IGF 2008 Main Competition Entrant
The Night Journey
Company: USC Game Innovation Lab (Los Angeles, CA United States) Game Website: http://www.thenightjourney.com 
Description:
The Night Journey is an experimental game created in collaboration with Bill Viola, an internationally acclaimed artist and MacArthur fellow, which uses game technologies to evoke the universal story of an individual’s journey towards enlightenment.
The Night Journey begins in the center of a mysterious landscape, at that singular time of day between the end of light and the fall of darkness. There is no one path to take, no single goal to achieve, but the player’s actions will reflect on themselves and the world, transforming and changing them both. If they are able, they may slow down time itself and forestall the fall of night. If not, there is always another chance; the fall of night will bring dreams that enlighten future journeys.
The game design explores a challenging question: what is the mechanic of enlightenment? How can we model such an intensely personal yet archetypal experience in a game? Inspiration is drawn from the prior works of Bill Viola, which provide both reference for the game world and source material for the in-game “reflections.” The game also uses custom processing filters to give the 3D landscape a sense of poetic presence and integration with the original video footage.
If you seen any information about The Night Journey that needs to be corrected or updated, contact the IGF Chairman.
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