Factsheet

Developer:
LUAL Games
Based in Zürich, Switzerland

Release date:
September 12, 2023

Platforms:
PC / Mac / Linux

Website:
https://lual.games

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Description

Experience text adventures in a whole new light with modern AI technology and lovingly crafted pixel art in "[I] doesn't exist". Solve puzzles, talk to a cute mushroom and give commands to your avatar - until your façade starts showing its cracks. Will you manage to take back control?

“[I] doesn’t exist” was originally developed as a bachelor project for Lu and Al’s study in game design in 2020. Thanks to the government fund of Pro Helvetia, they started a Kickstarter to raise further funds and to prove their concept. After only 4 days the campaign was fully funded and by the end of it, reached almost 250% of its original funding goal. They were given a chance to showcase “[I] doesn’t exist” globally, at GDC, Arctic Games Week and Gamescom. During these conventions, they eventually met their Publisher DreadXP, who helped them tell the story of “[I] doesn’t exist” how Lu and Al envisioned it from the start.

Features

  • One-of-a-kind combination of visuals and text-adventure
  • Modern "Natural Language Processing" technology lets players choose their own words and grants immersion
  • Appealing and approachable to both young and old players
  • Combination of 2D and 3D perspective through optical illusion
  • Story about sentient game character is a rare but popular topic

Videos

Release Date Trailer YouTube

Images

IDE_1.png
IDE_2.png
IDE_3.png
IDE_4.png
IDE_5.png
IDE_6.png
logo

Awards & Recognition

  • "Nomination Förderpreis Design" Issued by Zürcher Hochschule der Künste, June 2021
  • "Interactive Media Grant - Pre-Production" Issued by ProHelvetia, December 2021
  • "Part of selected Swiss Games Delegation" GDC, April 2022
  • "Showcased at Courage XL" GDC, April 2022
  • "Showcased at European Games Showcase" GDC, April 2022
  • "Showcased at The Mix" GDC, April 2022
  • "Showcased at Mixer" GDC, April 2022
  • "Part of selected Swiss Games Delegation" Arctic Game Week, Mai 2022
  • "Part of selected Swiss Games Delegation" Gamescom, August 2022
  • "Indie Arena Booth" Gamescom, August 2022
  • "Showcased at Courage Cologne" Gamescom, August 2022

Selected Articles

  • "The pixel art animation in [I] Doesn't Exist is fantastic, the text-based interface works well and the puzzles are well designed. It's the strange game world and the reveal at the end of the current build that will really get you hooked though. This is no ordinary text-based adventure, it's clear something very different is going on here. By the end you'll be dying to find out what!"
    - Calum Fraser, Alpha Beta Gamer
  • "I felt like I was having some sort of existential episode playing this. It was great. What really delights me is that while my session had a fairly clear(ish) endpoint, apparently there's going to be more when this comes out next year. I'm bracing myself for one heck of a fun mental breakdown."
    - Rebekah Valentine, IGN
  • "The demo -- which will also be the game's first act out of three -- is a relatively straightforward affair: there's a clear linear progression from your starting point to the end, about half an hour later. As simple as it is, though, you can already feel the work the artificial intelligence is doing, there's none of the clunky interaction like in the text adventures of yesteryear. "
    - Fergus O'Sullivan, GamingOnLinux

IDE uses AI (but not that kind)
A little explanation how the Natural Language Processing AI works. https:.

About LUAL Games

LUAL Games is a two-woman indie studio founded by Anna-Lena Pontet and Luzia Hüttenmoser. We started developing our bachelor project "[I] doesn't exist - a modern text-adventure" in 2021 and continued development after graduating and receiving funding from ProHelvetia. We love narrative games and we want to create stories that make the player think - even after they finished the game. We want to contribute to the Swiss game scene not only as women in the game industry but also as passionate indie designers.

More information
More information on LUAL Games, our logo & relevant media are available here.

[I] doesn't exist Credits

Luzia Hüttenmoser
Game Designer/Developer, Lead Artist

Anna-Lena Pontet
Game Designer/Developer, Lead Programmer

Jonas Füllemann
Composer, Sound Designer

Paul Schmidt
Composer, Sound Designer

Contact

Inquiries
[email protected]

Itch.io
https://lulatschia.itch.io/i-doesnt-exist

presskit() by Rami Ismail (Vlambeer) - also thanks to these fine folks