Game Information
| Title | Telos |
| Presenter(s) | Kevin Mercer |
| Session | Conference Reception, Game Exhibition, and Poster Session |
| Time | Wednesday, October 12, 7:00p-9:30p |
| Location | MSU Union Ballroom |
| Format | Game Exhibition |
| Screenshot |  |
| Description | Telos is an experimental, 2D narrative video game made with digitally-collaged 3D renders and scratch-built pixel art assets. The participant embodies a newly arrived signal suspended in the mysterious and surreal DigiDream, an afterlife steeped in vintage technology and otherworldly imagery. As the player navigates the Dream's chambers, they encounter fellow signals, uncover narrative threads, and recall memories from their previous life.
The game world represents a purely digital container for a posthumous existence. There are no physical bodies here; instead, spirits are sculpted as hovering, colored light forms and are assigned important roles in maintaining the structure and logic of the DigiDream. Speaking with various characters reveals their joys, hopes, purposes, anxieties, and fears. Though the Dream presents as a techno-utopia, the dialectic between alive and dead has allowed a profound melancholy to spread throughout its confines. To combat this, signals are encouraged to synthesize earthly memories by shifting their light forms into those of elemental creatures and play among projected scenery. The spirits' connections to their long-gone physical selves are mediated by a technological system built from neon light, lo-fi pixel assets, and retro equipment. Those who play Telos will experience unguided, unstructured exploration and play, somber themes, emotional conversations, and a few secrets. Telos was built in 2022 with the Unity3D game design engine. The game world will continue to grow with new iterations or chapters. |