Back at the beginning of the month, I resolved that I would release at least one game each month. January’s is “Bars of Black and White,” a game about barcodes and Orwellian experimentation.
You can’t remember the last time you left your room. When you receive a barcode reader in the mail, you discover that the world around you is not what it seems, and must escape the bars of black and white.
Play “Bars” on Kongregate
Play “Bars” on Ludus Novus
Uh…I finished the game without ever finding the barcode scanner. Was that supposed to happen?
That is allowed to happen, although I did not expect it to be easy to do. An important clue is hidden in a barcode, and a puzzle requires that you first understand the solution to the barcode-finding puzzle. I’m a bit surprised that several people have reported never finding the scanner.
it’s an escape the room game, but i like that it’s not about searching out tiny, unlabelled hotspots. most of the things to find are optional, and are hidden in the presentation instead of an invisible layer of interface. the player learns to read everything as a set of bars, which is the idea. the ending is somewhat of a cop-out, though it makes sense to see the source of the visual motif that’s been running through the game.
(i also like that the protagonist of the game is someone who just sits around playing escape the room flash games and probably refreshing jayisgames every few minutes.)
now that i’m making flash games, i’m curious about kongregate. maybe i’ll email you.
The ending was a late-stage addition… I discourage anyone from reading too much into it. :-P
The hand-drawn art style reminded me (pleasantly) of Desert Bridge. I also wasn’t too keen on the ending, but I enjoyed the rest of the game, especially looking behind your window for the first time, and finding the ‘final’ barcode.
i do like arriving at the final screen with a “29/30”.
644.423s
30/30
89.54s
0/30
Well done, sir. Several of my Nexus War buddies played and enjoyed this. They wish for me to pass along their thanks.
Thanks for that – great little game. Arriving at the end screen with 29/30 made me go “grr” then “oh!” about one second later.
I think there may be a small bug in that some views aren’t updated when the layout changes. (Sorry to be oblique, trying to avoid giving spoilers.)
this was a very intresting and well done game, and I found some entertainment on finding all of the barcodes and what they said. I also kind of see a potential for a sequal (after all, sometimes the inmates escape right?) its just a thought though…
This game is just awesome…
I liked the idea so much.
Maybe its the BEST flashgame i’ve ever played, but its shure one of the Top3!! Realy great THX!
I love the ‘Sympathy for the devil’ reference. i am a man of wealth and taste/use all your well learned politics/or i will lay your soul to waste
i played (the game). i saw (the barcodes). its awesome.