YIIK: A Post Modern RPG / Ackk Studios / Andrew Allanson - "I wanted to make a game with a protagonist who was very unlikeable" - From Someone who is equally unlikeable. Currently developing Version I.V (1.5)

[LucasSomething]

Rory certainly doesnt feel like he was intentionally designed to be there from the start. The demo from 2016 for Pax (this game had a lot of demos,) had a very different main menu.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kNvC2vwvqg

dungeon: https://youtu.be/obHVh2EsKdk?t=242

You can see Essentia's head, Alex's LP, claudio's sword, chondra's hula hoop and vella's keytar but no plaque or camera, indicating Rory and probably Michale were only added later after the game was already in development. This would make sense since both characters kinda stop existing after chapter 2. (The irony here is that chondra still has less presence than both)

This demo is about Claudio calling Alex to explore a cave cause he heard rumors from ONISM of a guy saw the ghost of his dead sister but it might be Sammi instead, and you play Alex, Vella and Claudio.





This obviously didnt happen in the final game, but it was probably how chapter 2 was going to be originally. Claudio was probably thrown further and Michael was created to introduce ONISM to Alex. Rory was probably created to have a new character show the dungeon and later get yelled by Alex who would "reflect" about it and/or present the alternate reality plot. But after chapter 2 the story goes to shit and everyone has no purpose other than tagging along with Alex.

Weirdly, this demo already had both boombox and hairflip powers so they never had a clear idea where to implement those from the start.

 

[SteelPlatedHeart]

Rory certainly doesnt feel like he was intentionally designed to be there from the start. The demo from 2016 for Pax (this game had a lot of demos,) had a very different main menu.

View attachment 5847079

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kNvC2vwvqg

dungeon: https://youtu.be/obHVh2EsKdk?t=242

You can see Essentia's head, Alex's LP, claudio's sword, chondra's hula hoop and vella's keytar but no plaque or camera, indicating Rory and probably Michale were only added later after the game was already in development. This would make sense since both characters kinda stop existing after chapter 2. (The irony here is that chondra still has less presence than both)

This demo is about Claudio calling Alex to explore a cave cause he heard rumors from ONISM of a guy saw the ghost of his dead sister but it might be Sammi instead, and you play Alex, Vella and Claudio.

View attachment 5847093
View attachment 5847095
View attachment 5847096

This obviously didnt happen in the final game, but it was probably how chapter 2 was going to be originally. Claudio was probably thrown further and Michael was created to introduce ONISM to Alex. Rory was probably created to have a new character show the dungeon and later get yelled by Alex who would "reflect" about it and/or present the alternate reality plot. But after chapter 2 the story goes to shit and everyone has no purpose other than tagging along with Alex.

Weirdly, this demo already had both boombox and hairflip powers so they never had a clear idea where to implement those from the start.

I can kinda make out Micheal and especially Rory on the cover of the album though.

 

[Peru oso donas]

I may be misremembering things, but didn't the devs say that they only added Rory because they wanted a character who would leave the party under certain circumstances?

 

[SteelPlatedHeart]

I may be misremembering things, but didn't the devs say that they only added Rory because they wanted a character who would leave the party under certain circumstances?

If that’s true, that’s a weird ass reason to make a character severely depressed/suicidal. Like there’s plenty of other games that can make a party member leave without killing themselves.

 

[The tired cat]

If that’s true, that’s a weird ass reason to make a character severely depressed/suicidal. Like there’s plenty of other games that can make a party member leave without killing themselves.

My bet is that they wanted to do somethinh that was "out of a box" idea, an somehow suicide was the first thing they went for.

 

[30+GameOvers]

YIIKES changed an awful lot during it's development cycle, but the biggest culprit came from their personal life: This game represents the last memory the two brothers had with their mother, as she died shortly before the game came out. That's when their thoughts turned dark and they cut out the happy ending, probably changed a lot of other storyline elements to make the players feel like shit. Would have loved to see the original drafts, it sounds much better than what we ended up getting.
As much as I sympathize with them, especially since the game was shit on and it likely made their mental state at the time worse, the game did have many glaring problems that should have been fixed at launch. Game is still unique enough that even if the gameplay itself is subpar and story/dialogue...not that good, it still stays with you one way or another, which is more than you can say for some generic shovelware AAA title that just gets straight up forgotten after their 15 minutes of shame are over, like Starfield or Redfall. For better or worse, Alex YIIK will stay within the zeitgeist of gaming for a long time.
My personal lolcowzy bit the game has is it's obsession with the Two Brothers game, which even at the time could not be bought anymore due to it being a broken piece of shit...and yet the game keeps getting referenced, even going as far as being on the main protagonist's shirt the entire game(altho I do like the idea that OneyPlays put out that it's supposed to be some generic video game reference shirt nobody who ever had sex would wear in public, since it fits with Alex's character better).

 

[SteelPlatedHeart]

altho I do like the idea that OneyPlays put out that it's supposed to be some generic video game reference shirt nobody who ever had sex would wear in public, since it fits with Alex's character better).

That would probably work better if there wasn’t a giant fountain statue of the main character and his wife in the main town.

