"He sat, staring at a blank website CMS page, and decided it would be a good idea to open with a meta-sentence conveying the literary nature of the game. It wasn't" Oh well, worth a try. Elegy for a Dead World, then, is a game about elegising dead worlds. You tap out mournful missives, then upload them to be shared and experienced by others—a growing collective of mournful poets. It's on Kickstarter now (opens in new tab), and has a trailer to explain its rather romantic notion.
The game, if you can believe it, is being developed by Dejobaan Games—the studio responsible for AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! — A Reckless Disregard for Gravity, Drunken Robot Pornography, and the perpetual early access project Drop That Beat Like An Ugly Baby. This particular title is being made in collaboration with Popcannibal, who I can only imagine have to offset Dejobaan's usual zaniness by being hyper-serious and smoking clove cigarettes.
I played Elegy for a brief spell during last year's IGF judging, and it was interesting. As the trailer states, you're largely exploring desolate environments, stopping at prompts to compose flowery sentences about the nature of death and endings. The ability to share your prose is a nice twist—and will at least highlight the most imaginative takes on the three worlds. Many others, I suspect, will be riffing on the same few elements.
Dejobaan are looking for $48,000. Should they reach that total, delivery of the game is expected in March 2015. I've popped in a few extra screenshots below, because my word, it's a pretty looking thing.
