Why do deer run into traffic, anyway?

infinideer1

Infinideer is a weird little diversion made for the tenth annual Toronto game jam: You are a deer, you gallop into traffic, and you have to cause as much wreckage as you can before you die grossly, which is inevitable.

It's very simple—click to step into the road, click to take another step. You can play it in your browser or download it for free (the download probably performs a bit better), and as it's a jam game it's not really finished (vehicles appear from a nebulous white nowhere at the top of the screen, and you, the deer, should not fall in).

I'm not sure why I like it, even: maybe the innocently-smooth chillwave soundtrack, the swimming rainbow text that congratulates me for jamming in purgatory, the cosmic illuminati wingdings that flicker past every time I die. Maybe it kind of reminds me of old web games in the 90s that you weren't supposed to be playing on the school library internet, like that gerbil shooting thing.

Maybe it's because I looked away from the screen for a little while and when I looked back my deer had been joined by two impossibly-large rabbits then followed me into traffic and caused additional accidents. Maybe it's just that I've got the flu today and need to take Dayquil to work. I don't know. Play with the deer.

Infinideer is made by Svblm, who have made all kinds of intriguing-looking short games, including an "atmospheric hover thing" and a game where you "be a cool pickle in a forest".

I found this game thanks to Forest Ambassador, a great site curated by Merritt Kopas focused on finding games that are free, don't require specialized equipment, and don't demand existing familiarity with games, values which have directly inspired Offworld.