Description

A Dark Room is a minimalist text adventure with unpredictable, expanding mechanics. An entire world unfolds slowly from a single button, inviting players to light a fire. Players are challenged to shift their strategies and perspectives as new layers of information and interactivity are revealed. Light the fire, and see where it takes you.

History

Development and intial release

In April 2013, Michael Townsend played Candy Box!, by French developer aniwey. Fascinated by Candy Box!'s minimalist presentation, as well as its dynamic and unpredictable emergent gameplay, Townsend began thinking about how that aesthetic could be used in service of a broader narrative. Two months later, doublespeak games released A Dark Room for free on the web. It was an unexpected viral success, and got the attention of mobile developer, Amir Rajan.

Mobile success

Rajan contacted Townsend after reading an article about A Dark Room on HackerNews. The Texas-based developer wanted to port A Dark Room to iOS as an experimental project, and Townsend agreed. By November of that year, A Dark Room was live on the App Store. Six months later, it was charting #1 and the two developers suddenly found themselves with a viable future in game development. While doublespeak moved on to new projects, Rajan continued to develop the A Dark Room brand, porting the game to other platforms and releasing a prequel called The Ensign.

Features

• Varied and diverse gameplay, leaving players curious about what changes the next hour will bring.
• Minimalist environmental storytelling reveals a unique and compelling world through exploration and play.
• An interface that is simultaneously intuitive and atmospheric.
• Free to play on the web.