Independence, Missouri

Information

Description

Everyone in the party has died! Nothing beside remains! Round the decay of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare the lone and level sands stretch far away!Now you can at least look like one! Pretend you’re playing chess! Make moves! Act like you feel things! Smirk! Frown! Weep! Chess!

History

Independence, Missouri was made over two weeks for the itch.io and JUEGOS RANCHEROS Mystic Western Game Jam. It draws on two key reference points for its aesthetics and narrative. Primarily the game works with the imagery and story of the classic educational adventure game The Oregon Trail (1971). Most directly, Independence, Missouri is the town that The Oregon Trail begins at.

Visually, Independence, Missouri presents dioramas featuring illuminated screenshots of a specific playthrough of The Oregon trail culminating in the typical ending of the entire party’s death through the now-famous misfortunes such as dysentery and snake bites. Here and there, players will find objects as well, representing some of those misfortunes, and also serving as the models for constellations that appear in the sky if enough time is spent meditating on them.

Along with The Oregon Trail, Independence, Missouri was in part inspired by the poem Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley. In the poem, the protagonist hears about the shattered remains of a once great and boastful king’s kingdom. Imagine something deep about the apparent grandeur of standard videogame playthroughs as compared to the nothingness they leave behind if you like.

The game was made largely with Unity and Blender, both rather ineptly, but, in the end, satisfactorily.

Features

Images

Trailer

View the trailer on YouTube

Credits