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Priceless Play - 18 January 2020Games to grow with

Games to grow with

My ten-year high school reunion was last year. I didn’t go, obviously, because I am too cool and also I live something like 3,000 miles away from my old high school. I don’t know about you, but I don’t super love remembering who I was in high school. It’s a truly terrifying time: the searing tension between becoming an independent being and desperately needing reassurance from your parents and peers that you’re doing a great job at becoming an independent being. But you know, not in an embarrassing waymom. Growing up is hard, and it never really seems to get easier.

Here are games about growth for your new decade.

Endless ScrollfromCecile Richard

When I was in high school (back in my day!) it was AIM – AOL Instant Messenger – that kept the teens in communication. Late nights talking online, the sound of a creaking door to signal that a friend was available to chat, and lyrics-as-away messages were de rigueur. I don’t use AIM to keep in touch with folks anymore (I wonder what happened to all those chat logs?), or GChat, and I don’t even use Facebook Messenger. Frankly, I don’t think I want anyone getting in touch with me. Least of all anyone from high school. Cecile Richard’s latest Bitsy game, Endless Scroll, takes a look at what it means to remember the person you were at 17 (or 17-adjacent).

Rune GeneratorfromOleg Dolya aka watabou

your treefromdroqen

your tree is a game about a tree. I assume, based on the title, that this tree isyourtree, and it’s growing. As it grows, you can prune its branches, which affects its overall shape. The tree continues to grow, taking on all sorts of different shapes and patterns. It’s a sweet little game, and it’s fun to see what sorts of arrangements can be made out of pruning the tree at different stages of its growth, and in different areas. I let the tree grow for the entire time it took me to write this article, and it started to take on the shape of a weirdly leafy brain. I hacked away at its insides until it resembled something more like a fan.

Droqen has a bunch of small playable things on their itch.io page, and your tree was an instalment of a ten-part series,MAKE 10 PLAYABLES!

Anywhere the Moss GrowsfromJoost Eggermont

Haunted GaragefromHaunted Garage

Haunted Garageis a peculiar and charming point-and-click (drag?) game about getting the band back together. I hope you make some sick tunes on your guitharp and automatic hi-hat.