Hey all – I’m back again, and I hope you’ve had a chance to read my recent post on Linger in Shadows from last Saturday. Linger releases today on PSN for $2.99, so I wanted to answer some questions that popped up, as well as give a little insight as to how you go about exploring and interacting with Linger.

First things first … I know I haven’t gotten back to folks on the comments, but I have been busy working on finishing the PSP download version of Everyday Shooter, but I promise I’ll chime in and respond to some of the questions and comments here.

When you actually play through Linger in Shadows there are a bunch of things to think about as you explore. Roam through the timeline both forward and backward. Look beyond the frame of the picture as you see it. There are things hidden that you can play with, unlock, and even get Trophies for if you find them. You’ll want to utilize all aspects of the SIXAXIS or the DualShock3.

Right now you may be thinking, “What in the world is he talking about?” But once you jump into the experience, you’ll start to realize what I’m talking about. I don’t want to explain it too much and give it away.

Also, there are even hints both through audio cues, visual effects, and the DualShock3 if you have that controller as well. If you miss something critical, it winds back, and you are given a hint, too. We added these hints because we want you to enjoy it and not get too frustrated.

Ok, onto Trophies. The reason for including Trophies is that we wanted to reward the player for exploring. The more exploration beyond the basics, the more you get. A lot of these are reflected through “greets.” For those of you who don’t know what greets are, they come from the demoscene. Demo groups put in call outs, or greets, to friends or other groups whose work they really respect. It is kind of like liner notes on a record album. It’s a tradition of the art form that I think is cool, and it exposes you to other demoscene groups that you should check out.

Another thing to think about is that Trophies don’t have to be the traditional “You Killed XXX enemies” or “Beat time of blah” sort of thing. They can be explored as part of ideas, philosophy, mocking the traditional idea of Trophies, or for very unique approaches to playing the game, art, or whatever. I think we’ll start to see Trophies awarded for a lot of different things moving forward as people think about them as being more than just a bullet point.

I hope I answered some of your questions. I probably created more questions than I answered, but then again, I hope I can address some of those in the comments. I think that once you get your hands on Linger in Shadows and explore the experience today, it will start to make a lot more sense.

Hi all, my name is Rusty Buchert and I am the Sr. Producer for Linger in Shadows. Some of you may have heard about it already from coverage here and there, but there are a lot of questions surrounding this unique title. It will be releasing on the PlayStation Network on October 9, so I wanted to explain today about what Linger is and what it isn’t. I’ll start with the easier side, and that is Linger in Shadows is NOT a game. It was never meant to be a game and it will never be a game. Yes it has trophies, but it still isn’t a game and I’ll explain why a little later on.

So then, what the heck is it? There are a few different answers to that question and I’m going to try and cover them here. So here is the short version and then I’ll ramble on in more detail. Linger in Shadows was created by Plastic, from the demoscene. It is an experiment with the demoscene and it is an experiment in Interactive Digital Art.

Now for the first part: what the heck is the demoscene and why does it matter? The demoscene came from an underground digital art culture that started in the 80’s. A “demo” is an audiovisual program created to demonstrate and push the limits of a machine through the devotion, creativity and originality of the demosceners who created the “demo”. Like games, “demos” went from being made by individuals to being made by groups. The demoscene has created some amazing pieces over the years, and that is why we decided to reach out to the demoscene and see what they could do with the PlayStation 3 hardware. The results are pretty amazing. The kicker is that the folks who made Linger in Shadows did it part-time after-hours. This is a work of passion for them; they have day jobs too.

Previously demoscene productions were passive experiences. You ran it, sat back and watched. One of the things that Plastic wanted to do with Linger was to move in a new direction. Linger can be watched passively, but you won’t get the whole experience that way. It is meant to be an experience that you explore through. Look beyond the frame of what you see. Search for new things, experiment with the SIXAXIS, and you might be surprised by what you find.

I hope you’ve had a chance to check out the trailer on PSN. If you haven’t seen it yet, give it a look. You can also find out a little more about Linger in the Shadows here.

I’ll be back here on the blog soon to talk more about Linger in the Shadows, Plastic and how this all got started.

As such, his answers are quite illuminating on the following topics (the Blog readers who asked these questions are in parentheses):

• What are you showing at E3 2008?
• If you get the chance, what game(s) do you most want to go hands-on with at E3 2008? (Genki-Rocket)
• Who in the industry would you most like to collaborate on a game with? (indigovenom)
• If you could re-make any previous-generation game for the PS3, which title would it be, and what would it be like? (KazeEternal)
• What kind of advice would you give those currently in college and would like to pursue a career in video game development? (Voozi)
• How often do you make technical changes to your games halfway through or late into the game development cycle based on something you’ve just seen or played from other developers? (P_tear_griffin)
• How has the PSN changed the way you make games? (tirminyl)
• If you could say one thing to the fans of your game/series out there, what would it be? (Xanog)

If there’s more you’d like to find out from Rusty on Flower or Linger in Shadows, ask your question in the comments area.

Next interview: Matt Morton (PixelJunk Eden)