gardens of vextro: a chain-game project

a screenshot from 'wet cemetery' by nilson: a rectangular table broken up into smaller rectangular cells, all superimposed on a solid pink background. in the top-left cell of the table is a rudimentarily drawn map of a house, with bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen. in the bottom-right cell is a textbox that reads: 'Fermenting jars full of glowing carrots, onions, a giant mushroom from the park, ferns and bushy greens line the space. Dead coffee hangs in the air, and burns your cheeks a little. Bathed in green light from outside, an old white flower sits in a mason jar on the table. The fridge hums, stirring. You remember making breakfast here ages ago, yesterday, two days ago.' In the bottom-right cells, there is a list of locations you can travel to within the house, and a list of objects that are interactable in the current room. In the top-right cells, there are small white cutouts, indicating objects or creatures to be found.

if you haven't heard, my friends in vextro and i released our collaborative project, gardens of vextro. here is a blurb that sraeka wrote for GoV:

a collection of games, developed in sequential 1-week-ish spans between august and november, with each work drawing and building on ideas from those that came before it and inspiring those coming after. the result is GARDENS OF VEXTRO, a diy games anthology featuring poetic reflections, chuuni action, high risk future labor, gay girls confronting their feelings, endless wandering, humor, horror, grief, growth, and flowers that cause problems

if any of that sounds remotely interesting, the first game is a great sample and only takes a few minutes to play. from there i recommend playing the games in order, but it doesn't have to be crammed into one sitting, or two. these aren't just parts of a whole: each entry is a complete game in its own right.

a screenshot from 'labyrinths' by lotus: an image of a palm tree-lined path at sunset, with a textbox to the side that says: 'I've mapped out the paths as best as I can. In the margins of my notebook, I scribble words, I make up new symbols.'

labyrinths is the 2nd link in the chain, and the 2nd game i've ever made. i'm really proud of it, and glad it got to come to life this way, alongside some gorgeous flowers.

in the extras, you'll find the creator commentaries/liner notes for each game. if you'd like, you can read them as you play, or save them till the end.

i hope you're pleasantly surprised, if not totally floored, by the worlds people can create in a week. (i was.)

a screenshot from 'pangeas error' by sraeka-lillian: a topdown perspective of an rpg overworld showing forests and mountains all covered in snow, and a river running along the bottom of the screen. a village of white-roofed houses sits tucked between the forests. in the center of the image, a reddish anthropomorphic cartoon lizard stands with their back to the camera, looking at the village.

take care.