Safety Instructions

Section: 

Since I learned to type at an early age, I’ve always been fond of typing games — largely because I’m fairly good at them. While my aim may be mediocre in something like House of the Dead, Typing of the Dead turned me into a rock star.

So it’s no surprise that I really enjoyed this week’s entry, Safety Instructions. The game plays out like an interactive version of the safety instruction cards you find in the back pocket of airline seats. You are a passenger in an airplane, and as the emergency on the airplane unfolds you are given text instructions for your character to perform. You then type these out as quickly as possible with no mistakes, and the character performs the safe act. If not, he dies.

The character’s deaths are half the fun here. It’s pretty hilarious when he gets eaten by a shark while the elevator chiptunes music bleeps away in the background. There are several bonus scenes that are unlocked when you beat the game, as well as additional difficulty levels. At certain points the game throws you for a loop and even asks you to do things that are clearly not part of the safety briefing.

Talking Points: Is this an example of subversive art, or just parody? Would this actually work as a straight up instruction game? Is anybody else reminded of the airline safety instructions from Fight Club?

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Comments

Fun.

Y'know, I do think this game has a point, though I'm not entirely sure it's intended since it's buried so deep (not trying to stir up another authorial intent debate with wordsmythe, I promise). If you play the Nightmare difficulty, it does point out that the laughably verbose legalese warnings resultant from our absurdly litigious society could have, uh, negative consequences. It only sort of hints at this, though, before it rambles off in the character's Personal Thoughts direction. Still, the point is there, if you're looking.

Otherwise, cute, fun, and rather hilarious.

EDIT: I just played through again on beginner difficulty, and I guess my point is a bit more obvious if you play through that one before going to normal or "I'm good at this" difficulty. It does, at least, give you more of an appreciation for concise instructions. I missed that the first time through.

Also, has anyone managed to complete the last insanely long line on Nightmare? Is the ending any different if you do?

I'm a pretty decent touch-typist, except when someone's watching or I'm somehow thinking about it, in which event I develop what can best be described as a bad case of Stupid Meat Fist.

I honestly haven't gotten him to safety yet, he keeps ending up stuck on the raft. Could be that Nightmare is where you actually manage to get to safety, but it's pretty tough even for my leet touch typing skillz.

You wind up

Spoiler:

on the beach

at the end of Nightmare, and you're given an insanely long type test (probably twice the length of any other one in the game). And you're only given one shot at it. But you don't die if you fail; I was just wondering what would happen if you succeeded. I'm a ~100 wpm typist and that line, in 10 seconds, was very daunting. I'd love to take another crack at it but there's no way I'm going to play through the whole game that many times just to try. I'd love to hear if things are different if someone else managed it, though.

I am a horrible typist who can't look up from the keyboard or not hit one side of the keyboard with the opposite hand. This game only reminds me of my shortcomings. And my failure to complete Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing on my parents old 486.

Minarchist wrote:

...I was just wondering what would happen if you succeeded. I'm a ~100 wpm typist and that line, in 10 seconds, was very daunting. I'd love to take another crack at it but there's no way I'm going to play through the whole game that many times just to try. I'd love to hear if things are different if someone else managed it, though.

Just found this quote from the author (Pippin Barr) on another blog:

...I've been thinking today about what might be nice to include if you beat it. Bennett Foddy assures me that some people can genuinely type that fast, so I may have to come up with something.

So it sounds like, for the time being at least, nothing changes if you actually can type that last line. Crazy to think anyone can do it error-free, though.

Minarchist wrote:
Minarchist wrote:

...I was just wondering what would happen if you succeeded. I'm a ~100 wpm typist and that line, in 10 seconds, was very daunting. I'd love to take another crack at it but there's no way I'm going to play through the whole game that many times just to try. I'd love to hear if things are different if someone else managed it, though.

Just found this quote from the author (Pippin Barr) on another blog:

...I've been thinking today about what might be nice to include if you beat it. Bennett Foddy assures me that some people can genuinely type that fast, so I may have to come up with something.

So it sounds like, for the time being at least, nothing changes if you actually can type that last line. Crazy to think anyone can do it error-free, though.

I'm not sure how I feel about putting in a challenge that's designed to be unwinnable.

Eh, I've seen stuff like that done in endings before. And how many RPGs have unwinnable battles that are part of the storyline?

I just love the death if you don't open the door.

Hey everyone - so I made this game, great seeing your comments here!

Just wanted to pop in to say that after Foddy's comment I did actually implement a winning result for the final Nightmare screen. I certainly can't type fast enough to see it, personally, but it exists!

pippinbarr wrote:

Hey everyone - so I made this game, great seeing your comments here!

Just wanted to pop in to say that after Foddy's comment I did actually implement a winning result for the final Nightmare screen. I certainly can't type fast enough to see it, personally, but it exists!

Thanks for making it, dark and adorable! The music really is a nice touch.

Man, the character's face as he breaks his face against the seat in front of him is almost haunting.

PyromanFO wrote:
Minarchist wrote:
Minarchist wrote:

...I was just wondering what would happen if you succeeded. I'm a ~100 wpm typist and that line, in 10 seconds, was very daunting. I'd love to take another crack at it but there's no way I'm going to play through the whole game that many times just to try. I'd love to hear if things are different if someone else managed it, though.

Just found this quote from the author (Pippin Barr) on another blog:

...I've been thinking today about what might be nice to include if you beat it. Bennett Foddy assures me that some people can genuinely type that fast, so I may have to come up with something.

So it sounds like, for the time being at least, nothing changes if you actually can type that last line. Crazy to think anyone can do it error-free, though.

I'm not sure how I feel about putting in a challenge that's designed to be unwinnable.

It's not unheard of. Even the 2-hour star in Braid is absurd enough to imply that it's not supposed to be done (or not worth doing).

wordsmythe wrote:

It's not unheard of. Even the 2-hour star in Braid is absurd enough to imply that it's not supposed to be done (or not worth doing).

Well, as I said - that last level does have a result these days (though it's pretty ridiculous to think of someone beating it without an autotyper).

And, for the record, I certainly went and got the 2-hour Braid star!

My typing is not too bad (not near Biker's 100wpm, though). I can't get through any of nightmare mode.

My biggest problem with touch typing games is that I'm not using a typewriter -- I'm using a computer keyboard that's equipped with a backspace key, and I generally use it when I make a mistake. Touch typing games allow for no mistakes at all, ever.

Enjoyed the game, liked a lot of the meta level content as you scale up in difficulty. Like the instruction difficulty, and failures that don't end the story

Spoiler:

poor kid

or lines you aren't meant to type correctly

Spoiler:

carry-on

Nice to know teaching touch typing can be both morally ambiguous and fun!

Also, more fun with beer!

Just beat nightmare. It was pretty awesome However, I failed the last line in Nightmare and no way am I going back to try again. Fun time waster though!

Loved this, and played it through Nightmare. That said, as with the rest of the group, I couldn't manage the final screen. What the heck fell on my guy, though? Was that a row of seats?

Well, gosh, thanks. I wish other professional schools for floundering industries whose graduates are saddled with debt and have only years of grinding misery in front of them, with no chance of paying back their obligate loans and/or having a social life, would comment on old threads with such positivity.

Sheesh, seriously: when was the last time a PhD in English or Comparative Lit ever wished you good luck here? Who can remember the msot recent well-wishing from a primary care MD in their residency? Never and nobody! Stay classy, you spammy conglomerate of bottom-tier legal education.

I mean, I'm only working on my MA.

wordsmythe wrote:

I mean, I'm only working on my MA.

"You think wordsmythe is all sharp edges now? Just wait until he's a certified master of words."