Shout Out: Pony Island
2016-01-11 - orzo
Often when a regular guy living a regular life walks into a gallery -- when he sees all the nonsensical crap on the display, all the weird/eccentric people talking laughing around -- he ends up angry, disgusted, even embarrassed: Those artists represent his culture? They stand up for his era, his generation? How can this be? What the hell is wrong with them? My kid could do better!
Pony Island is a game exactly like that :)
Just look at the screenshots. It's ugly :) It is a primitive two-hours long shit in a can; the only thing great about Pony Island is soundtrack, and that has to be bought separately.
If you a "regular guy" living "a regular life", you have to shake your head in disbelieve.
So, what makes us -- what makes the game programmers -- tell everybody "this is the game to play"? :) Why we love Pony Island so much?
Because Pony Island is a manifest, that's why.
If you've been making shitty [work-for-hire] games for well over a decade, if you had to write dozens of template-reviews month after month after month, if you are part of the "working-class" that keeps game-industry rolling, Pony Island is your ultimate shoe-sellers joke. Much needed and much appreciated, it's a stress-reliever that helps you get though the day, through the next pile of the exact same boring tasks you've been doing (over and over) for most of your tedious life - but this time, this time with a smile, for a while.
Never mind that by the end of the week Pony Island will be a fading memory.
By the end of the month we'll beg Valve to stop releasing copy-cats.
Right now, this weekend?
Think whatever you want, but Pony Island is the work of art, that's exactly what it is :)