Most people who follow the independent music scene have heard of Daniel Johnston. The lo-fi musician and outsider artist -- who sometimes sings out of tune, can't play the guitar that well, but makes up for a lack of technical talent with raw earnestness -- has been a staple of the Austin music scene for more than two decades. His fascinating and troubled life was the subject of the 2005 documentary The Devil and Daniel Johnston, and his music has been covered by artists ranging from Tom Waits to Beck.
So it's not surprising that his art and music have been turned into an iPhone game. Johnston's body of work is rich with characters -- plenty of fodder to create a game from. Even so, I figured that the game, called Hi, How Are You, would be nothing more than an interesting novelty, a love letter to Johnston's fans that would boggle the rest of us.
What I didn't expect was for the game to be so damn fun.
When I relayed my opinion to developers Peter Franco and Steve Broumley, two game industry veterans who have decided to strike out on their own, they laughed. "First and foremost, we’re game developers," Franco said. "We definitely wanted to make fun a top priority." He considers Hi, How Are You less a video game tribute to Daniel Johnston more a game that just happens to be inspired by a really cool indie artist.
In other words, you don't need to be a Daniel Johnston fan to enjoy the game -- though you may well be one by the time you finish it.
Hi, How Are You plays a bit like Q*bert crossed with a 3D platformer. You control a series of characters from Johnston's oeuvre -- a frog at first, then a block, a ball, and finally a boy -- through colorful cel-shaded levels cut up into grids. By touching all of the grid squares and avoiding fantastical enemies like walking cubes and flying eyeballs, you'll activate the exit.
Weaving the levels together is a wordless narrative that anyone with knowledge of Johnston's difficult life will find extremely moving. It sounds silly to say that a game in which you control a bouncing cube can make you tear up, but there I sat, watching the final cut scene through wet eyes.
Franco and Broumley told me that the game evolved naturally from studying the themes in Johnston's work. "Love, the battle of good versus evil -- all of that stuff is prevalent in his art," Franco noted. "And it just so happens that is the very story of his life, because that's what he knows about, that's what he expresses in his art."
That Franco and Broumley have managed to contain this moving tribute to Johnston's life inside the framework of a genuinely fun game speaks to their dedication as fans and to their talent as game designers. All of the qualities of Johnston's art that resonate most strongly with me -- the lo-fi production values, the darkly humorous lyrics that belie a struggle with crippling depression, the stunningly original art style -- are present in the game.
The end result is one of the best experiences I've had on the iPhone.
