By John Walker on May 6th, 2009 at 9:59 pm.
You may remember I Wish I Were The Moon, a game delightful both for its romantic simplicity, and the correct grammar of its title. Creator Daniel Benmergui has returned with a new, and quite astoundingly beautiful game, Today I Die.
Perhaps I’m feeling particularly flaky today, but the first time I was able to make a change to the game’s short paragraph, a warmth buzzed through me. The two-to-three minute long game takes place in a tall, RPS-screenshot-size-breaking, column, with a block of text suspended at the top. You play a girl, floating in water, surrounded by gently rising jellyfish and two angry piranha-like creatures. Everything else that happens is yours to discover.
It’s abundantly detailed, despite the simple pixel design and brevity. Playing with everything is rewarded, and it’s accompanied by some really lovely music by Hernan Rozenwasser. There are, as is the way of Ludomancy games, at least two endings to find, each telling a different story. And that, for me, is the key to this digital amuse-bouche: it sings of narrative, of how our entire life story can be altered through deliberate, conscious narrative choices. By the end I was properly moved.
If you appreciate Benmergui’s work you can make donations at his site. There’s a few financial incentives for the generous, with $27 buying you a credit in his next game, all the way up to $995 for a uniquely made version of I Wish I Were The Moon, with characters designed to your own whim, and a new ending of your own choosing. For those slightly more frugal, any amount donated will get you access to downloadable versions of three games, IWIWTM, Storyteller, and this latest, Today I Die. You could just donate nothing and still receive them, but that wouldn’t do, would it?
PS. Rather splendidly, there’s a lovely note on Today I Die’s page:
“This game is ad-free thanks to an unusual individual.”
Thanks to IndieGames for the spot.
06/05/2009 at 22:07 Rob says:
That was the most inspirational game I’ve ever played. It put a big smile on my face.
06/05/2009 at 22:13 YouAteMyCheeto says:
Yo Rob, did you play The Majesty of Colors? RPS did a piece on it back in January I think. Definitely worth playing.
http://www.kongregate.com/games/GregoryWeir/the-majesty-of-colors
06/05/2009 at 22:21 Alex says:
What seems like a wonderful piece, made MASSIVELY INFURIATING by the pernickity ‘run away from the evil jellyfish’ bit. GRRR.
(I acknowledge it’s all the more frustrating because I feel the need to help that girl, which is impressive. But still, shitty design there.)
06/05/2009 at 22:21 unclelou says:
Lovely.
06/05/2009 at 22:25 Okami says:
This was just plain beautiful. I’m not a person who is easily moved by any kind of media, but during the end, when.. nahh. won’t spoil it for anyone. But I did feel desperation and anxiety and fear of loss for a short moment and that’s not easily achieved.
06/05/2009 at 22:26 Theoban says:
That was brilliant. I gave it a go, gave up, was about to come back here and stomp around like an angry Stegosaurus.
Gave it another go, worked out what I was supposed to do, was swept away by the beauty. Everything this guy does touches me. Anyone doubting games as a modern, emotional, adult experience should see his stuff.
06/05/2009 at 22:27 John Walker says:
Alex – I honestly didn’t have a problem like that.
06/05/2009 at 22:28 Ben says:
very nice, but I feel really stupid as I cant see how to get any other ending!? Played it twice now…
06/05/2009 at 22:33 Okami says:
@Alex:
WARNING ZOMG SPOILERZ!!
The run away bit is really easy. They can’t come past the five air bubbles. You just have to arrange these air bubbles around you, and wait until you get the “free” verb.
06/05/2009 at 22:35 DeliriumWartner says:
SPOILERS
I got to a bit with psychotic dark murmaids chasing me endlessly and gave up. I don’t know if I missed the point but that bit was insanely hard.
Edit: Ah, apparently I did miss something, although I couldn’t see any bubbles at that point.
06/05/2009 at 22:38 Ishy says:
I’ve seen a way to get one ending, are there others…?
EDIT: Found the second ending, actually like it better than the ‘obvious’? one. As Gap Gen said, it’s a different path right at the end.
