Passage is now available on the iPhone.
Jason Rohrer’s art game Passage, a work that has inspired many developers since its original release a year ago, is now available on the iPhone for the low low price of 99 cents.
Passage is a game that I recommend everyone play, especially if you are interested in game design. And if you’ve already played it, here’s your chance to have a portable version, and to support the art game community, all for a meager sum.
The PC version of Passage is still free; you can get it at Jason’s web site.
December 24th, 2008 at 9:38 am
Maybe I’m just daft, but I had the most difficult time finding a working link to this (the sourceforge link on the site seems dead). For those interested, there seems to be a working download link here (scroll down): http://www.kokoromi.org/projects/gamma256
December 24th, 2008 at 9:42 am
Spoke too soon. File at that link is only 20 KB, and doesn’t seem to run. Anybody having any luck?
December 24th, 2008 at 10:23 am
Hmm, I just downloaded and installed the Windows version from Jason’s site as linked here, and it worked fine.
The Mac version didn’t seem to download though; is that the one you tried to get?
December 24th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
This is great! I have been wanting to show Passage to a lot of people, but lugging a laptop around isn’t the easiest option. Having this on tap is perfect. Thanks for the heads up!
December 25th, 2008 at 11:30 am
Mmm…i’ve downloaded the Mac version from Jason’s site and it worked perfectly.
Anyway, great game! Very meaningful!
December 25th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Got the Mac version earlier this morning and it played fine. And I must say, that is a brilliant game.
December 29th, 2008 at 9:14 pm
I hope this inspires you guys to write a version of Braid for the iPhone. What a perfect mix of technologies. Just finished Braid today, what a great game can’t wait to see more!
February 17th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
What a sad, sad game. That was uncalled for, *bitch* *moan* *gripe*!! Still, good game.
February 19th, 2009 at 11:14 am
I must not be very good at this game. I keep dieing.
February 23rd, 2009 at 7:53 am
Am I the only one who doesn’t get it? I mean, to me Passage is just a horribly, horribly boring application — I don’t even dare call it a game. There’s just nothing to do here, no fun to be had, and as an artist working in the game industry I even find the art style nearly insulting to the work of my peers in its blandness. I’d like to know what people find so great about this title.
February 23rd, 2009 at 8:51 am
What’s the highest score you have gotten?
February 23rd, 2009 at 2:40 pm
Alright, so I went ahead and downloaded the game again (it’s been months since I last played and couldn’t remember my score). I died at 554, shortly after my companion also died. I think I vaguely recall having scored around 700 before.
What I don’t get is the only thing you can do is walk around and open up treasure boxes, while repeatedly getting stuck on walls (unless you go solo). Now I understand there’s some sort of metaphore for life and choices you make, but I don’t find it remotely entertaining as a game.
I’ve read how some people became somewhat depressed or even cried at the end of their experience. Maybe it’s just me, mind, but I do get a much bigger kick out of reading a good book or appreciating a painting, or even just by having deep conversations with people. With this, I don’t connect, and I find it frustrating to see so many others appear to get a jolt here when I don’t.
It’s sad because I was really looking forward to play this after your talk two years ago at MIGS. I’ve seen similar reactions with three of my immediate colleagues, which adds to the confusion as why the rest of the world seems to adore this :S
February 26th, 2009 at 8:25 am
How old are you, Hugo?
It is a huge impact for folks in their 30s when they play this game.
And I got over 1,000 simply by going right straight through life (and picked up the woman.)
July 7th, 2009 at 1:38 am
I’ve gone through this game sooooo many times now. Sure, it is an extremely basic game in terms of gameplay and graphics, but I love it (Almost to the degree I love Braid). I’m a writer, a musician, and an artist (I was also formerly a software engineer, but it gave me the s#!ts) and this game doesn’t just “speak” to me, it screams.
July 31st, 2009 at 4:04 pm
I went ahead and got this game, and I must say, I’m falling in line with Hugo’s thoughts. I simply think other games, books, movies, etc… do a far better job of playing off of emotions.
Trying to connect with a pixelated character on a screen is a rather hard task, and the act of “trying” to connect because of this barrier seems to go against true feelings, because it’s forced, and thus I don’t really find any kind of deep meaning there.
I also understand the meaning behind it to an extent, but there also gets to be a point where people try and come up with what they think the game means, and really stretch out the possible means so far that it borders on ridiculousness.
I’m glad people felt something from it though. More power to you if you can connect and possibly get some insight out of it!
November 30th, 2009 at 9:33 pm
Hugo, if you have ever experienced the death of someone close to you, you would have a totally different perspective.