Can anyone identify this indie game I remember?

October 17, 2020 9:09 PM

Sometime around 2009-2014, I played a browser-based indie game, but now I can't remember what it was called. For some reason it's driving me crazy that I can't think of it. Does anyone else remember this game?

Here is what I remember of it:

• There was little or no explicit narrative, but on loading the game you controlled, in a top-down view, a character navigating a wilderness environment of grass, trees, and water. You had to explore the landscape to find an airplane and escape. There may have been some scattered parts that you had to find first.
• The map was procedurally generated, so the game was different every time you played.
• I'm 95% sure movement was tile-based.
• I think there were watchtowers or something scattered around the map that were useful for expanding your vision to help navigate.
• There were no external threats, but there may have been an energy bar or something similar that had to be sustained with food. The overall atmosphere of the game was peaceful.
• It was definitely published in or before early 2014, and probably after 2009.
• An odd detail I remember very clearly: the game's development was funded by the Newfoundland Arts Council, or a similar Newfoundland organization. This was stated somewhere on the game's website. I thought I could use this to track down the game's title, but I haven't been able to find a list of funded projects from the Newfoundland Arts Council from this time period though.

I don't think this was an especially famous indie game at the time, so it feels like a long shot, but I also have a vague sense I might have discovered it on Metafilter (searching turns up nothing though). Can you help ease my mind's fixation on this puzzle?

posted by biogeo to Media & Arts (4 answers total)

Response by poster: I found it!! It's called Make No Wonder. And I originally did find it on Metafilter, not only discovered here but created by our very own oulipian! Sadly the website seems no longer to be active.
posted by biogeo at 9:59 PM on October 17, 2020 [4 favorites]

Incidentally, another game they made was resurrected. According to the about page for Favimon:

Favimon first launched in 2010. In 2013 I removed it from the web. It was offline for about 5 years. In December 2018, I put it back up because someone asked nicely.
posted by Literaryhero at 11:33 PM on October 17, 2020 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: It does look like Make No Wonder is still online at a different URL, but it loads in an "admin" mode with cheats enabled (so for example there's no restrictions on movement, and nothing costs anything).
posted by biogeo at 1:13 AM on October 18, 2020 [6 favorites]

Best answer: Haha, yes this is my game! Biogeo reached out via MeMail and I thought I'd reply here. Yes, the game is still online, just a bit neglected – I stopped paying for the domain name, and must have accidentally uploaded the scripts file with "admin mode" turned on at some point.

I've just fixed that, so the game is back to normal now. Enjoy!
posted by oulipian at 9:24 AM on October 18, 2020 [17 favorites]