Also the wife is only in the game for like 5 mins max before she dies.

 

[30+GameOvers]

That would probably work better if there wasn’t a giant fountain statue of the main character and his wife in the main town.

Also the wife is only in the game for like 5 mins max before she dies.

Speaking of stupid shit in the game's towns, there is a beachfront with a ton of flags, that's it's gimmick. Thing is, it's just a few repeating flags, most of it is country flags and a shitload of LGBT flags.
First of all, that's a stupid gimmick, second of all couldn't you think of something else? This is supposed to be a whimsical video game for nerds, how about putting some references to other games? How about making joke flags to take the piss out of the whole concept? Also, if the game takes place in 1999, why are there fag flags everywhere? They definitely showed some restraint to not put any troon flags as well.
The concept for the game is great, but execution almost everywhere, from game design to tone to characters is all over the place. Even the concept of basing the entire premise of the game off the disappearance of a real person is creepy, you could do something like that without actually putting their self insert into the game.
I wish YIIKES was redone by an actual competent studio. Most of it would have to be scrapped, but even a parody game taking a piss out of it would be an improvement.

Speaking of Two Brothers, is there a good analysis as to why that game failed? People tend to talk about it in passing when talking about this game, hard not to, but why did it fail exactly? What little I saw of it looked rather generic, but not something so bad that you would need to delist it off Steam.

 

[Peru oso donas]

Speaking of Two Brothers, is there a good analysis as to why that game failed? People tend to talk about it in passing when talking about this game, hard not to, but why did it fail exactly? What little I saw of it looked rather generic, but not something so bad that you would need to delist it off Steam.

What made them delist the game besides the game being completely broken, was that they apparently used a stolen Shadow of the Colossus remix in their soundtrack. Devs also said they would make a rerelease that would fix everything called Chromaforce, but that never came out (and they actually take shots at themselves sbout it during the lazy Alex fight)

 

[30+GameOvers]

What made them delist the game besides the game being completely broken, was that they apparently used a stolen Shadow of the Colossus remix in their soundtrack. Devs also said they would make a rerelease that would fix everything called Chromaforce, but that never came out (and they actually take shots at themselves sbout it during the lazy Alex fight)

That's an amateur mistake if you ask me. Everybody does this with placeholders, except they take them out when the appropriate track is made.
Should have apologized and made another track to replace that one. This does raise a question, after a debacle like that what made them think they could make a big Earthbound clone like this that would be so popular that even Toby Fox would work with them?

 

[SteelPlatedHeart]

Another issue I’ve seen about Two Brothsrs based off that screenshot LP I’ve been reading is that the inventory screen is like YIIK’s level up screen: in that it’s an overly long thing you have to walk around on and interact with rather than just a simple menu, so your time drags just to equip a new weapon.

The writing is also pretty close to YIIK’s in terms of quality

 

[SteelPlatedHeart]

I’m gonna be incredibly blunt here.

I think this update is just going to make the game worse. Every picture I see posted of the old cutscenes redone has the character doing some random nonsense that has nothing to do with what’s going on in the cutscene itself. Like it feels like they’re trying to be “super surreal and post modern” whatever, but all it’s going to do is make things even more confusing and harder to follow.

And considering how hard it was to follow originally….

 

[Ravana]

I’m hoping it makes the game worse

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

YIIKES changed an awful lot during it's development cycle, but the biggest culprit came from their personal life: This game represents the last memory the two brothers had with their mother, as she died shortly before the game came out. That's when their thoughts turned dark and they cut out the happy ending, probably changed a lot of other storyline elements to make the players feel like shit. Would have loved to see the original drafts, it sounds much better than what we ended up getting.
As much as I sympathize with them, especially since the game was shit on and it likely made their mental state at the time worse, the game did have many glaring problems that should have been fixed at launch. Game is still unique enough that even if the gameplay itself is subpar and story/dialogue...not that good, it still stays with you one way or another, which is more than you can say for some generic shovelware AAA title that just gets straight up forgotten after their 15 minutes of shame are over, like Starfield or Redfall. For better or worse, Alex YIIK will stay within the zeitgeist of gaming for a long time.
My personal lolcowzy bit the game has is it's obsession with the Two Brothers game, which even at the time could not be bought anymore due to it being a broken piece of shit...and yet the game keeps getting referenced, even going as far as being on the main protagonist's shirt the entire game(altho I do like the idea that OneyPlays put out that it's supposed to be some generic video game reference shirt nobody who ever had sex would wear in public, since it fits with Alex's character better).

The issue with good bad video games is that very rarely are they fun to play. People like to put games like Deadly Premonition as counter examples, but DP has serviceable gameplay and lots of good small touches. Meanwhile nearly everyone would rather watch 40 hours of people shitting on Yiik than actually play it.

The game is basically a specimen of how not to make games. It's as if you gave aliens the tools to make Unity games and a bunch of popular SNES games.

 

[xXthrowawayaccountXx]

View attachment 5853941

I’m gonna be incredibly blunt here.

I think this update is just going to make the game worse. Every picture I see posted of the old cutscenes redone has the character doing some random nonsense that has nothing to do with what’s going on in the cutscene itself. Like it feels like they’re trying to be “super surreal and post modern” whatever, but all it’s going to do is make things even more confusing and harder to follow.

