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ere

You played Passage, right? You know, the little five minute game which managed to cram more thematic meaning and sheer emotion into a 100x16 pixel window than anyone would have ever thought possible? If you didn't, you should. If you did, join me at the next paragraph.

Jason Rohrer, creator of Passage, just finished his follow-up game. Titled Gravitation, Rohrer describes it as "a videogame about mania, melancholia, and the creative process."

That is literally all you need to know about it. Arrow keys move, spacebar jumps, every game mechanic has an intentional symbolic meaning. Don't read the artist's statement until you're done.

I plan on doing a dual Indie Nation article on Gravitation and Stars Over Half Moon Bay this Friday, when we can all ruin both games with obvious analyzation and deconstruction. For now, just download Gravitation and enjoy it. And if you like it, donate a few bucks.


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71 comments | showing # 51 to 71

Crapsh00t's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/05/2008 18:41
Crapsh00t
The fellow who created these is quite an interesting fellow, living an enviable but difficult lifestyle. More power to him. http://hcsoftware.sourceforge.net/jason-rohrer/simpleLife.html
bluexy's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/05/2008 19:06
bluexy
Beautiful game! I played it through three times and I'll try and summarize my thoughts for each of them.

1st round: At first I didn't understand what the little girl was for except making my hair catch on fire. So I played a little ball and spent my time collecting stars/warming up by the fire. I also didn't understand what the big ice balls were since, except that the stars created them. By the time I realized this though, they already blocked my way to the girl and I couldn't play with her anymore. Then she disappeared, and the fire became so small I couldn't search for stars anymore...

2nd try: I decided to balance playing with the girl and collecting stars. I hoped she would stay the whole time so I could keep looking for new stars, and maybe keep the fire going too. I would collect a star and come straight back, and while playing ball with the girl I'd push the ice ball into the fire. To my surprise these ice balls didn't change the fire at all. It didn't keep burning like I had hoped, it might have even hurried the process. I left last time and when I came back the girl was gone. I was angry, frustrated. I had tried to play with her all the time! Now the fire was dead again and I couldn't do anything.

3rd try: I decided spending time gathering the stars was what made me angry. So I didn't gather them this time. I spent the time playing with the little girl. You know what though? I enjoyed this round the most. The music came full stream, and sounded nice; the screen was wider so I could see the full room, the girl, the ball, and the green surrounding (it never became frozen since I never left!); the girl never left!

I even became tempted and had to retrieve the star that was just within view... I just got angry because the girl almost got lost from my view, and then I almost missed a ball she threw when I pushed the ice ball into the fire.

The best part was how it ended though: with me playing catch with her.. my head aflame (even though my fireplace was going out), wide screen and loud music! Instead of alone with the ball in a cold area standing in front of the small fire.

Yeah, there's some deep thoughts I could say... but they're my own so I'll keep them. Beautiful game; beautiful art.
m3ds's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/05/2008 19:20
m3ds
Hmm, I think I get most of the game. The one thing I'm struggling to understand is why the blocks count down.

The closest thing I can think of is that if the stars represent your ideas, then not working on them (pushing them into the fire) causes you lose to some of the original idea and it becomes something less than your original idea.

At least that's what I get out of that.
TheDirtyHobo's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/05/2008 19:26
TheDirtyHobo
I did it. I made it to the top (on like the 4th playthrough, mind you). By focusing and going all out, I managed to climb all the way up, exceeding all expectations. And not only this, I had time to spare to make my descent and for my small friend to still be there. To my horror, once I got to the bottom, I realized that all the frozen-star-block-things that I had collected on my upward journey had formed an impenetrable wall between the child and I.

I hate this game. ;_;
Wedge's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/05/2008 19:27
Wedge
Goddammit, Heretic beat me too it. I WANT MY SOFTCORE YAOI!!!
wtfitsjared's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/05/2008 19:56
wtfitsjared
I get the feeling this was made more for the developer than for anyone else to play. It's very symbolic yes, and it's stretching the boundaries of the "games as art" thing. However, it would be an interesting experiment to bring this game to a non-gamer and see what they make of it.

I tend to believe that the metaphorical meanings in this game may be lost on a non-gamer. It would be interesting to see if they understood the symbolism behind the flaming head, the platforming, and the screen fading in and out, or whether they'd just be frustrated with the odd mechanics.

All in all, i like it but it's message isn't as universal as Passage.
LordRegulus's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/05/2008 20:28
LordRegulus
@wtfitsjared

All in all, i like it but it's message isn't as universal as Passage.

That sums up my thoughts pretty well. Still inspiring for a wannabe dev though...
LordRegulus's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/05/2008 20:29
LordRegulus
Wait, that sounded wrong. It's inspiring to me, because I'm a wannabe dev. Rohrer is no wannabe.
wtfitsjared's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/05/2008 21:26
wtfitsjared
When I say it's not as universal, I don't want that to be construed as a bad thing.

