Daniel Benmergui

Hey finally, great news Dani. But i have to tell you that the play here link is broken

Here’s the fixed link:

[...] Daniel Benmergui of “Storyteller” and “I wish I were the Moon” fame has a beautiful new piece out, one that is a poem as well as a game: “Today I Die.” [...]

Beautifull and poetic, as usual. Well for the poem part, it is a poem, son not a so good compliment.
And I’m suprised with all the big people behind you, I know most of all, and fallow them also.
Very good work.

i love it. great work!

Beautiful and inspiring. I love your work.

Wow great Game Dan !!! Once again !

Nice! I’m glad that it’s finally released. Good job.

Another fantastic game! Keep up the good work. Can’t wait to see your next game/games. It’s amazing how much your games have grown since Starwave (which I also loved).

This was fabulous. The text with your graphics was just perfect.

everyone seems to know how to play this game but me…

Wonderful! It took me a minute to figure out what the heck to do, but it was a beautiful experience. Thank you!

Beautifully emotive. Thank you.

Great job. I love the idea and the game!
I really enjoy your games!

excellent!! grt wk!

luv ur ideas!

I don’t know what to do!!

“everyone seems to know how to play this game but meâ€¦”

Do you mean it is possible to play that game? I “played” if for 5 minutes but could not figure out if you can do anything in it.

Interesting game, I managed to get two different endings so far, how many more are there?

Oh god… what is it about graphic limitations that ended 20 years ago that makes a game so beutiful?!

What a great game. Thank you so very much.

I tried the link but it didn’t work. I tried to follow the link on JayIsGames website but it didn’t work either (it’s the same address) and all I get is gray background of the game screen (I’ve used two different computers and still got the same result. I’ve used Firefox and IE and still I’m unable to play).

I really, REALLY love you games. “The Majesty of Colours” made me cry. “I Wish I Were The Moon”, although there were no text, it told so many different stories with the help of 4 characters (the seagull, the moon and the boy and girl). You games are so creative and so refreshing, thank you

What are you suppose to do in this game? I don’t understand. I move jelly fish and words but nothing really happens. A tutorial would be very nice.

@sky: Did you try downloading the package and running the standalone version?

@ren: hold on the the jellyfish. Protect it.

Brilliant!! Keep up the good work ^^

So, some people have discovered different endings? What else can I possibly do? Iâ€™ve only discovered oneâ€¦

@Daniel Benmergui

I can’t even download
All I get is a DNS lookup error when I go to download the pack >_<

@sky: strange… it is working for me… go to the downloads page and try again, please:

http://ludomancy.com/blog/downloads

(you can get the pack without donating by clicking the “donate” button and then clicking the cancel link in the paypal page)

@Daniel Benmergui

Followed the link through paypal, saw the cute pic and tried to click the download link, but I still only got the DNS lookup error.

Drop me a mail at daniel@ludomancy.com and I’ll try sending you a direct link.

[...] Today I Die isn’t the title of Duke Nukem’s upcoming auto-biography, but rather the name of the [...]

I’ve sent the email

Very inspiring, loved it!

It’s poetic, inspiring, and sweet, all in a package. “Today I Die” moved me in a way that no other games can… in just a mere 5 minutes.

You’ve done a very good work, I hope you can keep it up

I loved this game!! Very cute, very beautiful. I really like your style!

The ending is beautiful, made me cry a little. Great game.

Great, poetic & melancholic game, I really loved the first ending and I was so surprised to discover the “by myself” one. Is there a third one ?

I love the way you made it. You truly can’t tell when it ends until it ends.

For anyone who think they completed the game. Ask yourself this: Is the girl still in the water? Trust me, one it ends, it ends. I already know that I going to play this game at least five times this weekend.

simply Amazing… There’s no other way to describe it. A piece of art indeed

Something special indeed. The use of the music seemed particularly appropriate and well done.

I loved the experience, simple yet amazing and so inspired game! Beautiful ending

Thank you! This is beautiful!

what are you meant to do exactly

except from fall and change the background
: \

fucking dear, that’s an amazing game. just gave me back the taste of life.

(I was depressed)

Cool. I didn’t quite understand what to do at first, but then it started to make sense (thanks to a little clue in discussion )

Your deep man deep ;D

Life-affirming stuff…

Hi! Today I opened my new website: visiongamer.com.ar
I made a mini subjetive review of Today I Die.
Read it @ visiongamer.com.ar if you want

Rly beautiful!

