The Intergalactic Holocom Transmitter II is a state of the art virtual reality simulation and communication unit specifically designed for deep space conditions. No matter how large or small the polypurpose deck of your orbital station, the IHTII can be configured to fit any situation (cylindrical, cubical, hexagonal and even spherical and torus-shaped configurations are possible). Despite of its convenient size and ease-of-use, the IHTII is equipped with the most powerful realtime holocom processor and virtual translocator of its generation. The psycho-realism of its rendering engine will astound you and the proprietary built-in symbol/meaning mapping algorithms will leave you breathless.

S. Thala LLC has dedicated all its resources to your comfort and delight. For a limited time the IHTII will be shipped with an exclusive version of the T. Beach* projector, inspired by the legendary work of 20th century Earth novelist Marguerite Duras, including the critically acclaimed U. Bridge* French café simulation that enables cross-galactic communication with other IHT units of any generation.

T. Beach* is a monument of physio-amorous reflection. A trailblazer in its own time, it continues to top intergalactic holoperience charts to this day. Coupled with the U. Bridge* multi-user grid, it provides for one of the most profound muse-inducing experiences on all platforms.

Life on an orbital station does not need to be lonely or boring anymore. And our research has shown that exposure to psycho-motoric induction has a beneficial effect on the vitality and longevity of most organs of its user. S. Thala LLC provides considerable discounts for bulk purchases by registered employers.

In the unlikely case that your station is so remote that even the hugely powerful C-Beam transmitters of the IHTII cannot reach, the U. Bridge* program will generate a virtual antagonist that will make you wonder why you ever bothered playing with other astronauts in the first place.

Smoke, drink, play music, play Chess™, speak French (to others!), walk along an Earth sea shore and discover its strangely absurd and picturesque secrets! All from the comfort of your orbital station’s polypurpose deck.

* T. Beach and U. Bridge are heterosexual programs. Users stationed in the Desbaresdes belt and current or former citizens of the Chauvin system are advised to use with caution. Furthermore, the U. Bridge grid is limited to a maximum of two simultaneous users. Users with Stretter condition are recommended to consult their physicians before engaging. S. Thala LLC rejects all responsibility for inappropriate use.

There’s a man on a beach. The beach is empty. Empty as his heart. A heart alone, abandoned love. Love was left. Left in the warmth. The warmth of her digital breath. Her breath as neon glow. Glow as the sun. The sun sleeping in pillows. The pillows of clouds. The clouds form a bed. A bed for my soul. A soul that is restless. Restless like the gulls. The gulls on the beach. The beach in my heart. My heart pushes waves. Waves of blood through my veins. Veins pulled by the moon. The moon, cold heart of the galaxy. The galaxy at the end of the boardwalk. The boardwalk she used to walk on. Walking slowly, an old woman. A woman, alone, a woman studying love as a scientist. A scientist experimenting. Experimenting in the laboratory of her heart. Her heart, an ocean, waves of life. Life is cherished in the harshness of space. Space embraces us, crushes us with its hollow breath. Breath of a lover. A lover at the table. The table with the chess board. A board receives your move. Move me with your moves. Move me with your moves. Move away. Then move away. Away from the warmth, the silence inside. Inside disappears when we are on the beach. The beach caressed by the waves. Waves as fingers of the moon. The moon, heart of emptiness. Empty full empty full empty full heart. Heart to conquer, heart to move. The move again the move. To move the piece with words. Words from the writer. The writer, the woman. There’s a woman on the beach. The beach is empty. Empty as her heart. A heart alone, abandoned love. Love was left. Left in the warmth. The warmth of his digital breath. His breath as neon glow. Glow as the sun. The sun sleeping in pillows. The pillows of clouds. The clouds form a bed. A bed for my soul. A soul that is restless. Restless like the gulls. The gulls of the sea. The sea gulls of the moon. The moon of the sand. The sand of the moon. The moon of the water. The water of the waves. The waves of the veins. The veins in the body. The body that you touch.

There’s a man on T. Beach. Or a woman. I don’t know. I’ll decide later. The man is alone.

There is wind. Wind and waves and sky. And the man. Or the woman.

He closes his eyes: the glowing energy of machines.

— What? This is not real!

He opens his eyes. Looks around. And around again.