And considering how hard it was to follow originally….

I kinda disagree.

Yeah, it might make the plot harder to follow, but the actual plot structure was always that way.

I only went off the Oneyplays footage, but my main takeaway was that the author really needed to learn when to shut the fuck up. He seems far better at telling his story through visual/symbolically than anything he crams i to these characters mouths.

I know it's a concern that the added scenes are just going to be random garbage, because we don't have the new story in front of us and these are just trailer splices, but in 1.25 the remade golden alpaca cutscene was made to be decent foreshadowing, even if on a first run it seems like random garbage, so I'm not that worried.

Amd on a base level, his cutscenes are just flat out more interesting than his writing, regardless of content. Maybe he should have just been a cameraman for some movie instead of working on games.

 

[SteelPlatedHeart]

I kinda disagree.

Yeah, it might make the plot harder to follow, but the actual plot structure was always that way.

I only went off the Oneyplays footage, but my main takeaway was that the author really needed to learn when to shut the fuck up. He seems far better at telling his story through visual/symbolically than anything he crams i to these characters mouths.

I know it's a concern that the added scenes are just going to be random garbage, because we don't have the new story in front of us and these are just trailer splices, but in 1.25 the remade golden alpaca cutscene was made to be decent foreshadowing, even if on a first run it seems like random garbage, so I'm not that worried.

Amd on a base level, his cutscenes are just flat out more interesting than his writing, regardless of content. Maybe he should have just been a cameraman for some movie instead of working on games.

I’ll admit the cutscenes make things LOOK more interesting, but it’s essentially key jangling to make you not pay attention to what’s being said.

In an RPG.

Just because Alex and Sami/Semi are now apparently together on a karaoke stage when they first meet does not make their first meaning any more interesting or intriguing. It’s just makes me think “why the fuck are they randomly on a kareoke stage?”

 

[Mega Black]

It’s just makes me think “why the fuck are they randomly on a kareoke stage?”

It's postmodern dude. You wouldn't get it.

 

[Vida]

I’m gonna be incredibly blunt here.

I think this update is just going to make the game worse. Every picture I see posted of the old cutscenes redone has the character doing some random nonsense that has nothing to do with what’s going on in the cutscene itself. Like it feels like they’re trying to be “super surreal and post modern” whatever, but all it’s going to do is make things even more confusing and harder to follow.

And considering how hard it was to follow originally….

l actually really like that they went with a more bizarre route. It's far more interesting than the previous Persona like portrait with the characters just talking to one another. They also took advantage that Michael didn't do jack shit in the original story so now he is acting and ploting in the background of the new cutscenes
Though they also made it weird for the sake of beign weird. The perfume king cutscene is a perfect example of this, having Michael and Claudio talk about Sephirot and Lain while Chondra yells "Video games and animu!" was just for a quirky, fun, weird moment that's just cringe.

It’s just makes me think “why the fuck are they randomly on a kareoke stage?”

It was somewhat vague in the original that the Samy/Semi that Alex met wasn't the real person and that the first dungeon was just in Alex's mind or something
The karaoke stage is just a way to say that this is just Alex inside narration and having Semi appear in it with Alex makes it clearer that she is just another part of his mind like Panda.

Also the new gameplay looks like fun or at very least more appealing to the eyes than the previous one
I reccomend watching the livestreams the devs made where they talk and show the new update. Don't watch the one with Vito the pedo is just fucking trash.

 

[SteelPlatedHeart]

l actually really like that they went with a more bizarre route. It's far more interesting than the previous Persona like portrait with the characters just talking to one another. They also took advantage that Michael didn't do jack shit in the original story so now he is acting and ploting in the background of the new cutscenes
Though they also made it weird for the sake of beign weird. The perfume king cutscene is a perfect example of this, having Michael and Claudio talk about Sephirot and Lain while Chondra yells "Video games and animu!" was just for a quirky, fun, weird moment that's just cringe.

It was somewhat vague in the original that the Samy/Semi that Alex met wasn't the real person and that the first dungeon was just in Alex's mind or something
The karaoke stage is just a way to say that this is just Alex inside narration and having Semi appear in it with Alex makes it clearer that she is just another part of his mind like Panda.

Also the new gameplay looks like fun or at very least more appealing to the eyes than the previous one
I reccomend watching the livestreams the devs made where they talk and show the new update. Don't watch the one with Vito the pedo is just fucking trash.

Making more weird is fine to a point, but I think they’re going too far with it, personally.

And Christ, they had Vito on at one point??? Oh right, the creators’s are friends with Dax…

 

[Peru oso donas]

Making more weird is fine to a point, but I think they’re going too far with it, personally.

And Christ, they had Vito on at one point??? Oh right, the creators’s are friends with Dax…

I always found his connection with Dick Masterson odd considering the game often tried to pander to people leaning left, coincidentally i saw a video today saying that one of the "cut" endings of yiik would have you getting redpilled by Dick (yiik section starts at 11:3:

I wonder if that yiik fanboy acknowledged this.