It’s been awfully… quiet… around here, something I know is unrelated to my own (temporary) inability to speak, and something I choose not to attribute to my recent injury-addled adjustment (now undone) to the top banner so thoughtfully provided for us by our own Gregg B. Instead I choose to believe that everyone is just… busy, and my frantic attempts to have someone, anyone, look at the GOD DAMNED PHP IT WILL TAKE YOU LIKE NINE SECONDS TO FIX I HAVE BEEN FIGHTING WITH IT FOR FIVE DAYS help me out with some tech stuff are not so much my mute voice falling on cruelly deaf ears, but on ears carrying out their own appointed duties.
I had kinda thought the aforementioned Gregg, being our great lover of and expert in indies, might have mentioned this one – plus I’m honestly not sure what to make of it. Independent developer Jason Rohrer found (indie) fame for his simple, haunting game The Passage, one which (for obvious reasons) reminded me of and disturbed me as much as the once-more aforementioned Gregg’s find Every Day the Same Dream. Rohrer’s newest work, Sleep is Death… well, as I said, I don’t know what to make of it. I do know that it has a chance to be the start of something big.
One of my oldest and dearest friends is a great lover of all things gaming – roleplaying mostly, videogames a little less so; but mostly he loves his friends and hanging out with them. Unfortunately, life after college changes things, and for us it’s been well over ten years. Many of my friends, including this one, live in faraway cities or even distant lands that I may never visit. This friend of mine who loves his roleplaying so much really misses the lighthearted days of undergrad, when eating nothing but tacos and vodka for a week meant nothing more than a vague sense of unease about going to class. He misses access to the things he loves: his games, his friends.
Sleep is Death could conceivably change all that. Here is an on-the-fly, real-time adventure creator for two (and I imagine could be pretty easily Rohrer-reengineered to accommodate more). On one end is the game’s referee, on the other is the player. You create a story together, one that can be exciting, sad, scary, funny, anything you choose. The ref pulls in – in real time – objects from a vast user-created database of stuff, building a world (did I mention in real time?).
Meanwhile, the player acts and reacts to the objects, characters, and places (in real time) the narrator chooses to add. Flipbook images of Sleep is Death adventures, described by Rock, Paper, Shotgun God Alec Meer, put it this way: Sleep is Death stories “read so well after the event, like tiny, mysterious comics from another world.”
Check this one out, also referred by Meer. While it may seem a sort of Coraline-esque adventure, like all things created by Jason Rohrer I found it hauntingly human and strangely disturbing. I just. Don’t. Know. What. To. Make. Of. It. Or him, frankly. I find Rohrer’s work both upsetting and exhilarating: the first because, frankly, some of that shit’s disturbing, yo; the second because, frankly, only a brilliant indie developer would have the courage and liberty to do such a thing.
The reason I brought up my buddy (hi Vince!) earlier is that Sleep is Death seems so him. There he is, living and working in a far-flung realm. He gets to come home and see his friends just a couple times a year. And he does so love his gaming. While the technology and visuals of Sleep is Death are surely primitive compared to some of today’s slicker productions, I can’t help but feel that there’s the opportunity for unbelievably personal and genuine connections between individuals and through narrative here.
RPS have been following Sleep is Death from day one, and this post is mostly to communicate the existence of the game to any of you Tap readers who might not be aware of it. It’s available, it’s growing every day. Yes, you have to pay a small fine to get it out of impound, but you do get two copies – one for the player and one for the narrator, and of course you can switch off. It’s nice to support art in games. Roger Ebert and I don’t share much in common except a current inability to speak; one of the subjects regarding which we differ most greatly is whether or not games are art. In that battle of wills, he is the cantankerous, future-fearing old grouch; I am the kickass young ninja of awesomeness-fueled new media defense. Silently we battle, me signing “fuck yes, games are art” while innovators like Jason Rohrer fearlessly do the hard work of actually proving it.
Email the author of this post at steerpike@tap-repeatedly.com.
Thats really odd, because Greggi sent me the exact game via email last week. Looks great doesn’t it?
I can’t stop laughing at your opening paragraph 🙂
Well, while I’m working on a sprawling review of that Gothic game I’ve been playing forever I can’t help you with that PHP stuff, unless it’s something you smoke and then I might know a guy who might know a guy.
Scout knows everybody. He’s like our tiny, mysterious comic from another world. 😉
function check_T-R_Website() { if ( isThereMail() ) then checkMail() while (unreadPosts()) readUnreadPosts() checkCoffee: if (isNewStaffroomReady() ) then checkStaffRoomForCoffee() else getOwnCoffee() whine() if (isSteerpikeGoingOnAboutSomething() ) then irritationLevel = parseMetaPhrasingAndTone() if (irritationLevel < 1) gosub checkCoffee() if (irritationLevel > 1 and irritationlevel < 2) then gosub checkCoffee() if (isAppropriate(ditty) ) then insertDitty() else if (isAppropriate(poem) ) then insertPoem() else insertWittyJibePunOrComment() deflectWithCommentAboutSilo() if (isMentionedByName(Helmut)) then if (isGoingOnAboutPHPAgain() ) then if (fetchAmazonPricesPHPBooks() > $50) then if (isAppropriate(WTF) ) then wtf(!) else layLowForCoupleOfDaysTillThisPasses() else sigh() beginThinkingAboutSettingWheelsInMotion() gosub checkCoffee() end end end end end unlockPersonalElevator( Users(scout,Toger,Spike))See! Nine seconds!
Helmut is the true tiny, mysterious comic from another world. Who lives in a straw house. (applause)
Why do you encourage him, Scout? Why do you poke the bear?!?
:applause!:
That was brilliant Helmut! I especially like the “deflectWithCommentAboutSilo” statement. 😀
Go Helmut! (line 25)
The silo will NEVER be ready. (line 24)
Poor Steerpike. (lines – heck, you count ’em)
Make mine with cream and sugar.
I hate you all.
Does this mean no personal elevator key for the silo?
It means my vengeance will be swift, and silent… but not unpainful. Oh no.
Once again I feel compelled to point out that this all comes down to Helmut, who has been my foe since time immemorial.
You may huff and puff Steerpike. You may hold the keys to the Tap and the Silo, but Helmut holds the key to the straw house designed to keep the wolf outside. Construction technology has improved much since the Pigs built their house in the 19th century. Vengeance shall not prevail.
In my better moments I suspect that “I hate you all” means that you really, really DO love us.
Hahaha, wow, is PHP really that fun? With personal elevators and stuff?
I’ve read a lot about Sleep is Death over the last month or so and wanted to buy it, but trying to time and prepare a session with somebody, not to mention somebody imaginative or even funny, has its difficulties. I love the idea and I bet when a decent plot thread is at the heart of the experience, as well as a competent controller it’s great. I’d definitely be up for it though. The thing I like most about it though is the way in which, as the participant, the controller is invisible; it makes the whole experience more unified and personal which for what Rohrer is trying to do is perfect.
Also, those last few sentences were pure gold Steerpike. You’ll have to show me sometime how to sign “fuck yes, games are art”.
Sleep Is Death looks fucking cool. I am going to check that out.
And Ebert is shit.
[…] actions are so limited, especially considering the recent release of Jason Rohrer’s free-form Sleep Is Death. The less we can do in a game, the less opportunity there is to author our own actions, which […]