Original link: https://yousazoe.top/archives/9a8c63ec.html
introduction
Gorogoa is a unique puzzle game with a storyline that unfolds with beautifully hand-drawn illustrations designed and painted by Jason Roberts.
About the game
Mysteries full of unique imagination
The plot design of Gorogoa is all original, and there are many detailed illustration grids in the game. Players can solve the puzzle by moving and combining the illustration grids according to their own ideas. The operation is extremely simple, but the content is complex and interesting.
Beautifully hand-drawn game plot
Jason Roberts has crafted thousands of meticulously detailed illustrations that make up the richest Gorogoa-specific gameplay.
new narrative
More than a game, Gorogoa is a work of art, telling its own story with emotional, captivating illustrations and fantastically conceived puzzle mechanics.
game live
Game experience
Almost gorgeous art style
An interactive experience that breaks the mindset
I have never played a puzzle game like Gorogoa. It’s quiet and thought-provoking: four draggable squares act like windows into a beautiful, dreamy, hand-painted world. As you scroll, overlay, stitch, or zoom in and out each piece of the screen, you’ll find that every little square contains a mysterious and huge world. The static scene will come to life with the movement of the screen, you can activate the interaction of the scene by changing the position of the box, and explore the double world (mysterious, sad and a little scary) hidden in it. Once you find the right splicing method, you will feel extremely excited and satisfied. The story of the game only takes two hours to complete, but the unique charm and mystery of the game will stay in your mind for a long time.
At first glance at this game, you might think that these pictures are just illustrations torn from children’s storybooks, with no connection at all. The mystery of the game is often hidden in a small mundane object: an apple on a branch, a lamp on a bookshelf, a compass, a map and a photo. There are also scenes that require two pictures to be stitched together to form a larger scene, which you can then click into or zoom in to reveal new worlds hidden in the original image: an abandoned city, piles of rubble broken toys and rolling meteorites on temples. The connections between them are diffuse and mysterious, and the scenes of each puzzle are dreamlike, telling a esoteric story. It’s an irresistible charm.
As you explore, arrange and stack between the frames, and sometimes even separate two layers from one frame, the messy clues scattered around the frame come together in uncanny ways. In one scene, I stole a star from the sky to light a lamp. In another scene, the author guides the protagonist through several old photos by overlapping door patterns, rotating ancient ruins, and using the rotating porcelain plates as gears. In these puzzles, time and space are not bound by the laws of physics, and can be freely combined and switched, and appear in a scene at the same time. The author finds himself back in the past or in a faraway land, where every action in that land affects the present. This is a very ingenious mechanic that inspires players to discover the new and magical connection behind each scene, and in the process, follow the story to reflect on the past, gains and losses.
The Art of Narrative Behind Memories
This part mainly refers to the following two game materials
Overall overview
Game producer Jason Roberts was originally a software engineer, but he quit his job at the age of 37 to start making the game independently. The production process of constantly overturning and restarting took all his money, but it also made the game he imagined a reality.
The real name of the game is Gorogoa, the name he gave to his imaginary creature when he was a child. It sounds like thunder or a rumbling from the ground, ancient and powerful. And its appearance also became the prologue of the game. The dragon swam through the streets like a miracle, and the curious boy began to adventure.
When he gathered all the five-colored fruits and wanted to summon the dragon, the dragon closed his eyes, and he also fell from the clouds…
Since then, cracking the secret of Shenlong has become his lifelong pursuit. Through the puzzles, players follow the boy in the game step by step on an adventure.
The boy has spent his life on the journey to find the dragon, and this game is like all his memories. They do not repeat themselves in chronological order, but are constantly folded and weaved, forming an allegory of interlaced time and space. Most players focus on the process of solving puzzles during the game, but the plot story contained in it is ignored, and this is exactly the story the developers want to convey, but it is expressed in a more obscure way.
Plot combing
In his childhood, the boy saw a giant dragon passing by on the street. He checked the books and discovered an ancient ritual. Collecting five-colored fruits can summon the dragon. So the boy embarked on an adventure to find the fruits.
The beginning of the journey was very smooth, a crow flapped its wings, and he got the red fruit that fell from the branch.
He then entered the garden through a painted door and received the green fruit from the goddess.
Under the guidance of several other statues, he came to a cemetery, the time from dusk to late night, a star became a yellow fruit.
After that, he went around day and night, and after experiencing some mysterious architectural ruins, he came to an altar and took away the blue fruit.
Finally, he took the train to the purple tower, climbed the tower, and picked the purple fruit. But when he offered five-colored fruits to Shenlong, Shenlong closed his eyes, and he fell from the clouds.
