#non-krz

[lulachamberlainfanclub]

The Unsteady Steadying the Unsteady

Hey there. This isn’t a very easy post for me to make, but things are not going great for me right now. I’m in a position where I’m really sick (by no means life-threatening, I just can’t work) and I have a lot of bills due this week. I’d like to ask if any of you could spare a few bucks to get me through. One of the themes of Kentucky Route Zero is the crushing fist of capitalism squeezing the life out of all of us, and boy howdy am I feeling that right now.

Here’s a link to my paypal. Truthfully, it’s the paypal for an old podcast that I used to do with my wife, but that’s the only account I have linked to my bank. I promise I’ll use this money to make my car payment and not as backdoor funding to revive a podcast.

I’m really grateful for anything you can give, and I completely understand if you can’t. Additionally, I’m working on putting together a Patreon, which would give me the twofold benefit of a few extra bucks a month, as well as the impetus to do more extensive research into the strange and wonderful world of KRZ, and the many influences Cardboard Computer draws from. 

Thanks,

Michelle

[lulachamberlainfanclub]

Act I Games Museum

In Act I, there’s a text encounter on the road where you run into a museum. If you go back to Equus Oils and talk to Joseph about it, he tells you that there’s a file on games there, and that a game he wrote called “If I Had My Way, I’d Tear This Building Down”. Conway has to sift through multiple files and finds about 15 other entries. They are all real, and I have collated this list of links.

Queue by Stephen Lavelle (Interactive Fiction)

Portal by Brad Fregger (Interactive Fiction)

Mondo Medicalis by Jonatan Söderström (First Person Puzzle)

The Postman’s Choice by Ben Vautier (Modern Art)

Calamity Annie by Anna Anthropy (Twine Lesbian Cowboy Game) (Thanks for the tip, @skeleton-justice-warrior)

Cart Life by Richard Hofmeier (Retail Sim)

Mainichi by Mattie Brice (Walking Sim)

The Sea Will Claim Everything by Jonas and Verena Kyratzes (Point-and-Click Adventure)

Everything I Do is Art, But Nothing I Do Makes Any Difference, Part II Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Gallery by Chris Reilly (FPS, Half-Life 2 Mod)

Digital: A Love Story by Christine Love (Visual Novel)

Radiator 1-1: Polaris by Robert Yang (Experimental Half-Life 2 Mod)

Brace by merritt k (It looks like merrit k has made all of her games unavailable online. Does anyone have any info on this? I really liked hugpunx.)

The Cat and the Coup by Peter Brinson and Kurosh ValaNejad (Historical/Documentary/Cat Simulator)

Syberia by Benoît Sokal (Adventure/Puzzle)

Prisoner’s Dilemma by Richard Serra (Short Film)

The Walking Dead by TellTale Games (Narrative Adventure)

Then we come to If I Had My Way, I’d Tear the Building Down by Joseph Wheattree. At first I kinda expected to find that Carboard Computer had released a game by that name as “Joseph Wheattree”, which you could forgive me for believing considering the lengths CC goes to. They sell a physical copy of Lem Dolittle’s “The Entertainment” (which, at less than five bucks, is a steal. A really cool physical artifact of my favorite game). 

There is no such game, sadly, but my research has led me to a song by Blind (get it?) Willie Johnson. It’s a blues song about the Old Testament story of Samson and Delilah. How it maps onto the KRZ lore, I couldn’t tell you. Good song, though. If you like the blues.

IN ANY CASE. This is clearly a list of the games that inspired CC to make Kentucky Route Zero. Most of these games are short and free, some of them aren’t even games, and one of them has sadly been scrubbed from legitimate download by its creator. 

Of the listed games, I can tell you:

Christine Love’s “Digital: A Love Story” is really tremendous (as is all of her stuff)

“Mainichi” by Mattie Brice was a brief, interesting look into the life of another person

and “Queue” by Stephen Lavelle is a brutally depressing but extremely well-written 15 minute story

I hope you find something on this list that inspires you, makes you think, makes you feel happy, makes you feel sad, or whatever it is you want to get from games. 

EDITED TO ADD: I should also mention that Joseph's game is about the love triangle between himself, Donald and Lula Chamberlain. Important lore!

[lulachamberlainfanclub]

Been thinking about this since the weather report in Un Pueblo de Nada 

What we're talking about is late night and early morning low clouds With a chance of fog, chance of showers into the afternoon With variable high cloudiness and gusty winds Gusty winds at times around the corner of Sunset and Alvarado Yeah, I know, things are tough all over When the thunder storms start increasing over the Southeast and south central portions of my apartment, I get upset And a line of thunderstorms was developing in the early morning hours Ahead of a slow moving cold front, cold-blooded With tornado watches issued shortly before noon Sunday For the areas including the western region of my mental health And the northern portion of my ability to deal rationally With my disconcerted precarious emotional situation It's cold out there Colder than the ticket taker's smile at the Ivar Theatre, on Saturday night Flash flood watches cover the southern portion of my disposition, yeah There was no severe weather well into the afternoon Except for kind of a lone gust of wind in the bedroom A high pressure zone covering the eastern portion of a small Suburban community with a 1034 millibar high pressure zone And a weak pressure ridge extending from my eyes down to my cheeks 'Cause since you left me baby and put the vice grips on my mental health Well, the extended outlook for an indefinite period of time Until you come back to me, baby, is high tonight, low tomorrow And precipitation is expected That wraps up the weather for this evening. Now back to the eleven o'clock blues. Doctor George Fishbeck ain't got nothing on me!

[lulachamberlainfanclub]

Magical Realism Book Club

hey everyone. not a ton of KRZ stuff going on right now, so I’m getting my magical realism fix by reading One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. it’s name-checked in the game at least once and is clearly a huge influence on the guys at Cardboard Computer. I’d wager that Shannon and Weaver are named Marquez after the author. 

in any case, I guess I’m just putting this out for anyone to add their favorite magical realist novels, so that the community has some other stuff to do while we wait for Act V. I’m a huge Haruki Murakami fan, and would recommend 1Q84 and Dance Dance Dance to just about anyone. it’ll give me something to do when I’m not working or playing Persona 5.

[lulachamberlainfanclub]

Back in the 25th century, Earth launched a generation ship into deep space, with the goal of establishing the first interstellar colony. It dropped out of contact and disappeared, never reaching its destination. Thousands of years later, it has finally been found.

If you're looking for a spooky read for your Spookloween, you should check out Christine Love's visual novel "Analogue: A Hate Story". You read through the records of a Korean 25th century space colonization ship that has decided to govern itself using Joseon Dynasty era law. The author describes it as "a mystery featuring transhumanism, traditional marriage, loneliness, and cosplay." I can't say enough good things about this game.

[lulachamberlainfanclub]

I’m not saying this Time cover is the sole reason Donald Trump got elected, but it’s at least 3% responsible.