Sleep Is Death (0)

Sleep Is Death
First release date
2010-04-16
Platform
Mac PC

Sleep is Death is a set of tools to create an adventure game with and elements. The game is played by the second player with the story-teller moving, adding, and altering characters, objects, and text.

Each player has 30 seconds to complete their turn, so story-tellers are typically restricted to pre-made objects and locations. Upon being told a story, assets from that story are transferred to the player's library for them to use in their own stories.

The visual style is ultra-low resolution, meaning creating pixelated items is relatively easy. The music creator is similarly simple, comprising a short loop of three midi instruments which the story-teller has limited control over. Rohrer has said he intentionally restricted users to a minor key, and that it is impossible to make up-beat music, forcing a sombre mood.

When the story is over, the game saves an archive of screenshots so players can review the story. Many of these have been collected and .

Sleep is Death was commissioned for the Art History of Games symposium in Atlanta, GA and was originally installed in a gallery as two locally networked back-to-back PCs.