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Re: The Madness [Psychological Horror / Puzzle]

Posted: Sat Feb 01, 2014 2:50 am
by Wolfgang
So, as so far, I'm really enjoying the game. I love (hate) the atmosphere of the game, chilling and spooky. I have been playing with a groups of friends (we also played The Loop) but we suck at puzzles and can't get past
the map and the chessboard, I understand the poem has something to with where to put the x's but we cant figure out if we have to move pieces or whtever the heck we are supposed to do. We really wan't to at least farther in the game so could someone please point us in the right direction?

Re: The Madness [Psychological Horror / Puzzle]

Posted: Sat Feb 01, 2014 10:27 pm
by Caveat Lector
@ Wolfgang
You're not supposed to move the chess pieces, you're supposed to mark off the position of each piece described in the poem on the map (for example: if there's a white pawn on the upper-left square, you mark off the upper-left square on the map). Figuring out which pieces those are, however, is part of the "fun". I ended up skipping it. :lol: Unless you're on a higher difficulty level?
Re: Symbolism

Most of the symbolism I caught was related to Freudian analysis like:
-Caves and passages (representing the womb)
-While looking up Freudian dream analysis just now, I learned climbing staircases is a metaphor for sex. And since the protagonist climbs quite a few staircases...well... :|
-Of all rooms in the house, it's the basement where both the man in red and the protagonist's secret are locked up in...aka, the unconscious mind?
-And at least two or three of the mermaid portraits in the Superego area were blatant metaphors for sex.
But then again, Freud did also say "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar". Or maybe he said this because he liked cigars.

Re: The Madness [Psychological Horror / Puzzle]

Posted: Sun Feb 02, 2014 1:35 am
by Greeny
Oh, no, any symbolism you can come up with is absolutely intentional and I take all the credit for it.

Re: The Madness [Psychological Horror / Puzzle]

Posted: Mon Feb 03, 2014 12:42 am
by Wolfgang
@Caveat Lector
Ty, I knew it was something like that, but the clues were pretty vague so I wasn't sure> My friends and I appreciate it a lot.

Re: The Madness [Psychological Horror / Puzzle]

Posted: Fri Feb 07, 2014 2:00 pm
by Caveat Lector
So remember when I said this?
Some time ago I wrote:I’d been holding off on posting my opinion because I re-formatted bits of what I have written into a more formal review and submitted it to my school magazine/paper
I FINALLY heard back--it got accepted!!! :D As soon as I get the chance (and proper technology skills), I'll try to scan it and post it here.

Re: The Madness [Psychological Horror / Puzzle]

Posted: Sat Feb 15, 2014 5:06 pm
by Shor
Here I am.
I just made an account solely to talk about this game with you and to share my opinions about it.
I've been trying to solve the puzzles and noted some things down, but I've got a long way to go until I finish this.

What I want to say is that this is one of the best games I ever played. I'm really excited about it :D

Re: The Madness [Psychological Horror / Puzzle]

Posted: Tue Feb 25, 2014 11:53 am
by Caveat Lector
So, here’s that review I was talking about, attached as a picture (you might have to right click and save and zoom in to read it better). It more or less says the same things I said a page back, but it’s more formal and expands on a few details, including my attempt to explain my feelings over the ending without spoiling it (while I’m not a fan of it, I do also feel it’s the kind of ending you need to experience almost completely blind—so I basically compared it to a pickle in a sundae :lol: I also mentioned that if the ending does not affect one's opinion, the reader might find "something of value"--which is meant to imply "maybe you'll be able to take a more objective approach towards it"--but don't worry, it's basically a very positive review with just two things I'm critical towards).

NOTE: Review scan temporarily taken down until the current situation is resolved.

Also, while I’m here, I’ve been overthinking about the symbolism again, make of it what you will (again, major spoilers):
* The Id area (aka, the “primal self”) is chock full of phallic symbolism (burning candles, knives, etc.).

* The various statues and paintings of naked/half-clothed women found throughout suggested sexual frustration to me—that perhaps the MC desires intimacy, but instinctively knows he shouldn’t, yet he doesn’t quite understand why (until the very end), similar to how he refuses to call the police because "they can never know" but he doesn't know why he says that. And on a similar note, the two statues are in different states of undress—one is half-clothed (in the Ego area), the other is naked (in the Id area). And then there’s the woman in the portrait in the Ego area…even the girl in the painting puzzle is a bit suspect—she looks “older” and yet “younger”. Almost like the MC's trying to depict her as "older" in his mind...