This was beautiful. One of my friends sent it to me and I was a bit apprehensive at first, and didn’t quite understand what was going on until I found out how to play. The ending I reached was absolutely astounding and on the whole very touching. All in all, a very beautiful game. Creative art is what I love to see! Thank you so much for bringing the world such an extravagant sense of beauty.

aww i love this game it wasent so hard but it was so beautyful and it still had challeng

I love your games. They’re so original and deep. I played ‘Today I Die’ twice

hi!
first of all i want to thank you for creating this game. i love it. but sadly i have no idea how to finish the game the other way, i already have “untill i come home”, what’s the second?

That was really interesting. I really like the graphics style and the word-changes-the-world thing is a great idea. The small story doesn’t tell me much, but I suppose it can’t be helped. Anyway, great job.

Congratulations my friend, this game is extremely beautiful.
I love watching reactions to it, continue blowing up minds!

Great i discovered two endings i wonder if there are more
this is a beautiful game aah i love all of your games

I just wanted to say how phenomanal this is, this was a game that truly made me smile….thanks for sharing your talent

how many results can we get?
i areally have
“free world full of beauty today i swim until you come”
and
“free world full of beauty today i swim better by myself”

Wonderful stuff, Daniel! I’m glad that there’s multiple endings because I want to play it again and again!

Fantastic game! This game is, in a way, about wanting to change something in our lives. In real life we are often scared or we don’t know how to do that. Here we have a chance to help someone else and it makes us feel better. It made me feel better THANK YOU FOR A WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE!

im guessing there are just endings both are good as you save the girl

This game really spoke to me. It felt like a mirror to some of my own experiences. You did a wonderful job, as always.

how do you get all the endings i love this game

how do you win this game

i did it

I know, it’s just a small comment in a buntch of others, but i just want you to know that your work really touched my soul.

We need more people like you in this world. You did a great job, it make me feel a little less harmless while questing for nice stuff on google.

I wish i had a little more talent to make peoples dream, like you do.

Wow, beautiful game, I wish I could create such majestic pieces of art.

Tolles Spiel – weil man so viel ausprobieren muss.

Interesting… If you apply “free” -without- using “shine” to protect yourself from your shadows, you can’t finish the game! Or at least it wouldn’t end for me. I think it’s because “dark” was still visible.

And yeah, it’s possible to use free without shine. You just have to be very quick. It took a lot of trouble to do.

@sky
[â€œThe Majesty of Coloursâ€ made me cry.]
thats by a different person, ludus novus.

great game! took me a really long time to figure out what to do!

Your game was beautiful, thank you.

this is wonderful. I always believe that
you can’t stop being depressed without telling yourself you shine, and getting a good trustable friend to confide in. Well done this is beautiful

Wonderful game! Very inspiring. When you fist click on a jelly fish, it is not very clear that the word shine can solidify and replace another word. Perhaps providing an additional visual clue could help make it clearer. For example: change the word “shine” to yellow, and as it is fading in, gradually turn the word “die” yellow in the poem.

In the portuguese version, you should change “nadar” with “nado”, “brilhar” with “brilho”. In portuguese verbs are conjugated, and this is the form for the 1st person, present tense. Great game!

this game sucks

this game sucks
(its the worst game)

Great game as usual!
Although, I wonder who the “sponser” was…

This is nice, but sort of twee. I like the zero-explanation game idea and the basic concept is incredible, but the actual poem, such as it is, leaves much to be desired – it’s too generic and soundbite-ish, lacking in the emotional precision and concise insight that good poetry requires. I felt as though I was playing a cross between an emo teenager’s greeting card and the sort of blandly motivational postcard that is sold in new-age shops. Consider partnering up with a professional poet, assuming one can be found that is interested. As a game it’s an eye-opener, no mistake, but as a poetic exercise it’s highly lacklustre.

Great game. Your work is amazing!

@YOURMESSAGEHERE: The game itself is the poem

Great job I really enjoyed Today I Die

oh man that was such an amazing game! The swim part honestly freaked me out, I was shivering for like the hour afterwards, though I can definitely say it was worth it for the experience.

Can somebody post up the… single ending on Youtube? I want to watch it but I can’t bring myself to brave the shades again. D| Yes massive paranoia attack here, it’s coz I avoid the horror genre.

@Today I Swim
”
Great game. Your work is amazing!

@YOURMESSAGEHERE: The game itself is the poem

By today i swim on June 18
”

Actually, the game is a mix of a poem, and the game itself which has its poetry
this mix made this perfect result…

@Post

Btw, i have the feeling that the song is talking with me, you know?

