Billy Suicide is the flagship title of Mike Lasala, who has the trademark style of featuring a protagonist who may as well be him, with photoreal frames circa the 3DO era. This game is somewhat similar to a game I wanted to do back in 2007, except in my take on it your suicide was inevitable and the things you did beforehand would determine how people behaved at your funeral, and the resulting aftermath. Billy doesn't dig quite as deep as that causal model may have, but the episodic structure of this game suggests that the one-day-at-at-time model could bear out in interesting ways.
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"Get me the fight from Quinn. I want money. Do you understand? Money, money!"
"I forbid! I forbid! Better buy a gun and shoot yourself!"
"You need money to buy a gun."
You click around and do stuff, it's pretty-basic, very Sims. The time management aspect here is crucial; your financial health seems to be eroding every second (as if your wallet were the US Federal deficit), and your mental health as well. You have to juggle your sudden urges with bonus point opportunities and the constant struggle to avoid depression and destitution. Finishing the tasks you commit to is also rewarded with further points, culminating in a sex session with your girlfriend if you get the high score. It's all a bit puerile on the face of it, but if you're in the target audience especially, you'll see that's the idea. The meditation with swirling symbols (death, yin-yang, money, nude girl) just reminded me of home.
There's been some outrage and a demand to take this game down, which the author clearly takes as a compliment (and why not?). But I don't think this game is meant to be an education tool to help prevent suicide so much as a crude smack-up to help prevent living death. To that effect, it could use a much deeper model with more dynamic consequences, but it does get you thinking about the negative-feedback-loop balancing acts this society puts us though, and that makes me want to blow my fucking brains out.
MAKE MONEY.
Woah.
-The game was purposefully tedious, which perfectly reflects real life. I had to combat my goals with the (also) frivolous needs to express myself, consume via t.v. and radio, and jerk off.
-The protaganist is truly alone, in that he does not have any interaction with anyone else. Sure his girlfriend is with him, but she only expresses meaningless things that are of no importance of the character. Likewise, you suprisingly do not have the option to talk with her to bring up your mental health. You only can placate yourself with material objects and stuff that changes your brain chemistry (i.e. pointless shit and drugs).
-Reinforces the consumeristic belief that any time not making money is bad. You constantly assault yourself with the question "shouldn't I be making more money?" that the system imposes on you.
I know I'll pick some more ideas up with more playthroughs (I completed it twice) which is a testament to the game. It wasn't "fun" but it brought up some interesting points. I can really identify with it because of my previous experiences with clinical depression.
What´s ironic is that very
What´s ironic is that very thing motivated me to write the review.