LET'S STREAM DINNER DATE - Wait Mope Munch Smoke

BEAT · #1 03-20-2015, 10:58 AM

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen. Welcome to Let's Stream Dinner Date.

Dinner Date is an experimental first-person game made by Dutch game designer Jeroen D. Stout. It was first released on Stout's website in December 2010, but reached a much wider audience when it was made available on steam in March 2011. It takes the general idea of dating simulators, throws away all the cardboard cutout waifus, and zeros in on one of the most relatable and human aspects of the whole single-but-looking experience: getting stood up.

It's an "Art" game with a capital A and scare quotes but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Dinner Date a wholly unique creation, an honest and sincere attempt to do something completely new within the video game medium. It presents a mundane yet formative human experience through the eyes of someone in the thick of it.

On paper I think it's an absolutely fascinating idea that could result in a lot of quiet introspection and thoughtful conversation.

But in practice I streamed that shit Bad Rats Style, only with an awful face cam.

Youtube Playlist.

Mogri · #2 03-20-2015, 11:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BEAT

Wait Mope Munch Smoke

So this is basically the opposite of "Eat Pray Love."

BEAT · #3 03-20-2015, 12:06 PM

DINNER DATE CHAPTER 1

"THE CLOCK"
AKA: WAITING SIMULATOR
HEADMATES
MagFlare - Smiler - Patito - FanboyMaster

In which we are introduced to protagonist Julian Luxemburg. As a soft spoken sort, Julian is somewhat surprised when the usual gentle British voice in his head is suddenly drowned out by 4 boorish American ones. He responds the only way a man in is position could: suicide via crashing his entire existence.

Then I rebooted the game and powered through the first segment, which involved a lot of looking at the clock and fidgeting.

Intro Tutorial ("read" by BEAT): You are the subconscious "moterics" [sic] of Julian! You look through his eyes and hear his thoughts but you cannot change him! His choices are own [sic] and he is not you! His personality cannot be influenced by you!
MAGFLARE: Which takes a lot of the weight off your shoulders, lemme tell you what. because this guy is a DOUCHE.

Kalir · #4 03-20-2015, 01:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BEAT

Intro Tutorial ("read" by BEAT): You are the subconscious "moterics" [sic] of Julian! You look through his eyes and hear his thoughts but you cannot change him! His choices are own [sic] and he is not you! His personality cannot be influenced by you!
MAGFLARE: Which takes a lot of the weight off your shoulders, lemme tell you what. because this guy is a DOUCHE.

So you're picking up Pac-Man 2 again?

BEAT · #5 03-20-2015, 02:19 PM

DINNER DATE CHAPTER 02

"THE BREAD"
AKA: DOUBLE DIPPIN
THE FOUR TEMPERAMENTS
MagFlare - Smiler - Patito - FanboyMaster

Julian draws closer and closer to the harsh reality that that the girl he's crushing on has left him high and dry without so much as a "hey I can't make it" text. He muses on this as he slowly begins to pick at the bread he prepared for the two of them to eat together.

Meanwhile I force Julian to endlessly dunk the same piece of bread and blow off the the game completely to get my own alcohol. Subconscious motoric impulse manager of the year. It's me. This guy. Right here.

BEAT: That's right, that's right. Crack your neck! Crack your neck you son of a bitc- I need a drink. Be right back.
FanboyMaster: Wow.
Patito: BEAT actually left. […] BEAT's like, this dude's subconscious, and he just abandoned him.

BEAT · #6 03-20-2015, 09:07 PM

DINNER DATE CHAPTER 03

"THE SOUP"
AKA: BALEFUL BROTH
MY MUSES
MagFlare - Smiler - Patito - FanboyMaster

It is with an air of intense melancholy that Julian serves himself a bowl of soup. It was one thing to eat the bread by himself, that's just an appetizer. But the main course? That's just giving up.

So torn between hope and hunger, each bite seems to take an eternity.

But that's mostly because I'm doing my damndest to get him to just play with the spoon forever.

MagFlare: Alright, I've compiled a list of things this guy has in the rest of his shitty apartment. […] Two wallscrolls. Inuyasha, and Fist of The North Star.
EVERYBODY ARGUES OVER WHETHER OR NOT JULIAN WOULD WATCH FIST.
Smiler: It's gonna be- no what is it… Chobits!

MagFlare · #7 03-20-2015, 09:11 PM

Yeah. Yeah, in retrospect, it's definitely Chobits.

