Gorogoa

Lore & Background

Gorogoa began as a failed attempt at an interactive graphic novel by Jason Roberts, who later combined his love of art and video games after seeing the success of indie games like Braid. Development started in 2011, and Roberts quit his full-time job to focus on the game. He ran out of money two years later but received investment from Indie Fund, and in December 2016 Annapurna Interactive announced it would publish the game. The title Gorogoa comes from a name Roberts invented for an imaginary creature in his youth, chosen because it is not part of any existing language, reinforcing the game's language-free design. The game was originally built in a custom Java engine but was ported to Unity by Wholesale Algorithms for multi-platform distribution. All illustrations are hand-drawn by Roberts, who cites David Roberts, Gustave Doré, Christopher Manson, and Chris Ware as influences, with indirect influence from Byzantine art. The audio was initially composed by Austin Wintory, then replaced by Joel Corelitz, with sound design by Eduardo Ortiz Frau. The score is a composite of audio from each panel currently viewed.

Reader's Guide

Gorogoa is significant for its innovative puzzle design that requires players to manipulate images in a two-by-two grid, zooming, panning, moving, and stacking them to create connections. The game contains no language, making it accessible to anyone regardless of language. Its puzzles are not guided; players must work out solutions themselves, with brief animations confirming successful connections. The game's story follows a boy seeking a divine monster, exploring themes of spirituality and religion across 19th and 20th century scenes of love, peace, war, and rebuilding. The boy grows older and ends as an old man reflecting on his past. Prior to release, Gorogoa won the Visual Design Award at IndieCade 2012 and the 2014 Independent Games Festival Excellence in Visual Art award. The game's length of two to three hours was described as short but sweet. It was ranked 49th by Eurogamer and 35th by Polygon on their 2017 lists, and Polygon named it among the decade's best.

Did You Know?

• Gorogoa took nearly six years to complete, with Roberts redrawing earlier scenes as his skills improved.
• Gorogoa was originally built in a custom Java engine before being ported to Unity.
• The game's audio is a composite of sounds from each panel currently viewed by the player.