* At the very beginning of the game, if you click on the laundry basket before looping, the MC says “Now why would I go rooting through my own dirty underwear?”. During his sessions with Dr. Rayne, he mentions how he used to enjoy watching the “stars” twinkle in the night and how they were the most beautiful thing in the world…and it isn’t until the endgame sequence you realize that the “stars” were actually little girls. Since he was watching these girls through his telescope at night, some of them might have been in their bedrooms. Therefore, his underwear is dirty because… :|

Re: The Madness [Psychological Horror / Puzzle]

Posted: Tue Feb 25, 2014 5:11 pm
by qirien
I like your review! That's cool that you published it in an actual paper made of paper. :-D

Re: The Madness [Psychological Horror / Puzzle]

Posted: Tue Feb 25, 2014 5:41 pm
by Caveat Lector
Or made of trees, in this case? :wink: But thanks! :D

Re: The Madness [Psychological Horror / Puzzle]

Posted: Thu Feb 27, 2014 8:49 am
by Greeny
That is so cool I'm going to print it out and put it in the fridge.

I'm wondering what was so bad about the first labyrinth though. It should have been easy if you know how to follow the clues.
Although strictly speaking there are three labyrinths, but the endless forest is just a matter of knowing where you're going, and there's a mathematical cheat solution to it.

Re: The Madness [Psychological Horror / Puzzle]

Posted: Thu Feb 27, 2014 11:32 am
by Caveat Lector
Hmm, I guess it was more of a matter of not quite figuring out which direction the "wind" was coming from. I tried to interpret it from coming in just about any direction, maybe from straight ahead or to the right. Though my other concern was that I was getting eaten by a velociraptor. :lol: It wasn't until I met the man in red later on that I realized, "Oh, THAT'S who kept getting me..."

In terms of labyrinths, I was counting both the one to get out of the Id area, and the one in the asylum. I could never figure out how to navigate the forest, though. :lol: Thanks for liking the review, though! :D

Re: The Madness [Psychological Horror / Puzzle]

Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2014 6:22 am
by Misheru10
It's really good!
The first thing i was thinking while playing was: "What the hell am i playing?"
It was amazing and really creepy :D
"If you die in game you die in real life too" :shock:
And I screamed a lot :lol:
I push the 'x' on the game on the computer
I really don't know why the statue is wandering every single time i wake up ("What are you doing with in my kitchen???")
I will play it again to complete it!
Because I can't complete the simple version...
I hope you make more games

Re: The Madness [Psychological Horror / Puzzle]

Posted: Sat May 24, 2014 10:24 am
by CupcakeNoodles
I really really ...... LIKED the game!

but ... I need some help please ...
I'm on the Area 1 ... again and i don't know how to figure out the chess puzzle... :?
Please help me ... I'm really REALLY stuck ... :(

Re: The Madness [Psychological Horror / Puzzle]

Posted: Thu May 29, 2014 2:31 pm
by Greeny
CupcakeNoodles wrote:I really really ...... LIKED the game!

but ... I need some help please ...
I'm on the Area 1 ... again and i don't know how to figure out the chess puzzle... :?
Please help me ... I'm really REALLY stuck ... :(
Did you find the new clue? An additional clue should have appeared somewhere in the house.

In other news, I've been contemplating a kind of re-release, changing some things that really made the game too difficult for most people. But the current changelist is too short to make a fuss about so does anybody have any suggestions/things they'd like to see added?

Re: The Madness [Psychological Horror / Puzzle]

Posted: Thu May 29, 2014 7:43 pm
by Caveat Lector
The option to grab an axe to use on the man in red? An epic conclusion to Edmund and Bethany's love? (You can't just leave us on a cliffhanger!) :lol:

Okay, serious: maybe some kind of unlockable author's notes or commentary after the end credits? Like, thoughts on the overall process, writing elements, puzzle elements, how you would compare this to The Loop, etc.? (Though I kind of like The Madness more...it was scarier, and the protagonist felt more "real")
Ironically, those two statements can also be tied directly to each other...
Or maybe give the protagonist the option of finding some leftover snacks in the fridge, unless that would add yet another coding burden? I'm going to ask a friend of mine who played the game with me and see what she can suggest.