Not every game needs a purpose or a thrilling ending to suck you in – and this little web experience nothing but proves this.
Unlike most game, Short Trip has no apparent aim or a quest set in sight. It starts off unassumingly, without a bang and without any instructions. All you have to go by is its cat-like residents, its gorgeously drawn landscape and the soothing sounds that come along with it.
The setting seems simple at first glance, but it feels palpably mysterious – and not in a threatening way.
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The controls are equally straightforward. Hold the right arrow to move forward and the left one to walk back. There are no predetermined places to stop at and no destinations to reach, the only goal is to take in the meticulously drawn animations and auditory sensations.
Developed by Australian interactive media artist Alexander Perrin, Short Trip “has been created as a study into capturing the essence of graphite on paper within a digital context, and to learn more about web-based graphics technologies.” It runs on WebGL, which means you can load it on any WebGL-compatible device.
But as Perrin warns, Android users might experience some hiccups here and there.
Curious to see where this quirky little experience ends? Take the Short Trip here.
And in case you liked it: Perrin says this one is the first instalment from a collection of interactive web illustrations yet to come. So make sure to follow his blog for the still upcoming parts of this delightful experience.
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