A game that is based on the Japanese art form of haiga. The goal of the game is to be a evoke a sort of methodically calming experience. The idea was inspired by a self-assigned prompt, “turn a piece of art you like into a game”. I have always been struck by the tone and simplicity of Japanese ink paintings, so I figured I would start there. Upon some aesthetic and historical research, I came across a form called haiga. Haiga refers to ink paintings that are a combination of haiku, calligraphy, and painting. The paintings are traditionally simple and less concerned with capturing detail, and more about the moment and paralleling the theme of the haiku.

I made this game as a part of an on-going investigation of player experience. I want to play with the conceptual nature of games. What kind of experiences do these experiments create, and what kind of play emerges from my intentions? Is it successful as a game? an art experience? Neither?

Download the game here.