06/05/2009 at 22:39 jalf says:
Oooh, it’s nonlinear… There are at least two endings… Maybe more.
06/05/2009 at 22:40 Pijama says:
…Damn right, it is lovely.
And to make a point: yesterday I finished Bioshock. This has moved me much more than that million-dollar hightech game that was sunk in praise.
I wonder why.
06/05/2009 at 22:45 Gap Gen says:
OK, I found a second ending (the difference is right at the end).
06/05/2009 at 22:54 Mr Lizard says:
That was wonderful. Thank you.
06/05/2009 at 22:55 Filipe says:
Elegant and simple. I’m a fan.
06/05/2009 at 22:55 Sinnerman says:
I think that this is great. Leaves me wanting something more open and complicated where I have more words that can be replaced at any one time. I want to go off the tracks and explore more.
06/05/2009 at 23:00 maybenexttime says:
Lovely. Changing the phrase to something which makes poor falling girl happier- that brought a big smile to my face.
Although -
(spoilers)
I couldn’t find anything to do with the word ‘beauty’. “Free world full of shades today I swim” …
06/05/2009 at 23:01 Pijama says:
And I am trying to find a second ending… Unless that I did already and didn’t realize?
06/05/2009 at 23:12 loci says:
“most inspirational game I’ve ever played”
bit ott…
it had a wee bit of charm, lets leave it at that
06/05/2009 at 23:26 Igor Hardy says:
This was superb. I liked it much more than IWIWTM. Indeed it reminded me of The Majesty of Colors. The atmosphere and gameplay in perfect sync.
06/05/2009 at 23:27 dan says:
This is the second time I’ve seen this game linked today, and neither time has the ludomancy site worked. Anybody else having trouble with it?
06/05/2009 at 23:28 Gap Gen says:
maybenexttime: Really? You didn’t see which word to switch “beauty” with? Did you get a different ending yet again?
06/05/2009 at 23:31 Bret says:
Neat game. Can’t figure out the alternate ending though.
Never mind. Got it.
Game gave me two cases of the warm fuzzies. Not bad.
06/05/2009 at 23:32 Inanimotion says:
Great game!
I was so confused at the start though.
Second ending was disappointing since it was pretty much the same though.
06/05/2009 at 23:32 John Walker says:
loci – I’m not sure he said it was the most inspirational game you’ve ever played. You might want to let other people decide their own reactions.
06/05/2009 at 23:38 jalf says:
The two endings should be pretty simple to get. The options are “do something” vs “do nothing” on the last screen.
06/05/2009 at 23:39 Tei says:
The game is great, thanks RPS!
06/05/2009 at 23:42 Gap Gen says:
It is literally inspirational, meaning that the aim of the game is to induce breathing in someone.
06/05/2009 at 23:46 solipsistnation says:
I really like the choice of the two endings I found. Without spoiling it too much, one ending kind of denies the self-sufficiency implied by the path you take to get there, and the other reinforces it. That’s great. (I know some people who would be annoyed if there was just the first, more obvious, ending.)
06/05/2009 at 23:52 jackflash says:
I don’t understand this game at all. Same with the Moon one. *confused*
07/05/2009 at 00:00 Lim-Dul says:
@jackflash – a small hint: look at the way some words in the poem and elsewhere on the screen light up with the same color.
07/05/2009 at 00:13 Luís Magalhães says:
And this is why I visit RPS. Yet another gem of the interwebs, uncovered.
07/05/2009 at 00:14 Markoff Chaney says:
Excellent! This is a great game. It’s a way of telling a story that has you interact with mechanics to influence a change on the world you inhabit. As you change things in the world, your understanding of said world also changes, enabling you to get a firmer grasp on the whole concept. Working through slightly changing conventions, always progressing the game toward its programmed conclusion (or variants thereof), one emerges from the experience changed, while having changed the conceptual world you were just in.
The observer manipulates and modifies and then becomes manipulated and modified in turn. Excellent work. Really good play with perception, reality, understanding and, at it’s root, meta-programming of the self to transcend negativity and attachment. Thank You.