BEAT · #8 03-20-2015, 09:18 PM

DINNER DATE CHAPTER 04

"THE CIGARETTE"
AKA: MARLBORO MOPE
GTFO
MagFlare - Smiler - Patito - FanboyMaster

Having finished all the food, and gotten himself drunk off his ass, Julian stumbles around his tiny apartment, crashing into walls and trying to smoke cigarette.

Displeased, the madman in control of his higher motor skills does his best to make him jump out the window.

And then a bug flies around the room, and then it's over! One quick edit later and we're all staring at the title screen in awe of the fact that this 20 minute game is, for some fucking reason, split up into 4 chapters.

MagFlare: Imagine a version of this game where you're making this guy look over at like a hacksaw or a claw hammer and trying to convince him to take it to his own eyeball.
FanboyMaster: You are the suicidal ideation in this man's mind.

BEAT · #9 03-20-2015, 09:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MagFlare

Yeah. Yeah, in retrospect, it's definitely Chobits.

All the other guys on the call (including me) are sort of like the Fist of North Star Fanclub members so it's less that you were innacurate and more that we all were blinded by our biases.

Also Thanks for gifting me this game Magflare! I actually have some REAL THOUGHTS on it but that'll have to wait until I feel like typing up more than 2 lines per post. Probably smash em all out sometime tomorrow.

fanboymaster · #10 03-20-2015, 11:28 PM

BEAT you've misquoted me, the word I used was suicidal "ideation" which is a slightly less terrifying thing to say than idealization

BEAT · #11 03-21-2015, 12:36 AM

I like mine better.

That Old Chestnut · #12 03-21-2015, 01:13 AM

I feel like this game would've been ten times better with Octodad style controls.

MagFlare · #13 03-21-2015, 07:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by That Old Chestnut

I feel like this game would've been ten times better with Octodad style controls.

Yeah, when the tutorial allowed you to move specific fingers on a hand, I immediately thought the game would be like Surgeon Simulator.

[knocks over wine bottle]
"ooo blimey I've spilled me plonk"
[slaps soup onto floor]
"cor, i've done it now, i'm such a saddo"
[stabs cigarette into eyeball]
"oi now me eye's all grotty, what a cock-up"

Although I guess that game was called Ampu-Tea.

muteKi · #14 03-25-2015, 05:02 PM

probably relevant

BEAT · #15 04-06-2015, 10:48 AM

EPILOGUE BONUS POST!
WAIT YOU'RE ACTUALLY DOING AN EPILOGUE POST ON A STUPID GAME THAT TOOK YOU 20 MINUTES? LIKE 3 WEEKS LATER?
Yeah actually. Let me try to explain.

When I record videos with friends the part of the experience I'm most focused on is the bit where I'm with friends. Why on earth would I listen to one fake mopy sadsack when I've got four real-life dudes being way funnier, louder and just plain better talking to me over the same headset? And I certainly wasn't reading his subtitles either, as the game area was constantly filled with button prompts, that I could use to make him twitch and fidget and act silly in general. Under those exact circumstances I had a blast playing Dinner Date.

But then, while chopping up and posting the videos, I actually paid attention to what Julian was saying, and holy shit what the hell is this motherfucker's deal? Did he seriously just say that? Or think that or whatever? What the fuck man?

I tried quite a few times to put my exact thoughts into words, but it never really felt right in paragraph form. Eventually I just gave up and vented my frustrations to the guy who bought me the game, (and all around awesome dude) MagFlare in a tyrant radio chat.


