Play an old lady and die, maybe
Tale of Tales release The Graveyard
Gent, Belgium, 21 March 2008
Tale of Tales have released a very short game entitled The Graveyard. In The Graveyard you play an elderly woman who visits a cemetery. As usual, with the work of designers Auriea Harvey and Michael Samyn, there is no explicit goal to be achieved, or rewards to be collected. The Graveyard is more like an explorable painting than an actual game. A trial version of the game is available for free. The full version can be purchased for 5 USD. The only difference between the two is that in the full version, the lady may die.
The Graveyard can be downloaded from http://Tale-of-Tales.com/TheGraveyard
The Graveyard is an experiment with what makes video games appealing beyond traditional game experiences. Auriea Harvey and Michael Samyn are determined to explore the potential of interactive media. They believe that for the medium to grow (up), designers need to have the courage to abandon the game format and dare to explore other types of interaction, other types of emotions, stories, etc.
“We know that The Graveyard is not really a game. We could have easily added some form of gameplay. But The Graveyard wasn’t designed just for the players to have fun. While it doesn’t make a clear statement about anything, we hope that playing the game gives people the opportunity to contemplate the various topics that the experience touches upon. Not even to come to some kind of personal conclusion (though it’s ok if you do). Just to think about death, and life, for a moment. It’s good for the heart.”
Tale of Tales is an independent game development studio located in Gent, Belgium. They are currently working on a horror game called The Path, scheduled for release early next year. Next to this main enterprise, Tale of Tales also run The Endless Forest, a free-form MMO where everyone plays a deer.
The Graveyard is a very short game. A little experiment in between other things. A study, perhaps. The game was designed and produced by Auriea Harvey and Michael Samyn. As she did in The Endless Forest and is doing in The Path, Laura Raines Smith once again animated the main character. Gerry De Mol, composer of the music in The Endless Forest, created a new song especially for The Graveyard. And Kris Force took care of the sound effects.
The production of The Graveyard was supported by the Flanders Audiovisual Fund ( http://www.vaf.be ).