terrain that is lumpy and seemingly inhospitable, where the going isn’t smooth. I think I was saying that it’s productive for some games to explore “awkward” design terrain, i.e. What did I mean by that? I hope I didn’t say that any one quality is a “necessity” for great games. What first inspired you to explore this style of game development? Was there a game embodying your philosophy that spurred your initial work on Gorogoa, or is this a philosophy born of your own development process? || You’ve previously emphasized the necessity for “awkwardness” in great games. Many amazing games consist of nothing but words. It’s true that I once wanted to be a writer, and so far my designs don’t have any words in them, but they could if I wanted them to! And maybe someday they will. They involve visual art, coding, puzzle design, architecture, world-building, storytelling etc. It was never a matter of choosing video games over other passions, because video games, or at least the kind I’m interested in making, are the intersection of all my passions. Why a video game, and, if given the chance to do it all again, would you travel this path over the others once more? || What prompted you to choose video games over your other passions when deciding to develop Gorogoa? You’re clearly a remarkable artist, and we hear you considered other avenues of storytelling and visual media before landing on this form. What I’m most proud of is simply finishing the game, no matter what came after (and even if it took a lot of help from others to get me over the finish line). But I won’t say I’m proud of that decision because it was at least partly foolish. It still took four years of hand-wringing and filling up more notebooks before I got up the nerve to quit my job and work full time on the game. And in fact it occurred to me that maybe I was uniquely suited to do just that. Then around 2008 the modern wave of indie games began, and a game coded and illustrated by one person suddenly seemed feasible. Since I never expected those ideas to go anywhere, I never had to do the hard work of shaping them into something real. ![]() I filled up notebooks with half-formed ideas. In fact, I considered myself incapable of finishing a creative project. During that time I never seriously considered doing anything creative for a living. I worked in the tech industry for over a decade, even if my heart wasn’t in it. Much less outwardly adventurous than my parents. ![]() ![]() But I was a comparatively boring child, living mostly inside my own head. My father was a wildlife biologist who worked as a forest ranger for much of my childhood, and my mother was a world traveler, working in international health education. ![]() Where are you from, where have you been, and what are you currently most proud of about your journey? || Can you give us an overview of your personal story? We know you’re the mastermind behind Gorogoa, but the deep-cut lore is what we’re after. We spoke with Jason Roberts about his work on Gorogoa, his past, and what lies ahead for the creator of a game so rightly beloved and revered. No matter the platform it’s on, no matter the player at hand, Gorogoa shines as a lone star of inspiration in a crowded sky of flickering lights. Before and after its release, Gorogoa collected a number of award nominations and wins for its intelligent, distinctive gameplay and its intimate, haunting aesthetic. Gorogoa, Roberts’s critically acclaimed masterpiece, is a visionary puzzler elevated by sublime hand-drawn illustrations. A famed luminary in the indie space, Jason Roberts released one of the finest puzzle games to date in 2017.
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