Then he walks. Or she. And the gulls fly away.

The beach is endless.

Everything disappears, becomes fluid, becomes immense. We are lost in space. Looking for a man. Or a woman. To talk to. In French, if possible.

Far away. Nearly summer.

In my efforts to come up with a description of Bientôt l’été for potential players, I had forgotten about something. Auriea reminded me of it when I told her about the presentation of a new project to the Notgames Critique participants last Wednesday in Köln. I explained the concept of this new game to nothing but blank stares and blinking eyes. But after I showed the early prototypes, a lot of encouraging reactions bubbled up.

We get that all the time. Our games are based on weird ideas. But we do try to make them into pleasant experiences. On the surface, the ideas don’t work, or are too flimsy. But when realized as interactive environments, they can bring deep joy to many players.

This is not really a coincidence. We feel challenged by unlikely proposals. Making something that sounds plausible does not get our creative juices flowing. So we end up making multiplayer games in which you can’t speak, games about old ladies, games in which you win by losing and games in which nothing happens. We find such ideas exciting. Because they are so unlikely, because it’s hard to imagine what such a game would be like. But I should understand that other people probably don’t share our enthusiasm.

So trying to describe the concepts or even the stories of our games as an introduction to potential players is probably a bad idea. That doesn’t mean that all we can do is hope that they play the games and make up their own mind. What we should do is not describe the concept but the execution, the end result. We should talk about the atmosphere we create, the thoughts and feelings the game might provoke, the aesthetics, etc. I’ll try that next.

Even more so than the previous description, this is how I might explain Bientôt l’été in person, to a stranger or a friend, casually.

Bientôt l’été is a videogame in which you walk on the beach. There’s not much else to do, or to see. It’s mostly about experiencing a certain mood. There’s not even much of a story.

As you walk on the beach, you can see phrases of text appear, short quotes from novels by French writer Marguerite Duras. Many of these refer to love and relationships.

In the second part of the game, which takes place indoors, the phrases that you saw can be used to communicate with another player. You sit on opposite sides of a small café table. To say something, you move chess pieces across the chess board pattern on the table top. All spoken text is in French. But there’s subtitles in English and some other languages. You can also drink and smoke and listen to old French songs.

The whole thing takes place on a holodeck of a remote space station. The person you talk to is a transparent hologram and talks with a machine-like voice. Also, when you close your eyes in the game, you can see very digital looking grids of pink and blue neon lines.

Once in a while you find something on the beach. When you do, you get another chess piece. You could collect all chess pieces and play online chess. But that’s not really the point, of course. It’s just a pleasant, atmospheric experience that may perhaps inspire some interesting thoughts about your life, about love, about loneliness maybe. Not in a dark and brooding way, but rather relaxing and meditative.

Perhaps it’s not necessary to explain the entire game. Maybe I should think about the highlights and only mention those. Either briefly, or expand on some details.

Bientôt l’été is a videogame in which you take walks on an empty beach. The game plays in third person and you choose whether you want to play a man or a woman. On the beach, you see phrases appear, often related to love. All you do is walk.

There is one building on the dike. When you enter it, you sit down at a small café table decorated with a chess board pattern. Soon another character comes and sits across from you. This other character is in fact another player who, like you, is playing Bientôt l’été, somewhere on the internet. If you chose to play the man, the other player shows up as a woman, disregarding their own choice.

The phrases you saw on the beach are now available for you to use in a conversation with the other player. By moving a chess piece over the table top, you select what you want to say. All you do is talk.

The other player looks transparent, and so do their chess pieces. And their voice sounds like it comes from a loudspeaker. When you leave the café, you find a strange object, a different one every time. It looks a bit glitchy and when you approach it, it disappears. And if you walk very far along the beach, the sky becomes transparent and turns into a giant window through which you can see stars and planets, even during the day time.

As it turns out, the entire world your avatar lives in is artificial. The other player is real. But they are playing on another artificial world, far away from yours. When you close your eyes in the game, you get an impression of the computer systems that are running this simulation.

In a way, Bientôt l’été is a metaphor for playing videogames. And for the contact we have with other people through the internet, very far and yet close. I met my wife through the internet. She co-directed the game and designed the characters. So, in a way, Bientôt l’été is about us. Welcome to our world. Hope you feel comfortable.

