RŌA Windows, Mac, Linux game

Can death be sleep, when life is but a dream,
And scenes of bliss pass as a phantom by?

Compose a still life... A place between life and dream.

RŌA is a cryptic single-player first-person play on awareness and fugacity, where you descend into a restful dream-like state visually dealing with questions of life.

What is a good state of consciousness? Why are we truly doing what we are doing? Since we are an observer of our experience, rather than our story, we don't need to find out. Otherwise, we live, as we dream - beyond reality.

The Look and Feel

Atmospheric Experimental Glitch Pixel-Art Artgame Colorful Peaceful First-Person Relaxing Weird Surreal

Gameplay

The object of the play is simple: the Player creates the colors by changing the position and angle. Whilst in many games the beings are eliminated by clicks, in RŌA you put them at rest or awake them again. This sometimes also induces some side effects in a certain order. In the end no two players will ever be able to create exactly the same picture. Any best way depends solely on the eye of the beholder. There is no time limit and it is impossible to get hurt or die.

The current protogame can be found on itch.io and GameJolt.

Since RŌA is sort of a case study, it would be good to keep in mind, just as some books and movies and the sky, this game is not fun-centered and not left hemisphere rule driven. It circles and provoces the question, why we as human doings are doing what we are Doing, erring through life, keeping our balance, so it reflects itself in a way. The player is dealing with other protagonists going for their cause, while he follows his goal, which is to capture/witness something emotionally or mentally worth experiencing before it fades away.

As emotions can coexist, they often wipe each other out. And as humor or plain thrill detract from certain abstract subjects, thought and sense are their big parts. Do you need difficult challenges, loops of fun, formal rules of interaction, dominance? Go with something else.

Are you open to the uncommon, in wonder watching the stars and chaos, maybe going to museums sometimes? Then, this game might be something for you.

The journey is the reward/destination here. The player has to move playfully to create appealing and mesmerizing images and moods. Without moving accordingly nothing will happen by itself. No extrinsic reward or holding hands while doing so... In parallel to the real world, one has to attentively hunt or catch the moment to see something special 'in there'. It's simple, but hard to achieve, since it's a challenge not everyone is ready for.

Controls

Classic Mouse&Keyboard or any gamepad to walk and look around. The Screen stays HUD-free. One Button is referring to Rest or Awake creatures, another is to clear the screen by Scanning for them, or Slows their motions when held.

A third button is for Shooting a still life, saving the screen. Button Four retrieves and manages your current pinacotheca of 'saved' screens. Your shots can later be uploaded to a three-dimensional walkable art exhibition companion website hosting the visitor curated best 33 player stills (and further randomly) with their respective author's name.

Goals

In the future we will be implementing the graphics options Easy, Normal, Excessive, but primarily we will be working on a vastly revised version (around factor 4) with further encounters, places, poetry, different colors, different shapes.