Pixels at an Exhibition

Somewhere in the Twin Cities there is a studio where, on the eve of the Gamer's Rhapsody Jam, one lone developer breathed a sigh of relief as he completed the final playtest of his great masterpiece. His goal achieved, he grinned at the sleek monitor in front of him and, too tired to walk to his bed, rested his head somewhere between QWERTY and XCVBNM where he started snoring softly.

Still nestled in their digital realm, nine retro sprites, smoothly animated and painstakingly debugged, comfortably awaited their unveiling just a few hours away.

Maybe it was the face resting on the keys unwittingly combining a myriad of keystrokes in some command previously unknown to humankind, or maybe it was just the ghost in the machine, but suddenly the lovingly crafted digital world lurched. Each of the sprites was jarred out of their reverie as the realms collapsed, whirling and swirling in a maelstrom of hue and pixels. Full screen effects flashed fuscia and shook, tearing at the seams of the screens. Sound effects bristled their displeasure as levels peaked and distorted. And just as this digital universe seemed ready to collapse, the chaos stopped. The volume dropped. And an uneasy hush fell over the game.

As the sprites awoke, groggy and disoriented, they each found themselves transported to an alien world. Each landscape was as beautiful and fully realized as the home they had left, but felt ill fitting like plaid over polka dot, or dress shoes worn by the lakeside. One by one they rose and started searching for a way back home.

Text by Daniel Bailey.

Credits

This game was made for the Gamer's Rhapsody and Composer Quest "I Barely Survived That Game Jam" game jam in October 2015.

Game design and sprite art - Charlie McCarron

Background art - Will Tice (tilesets available through unTied Games)

Additional sprite art - calciumtrice (goblin, cleric, rat), Stephen Challener (robot), Shepardskin (cat)

Sound design - Topher Pirkl

Composers

Aaron Buckley
Adam Scott-McGuinness
Alexander Gleich
Amy Scurria
Anthony Webb
Bijan Eghtesady
Christopher Scullion
Daniel Bailey Daniel Darjean
Edgar Anguaino
Geaspar Warfield
Giovanni Tabor
Jake Downing James Fabio
Josh Wilson
Kasey Polk
Michael Chergosky
Nathan Franks
Rayan Karapet
Thor Bremer
Yishan Mai

Download the soundtrack at https://composerquest.bandcamp.com/album/pixels-at-an-exhibition