Bientôt l’été is a videogame for two players. Two players who pretend to be lovers. They pretend to be lovers separated from each other by lightyears of deep space. They have lonely walks along the shore of a simulated ocean, thinking wistful thoughts of each other. Thoughts from ancient Earth literature by Marguerite Duras.

The empty beach, the strong wind, the gentle music and a small colony of electric seagulls are their only companions. Yet their heart is full and their mind confused. Walk along the shore, until they meet the emptiness.

When it all becomes too much, they run towards each other. Enabled by intergalactic networks, they touch each other’s holographic bodies in cyberspace. A surreal game of chess becomes the apparatus through which they, man and woman, can talk. The words they have were given to them, as they have always been to lovers everywhere.

The sea remains, tugging at their hearts when not at their hairs and clothes, as it itself is tugged by the virtual moon. And as great as the desire for the other may be, they cannot stay away from the wind and the waves and the sand. Every time they find a new treasure. An abandoned tennis field. An heap of coal. A dead dog. Ordinary. Absurd. Meaningless. Yet comforting.

Enter a café, exit a villa, enter a casino, exit the ruin of an ancient colonial mansion. We know this is not real. So it doesn’t surprise us. Nothing surprises us. It doesn’t matter when you feel the pain of love. Of being in love, of falling in love, of leaving in love. There is no such thing as time. There is only love. And it never stops. No matter how much it hurts.

You are on a space station far away from earth. You are all alone. To while away the time and forget about your loneliness, you entertain yourself on the station’s holodeck. Your favorite program is a simulation of a French North-Atlantic beach.

You sometimes play a woman, sometimes a man. With this avatar you stroll along the seaside. Waves roll in and bring thoughts of desire, togetherness, complications in relationships, love. You remember these thoughts when you enter the only building on the dike.

In the café your avatar meets the avatar of another player, another lonely soul in the vastness of space fleeing their desperate realities in the arms of a digital Morpheus. The phrases from the beach come back to you. You speak them. So does your partner. A sort of conversation unfolds, a sort of contact, a connection. You drink, you smoke, you listen together to old Earth music.

And then it is time to go. You have nothing more to say. The virtual contact begins to frustrate. You want more but you cannot have it. So you run away to the calm of the ocean, the comfort of the wind and the hysteric shrieking of seagulls.

Should I add to this that Bientôt l’été is a videogame? I don’t think it is mentioned on the back of a novel, or a DVD. “This is a book about” or “To experience this film, you sit down and watch.” Of course, videogames have vastly different ways of experiencing them. But maybe that’s something that players can find out while playing.

Should I warn people that Bientôt l’été is not a conventional game? Should I allude somewhere to its artistic ambitions?

Do they need to be told explicitly and beforehand that it’s a two-player game? And how do I describe that it is only partially two-player? And not necessarily so, since there is a “simulation” mode?

What I like about this description is that it firmly states the space station and holodeck context as very concrete aspects of the game, even if during the actual playing, this may still feel a bit vague. But perhaps describing the game as such will direct players towards an interesting interpretation, an engaging experience.

Oddly, Marguerite Duras is not mentioned at all. Is this a problem? Given that I don’t expect many people in the potential audience for Bientôt l’été to be familiar with her work, does it matter at all? Maybe some people might find it interesting that part of the inspiration came from modern literature, even if they don’t know Marguerite Duras specifically.

The description neither mentions the minimalistic aesthetics of Bientôt l’été. Maybe people imagine a realistic looking beach when reading the text, or explicit depictions of sci-fi space craft. This may not be a problem if I manage to refine the aesthetics so much that it is a welcome surprise that they don’t look as expected.

There’s no mention of the music either, which is an important contributor to the atmosphere.
And there’s no mention of chess. It’s an obvious link to games, but frankly not so important to experience.

Maybe the missing aspects can go in a features list.

• experimental videogame
• work of art
• two-player mode
• quotes by contemporary French author Marguerite Duras
• unique stylized aesthetics
• atmospheric music by Walter Hus
• chess-like interface to romantic conversation

Only a little bit silly.
I should probably try to not think of Bientôt l’été as so insanely different from other videogames. Maybe it’s smarter to pretend that it’s not so different at all. Maybe it isn’t.

