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The Killer

A small notgame inspired by the thousands of senseless killings committed in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge regime. Requires no gaming skills whatsoever. Takes about three minutes to play through, though the length varies, and the experience is never quite the same for any two people.

WOW!!

I played The Killer twice, and both times made an impact on me. The first time, I shot the air and released the cambodian prisoner, and the second time i shot him/her. really really deep.


Different experience

This was kind of different for me I really felt the emotion behind this experience. I felt a little hesitate when given the orders to shoot the prisoner. It really shows how powerless people are those situation. When I showed mercy I was not rewarded for my choice. Great work


You suck

Kill yourself.


Amazing job!

I really like how you use time in your games to your advantage! Lots of games bore people with walking but if the game is about walking, it works great!


Thank You

Thank You


Wow, I love your games. My

Wow, I love your games. My favorite so far is The Killer, it’s so well thought out. I love how there’s more than one ending, I could go on and on about this game but I have a question. I’m a huge music nerd and I was hoping you could tell me what song is played and the end of the game. It really goes well with the theme, kinda mysterious at first but by the time you figure out what you’re doing the music is at its peak, and when the game is finally over it slowly fades out. I love the choice, but I’m unsure of the song title! It would really help me for a name and artist! Thank you so much!


I didn't

I didn’t want to keep playing. So I stopped. Even when I discovered that holding down spacebar and clicking outside the game in another tab would allow the killer to keep walking without my input, even if I released spacebar (thus removing me from culpability) I exited the game.


Choice is a valuable thing.

What makes someone choose between two lives? Rather what makes us believe we can choose between two lives? Us versus Them. Thank you for the choice of letting him go.

I stood upon the beach, waiting for daylight, dreading it. That I would have to shoot this figure I’ve never had a chance to know. An unknown soul who’s sins and virtues I’d never learn.


I had dread from the moment I

I had dread from the moment I started, and I couldn’t make it past 60 seconds. I ended up closing the tab and coming here. I’ve read from the comments that I’ve missed the end, but I couldn’t last to the part where I have to make a choice.

It’s odd to me that some people started this game and immediately thought they were playing as the prisoner. Because of the name of the game, I felt I was in the role of the gunner, and the knowledge that I would have to kill someone was too overwhelming for me to handle. Perhaps if I had assumed I was the prisoner, I would have accepted my fate from the start of the game and seen it through to the end, because I would have assumed I was powerless… but as the gunner, I felt the weight of responsibility for the other person, and the anxiety of choice. I wanted nothing more than to be rid of that terrible authority. I had to stop playing.


The Killer

I’m in awe of the power of The Killer, Loneliness, and Freedom Bridge. Well done.


Learning about Cambodia

I’m a sophomore in the midwest. Before playing The Killer I knew hardly anything about Cambodia. I.. I didn’t understand it was about genocide when I played it, but I kept stopping, hoping he would run away. In the end.. I was in tears and I just. Couldn’t. Do it.

You’ve made made something that so many people should play. I know it’s not healthy to always cry over people you’ll never meet. But what we tend to is much worse. We’ll here a thousand people were hurt, but we see as just “1000 injured”. We don’t see that they all have their own stories. But sometimes we should.

We should think of empathy like a muscle. If you don’t use it very much or very often, It’ll wear thin. If you use it too much or too often, It’ll get overworked, it will tear up. But if you cultivate it and use it in a healthy way and level, it can change lives.

- William Aldrich


This was great.

You made me feel the feels. I love and hate you so much. Keep on producing games, my amazing friend.


Moving

This may be one of the most moving games I have ever played.


This was powerful

This really made me stop and think. What did he do? Am I the one in the wrong? Should I shoot? One of the hardest questions I have answered in a while


Thank you for creating this game

Congratulations to the creator of this game, it is a good way to see how hard is to be part of a genocide. Every time I play the game I feel bad, I think I’m the person who is going to die. I feel like someone wants me to be dead. And because there is no option to kill the ‘killer’ it is awful feeling, I can’t do anything to defend myself. I can see the death near me…
We should remember we are all human beings, we are hear to live, to be good, do good things and forget about murders.


Feedback for "The Killer"

Hey there,

I ended up approaching this notgame thanks to the Extra Credits video “Mechanics as Metaphor I”, and by the end of it, I was surprisingly thrilled/affected (I don’t know the exact word, as english is not my main language). I think you did a fantastic job with the “Loneliness” and “The Killer”, the latter in particular.

When I got to the end of the walk to the fields and then given the cursor to shoot the prisoner/black stick, I was surprised when I was not bound to kill him, thinking I’d have infinite bullets until I shot him. That was quite the touch, and with the music at the end I was quite thrilled. I didn’t know anything about Cambodia, and the information was presented to me quite well.

Thank you for making this project, it’s quite an inspiration and, a really nice way to let people know about a sad disaster that is part of human history.


How many ?

How many millions people killed during the Vietnam war by capitalist invaders ? How many in History ? How many billions people enslaved by the same ?
I suspect a selective memory phenomenon at its best here.


Great way to spread awareness

This is a great way to spread information about this tragedy that has happened. You have this constant speculation “What is happening?” and after playing it to the end, you kind of… feel as if you were a part of this. It really makes you curious and feel responsible for what has happened.
This is not something that I have heard about in school, or in the news, or anywhere else. I’m really glad, that I got to know/feel this. Great principle.


The Killer

Well…First time, I let the victim live, shooting in the air…Second time, i shot the victim to see how the ‘Lieutenants like you…’ text changed…
The Notgame is…I can’t describe it, but the essence is:
I had a choice


Evocative.

Thank you for a poignant message. You’re spreading ideas worth hearing, and doing so in unique ways. Keep going.