The message of this game, is far more pointed, the bipolar-esque theme of this one is not something that everyone can relate to as much as the life as a journey theme of Passage, however.

In retrospect, universal is probably a bad word. The subject matter of Gravitation is far more pointed than Passage.
Tubatic's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/05/2008 21:36
Tubatic
@wtfits

Interesting pondering. I think you could show this to an art student (contemporary visual art, composition, etc) or a professional that creates and they would get it, even if they are not a gamer. Its definitely an expression of something that creative types (or even, people that find themselves having plenty of ideas) would understand.

Maybe even just someone with a career and a family that isn't a gamer. Aside from the fire thing, I think the idea of venturing out to work is something a non-gamer might catch on to.
Eschatos's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/05/2008 21:53
Eschatos
I still need to play Passage, so gimme a while.
wtfitsjared's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/05/2008 22:31
wtfitsjared
I went and showed it to a non-gamer friend, her first thought was how much she hated the game, but immediately got the message when I told her there was a metaphor to be uncovered. Kudos to the developer for creating something simple enough to be accessible to someone who hasn't played through COD4 on Veteran, but poignant enough to the point where you have to think about exactly what your in-game actions mean and how they relate to your particular view of the situation, and in turn how that situation relates to the particular life experience being presented. Metaphorically.

Just to make my experience with the game clear, I played with the girl until I realized that the box only widened out so much, then immediately went star hunting, by the time I had gotten several stars and my box had gotten smaller, I realized all the ice blocks on the ground had counted down to ones. Now forced to deal with them before I could go hunting again, I spent a large portion of my remaining time pushing them off. The next time I returned from hunting after reaching a point where I could no longer jump high enough to continue, the girl had gone and I spent what was left of my time pushing the ice blocks into the fire and then waiting as the timer ticked down in my cold, lonely square.

In comparison, my friends experience was quite opposite. She spent the large majority of her time playing with the girl, who never disappeared for her. She only went for the the most immediately visible stars and never had to push them into the fire.

Take from our experiences what you will, personally, I found them both very indicative of our respective views on what's important in life. We had an interesting conversation about it.
nosinging's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/05/2008 22:50
nosinging
Am i the only one who was certain that they could get to the top of this game? I played with the girl, did some star hunting/pushing, and when the girl finally disappeared, I had a superlong ability to go up, so I thought i could make it to the "top." I haven't read the creator's intentions, but I hope this doesn't suggest some futile attempt at achievement in my life...
stevesan's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/05/2008 22:54
stevesan
what i felt while playing it:

when the box first started expanding, i felt pretty excited. the music helped too. but it definitely felt like i could breathe easier with the box expanded.

i felt pretty sad when the ice blocks blocked the girl, cuz i couldn't play ball with her anymore. cuz playing ball was pretty fun, especially with the little heart effect.

it was also frustrating when the box got tight again yet i was still up in the sky. i couldn't jump down as easily.

like Passage, i will probably never play this again, but I'll never forget it either. bravo.
stevesan's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/05/2008 22:56
stevesan
btw, i think this is great thing going on here. we're getting discussion about a game, but it's not "how do you beat the last boss?" or "what score did you get?" instead it's, "how did you feel while playing it?"
RJG's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/05/2008 23:08
RJG
I still haven't played Passage because no matter which version I download it just won't bloody work on my laptop.
Im OK's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/05/2008 23:45
Im OK
So I played this and went back and forth between playing with the blonde kid (who is Rohrer's son Mez, btw) knocked down a couple of stars, then went on a spree and knocked down like 7 or 8 stars at once. Then when I got back to the bottom, I had a bitch of a time pushing them all into the fire. After that, I just said screw it and played catch with the kid for the remaining 200 ticks or so, and didn't bother going after stars anymore.

Overall, though, this one just didn't affect me as much as Passage did.

@All the haters

You are, of course, entitled to your opinions about the games. That's just swell and dandy. Similarly, I am entitled to my opinion that you should kindly go die in a fire as quickly and as efficiently as possible and with a minimum of fuss.
God Len's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/06/2008 00:07
God Len
great game, i too spent too much time trying to get the stars, then when i came back she was gone
HarassmentPanda's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/06/2008 18:44
HarassmentPanda
I'm going to play this now. I wish I hadn't read some of the comments first, seems like they may have ruined some of it.
Necros's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/06/2008 20:48
Necros
I downloaded passage, but I still haven't played it. I should really get around to it, but I need to find time to give it.
exodus1925's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/21/2008 13:42
exodus1925
Trying my best not to sound like a completely pretentious twat, this game is more of a piece of philosophical art than a game. Looks like a failed. Great game though.
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