I don’t hear her voice, i know she is a woman, but the simply face she does, with the music, makes me feel this way, like she was talking with me.

Perfect music choice :]’

GmVrbM fgoG62mvVof47J1fCaLkg

great game

i love the game!

this game is my fave of the three! it rocks! i love the music!

I enjoyed playing the game. Loved the music played in this game. It’s also one of the few games that doesn’t have annoying ads !

Cool concept, really enjoyed playing it. Just read an article in the latest Develop Magazine on Channel 4 funding “educational games”, OK so might not sound completely up your street, but they were talking about a pretty loose scope and they were talking about games covering a range of topics including depression and thats when I thought of this game and thought it might be worth you investigating as a source of funding. OK now for some obligatory exclamation marks and smilies!!!

the sweetest game I’ve ever played. I loved it so much. Congrats.

Love this game. I put up an entry for it on TV Tropes: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TodayIDie

[...] take much of your time, but will stay in your brain for days afterward. His newest creation, Today I Die, is a haunting game that starts with a woman who has either been tossed or jumped willingly to a [...]

I love it

I can’t believe a game that would make you teary exist. I love that it’s in portugese too.

[...] another perfectly-formed little gem from Daniel Benmergui. He seems to specialise in games that offer fleeting moments of ingenuity and surprise, finding [...]

Hello, just wanted to say that out of all the millions and billions of small games on the net, this was by far the best of them… I tried all your games now and I can’t believe the genius of them all : )

Very well done indeed.

Very cool game. I really appreciate your work. I think your games are about people and not about things, which is… wonderful!

i LOVE your work!make more games!

Very nice indeed!

100th comment o/

Hey, actually just right now i found this little “bug” (it’s not actually a bug, just a “miscombination” I’d say…)

When the guy appears and we can choose from let both of them go together or he left and then she swim by her self, if we just hold the guy whe he starts to go out, we can’t do the “until you come” end anymore, and her face is now mad/angry (her eyes).

So, the little bug is, when she gets angry, her eyes are mad, but if we hold the guy upside her, she wont be with the same angry eyes anymore…

Just something to see, I Guess (?)

Attentiously,
Utiru

[...] Today I die explora las posibilidades de la alteraciÃ³n de un texto, de manera que alterando las palabras que lo forman se consiga cambiar el entorno, la acciÃ³n y los sentimientos de la protagonista. [...]

…to expirience poem…

[...] de maker van Today I Die, een van de computerspelletjes die zo pas genomineerd is voor het jaarlijkse Independent Games [...]

[...] have to say that I was reminded heavily of Daniel Benmergui’s work, especially his “Today I Die” game. Â His work is a bit more poetical…a bit more out of the box and requires a [...]

I’ve just played “today i die”, i’m crying.
I’m happy.

im happy!

wow ur games are amazing … showed em to some friends n they all loved em … they seem so simple n at teh same time they r so deep … love em … keep up the good work

This is an amazing game! It has it all! Interesting story line good graphics. I find it the best in all of your games!

I like game’s sound.
I didn’t think I want die. But it’s made me sad.
And this game is amazing! I like that.

[...] Love is so neglected, I’m giving it another game mention. Â Today I die is a great game, everyone should try it [...]

This was a brilliant find, great game, simple, poetic.. just thought evoking and emotional. Great job on it.

I wanted to also say that im not sure if its just me, but listening to the soundtrack after playing the game was somewhat disappointing. The music seems to be different than the version of the song/s used in the game. Is it possible to get a copy of the loops that are actually used in the game?

I loved this game *-*
Now I’m showing this for all of my friend, lol
I don’t know why, but this game reminds me of Yume Nikki D:

I have to say you are a genius. I have played the game 3 times now because i cant beleve i got so moved by it. I cryed every time i played it. I dont know what to say… its just great.

[...] riktigt trevliga experimentella “spel” gÃ¥r ut pÃ¥ att skriva om en dikt. Spelet heter Today I Die och gÃ¥r att spela bÃ¥de online och som nedladdat spel. Det slÃ¤pptes fÃ¶r nÃ¤stan ett Ã¥r sedan [...]

Loved it!!! :’)

Very imaginative and inspiring. Hoping to play more games like this in the future.

Absolutely beautiful.

[...] that single individuals can produce captivating gaming experiences; people like Jason Rohrer and Daniel Benmergui. But the thing about games is that they can be so complex and so full of variables, and require so [...]