07/05/2009 at 00:14 Lewis says:
That’s just lovely. It’s like the anti-Passage.
I think I like this more, if only for the message. As poignant as Passage is, it’s cripplingly pessimistic in its inevitibility.
07/05/2009 at 00:17 dan says:
I’m still the only one who the site doesn’t work for?
07/05/2009 at 00:22 maybenexttime says:
Gap Gen: I can make a pretty accurate guess which word to switch beauty with, obviously, but I couldn’t find any way of moving it to the right place. I seemed to have run out of things to interact with – probably I just missed something, it was a slightly hurried glance at the game.
07/05/2009 at 00:24 LukasPukas says:
Wooooo, I got there in the end.
07/05/2009 at 00:27 Valentin Galea says:
Pretentious(TM)!
07/05/2009 at 00:51 Tailsn says:
That played relatively quickly once you got into the groove of it. I’m not sure if I was moved as much as some of the other players, but it definitely had a soft beauty to it. I think my favorite bit about this game is that it’s not quite straightforward and thus it really gave me a nice sense of exploration.
07/05/2009 at 01:08 Dorian Cornelius Jasper says:
It’s a shame that gamist snobs sniff their noses at a cute little narrative puzzle like this.
Quite charming and not nearly as pretentious as it could’ve been. Especially the second ending–that gave me a chuckle.
07/05/2009 at 01:12 orta says:
Amazing.
07/05/2009 at 01:20 Stromko says:
maybenexttime: “beauty” doesn’t replace the first word or the last word.
My first playthrough I “sort of” found an extra ending, in that I thought the look of defiance on the protagonist’s face was the ending and didn’t find the word beauty. I refreshed and then managed to find the “obvious” and not-obvious real endings.
07/05/2009 at 01:27 Vinraith says:
It’s a neat little game, thanks for pointing it out.
07/05/2009 at 01:38 jalf says:
@Dorian Cornelius Jasper: Huh? Which gaming snobs are we talking about? The feedback here at least has been pretty damn positive, I’d say.
07/05/2009 at 04:55 ylw says:
This is so beautifully emotive.
His sponsorship concept is great too. Did it for Auditorium, will do it for this.
07/05/2009 at 04:56 MD says:
That was beautiful. Sure it’s simple, and you could argue that it’s ultimately rather trite. But who cares, it’s well done and really quite touching, even uplifting. As far as I’m concerned we need this far more than yet another ‘life is the road to death, paved with suffering’ message.
07/05/2009 at 05:18 skizelo says:
Spoilers follow, I guess. Were you meant to do anything with the little dude who showed up at the end? I couldn’t find a way to interact with him, so I just threw all the bubbles at him until he went away.
Take that, nascent love interest!
07/05/2009 at 05:26 MD says:
skizelo (and this is also a spoiler, obviously): you can also bring him and the girl together. I thought it was just a matter of dragging one into the other, but maybe something else I did was part of the ‘solution’ too? Try that though, if you haven’t already.
07/05/2009 at 06:07 Scalene says:
It kind of says a lot that I never even considered NOT going to that man was an option until I read the comments.
I’m such a romantic…
07/05/2009 at 08:38 Cypher says:
Interesting, enjoyed it in the end once I’d worked out what I was supposed to be doing. I thought I had completed it at one point and was left feeling ‘is that it?’ Then purely by chance found something else which revealed more of a conclusion which warmed even my stone cold heart.
07/05/2009 at 09:14 Ian says:
This is splendiferous. I don’t feel the need to try for different endings, I think I got the best one.
07/05/2009 at 09:18 phuzz says:
I ended up surrounding the angry black thingies with bubbles, rather than the lady, either way it’s a lovely little game, like a pretty little garden or something.
07/05/2009 at 10:18 Jubaal says:
It really is a beautiful little game. Just shows what you can do when you release the shackles of traditional game structures.
07/05/2009 at 10:19 Ian says:
Okay so I lied and went to find a different ending, and as I suspected it wasn’t as happy as the first one.
