Ludomancy

This is my submission for Tokyo Wonder Nights 2008.

My name is Daniel Benmergui, and my email is daniel.benmergui@gmail.com

I really like games that present you with a world you can manipulate, in which all the elements interact with each other in surprising ways.

Lately I’ve been working on making such a game, but where the elements you are manipulating are characters and their relationships instead of focusing on physics and material elements. I am not completely there yet, but I think I made interesting advances towards it.

So instead of submitting a single game, I’m submitting all the intermediate prototypes of this ongoing project. Please be patient while the prototypes are loading… it might take a short while and they have no loader screen. Also, try to read the walkthrough only after playing them for a while, since they are very short and won’t be meaningful without the exploration.

Note: All the content of the prototypes is made by myself, except for the harp sample in “I Wish I were the Moon”, which is used under creative commons, called Lamento di Tristano and La Rotta by Cheryl Ann Fulton.

I Wish I were the Moon

(click on the screenshot to play)

How to Play
Try finding the different resolutions for this unusual love triangle.

You move objects around by taking a picture of them and pasting them where you want them to be. You can reset the game by pressing “R”.

The Experiment
This game was born after I read “The Distance of the Moon” by Italo Calvino, and felt touched by it.

I wanted the players to explore the desperation of the girl that could not get the boy’s attention. I was also very fond of the “take a picture” mechanic.

Unfortunately, the triangle relationship is a little too abstract, and the picture mechanic is not very different from a regular drag & drop in this game. I am not planning to continue working on this prototype.

Walkthrough (spoilers)
“Tragedy”: Drop any of them into the water
“Bring me the Moon”: Get the “Lost Love Ending”, then give the small moon to the boy
“Lost Love Ending”: Sit the boy in the boat and wait until the moon is gone
“I am your Moon Ending”: Sit the boy in the boat and the girl in the moon
“Seagull Trip Ending”: Sit both the boy and the girl over the gull. Be sure to put both of them. One will not suffice.

The Trials

(click on the screenshot to play)

How to Play
The boy must accomplish three tests in order to win over her love.

This game is about duplication… everything is duplicated with the camera instead of being moved around.

The Experiment
In this game I wanted to explore the possible consequences for duplication. What happens if you could clone many game objects? What challenges and interesting things could you have?

This version tries the mechanics of self cooperation (making a tower of guys), timing and reinterpretation of objects (the sun and the flower metaphor). I will probably add a few more situations to continue trying interesting uses for the duplication mechanic.

Walkthrough (spoilers)
“Reach the princess”: there are at least 3 solutions to this one. One of them is to actually put the clones over the dragon until you reach the princess.
“I Feel Alone”: This one is about timing. Copy the boy over two of the girls so you have two couples and a girl and a boy alone. Then, copy the boy a little higher than the princess so he takes a couple of seconds to reach her, and during that time, copy her and paste her over the remaining lonely boy.
“I wanted a Sunny Day”: make a tower of boys until it reaches the sky. Then copy the flower over the tower.

The Storyteller

(click on the screenshot to play)

How to Play
This game is about building your own fairytale.

You can move around the characters within each vignette.

Try different combinations to see what happens to the story!

Hint: knights can kill the wizards if you put them over each other.

The Experiment
This experiment is an exploration of time. By modifying the past vignettes, you can affect the future of the story. I also wanted for you to able to change the roles of the characters in the story.

This is a very recent prototype that I’m still working on, so it’s still incomplete, but it has has a lot of potential, so that’s why I wanted to include it anyway. I am going to keep working on this on through September.

Here is a screenshot of something someone discovered that can be done:

Thank you for reviewing my prototypes!
Daniel Benmergui.
(daniel.benmergui@gmail.com)