[...] by Daniel Benmergui: I wish I were the Moon, Storyteller ,Today I Die [...]

Fantastic, just what I’m looking for in videogames: Interactive audiovisual poems.

Only one problem, I’ve just donated but don’t see the links to download.

True Story:

I’d had a bookmark of this game on my browser for a few months. After coming home from work one day to find my 4-year old Matt playing on my PC, I saw that he had found the link and was playing the game.

Although he couldn’t read the words (to him, it’s still ‘The Mermaid Game’) he came up with his own story and solutions to all the puzzles. Not only that, he’d gone on and solved some of the other games on the site, too — including “Secret of Software!”

He still loves to play, sometimes just to listen to the music. So I’ve taken a video of a typical “Good Night” final playthrough before bed — I hope you enjoy it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQyzHzMi15s

This game is absolutely beautiful it made me cry spectacular

Thank you so much for this game! It’s a beautiful story and when I played it I immediately thought of my girlfriend and showed it to her. She loved it so much she cried at the end. Thank you for creating something so beautiful that I could share with someone I love.

[...] famoso por seus jogos experimentais e conhecido no mundo indie por seus jogos:Â Storyteller,Â Today I Die,Â I Wish I Were The Moon eÂ Night Raveler And The Heartbroken [...]

Good day!This was a really quality theme!
I come from roma, I was fortunate to come cross your topic in bing
Also I get a lot in your subject really thanks very much i will come again

Ohh very much thanks admin

Very nice information,I found your blog on google and read a few of your other posts. I just added you to my Google News Reader. Keep up the good work Look forward to reading more from you in the future.

[...] in Today I Die werden auch hier neue Wege des GeschichtenerzÃ¤hlens erkundet. In wunderschÃ¶ner Pixelgrafik, kann [...]

This is my first time i visit here. I found so many fascinating stuff in your blog especially its discussion. From the tons of responses on your articles and reviews, I guess I am not the only one having all the enjoyment here! keep up the really good work.

good quality post thanks

Very good points you wrote here..Great stuff…I think you’ve made some truly interesting points.Keep up the good work.

Great! Thanks for post

Aw, this was a really quality blog post. In theory I’d like to write like this too – taking time and real effort to make a really good blog post… but what can I say… I procrastinate alot and never seem to get something done. Respectfully, Tashina.

Ohh very much thanks admin

How are You? I just adore eating vegetables especially patatos , Thanks!

[...] Today I Die di Daniel Benmergui, recentemente ampliato e re-rilasciato per l’iPhone, Ã¨ senza alcun dubbio una vera gemma in questo campo. Il gioco prevede che il giocatore scopra verbi, nomi, e aggettivi che possono essere sostituiti all’interno della poesia per infondere sicurezza e determinazione nella ragazza-pixel che rischia di affogare al centro dello schermo. [...]

[...] hus half-hair head (the urban myths says that he lost half of the hair making a art game called today i die ) i don’tÂ know him too much, the last time i have seen some comics drawn by him, that i [...]

[...] Daniel Benmergui, autore fra l’altro, di altre perle di gameplay sperimentale, quali Today I Die e Storyteller per quest’altro piccolo capolavoro si ispira ad un racconto di Italo Calvino, [...]

[...] Today I Die [...]

I believe that is an enchanting element, it made me assume a bit. Thanks for sparking my thinking cap. Every now and then I am getting such a lot in a rut that I simply really feel like a record.

This game is short but beautiful.
But its also depressing

Interesting stuff mate.

Really nice read.

[...] more “gamey” than Today I Die or I Wish I Were the Moon, and the mechanics borrow heavily from comic techniques of storytelling [...]

[...] narrative with a “more ‘gamey’” feel than his other experimental titles, Today I Die and I Wish I Were the [...]

This is a lovely game and gives me hope every time I play. Made me tear up. Very beautiful.

I wish I could get this game in true poem form. I can see it in my head but I cannot see how the sentence order would go.

Thank you. This is a brilliant little game; its hopeful nature and poetry are belied by its length.

[...] in a simple but effective way, to change the story the artwork is telling. Examples: Storyteller, Today I Die, I Wish I Were the [...]

	Today I Die IGF 2010 Finalist, Indiecade 2010 Jury Award, my most well-known artgame.
	I Wish I Were the Moon Indiecade 2010 Jury Award, an artgame about unfulfilled loves.
	Heartbroken Uruguayans A "vignette game" about relationships.
	Starwave (Prototype) A tactical puzzle, fully playable.

Today I Die Released

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