SPOILER-O-TRON
“Free world,
full of beauty,
today I swim,
better by myself”
Knowing the ending I got the first time that made me sorta sad.
07/05/2009 at 10:37 simonkaye says:
I love it.
07/05/2009 at 12:07 Man Raised By Puffins says:
Brought a big grin to my face, cheers for the heads up John.
07/05/2009 at 15:04 Sunjammer says:
Pet peeve of mine i guess, but the music completely drove me up the walls. Midi piano literally makes my skin crawl. Turning off the music enhanced the experience a lot for me.
It’s beautiful. But i’m not sure it’s a game so much as it’s like.. A very smart version of one of those anniversary cards that plays a melody when you open them.
07/05/2009 at 15:14 Sunjammer says:
Edit/Delete: heh. Funny. I commented on the 3d realms story and the comment wound up here. Bug?
07/05/2009 at 17:04 D says:
Hm yeah, sounds like a usual chair-keyboard interface problem to me.
07/05/2009 at 18:12 Velvet Fist, Iron Glove says:
To judge by the title and the date of release, it looks like the character you play in this game must be an anthropomorphised 3DRealms.
08/05/2009 at 04:46 Satsuz says:
Not that it’s happened much in this thread, but I have to say that people need to understand what the word “pretentious” means before using it. It is not a word you throw out because you found someone’s work not to your taste.
So as a public service, I’ll post the definition. This is required reading, people.
pretentious
pre⋅ten⋅tious [pri-ten-shuhs]
–adjective
1. full of pretense or pretension.
2. characterized by assumption of dignity or importance.
3. making an exaggerated outward show; ostentatious.
Origin:
1835–45; earlier pretensious. See pretense, -ious
Related forms:
pre⋅ten⋅tious⋅ly, adverb
pre⋅ten⋅tious⋅ness, noun
Synonyms:
2. pompous. See bombastic. 3. showy. See grandiose.
08/05/2009 at 05:47 MD says:
Pretentious is indeed an overused word, Satsuz, and it’s completely understandable that people find this frustrating. It can serve as an unthinking way of denigrating something that happens not to tickle one’s fancy, as well as a conversation-killer and a lazy way out of offering any genuine analysis. But with all that said, it is also quite often an appropriate way of summing up what one believes to be wrong with a piece of work. If the word ‘pretentious’ is thrust into a discussion without explanation or further contribution, then sure, that’s just lazy and unhelpful. But having a word for ‘characterized by assumption of dignity or importance’ is pretty handy, and I think that a lot of the people who use it know exactly what it means. Which doesn’t make them right, of course, or their contributions to a discussion worthwile. But (and I know you didn’t say this at all, but I’ve seen it implied by others) its use shouldn’t automatically be considered the mark of a troll or a boring anti-intellectual.
As I said though, this game did tickle my fancy, and I certainly don’t think the p-word applies here!
08/05/2009 at 13:16 Rohit says:
I’m afraid I didn’t get it. Meh.
08/05/2009 at 21:45 MGL says:
Awwwww.
That’s worth $3.00 on PayPal, considering I dropped $5 on Defence Grid two days ago.
Thanks, RPS fellow-romantics!
09/05/2009 at 00:44 Abs says:
Lovely little game. Five minutes is all it asks, yet i’ll remember it for longer after completion.
09/05/2009 at 13:08 Chalee says:
This isn’t as good as Gears of War.
09/05/2009 at 15:05 The Hammer says:
Oh mannnn.
I felt utterly stupid, because I didn’t really know what to do during this game, and then it clicked. Oh, it clicked so well. Thanks, RPS!
11/05/2009 at 06:09 Pantsman says:
@Chalee: It makes me sad that there are really people out there who believe this.
Nevermind that I haven’t played GoW2…
11/05/2009 at 16:08 Rohit says:
I enjoyed Gears 2 more than this. Sue me.
22/05/2009 at 18:52 Azi says:
@Chalee + Rohit: The fact that both of you are comparing a non-commercial game made on a small budget to Gears of War (2) is ridiculous in the first place. Nice going.