BEAT_TR: Oh yo mags 2 things magflare: Oh yeah? BEAT_TR: ONE: One finger death punch is so much more fun than it has any right to be. magflare: IT IS BEAT_TR: TWO: I have been trying to write one of my stupid epilogue posts for the dinner date for like a whole week now BEAT_TR: Like holy shit. magflare: It sounds like you actually have some positive impressions of the game. BEAT_TR: Not... really? magflare: At least it sounds like you appreciate what it was trying to do. BEAT_TR: The thing has me very conflicted. magflare: On SOME level. BEAT_TR: SORTA? BEAT_TR: Like, on one hand it's a very unique idea and I fuckin love me some artgames. BEAT_TR: But on the other hand. BEAT_TR: What the HELL was going on with the way that dude talked about Japanese people? magflare: Julian is a gross dude. BEAT_TR: Yeah but he's gross in his own mind, in one of the contexts where I would expect grossness. BEAT_TR: Like I'm not gonna lie. on the occasions, I've been stood up in my ill-spent youth I had nothing nice to say about women! BEAT_TR: Not OUT LOUD obviously. and it passed over as soon as the experience was over BEAT_TR: And likewise this is all happening in Julian's mind, when he's in the middle of an experience that's notable for being one that sucks BEAT_TR: So I expect some uncouth thoughts! BEAT_TR: At least as far as re:Women go. BEAT_TR: So the point I'm tripping over magflare: So the game is a success, insofar as it's an uncompromising look at a person's mind. BEAT_TR: That's the other part. I'm not sure who's mind I'm looking at. magflare: It may not be a good GAME but it is successful at being art. magflare: Oh? BEAT_TR: Yeah. magflare: You're not sure whose mind you're looking at? BEAT_TR: If Julian was created to be a gross dude, then hey great job A+ gross dude work. BEAT_TR: But. BEAT_TR: I get the impression that wasn't the intent! magflare: Ooh. Hmm. BEAT_TR: I go to the dude's website and there's a whole portion of it dedicated to recommending the wine Julian's drinking. BEAT_TR: And about how deep and personal Julian's struggle is. BEAT_TR: So was this shit a "From the bottom of my heart" job? is Julian just a creator proxy? magflare: Oh. Christ. BEAT_TR: I don't fuckin know! BEAT_TR: It's a mystery inside of an enigma BEAT_TR: And then I'm like okay well what did I PERSONALLY get out of the experience. magflare: I was hoping from the whole "you can't control this guy's thoughts" spiel at the beginning they were intending a certain "this guy doesn't represent us" thing. magflare: Like they were washing their hands of the character. BEAT_TR: And the answer there is a really obvious, 4 short videos where my friends are being funny and a few laughs at making him not eat the bread. BEAT_TR: But from an ART SHIT perspective: Nothing. I got nothing. BEAT_TR: Obviously there were extenuating circumstances but I didn't even know what the fucker was saying until I re-wached the videos THAT I MYSELF RECORDED. BEAT_TR: So like BEAT_TR: What the fuck? BEAT_TR: And I've been trying to slap that whole mess into a post that's at least halfway readable for like a week and surprise it hasn't happened yet. magflare: Oh, yeah. THAT much is true. magflare: But even if we're meant by the game's creator to sympathize with the character of Julian, does that mean anything? magflare: Or should we approach this from a death-of-the-author standpoint? magflare: Should we just say, YEP, NICE WORK MAKING A CONVINCINGLY GROSS DUDE BEAT_TR: I love me some death of the author don't get me wrong. What you carry away from a work is always more important than what the loser who made it wanted. BEAT_TR: But what I took away is just frustratingly conflicting. BEAT_TR: Which maybe that IS what I'm supposed to take away? That humans are deeply flawed creatures and that the fact that someone is flawed should not prevent us from celebrating their personal growth? magflare: Samuel Beckett once said that if he knew what Waiting for Godot was about then he'd have said it in the play. BEAT_TR: That the age of 27 is a deeply confusing time because it's at a weird midpoint for middle class members of our generation because it's the part where we feel like we should be "adults" even though even though we don't feel like it? magflare: Maybe it's fine for Julian to have good taste in wine but also be a weirdly racist self-important sad sack. BEAT_TR: Sure that too! BEAT_TR: So yeah, that's where I'm at with the whole thing. BEAT_TR: Which is why I'm making my next project the much much easier task of detailing everything that happens in the game where you kill everybody in Florida.* magflare: Maybe the best thing to do for a capstone on the thread is just copy and paste your musings from this chat. BEAT_TR: The thought HAD crossed my mind... *This turned out to be a lie, as I did kawaii murder girl's high school adventure next.

So yeah. I don't know where the hell I stand on this game. It's all over the fucking map for me and no matter how I try to approach it I'm left shrugging my shoulders back at square one. If that's what they were going for, then hey, good work, but I'm not convinced that's actually the case. All I can say for certain is that it was fun to laugh at with friends, but I don't think that's enough to actually justify buying it.

CREDITS:
SKYPE BROS:
MagFlare: Bought me the game! Then listened to me rant and rave about how conflicted I was over what ACTUALLY HAPPENED in the game!
Smiler: Knew what was going on in the game before I did!
Patito: "He actually abandoned him".
FanboyMaster: "wow".

AND FINALLY...
YOU: I hope you liked my excursion into an art game that was probably still mostly bullshit! It left a bad taste in my mouth, but hopefully you at least got a laugh out of it.