I really enjoyed writing and creating the art for “Today is the End of the World,” and today I want to share some of my inspiration behind creating this story.

The initial spark for my creativity actually comes from a tumblr post by Jonny Bolduc that was cross-posted to pinterest. I don’t have permission to post the image here, but I’ll share the tumblr link here: https://jovialtorchlight.tumblr.com/post/150984758518/caution-2016-jonny-bolduc 

I’ll also provide a description of the image here so that my discussion makes sense. It starts with a yellow caution sign. Underneath that sign on the left is a clipart image of an open door on a white background, and on the right is a short poem. I’ve quoted part of it below for context.

“You missed it. It was beautiful. All the lights went out at once. …Then you showed up. I was hoping you would.”

The poem and the accompanying images stuck with me. It contains such an interesting mixture of regret and relief. Reading this poem makes me feel as though the world has just ended, and my friend wanted me to be there with them.

And that’s where the main idea behind “Today is the End of the World” comes from. The world is ending, and your friend Echo wants you to watch it with her. And every day, you and your friend experience a strange combination of regret and relief as you witness the apocalypse.

The door inspired me to have the player meet Echo in a strange, bright room behind a white door. Originally, the room was going to be solid white with just a TV and a couch in it, but the background looked really odd without any kind of background details, so I added in some disorienting, weirdcore-style text, as well as some chromatic visual noise.

The other main inspiration for the story comes from a song called “See You Again” by The Gray Havens. The song is about how we don’t really know what heaven will be like, but that it will be wonderful because it’s heaven (“And I'm not sure what that means / But I know it'll be better than we ever dreamed / When I see you again”).

But my favorite part of the song (and the other source of inspiration for the story) comes from the bridge.

“Leave behind / So much left to say / We'll have time / 'Cause with forever there's another day.”

These lines struck me so much when I first heard them. Sometimes, when someone dies, other people will say that they regret not telling them something, that they loved them or forgave them for something, but now that chance has gone. In this song, however, the singer is saying that because heaven is eternal, there will always be that chance. We will always have the opportunity to say the things that matter most to each other.

It was this idea that inspired me to have the apocalypse repeat in a quasi time loop. Even though the world ends every day, there is always another day. It’s a form of eternity, and in this eternity, everyone must decide what is most important to them to say and do. Ms. Lucy wants to spend her last day with her friends. Arthur wants to spend his last day treating others with generosity. And the player’s parents want to spend their last day celebrating the end of everything.

And you, the player, also get to choose how you spend your last day: keeping company with your anxious friend or celebrating with everyone else.

The song specifically also inspired endings 3 and 4, “One More Time” and “We Are Always Free to Choose,” respectively. In these endings, the player chooses to either stay with Echo or to leave her for the party, but only temporarily. The player-character isn’t ready to make a permanent choice, and that’s okay because they will always have tomorrow to make up their mind.

As for the visual style of the game, I thought that the surreality of weirdcore and the comfort of dreamcore would be the best choice for the subject matter. The weirdcore aspects would show the terror and strangeness of the apocalypse while the dreamcore aspects would soften the blow and offer some peace. I didn’t want the game to be all fear and horror. I wanted it to be filled with wonder and happiness as well.

Thanks for reading my devlog! I hope you enjoyed getting this insight into how the game was made!