Channel: Errant Signal

Category: Gaming

Tags: indie gamessignal to noiseerrant signal

Description: This video (originally posted in May of 2018) was my first attempt at creating a show that could look at the small, the weird, and the unknown games of Steam. It... didn't work, for reasons that become obvious when you watch it. I was trying to ape the Best of the Worst format but without the comradery and spontaneity of that show nor the meaningful discussions that are more my wheelhouse. The result is mostly a boring, awkward mush. There are parts that really should have been scripted that were improvised, and parts that should have been improvised that were scripted. The purely random game selection is good for getting a wide swath of titles, but it leads to a lot of boring duds, phone ports, and also possibly some accidentally some super offensive stuff (that first game is *sucks in air through teeth*). It was a shot in the dark to break from the constrained format of video essays, and it was clear as soon as it was finished that it wasn't the way forward. Additionally, as discussed in the other video I released today, I don't know if this is even the right approach to take? I think a personal curation effort that espouses the positives would probably be more beneficial. I still think there's value in lovingly riffing on bad games, and I still advocate for the birth of a "videogame shlock" discourse that's sorely missing. Like, Blowy Fish is terrible, but there's also something undeniably charming and absurd about its inept aping of phone monetization strategies without remotely understanding them and ridiculous fish outfit unlockables. Bad games can be fun! And in their own, z-grade movie way, good! But this format? This wasn't really working either as a way to champion small games or to push for a canon of videogame schlock. It's mostly just a snooze that neither promotes nor lovingly mocks, so it doesn't achieve any of my goals. Still, I'm happy I took the jump and tried something new, and I intend to explore other new ways of covering this material going forward. And if you want to help fund those attempts: This episode was made possible by generous support through Patreon! patreon.com/errantsignal