Next to the difficulty of explaining what Bientôt l’été is, I’m having trouble coming up with one sentence descriptions as well.

We can call The Endless Forest is a multiplayer screensaver where everyone plays a deer or The Graveyard a game in which you play the role of an elderly lady who visits a cemetery. The Path is a short horror game inspired by Little Red Ridinghood, Fatale explores the legend of Salome and Vanitas is a meditative exploration of luxury and loss on the iPhone.

But what is Bientôt l’été?

Is it

a French videogame about love

as I originally called it -until somebody started fussing about its heterosexuality? Maybe I should call it a game about heterosexual love, though that would imply assuming that gay people don’t have an imagination. Or that people would only play the game as some kind of simulated version of their own life.

Do I call it

an exploration of beaches and moods in Marguerite Duras

Though I should probably avoid mentioning Duras too up front. Since few people in videogames know her and those who do might not appreciate the association with videogames, or have expectations that the game cannot deliver on.

I do get the impression that the idea of making a videogame that is inspired by the work of a highly respected modern author is attracting the attention of people who are interested in literature. Given that we are always trying to seduce new people into gaming, referring to the literary background of Bientôt l’été might be a good idea.

Sea. Space. Cybernetics. Touch.

says the reference material collection. The reference to science fiction, space and/or holodecks should probably be included. Since the juxtaposition with love, seaside and cafés is interesting. And because the space station metaphor for internet connections is quite crucial.

Talking with your lover at a table in a café at the seaside on the holodeck of a space station in orbit of an earth-like planet in a distant solar system.

I like how this one grows: from the intimacy of the lover to the small café table to the open seaside to the vastness of space.

Your body at the seaside on a remote space station. Alone. And then together.

A videogame about playing a game in a videogame about the desire to touch.

Love and loneliness in space.

It’s not raining. It’s not raining. It’s not raining.

A literary experiment in virtual space.

If any other short descriptions come up after playing the alpha version, please do tweet or email!

While Bientôt l’été contains many elements that refer to Marguerite Duras, there still remains something in her work that it doesn’t capture. It’s normal for a game design to deviate from its basic premises. I feel one has to let the design go where it wants to go. Stubbornly clinging to one’s initial ambitions is not only frustrating but it often brings unsatisfactory results.

Not that this particular aspect of Duras’ work was ever really on the agenda. It’s just something I notice when I read her work now. It’s simply inspiring for some other interactive piece.

Duras has a way of describing situations that has great emotional impact on me when I read it. And situations is exactly what I want to create with this technology (not stories, not causal chains, not moral choices). She never describes an entire scene for the purpose of imagining it visually. She mentions only certain elements. But each of them feels somewhat like a metaphor. Not a metaphor that clearly expresses or demonstrates a thought or feeling, more like an emotional trigger that remains more or less meaningless.

There is always a character involved. Although the descriptions may not be observations by the character. Maybe the character is just another element in the scene. But one we feel great empathy with. We are there with her.

I love the muteness of these situations. Not silence, as I feel a lot of ambient sound. But muteness, in the sense that something is palpably not being said. Something that cannot be said. Something that is either too horrible or too fragile to be spoken.

I want to create such a situation in the realtime medium. I’m not sure how to go about it. Maybe I should literally follow a passage in one of the books. And simply build in 3D whatever is described (and leave the gaps open?). Or maybe I should just aim for the atmosphere created by such passages and invent the situation (which is how we usually work).

Temps couvert.
Les baies sont fermées.
Du côté de la salle à manger où il se trouve, on ne peut pas voir le parc.
Elle, oui, elle voit, elle regarde. Sa table touche le rebord des baies.
A cause de la lumière gênante, elle plisse les yeux. Son regard va et vient. D’autres clients regardent aussi ces parties de tennis que lui ne voit pas.
Il n’a pas demandé de changer de table.
Elle ignore qu’on la regarde.
Il a plu ce matin vers cinq heures.

I love how Duras gradually introduces descriptions of the scenery or the situation, precisely at the moment when they feel metaphoric (even if their precise meaning is unclear).

Aujourd’hui c’est dans un temps mou et lourd que frappent les balles. Elle porte une robe d’été.

These quotes are from the first page of “Détruire dit-elle”. Maybe that’s what I should do. Just take this first page and make a videogame out of it.