Pragmatism not idealism: Molleindustria's Every Day The Same Dream

Like a mostly monochromatic mix of Jason Rohrer's memento mori game Passage and Nintendo's Zelda entry Majora's Mask, Every Day The Same Dream -- the latest game from Faith Fighter and McDonald's Videogame creator Molleindustria -- plays at issues of lives led in quiet, soul-sapping desperation by forcing you to subvert your own easy routines. Created in less than a week as an "Art Game" entry for the ongoing Experimental Gameplay Project (the same that's spawned Canabalt, MinMe and, in its original form, the prototype for World of Goo), Same Dream is as stylish as it is somber, even if it is punctuated by brief bursts of hopefulness and player-led humor. I won't spoil the ending (except to say that it's not half as powerful as the final lead-up to it) -- and yes, it does have an ending -- but it comes fully loaded with a gut-punch for anyone who has been or is currently a wage-slave office drone, and is already a pretty clear frontrunner for the indie release of the week. Play it online here, or download a PC and Mac version by scrolling to the bottom.

Previously:

Just trying to live a wild, pure, simple life.

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vytautasmalesh

And then I had a sense of deja-vu, like somehow I’d done all this before, and I remembered: http://games.adultswim.com/five-minutes-to-kill-yourself-adventure-online-game.html
optuser

I’m just getting to this game now about six months too late. This was posted at a time when I only got to view Boing every couple of weeks. Wish I had seen it then, I would’ve quit my crappy job sooner.
Anonymous

Spoilers below

1) Go to the left outside of your apartment building
2) Go to work in your boxers
3) Catch the last leaf
4) Get out of your car, pet a cow
5) Jump off the building
JoshP

i love prairie dogs, in their natural habitat, they’re cute. its fun to bring them noms, etc. but it is kinda soul crushing unless you keep a sense of humor.
remember to skew the Hegelian.
oh, i liked the leaf. And I committed suicide like 12 times before I solved…which I think is kinda sad.
alowishus

As if doing this in real life didn’t suck enough. Now I have to do it in a game? Fuck that. You know how I’m “breaking the routine?” I’m not spending any more time on this crap.
aelfscine

To me the point of it was that his life was flashing before his eyes, and that was his life – a few eked-out moments of color in an utterly banal world, with most of his day being drudgery. It’s not really a ‘game’ as much as a participatory comment.
squidish

this game is really pretentious.
Anonymous

“Spoilers below

1) Go to the left outside of your apartment building
2) Go to work in your boxers
3) Catch the last leaf
4) Get out of your car, pet a cow
5) Jump off the building”

Did all that. What’s there to “solve?”
Moriarty

Good thing there are indie game designers around to enlighten all us ignorant squares!
squidish

yeah thank god for that :)
Ed Frome

I quit playing after I found I couldn’t kiss the wife goodbye…that hinted that it was going to be needlessly depressing.
Keir

A bit meh as a game, but quite nice as art, and stylish, yes. And nice Radiohead reference in the post title.
Daneel

Ah, I’d rather play Karoshi suicide salaryman. Much more fun, because it’s a proper game.

http://armorgames.com/play/2407/karoshi-suicide-salaryman
dragonfrog

So, is it the profundity that I’m completely overlooking, or does the game just not work for me? It says arrows and space to play, but when I press the spacebar or the arrow keys, nothing happens.

There’s just a dude in boxers, standing in a room with a red glowing alarm clock and a wardrobe full of clothes that flash in a way that makes me glad I’m not epileptic. No key I press changes any of this. No sound. No hint that something will happen if I wait long enough (admittedly I’m feeling not very patient).
- rrh
  
  That means you would need to upgrade your Flash plugin to play this game and they failed to embed the game in a way that degraded a little more gracefully.
MrJM

Congratulations to 3D Realms for finally releasing “Duke Nukem Forever”
tim

I think it’s wonderfully sad.

All the protests of ‘it’s not a game! it’s not a game!’ are a mite missing the point. This is exactly what indie web stuff should be doing and you would not see its like elsewhere.
Anonymous

Youâ€™re getting next to nothing for a stab in the back
Aluminum and copper getcha pack of tabac
You think youâ€™d tired of asking for
The 9 to 5 jive on the bottom floor
But underneath the bottle in bottom drawer
Thereâ€™s a wild wild world by the equator

You say good morning, how are you this afternoon
Well, Iâ€™m ok but Iâ€™m loony tunes
Iâ€™ll feel better in the coffee room
Where I can read my paper and stir my spoon
Then you see the lady in the blue lagoon
Thereâ€™s a wild wild by a tropical moon

Anything is better than this you know
But you canâ€™t stop now cause youâ€™re on the payroll
The man with the suit told you to borrow
Everything you need and to pay it back slow
How you gonna tell em about down below
Thereâ€™s wild wild world where they wear no clothes

(Equator â€“ Dâ€™Bush)
Anonymous

Wow…that was…profound…
Greg323

Whoo…

The ending was a kicker. Looks like everyone else in the game figured it out before I did.

