fire off a sort of pulse that will knock things (anything in your path) over as you pass them to trip up the Bodyguard. Time your clicks til right before you reach the item until you've knocked over enough things to make the Bodyguard fall off the screen.
Scene 7
Choose to either pick up the gun, or walk off the building to the right.
Rockem, I've been having the same problem as you for ages! Had latest version of Flash, tried every browser...nothing worked, the games would load but be unresponsive.
But my lovely colleagues have finally solved that riddle for me: some computers won't let the Flash games play if you do not have headphones plugged in. Because apparently you're not allowed to play in silence.
I hope this solves your problem too! :)
[Wow, that sounds very strange. I've never, ever had to plug in headphones to play a Flash game (but I'm running Mac OS, so I'm not surprised to hear weird experiences from those running Windows). Sounds like a hardware configuration issue, most likely with your sound card and video card drivers. Try updating them both. -Jay]
I'm only on the third attempt, but I can't seem to escape! I've got him distracted, but I just can't get away. What spot am I supposed to click?
I think it would have been nice if, whenever she escaped from him for a bit, she would say something more than "Some time alone...at last." The repetition of that isn't doing the game any favors, and it seems like an appropriate moment for a little exposition, even if only a few clues to their relationship (is she a lab subject or a celebrity? If she doesn't want this bodyguard, who hired him?) Otherwise I thought it was entertaining and challenging in all the right ways, if a little skewed.
Also, the way the bodyguard walks is hilarious.
How I See this Game:
The Bodyguard isn't a stalker, he just wants to protect her. The only reason why he slaps her and says that he'll kill her is because she (understandably) ticked him off by, I dunno, ignoring him, putting a basket on his head, putting dozens of things in his way for the sole purpose of hurting him just so she can have a bit of PEACE. Yes, he over-reacted, but he was just doing his job. I think that the girl abused him more than vice-versa.
My theory of this game is that...
1
The girl is this sort of dangerous child who can't control herself. The bodyguard is there to stop her doing anything dangerous... But he is an idiot.
2
The girl is some rich spoiled kid who doesn't know the world and the bodyguard is just.... insane.
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Game of the week
Walkthrough Guide
(Please allow page to fully load for spoiler tags to be functional.)
/follow Walkthrough
Scene 1
Click on the cat.
Click on the cat basket.
Click on the Bodyguard.
Click on the window.
Scene 2
Standing to the left of the beam of light, wait for it to vanish, then time your walk through the cleared space so that The Girl passes through it before the Bodyguard does, who moves slightly slower than she does. This might take some practice.
Quickly click on the window before the beam vanishes again and the Bodyguard can reach you.
Scene 3
Go over to the desk.
Click the desk lamp, and the while the Bodyguard is distracted, quickly click on the far right of the room to leave.
Scene 4
This is a chase sequence. You can click the mouse button to fire off a sort of pulse that will knock things (anything in your path) over as you pass them to trip up the Bodyguard. Time your clicks til right before you reach the item until you've knocked over enough things to make the Bodyguard fall off the screen.
Scene 5
Wait for the lights to flicker out, then click on the Girl.
Click on the spider when it dangles down from the ceiling.
Leave the room to the right.
Scene 6
This is another chase sequence. You can click the mouse button to fire off a sort of pulse that will knock things (anything in your path) over as you pass them to trip up the Bodyguard. Time your clicks til right before you reach the item until you've knocked over enough things to make the Bodyguard fall off the screen.
Scene 7
Choose to either pick up the gun, or walk off the building to the right.
Posted by: Dora
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January 19, 2012 1:01 PM