Daniel Benmergui
Image from indiegames.com

Pixelsocks: Can you describe your game for unfamiliar readers?

Daniel: Today I Die is a short-form artgame that captures a strong impression I had at the time of its conception. It’s about swimming, feeling down, playing, and moving your focus from your own interior worldview towards the world around you.

Pixelsocks: Today I Die shares some kinship with exploration-driven puzzle games. However instead of navigating by moving through space, you navigate between puzzles by editing prose. Can you explain why you did that and what inspired it?

I did that because I like games that manipulate superimposed realities. In this case, there’s the visual world and the poem world. Both views are linked, but are not the same. Since I wanted to make a game about a girl sinking and swimming back up, this poem mechanic (and aesthetic) fit right in. Also, I don’t really like making games that scroll.

Pixelsocks: Do you find that people grasp the navigation easily? What steps did you take to help that process?

Daniel: Not immediately… for Today I Die Again, the iPhone version, I adjusted the beginning of the game bit. The problem with the original version is that you have to learn to interact with the visual world at the same time as with the poem world. It was a mistake to do things that way. I should have let the player learn one world first, and then the other. I hope I eased that curve a bit in the new version (which should be released somewhere around july).

Pixelsocks: It looks like you financed the project through commissioned work, like posters, personalized art, and even a customized version of the game. Have you been happy with that strategy, and would you recommend it to others?

Daniel: I am happy with that strategy mostly because I didn’t have to rely on ads or corporate sponsors to make money. Today I Die already made 20,000 USD that way, and I didn’t sell a single license or displayed a single ad. Of course, this strategy is not going to work for all games. We are living in times in which there is no business model that “just works”, so every game needs to be handled differently.

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Tags:   Daniel Benmergui · gdc 2010 · IGF 2010 · nuovo award nominee · today i dieNo Comments

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