Passage is a 2007 experimental video game developed by Jason Rohrer. Since its release it has become a significant entry in the burgeoning debate of video games as an art form. Rohrer himself has been an outspoken proponent of advancing the artistic integrity of the medium. In the game, the player spends five minutes experiencing a character's entire lifetime, with results that many commentators have described as emotionally powerful. Rohrer has described the title as a "memento mori" game.
Gameplay
In form, Passage most resembles a primitive side-scroller in which players control a male avatar that can move from left to right as time progresses. There are no instructions. The environment is a two-dimensional maze with treasure chests scattered throughout, some in relatively hard to reach places. Points are earned for collecting these chests. After a short time, the player will encounter a female character who will marry the protagonist if touched; this choice, however, will increase the difficulty of navigating the maze, as the female will begin to accompany the player and restrict certain avenues of movement. In the beginning of the game the player is positioned near the left side of the screen, thereby limiting his ability to see backward, with a long and narrow expanse of environment available to the right. As the game progresses, the avatar's relative position on the screen gradually shifts to the right, with less visibility to the right and more visibility to the left. The speed of the player also slows as time progresses, and the representation of both the avatar and the wife visibly age. The lack of any victory conditions coupled with the inevitability of death have led some to question whether Passage is in fact a game at all, or whether the word "game" is a sufficient label for it.
Plot
The game is devoid of a traditional plot, instead allowing the player's choices to author an abstract representation of a life. The protagonist may choose to maximize his life as a treasure hunter by remaining alone, or choose to marry for companionship, which will last until his wife's eventual death. Regardless of the choices the player makes, the fixed length of the game and the aging of the protagonist ensures death for the player character as well.
Themes
Passage was intended as an abstract metaphor for the human condition. Rohrer has stated that repeated playthroughs help emphasize the finite nature of the experience.
Development
Passage was made for Kokoromi's Gamma 256 event, a curated show at the 2007 Montreal International Games Summit. The size constraints for Gamma 256 led Rohrer to present the game in a blocky 100x16 pixel resolution. No entrants were allowed to exceed 256x256. Games were also limited to five minutes in length. Rohrer created all of the content, including the music, and the pixel art, which was made using the free software mtPaint. The final game was 2 megabytes large. The visual presentation of the main character is loosely based on Rohrer himself, with the female character modeled on his wife Lauren. Rohrer has stated that the themes of Passage were influenced by the death of an elderly neighbor, as well as his own changing life circumstances after starting a family of his own. In 2007 Rohrer released the game's source code and assets into the public domain, while asking for voluntary donations and selling the game on the iOS appstore for $0.99.
