I attended the Second TIGA Casual Games Meet Up a couple of weeks ago with a colleague. I certainly found the whole thing a lot more interesting than ‘Bit of Alright’ last week, with Katie Bell from Stardoll really making it for me (More on that one later).

Having recently lost a close relative, I found myself thinking about how artists across all mediums often express things about their lives in that medium. If you’re a musician you might write a song about it, or if you’re a painter you might do a painting to convey how you feel. However, it’s quite rare that a game designer/developer will actually go and make a game about something real like death, fear, love or relationships.

You can imagine that my ears perked up when one of the panel (final session of the event) mentioned a game that his company had developed in conjunction with C4 to help the predominantly atheist/agnostic British youth face their own mortality and think about the possibility of an afterlife.

I just had a session with it lunchtime and was very impressed, although it’s not quite what I’d imagined. The main part of the game takes place in platform levels where, as a spirit, you can use your light power to convert shadows into solid surfaces. At some point in the level you will be asked a philosophical question like “do you want to live forever?” or “is it possible to be happy living in the moment?” which you answer by walking through one of several doors. Reaching the end of each level see’s you do battle (through the medium of a hex-tile placement puzzle game) with a demon.

It links with Facebook so you can compare your activity with friends and keep a save game.

Give it a go at playtheend.com

[youtube http://youtu.be/WmQAbpw_anc]