The Odyssey (itch) (Thanos Makris)

The player is looking for texts to collect in order to progress the story as well as the game itself. Upon finding a text, they can collect it and read the part of the poem it refers to. Once all texts are gathered, the level is complete.

The game is divided into 4 levels and each of them is referring to one of the Odyssey’s thematic sections, namely:

• the Telemachy (4 rhapsodies, from α to δ)
• the Phaeacis (4 rhapsodies, from ε to θ)
• the Apologoi (4 rhapsodies, from mid ι to μ)
• the Mnesterophonia (12 rhapsodies, from ν to ω)

* * *

If we try to imagine the archetypal bard (in our case, the Homeric aoidos), we could see him in a banquet taking people’s song requests and performing with his lyre. In a video game context, we can draw parallels between the actants of the above process and their game equivalents:

• The audience is the player. They are in control. Whatever they hear, it derives from their own agency, much like how someone uses a jukebox.
• The bard is the game. He mediates between the song and the audience and whenever asked, he starts but also stops performing.
• The song is the content, or, what the game is about.

Therefore, in this game the player experiences the Odyssey’s story while assuming the role of the Homeric audience.

The text used in the game comes from Emily Wilson's translation of the Odyssey.

-This game was part of my MA thesis-