The badly injured boy was bandaged and needed to move in a wheelchair. During the recovery period, he returned to the place where he had obtained the fruit, thinking of his past experience, and his heart was full of confusion.
The injury lasted for a long time, the boy has grown into a teenager, but still needs to move on crutches. At this time, the city was in ruins for some reason, and some information about the dragon was also burned. In an allegorical painting, a blind man enters an oasis in the desert, receives eyes from the goddess, and has since gained light.
Correspondingly, the boy in reality is among the ruins, like a blind person who can’t see the direction.
Getting the eyes of the dragon gave him enlightenment and began to truly understand the world.
After reading ancient books at home, the boy learned about the “origin of God”, people’s imagination of God has undergone a long evolution, and thus created the symbol of God and its corresponding horse fish constellation.
The days of studying ancient books continued until he was a young man. The boy saw in the book “God’s Punishment”. The man’s call to God was not answered. Instead, it would lead to the fall of meteorites. He caused the city to suffer from natural disasters.
Under the guilt, he was more eager to crack the mystery of the dragon and began to learn astrology. There are a lot of books scattered on the bookshelves and desks in the room, and he studies the materials until late at night every day. After confirming when the horsefish star will appear, he went to the field to observe.
When it appeared in the night sky as expected, his tree of knowledge was already bearing fruit.
After reading ten thousand volumes of books, he began to travel ten thousand miles in his middle age. The map marked the path he took to practice three times in different sects.
The first time he practiced, he was walking in the desert ringing a bell, and the patterns in the gears showed the four rituals of this sect:
- Sacrifice peacock at sunrise
- Ringing bells in the desert during the day
- Let go of moths at sunset
- Holding a blue rosary at night to pray to the statue of the horse head fish
The second time he practiced, he offered candles in the forest.
The pattern in the stained window shows that the flame is a symbol of the faith of this sect. They hold the flame high in worship and pass the flame among the believers to keep the fire.
The third time he practiced, he climbed the snow mountain to baptize himself. The patterns in the china plate also represent four rituals:
- baptize yourself
- painting on eggs
- offering candles
- Horse fish sacrifice
These three hardships sharpened his body and mind, but he never found the trace of the dragon. Looking at the magic weapon he had used, he recalled the nightmare at the beginning, and couldn’t help feeling disappointed and depressed, but he never gave up.
When he was approaching his sixtieth year, he began to review his life’s research, hoping to find useful clues. When he cleared his mind, he took the train again to the purple tower.
The tower that had been destroyed has been restored to its original appearance after rebuilding, and he climbed the tower and began to look back on his past experiences.
fruit metaphor
In childhood, the book that recorded the dragon had already revealed the consequences: after failing to sacrifice fruit, he would fall from the clouds. The blood-like red fruit symbolizes his eagerness to pursue his ideals and his courage to sacrifice for it.
In his youth, when reality and heart were desolate, the green fruit symbolized the coming of God’s revelation. With hope, he began to find a way forward.
When he was young, he experienced long and lonely nights on the way to study knowledge. The yellow fruit symbolized his never-quenched thirst for knowledge. Through research and practice, he is unlocking the secrets of the dragon step by step.
In his middle age, he traveled around the world and completed arduous practice in deserts, forests and snow-capped mountains. The blue fruit symbolizes his determination and perseverance. The physical and mental exercise made him stronger.
In his old age, he re-walked his life path in the spiritual world, from the appearance of things to the depths of consciousness, the fruit of color means that he has achieved epiphany.
When he understood the meaning of all the fruits, his soul also sublimated.
The developer’s pilgrimage
Epilogue
The player spent 90 minutes chasing dreams in the game, the author spent seven years chasing dreams in the creation, and the boy spent his whole life chasing dreams in the painting.
Pursuit does not necessarily have results, even if you reach the end, it may not be what you want, but the process of pursuit is the treasure that can be born without regret.
In the lifetime, get what you want.
In the world in the painting, strange dragons appear.
Little boy, looking everywhere.
Everyone’s figure, as if they had seen it before.
The crow fluttered its wings and moved its eyes.
Moths fly to the fire, blue and white rotate.
The train leaves the station, and the building is dangerously high.
The porcelain bowl was broken, and the eyes were black.
The blood is red and the branches are green.
Tapestry purple embroidery, scale feather burning star.
An idiot moves forward, reluctant to give up day and night.
Ring the bell and knock on the door, and the sky reopens.
The animal tail dives deep, layer upon layer.
Huang Liang has a dream, which has gone through half his life.
The wheelchair is still there, see you again the boy.
I don’t know who, with tears streaming down my face.
If, like him in the game, he is also enduring failure and loneliness for a distant dream, then I wish you can touch that strange and beautiful dragon one day.
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