Don't Get Your Hopes Up - An interactive comic about Amsterdam's housing crisis
March 24, 2025 9:57 AM Subscribe
Don't Get Your Hopes Up - An interactive comic about Amsterdam's housing crisis
A short game about trying to find an apartment in Amsterdam, and the horror of architecture in a city that mistakes freedom for abundance. It's a mix of fiction, documentary and social commentary, based on my own desperate apartment searches in 2022 and 2024.
"You're looking for a new apartment in Amsterdam. Your once-confident search is morphing into panic. Nothing is available. Anything will do. ANYTHING."
A 20-minute demo of a videogame idea I've been shaping for the last few years. Playable in-browser, though a download is recommended. Features special, unreleased music by the Beijing-based musician Simon Frank.
"With disquiet and creeping unease, it dismantles the consoling fictions of abundance, and laments a feeling of home that's always just beyond reach."
A short game about trying to find an apartment in Amsterdam, and the horror of architecture in a city that mistakes freedom for abundance. It's a mix of fiction, documentary and social commentary, based on my own desperate apartment searches in 2022 and 2024.
"You're looking for a new apartment in Amsterdam. Your once-confident search is morphing into panic. Nothing is available. Anything will do. ANYTHING."
A 20-minute demo of a videogame idea I've been shaping for the last few years. Playable in-browser, though a download is recommended. Features special, unreleased music by the Beijing-based musician Simon Frank.
"With disquiet and creeping unease, it dismantles the consoling fictions of abundance, and laments a feeling of home that's always just beyond reach."
Role: writer, illustrator and programmer
Didn't work for me, I'm afraid. I got this error:
While running game code:
File "renpy/common/00start.rpy", line 244, in script call
call _splashscreen from _call_splashscreen_1
File "renpy/common/00start.rpy", line 244, in script call
call _splashscreen from _call_splashscreen_1
Exception: Could not set video mode.
The game exited unexpectedly.
More information may be available in the browser console or contained in the log.
I'm on Chrome on a Mac.
posted by dobbs at 6:39 PM on March 25
While running game code:
File "renpy/common/00start.rpy", line 244, in script call
call _splashscreen from _call_splashscreen_1
File "renpy/common/00start.rpy", line 244, in script call
call _splashscreen from _call_splashscreen_1
Exception: Could not set video mode.
The game exited unexpectedly.
More information may be available in the browser console or contained in the log.
I'm on Chrome on a Mac.
posted by dobbs at 6:39 PM on March 25
@dobbs Ah sorry about that! I couldn't recreate the error, tried on a few different devices.
I know Ren'Py's web compatibility is a bit janky, so if it's possible could you try the downloadable versions? They're linked at the bottom of the Itch page!
posted by beijingbrown at 12:10 AM on March 26
I know Ren'Py's web compatibility is a bit janky, so if it's possible could you try the downloadable versions? They're linked at the bottom of the Itch page!
posted by beijingbrown at 12:10 AM on March 26
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posted by ignignokt at 5:14 PM on March 24 [1 favorite]