The game is simply about a relationship that didn’t work. Neither Nick, the dumpee, nor Madison, the dumper, was necessarily at fault. On track for release on home computers in early 2016, “Apartment” had me reflecting on past relationships because it felt so routine. “The whole idea behind the game is sort of reclaiming that space back.” “One of the big concepts behind the game is that the space that you share with someone can start as yours but is transformed into something completely different,” Emms says. His apartment wasn’t going to be an emotional minefield forever. Having just gone through a breakup, Nick and I were going to get through this. The game felt claustrophobic everywhere I directed the game’s protagonist, Nick, there was the potential for a disastrous mope session.Īnd yet I couldn’t look away. In the first-person “Apartment,” a book, an airline ticket, a once-shared glass, laundry - all of them are potential triggers for memories of better days. We have more autobiographical games and games that are about relationships that are nuanced.” “There are more games about people’s lives. “In the last three or four or five years, games have been progressing into this slightly more mature teenager hood, where a lot of different topics are being explored,” says Naomi Clark, a game designer and an assistant arts professor at the NYU Game Center. Need evidence? One can explore a full human relationship via the games at IndieCade, from the first kiss to the days alone wondering what went wrong. There’s plenty of silliness at IndieCade (see “Butt Sniffin Pugs”), but the heart of the festival is indicative of how games are increasingly entering more grown-up, and sometimes adults-only, territory.Ī space less consumed with adolescent violence and raunchiness, if you will. While the breadth of games on display at the weekend festival is wide - IndieCade will showcase mobile games, board games, virtual reality titles and even family-friendly playground games - a number of IndieCade’s featured games are moving into more personal spaces.

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