Gimme Indie Game: Daniel Benmergui's I wish I were the Moon
Daniel Benmergui's I wish I were the Moon is likely the only explicitly Italo Calvino-inspired game you'll play all year, and, even in its prototype form, is cutely innovative to boot. Benmergui created the game to show at Tokyo Game Show's Sense of Wonder Night -- one of the first summits to show off independent games and those seeking to do something new (and was the place where the void-painting game The Unfinished Swan first appeared before its preview video swept the blogs).
Even as quickfire and seemingly simple as the game is, I wish I were the Moon's photo-mechanic -- unjustly overlooked outside of a handful of games like Pokemon Snap, Fatal Frame, and PC Engine/PlayStation oddity Gekisha Boy -- brings a welcome change of pace, and tells a lovely and/or heartbreaking story at the same time.
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Anonymous Anonymous
#1 – 4:07 PM December 2, 2008
Beyond good and evil makes great use of the camera/screengrab idea.
macisaguy
#2 – 5:01 PM December 2, 2008
This reminded me of Passage.
I really enjoy the photo mechanic here, because it turned out to be a lot more fun than I expected it to be. It adds a simply perfect (literally) puzzle element to a beautiful piece of programming.
It's games like this that bring out the potential beauty of games without the need for big budget graphics, plot twists and sweeping musical scores.
Now, to try and figure out all the endings. (Yeah, I saw there's a youtube video...but no thanks.)
General Specific
#3 – 5:04 PM December 2, 2008
That little graphic makes me tingly. Cosmicomics is one of my favorite books.
mattzog
#4 – 5:51 PM December 2, 2008
I'm glad I'm not the only one who listened to Sebadoh in the 90s and still games in the naughties.
Though, really, that can't be such an exclusive group.
David Mershon
#5 – 9:59 AM December 3, 2008
I don't want to be a stickler, but according to Jon Blow, Braid was inspired by Invisible Cities.
alexlitel
#6 – 3:07 PM December 3, 2008
If we can get this and Braid from Calvino, the message is salient - more designers need to pick one of his books.
Bavi_H
#7 – 3:46 PM December 3, 2008
Also by the same author, Night Raveler and the Heartbroken Uruguayans, a short game with multiple endings that involves cutting old relationships to form new ones.
Chris Griswold
#8 – 10:39 PM January 6, 2009
Does anyone know of a game in which you play a man collecting stars for a woman, eventually flying through the sky to get them? I remember finding it after playing this game, but I have since lost the URL. Thanks.