A fortnight ago, I played Ross Cowman's wonder-filled map-game Fall of Magic. In it, a group of travellers cross kingdoms and oceans to discover why magic is leaving the world. In play, our game felt like a Rankin-Bass animated film with Bright Eyes as the soundtrack. We only got 2/3rds of the way through our story of a giant, a raven martyr, a tired hero, and a kin-slayer with a hand ruined by magic.
It will probably be one of the great unfinished games in my life.
Yesterday I (re-)discovered that Jackson Tegu had written Fall of Electricity: The Return of Grunge. It uses the same moving-across-a-map technique to explore the lives of a rock band on a surreal tour through America.
That combines some of my favourite things:
- Fall of Magic
- the grunge scene
- surrealism
- road trips and tours
But more than that, now that I've seen Fall of Magic, Life on Mars, and Fall of Electricity, I think I understand the potential of this format. A few ideas have already leapt at me, particularly:
- using the structure to create a choose your own adventure, potentially with plot loops in it
- a format for the Kafka game I've been trying to write for years - along with a way to involve some online interaction.
Are there any games that have inspired you to start designing in a new direction?
