Remember the ultramodern Alien Child video game in the Spike Jonze film, Her? Of course you do; the incandescent pint-sized dude, with his cartridge of one-offs like "Fuck you shithead, fuckface, fuckhead," won viewers' hearts. Now, the game's 29-year-old animator David OReilly is releasing his first IRL video game in mid-July, a "relax 'em up" called MOUNTAIN, with the tagline, “You are Mountain. You are God.”
ROBIN HWANG: I really enjoyed the game you helped create in Spike Jonze’s her. How did that all come about?
DAVID OREILLY: Spike wrote the movie and he asked me to come in and take a look at the rough cut, and see about how to create this video game in Her. He and his friend did some sketches, and I came in and did some storyboards and modeling. Over the course of a year, I went into designing the sequences themselves.
Some people won't know, but Spike was actually the voice of the Alien Child. Was he committed to doing the voice?
Oh yeah, he was really into that idea! There was no taking away from that. He would do that voice a lot in meetings. I’m pretty sure half of our meetings were all in that voice. He was like a little kid, so excited about this little alien child. We’d talk for hours about tiny aspects of the character, his shoulders, his eyes, the movement, and the volume of meaning in its personality.
Since you’re a visual artist and animator, what made you branch out and create Mountain?
It’s true, I’m not a game designer. It’s been a world that’s been in my radar for awhile though, especially the independent game world. There’s a lot happening with 3-D in that world, my short films were about the exploration of 3-D, and I ran into a lot of indie game people over the years. So, when I worked on Her, it kinda felt like the universe was telling me to make a game.
How did the segue actually happen?
When I finished working on Her, I went for a walk, trying to decide what to do next, and I broke my ankle on the pavement. So, I had a few months to sit down and learn something new, and it was this game engine called Unity, so I basically went for it and watched tutorials. I was getting stuck on a few things, so I asked a friend if they knew anyone who knew this programming stuff and I got connected to Damien Di Fede, and we started making the game together.
I know the Unity engine is used by indie game studios, and even major ones. Was there a huge difficulty curve?
As far as the design and the look of things, it was intuitive. Unity is a more contemporary software than the 3-D software there is now. The standard tools for making 3-D video have become incredibly complex, but game
To start, the player takes a simple drawing test, prompted by words like "birth" or "love." Then, a singular textured landscape is custom generated. Pegged as an ambient simulator offering very little prompts and up to 50 hours of gameplay, Mountain is meant to be left in the background of the user's screen, to gently lull or inspire as needed. Not quite as sensational as a potty-mouthed alien, but we'll take it.
Opening Ceremony spoke with OReilly after his recent release event at HORIZON, an E3 press conference for indie gamers. And to the left, preview a trio of GIFs created by the artist, exclusively for OC.ROBIN HWANG: I really enjoyed the game you helped create in Spike Jonze’s her. How did that all come about?
DAVID OREILLY: Spike wrote the movie and he asked me to come in and take a look at the rough cut, and see about how to create this video game in Her. He and his friend did some sketches, and I came in and did some storyboards and modeling. Over the course of a year, I went into designing the sequences themselves.
Some people won't know, but Spike was actually the voice of the Alien Child. Was he committed to doing the voice?
Oh yeah, he was really into that idea! There was no taking away from that. He would do that voice a lot in meetings. I’m pretty sure half of our meetings were all in that voice. He was like a little kid, so excited about this little alien child. We’d talk for hours about tiny aspects of the character, his shoulders, his eyes, the movement, and the volume of meaning in its personality.
Since you’re a visual artist and animator, what made you branch out and create Mountain?
It’s true, I’m not a game designer. It’s been a world that’s been in my radar for awhile though, especially the independent game world. There’s a lot happening with 3-D in that world, my short films were about the exploration of 3-D, and I ran into a lot of indie game people over the years. So, when I worked on Her, it kinda felt like the universe was telling me to make a game.
How did the segue actually happen?
When I finished working on Her, I went for a walk, trying to decide what to do next, and I broke my ankle on the pavement. So, I had a few months to sit down and learn something new, and it was this game engine called Unity, so I basically went for it and watched tutorials. I was getting stuck on a few things, so I asked a friend if they knew anyone who knew this programming stuff and I got connected to Damien Di Fede, and we started making the game together.
I know the Unity engine is used by indie game studios, and even major ones. Was there a huge difficulty curve?
As far as the design and the look of things, it was intuitive. Unity is a more contemporary software than the 3-D software there is now. The standard tools for making 3-D video have become incredibly complex, but game