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Daniel Benmergui is one of the indie game developers that most have experimented the narrative games. He’s the creator of I Wish I Were The Moon, inspired by Italian writer Italo Calvino, Storyteller (presented in Japan during a side event of the Tokyo Game Show 2008) and the recent and recommended Today I Die.
Daniel is also author on his blog (unfortunately not often updated) of very interesting posts on the nature and the purpose of the videogame medium. We have asked some explanations to better understand the work behind his games.
Well, first question: can you tell us a bit about yourself? And how did you start creating games?
I live in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I started making games proper only this year, though I had my own mobile games company (Angry Machine) a while ago, and then I worked as programmer lead of one of Gameloft studios.
I quit a year ago to become a full-time indie. I’m really happy to have taken that step, as now I see life differently. All the fear we are induce to have for being jobless is a chimera… there’s plenty of opportunities for those who take the leap.
(If there is one) what’s the meaning of your games?
My games are not about meaning, but about searching. They reflect a personal process of change, and each game has a personal story attached to it that was the seed of the creation.
Since I’m just starting to make games, they are still very simple and naive in several ways, but that’s an unavoidable part of trying to put yourself in your work… the surprising thing is that many people actually like these games, which I think reflects a player starvation of (really) different games.
Speaking about I Wish I Were The Moon, you wrote “Italo Calvino as inspiration”. How did you met the Italian writer?
I think I heard Jonathan Blow first mention him in one of his lectures, and then someday I decided to read him. I was blown by the experience… I wish I could do with games what Calvino did with writing.
You wrote “Experimental Gameplay: Gameplay still not proven to work.” But a gameplay that doesn’t work can be called “game”? So what’s for you a “game”?
The definition says that the game is *still* not proven to work… which means that if many people find it enjoyable, it becomes proven to work (thus it’s no longer experimental, but it has become an unusual, worthwhile experience).
What’s your favourite indie game of all time and why?
Hard to say… but recently I played Braid and I feel it’s one of the most important indie games made.
And the “not-indie” one?
I could not pick a single game… but the classical oldies like X-Com, Daggerfall, Might & Magic RPGs, System Shock, and old Amiga games are a crucial reagent in me being a game developer now.
In an old post you wrote “the ultimate goal to games: to make other realities in which you can find yourself”. Is there now a game that reach that “ultimate goal”? And if not, why according to you?
Some people find themselves in the weirdest places. I’m not sure you can *design* a game so someone finds himself in it. But you can allow exploration of something that is relevant to you, the designer, and there’s people out there that will resonate with it. That’s the most magical sensation to have. All the praise in the world, all the best reviews, are worthless compared to someone approaching you, unable to find the proper words to tell you how deep your game reached.
We are still learning how to handle this tool that games are.
Can you describe Today I Die?
Today I Die is a game about making small choices, and their consequences.
I loathe the notion that your life is defined by a bunch of moments that requested you to be a hero.
Who is the girl under the sea?
A notion.
Future projects?
I’m bouncing back a forth between several ideas so I’m not sure anymore… one is a wargame, the other a space opera, the other a more interesting version of Storyteller… we’ll see.
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