IHow do you follow up the game that made the world cry? It’s a question that has plagued writer Graham Parkes since 2021’s Bafta-winning Before Your Eyes. Released during the height of lockdown, Parkes’ webcam-controlled story uses players’ eye blinks to fast-forward through protagonist Benny’s memories, weaving in and out of every heartwarming and heartbreaking moment of his existence. Quickly earning a reputation as a Twitch drama, its poignant narrative and months of pandemic-fuelled misery creating a perfect storm that sent Kleenex flying. “As a writer, that’s definitely been intimidating,” Parkes says, “I’m interested in using games to tell concise, emotional stories, but we can’t say every time we’re going to make them cry.”
Still, tears or no, things are already looking pretty promising for Before Your Eyes’ intriguing sequel, Goodnight Universe. Developed by Nice Dream, a brand new studio formed by creators Graham Parkes and Oliver Lewin, Goodnight Universe has already won the 2024 Best Game award at the Tribeca Film Festival, beating out the brilliant Thank Goodness You’re Here!.
What’s the premise of Goodnight Universe? “It’s a game where you play as a psychic baby,” Parkes says, with a sheepish grin. Using a webcam or a virtual reality headset, players are placed in the tiny body of a baby, Isaac, who begins to develop mysterious abilities. It’s up to the crawling, fledgling psychic to come to grips with his rapidly blossoming new gifts, moving his eyes to bend his gigantic environment to his will. Preferably, Parker explains, without scaring Isaac’s poor parents.
“Before Your Eyes was very much a disempowering game,” Parkes says. “But we always thought that these mechanics – blinking and eye tracking – could also be used to make you feel empowered, to feel magical.”
The story of Goodnight Universe, which sounds more like Boss Baby than an indie song, is definitely a shift in tone, and it took the team a while to get it right. “We had that anxiety about the second album for a long time,” Parkes says. “To the point where I remember having to institute a rule where we couldn’t even talk about Before Your Eyes in our ideation sessions.”
Luckily, inspiration eventually came via a new face babbling around the boardroom. “Our lead designer, Bela, had her first child,” Parkes says. “She started coming to meetings and was at that age where you’d put her down and almost forget she was there as she’d just sit there staring at one thing for an hour. We’ve become known for making games where you don’t really move… I noticed her staring at me in silence and it was that ‘Oh shit! ’ moment.” Goodnight Universe was born.
From kinetically changing TV channels to making blocks of wood fly, Goodnight Universe takes players on a strange and emotional journey where Isaac must understand his abilities, earn acceptance from his family, and avoid being kidnapped by a shady tech corporation. Featuring our diaper-clad protagonist, voiced by Top Gun: Maverick’s Lewis Pullman, and a supporting cast that includes actors from TV shows like Veep, Barry, and The Daily Show, the Los Angeles studio wisely took advantage of its proximity to Hollywood.
“I think a lot of indie makers are scared of[the union]and actors who only do film and TV,” adds the game’s director and composer Oliver Lewin, “but the actors are actually really excited about this stuff.”
After the newsletter promotion
Thanks to the Bafta win, Before Your Eyes has finally transcended its webcam origins, coming to PlayStation VR2 and finding a place in Netflix’s ever-growing mobile games library. But while Goodnight Universe can be played in VR with face tracking turned off, for Lewin the game’s story is tied to the humble webcam. “For us, face tracking technology is about adding extra immersion,” says Lewin. “It really surprises me that (few) developers are exploring this… there’s so much you can do with a simple webcam, and everyone has one.”
“Our games are, in many ways, playable movies,” Parkes adds. “I think what really motivates us, more than the exciting controls, is how we use this medium to tell our story in interesting and unique ways.”
In a medium built on slaying dragons, slaying demons, and embarking on intergalactic power fantasies, there’s something refreshingly quaint about Goodnight Universe. However, after shedding my fair share of tears over Before Your Eyes, if there’s anyone who can do this strange premise justice, it’s an eccentric art-game collective from Los Angeles.