Not really life-affirming, but a nice little warning.

Do what you’d like to do in life when you can, ’cause it’s short, that’s for sure.
Anonymous

Um. Yay?
rob ray

Great game! (Hint: you can win but you have to screw with your “daily routine.”)
Anonymous

a gut-punch for anyone who has or is currently a wage-slave office drone

I own several. You never know when one might come in handy.
Anonymous

Of course, blocked by office firewall
Anonymous

entertaining….maybe….profound…..absolutely
SimplyAaron

I liked that as much, but in a different way than, the game where you spend 10 minutes in a graveyard waiting to die. It should be some sort of odd genre!

On a side note I’m not sure if I quite like the use of the wife as part of this guy’s personal hell. Maybe if he remarried…?
Anonymous

I think the point of this game is completely lost on a lot of people here. Personally, I thought it was brilliantly creative. Figuring out ways to subvert the everyday routine was oddly thrilling, and the end was suitably bleak.
CANTFIGHTTHEDITE

I wish I could show up to work in my boxers, get fired as a result, and then wake up the next day and do it all over again. That was the profound part, right? :)
zenkat

hooray … i win.

pass the razor blades, please.
Anonymous

how do you catch the last leaf?
Anonymous

I petted the cow in my boxers. It was nice.
Anonymous

Lol, in the second round I was thinking “geez, I wish I could walk faster” — and then I got it. It’s just as boring as real life, and that’s the point. The only time I feel like I belong to myself is while getting from Point A to B, when I am free to think my own thoughts. Nice one, bruvah. PS: your boss wishes you’d walk faster, too.
Anonymous

I’m stuck on the last day. I’ve died, been to a quiet place, come to work undressed, and caught the last leaf… what’s number 5? Watching TV and leaving the alarm on aren’t it…
- maxoid
  
  y’all gotta go to the left outside the apartment building, fot the game’s most odd moment.
  
  is it weird that i “won” in like five minutes? i only went to work and sat down on the first pass, the rest came naturally. didn’t bother to dress after that first day, either, or silence the alarm or television, or talk to the wife.
  
  does that mean anything?
Steamboat_Sister

First I couldn’t figure out how to get dressed. And then I gave up.
theRadness

Did I miss something?
Anonymous

Not sure what to make of it. It was so straight-line that it was more like participating in a short story than a game. Your only choices are in what order to do things. Nice soundtrack though.
theRadness

Nevermind- Figured it out. Meh…
Anonymous

“Spoilers below

1) Go to the left outside of your apartment building
2) Go to work in your boxers
3) Catch the last leaf
4) Get out of your car, pet a cow
5) Jump off the building”

Did all that. What’s there to “solve?”

Are you at the part where there is no one else in the world? If so then you need to go try jumping off the building again. The game is over when it brings you back to the start menu.
VagabondAstronomer

…same as it ever was, same as it ever was, same…
technogeek

OK, so it claims arrow keys, plural, should work.

After hitting left, there seems to be no choice but to let it put me back in the bedroom.

Either it doesn’t like my keyboard, or the arrow keys are a complete red herring. Either way, I don’t quite see any point in pursuing it further…
arkizzle / Moderator

I loved this.. but was vaguely weirded out at having to commit suicide to progress.

And like Anon10, I enjoyed petting the cow in my boxers.. freedom! Anyway, excellent work.
Anonymous

Actually no, you don’t have to jump off the building. That’s the point. By doing all the other things, you can escape that end.
Anonymous

I would have liked it if there had been a dance party on the roof in the end.

http://www.dutchwest.tv/videos/104/september

:)
Anonymous

Ive done it all except jump off the building. When/how do you do that?

I love the music on this game.
AirPillo

Well, that sure made me feel miserable.
turbokoala

I thought it was amazing! The story was rather linear, but that added even more to the blandness of the worker’s life, along with the grayness of almost all of the game. Very nice, in my opinion.
Anonymous

Same as anon #11. I’m going to need a walkthrough. gamefaqs plz?
Anonymous

I’m stuck on the last day too. Fired, jumped off the building, found the quiet place, walked about in my boxers….
beeduul

how u shoot the gunz? confuse.
optuser

Catch the last leaf by standing still by your car. Wait for it to fall off the tree and come to you. Hit the space bar when the leaf is close.

Gunz, swords, and bombs will be in the paid upgrade version. Jay to the kay.
Anonymous

Oh right, I had forgotten I could get out of the car.
Anonymous

I don’t get it. Or, maybe I do, but it’s just not that interesting. I’ve done all this, too:

“I’m stuck on the last day. I’ve died, been to a quiet place, come to work undressed, and caught the last leaf…”

I also petted the cow (dressed and undressed), messed with the elevator lady, and ignored bot my wife and boss. What else is there?
Anonymous

suck it.

i thought it was brilliant, but then, i’m at my wage slave job in a suit and tie at the moment. so maybe perspective had something to do with it.