Great game

Hi,

Just wanted to say you have made really beautiful games. 9/10. I like the graphics and the pixelated style but some graphics could have been improved, I am mainly thinking about the ending picture and style.

Thank you and best of luck in the future! :)


Amazing game. Thanks for

Amazing game. Thanks for developing. The feels are strong in this one.


Great

the explosion scared the shit out of me XD


Couldn't do it

I just aimed at myself and clicked. I figured that someone had to die in the end but that poor guy didn’t seem to deserve it. I (the game character with the gun, not me personally) sure deserved it though.


Thanks

Thank you for giving me the option to not kill the person. That’s all.


ur game is shit

i fucking waited like 5 minutes to fuckin shoo the cunt when i miised and he ran away this is the shittest game in hte world go fuck yourself you gay cunt ball sucker fuck head. dick.


You Poor Bastard

I want to personally say to you that you suck. this game is about the senseless murder of thousands of people and you just want to sit on the couch and play Call of Duty. that is fucking disgraceful.


It tells me to press space to

It tells me to press space to move. I press space and immediately assume I’m the little dark dude in front of the guy with the gun. I stopped pressing space and the first words that came out of my mouth were “I don’t wanna play anymore.” I guess playing games for 20 years it hits you kinda funny when you’re not really the hero of the story. I got to the end and found I had a choice. It’s a good thing to, I mighta rage quit.


The Killer, may of played out as actual choice

Clicked on the not game and started as a guy with a gun aiming at another guy, I just wanted to shoot him to get it over with but said I had to walk to the fields.

So I began walking and became bored from the long walk, but as I walked, I noticed certain things such as the guy would stop moving if you’re not poking him, but he actually moves faster then you but slows down eventually so If you constantly walk your bound to poke him some more.

By the end I reached the fields and when it told me to aim and shoot, I aimed up and let him go.

After the end which tells of how many people died and lieutenants such as myself chose to let them go but was the ones killed instead, I could now just imagine how that would of played out if I really was there.

Here I am, some lieutenant charged with killing someone, eager to get the job done just because, but as I’m forced to take this journey with this guy I’m going to execute, I begin to take notice of his actual presence and begin trying to understand him. I start with just making a forced march but later begin taking pity and slowing down. By the end of the journey, I end up viewing him as my travel buddy instead of my victim and can’t bring myself up to the original task of shooting him, so I do the whole movie thing where I’m about to pull the trigger but pull my gun up before It goes of and I let the guy go.

Unfortunately the ending says I just died, perhaps I should of aimed at the left so and maybe the ending would of said I became a rebel, or held the spacebar to see if I could move some more to run away with the guy instead, I’m pretty sure it would of ended up with me dieing anyways. But in a real life situation, that might be a bit aching to what would I do next.


It’s just occurred to me I

It’s just occurred to me I somehow left my comment on the wrong game. Though I suppose, it applies equally well to this one in a rather different fashion.


I suppose it is an error in

I suppose it is an error in my self, but I cannot comprehend why it is, in this situation, that one would walk. Death has already happened.

And yet, in the game I would assume that is the only way to survive.

I do wonder some times if that could have been intentional, but I can’t think what it would mean.


Great Game

I just wanted to say you guys are doing a great job, never have I cried playing a game. “Loneness” made me ball like a baby and though I did not cry “The Killer” made me think and also got me to learn more about history thats not taught in school. Thank you guys for a meaningful interactive and perfect tangential learning experience.


Oh my god

This game has given me a new look upon the world. As have your other creations. But this one…Am I a good person if I showed mercy? I shot into the air to let him go.


Damn… it’s harsh to learn

Damn… it’s harsh to learn about these things. As I started playing this, I knew that my mission was probably to kill the other person, and when it told me to aim, I just couldn’t shoot him, even though, in this case, it’s just pixels on a screen, but then again, aren’t we just atoms on a universe? So, I just aimed backwards and shot the air. But, then seeing all those pixelated bodies in the earth and reading about that tragedy really made me sad. Just questioning why can’t all of we humans just get along in peace? My deepest respects to anyone who suffered from this tragedy. :(


Improvement

I appreciate your interactive experience. It was engaging, but by the end, I was starting to not really care about the prisoner, which is the opposite of what you intended.

I believe that the walk is a bit too featureless. The change in scenery is good. It presents to the player that the journey to the killing fields was long. However, it also left me feeling “yeah, so what?” after a while. Adding more experience to the journey would make the game more memorable and poignant.

*The weather could change, allowing the player the chance to allow the prisoner to wait until it clears, or to plow on through. There could be shelter occasionally, to protect the prisoner from rain.

*You could include some of the anti-communist propaganda that the regime used to justify these actions.

*You could have villages where people watch you go by. Some could be white-hats, some could be black-hats.

*You could include other killers leading along other prisoners, to show the player how they “should” be acting.

You also could give the player more options at the end. Maybe there are other killers around showing the player what to do with the prisoner. Maybe the player could try to shoot the other killers. You could immediately show the player the price of mercy, showing the player being shot and the prisoner killed anyway.


Improvement

I appreciate your interactive experience. It was engaging, but by the end, I was starting to not really care about the prisoner, which is the opposite of what you intended.

I believe that the walk is a bit too featureless. The change in scenery is good. It presents to the player that the journey to the killing fields was long. However, it also left me feeling “yeah, so what?” after a while. Adding more experience to the journey would make the game more memorable and poignant.

*The weather could change, allowing the player the chance to allow the prisoner to wait until it clears, or to plow on through. There could be shelter occasionally, to protect the prisoner from rain.

*You could include some of the anti-communist propaganda that the regime used to justify these actions.

*You could have villages where people watch you go by. Some could be white-hats, some could be black-hats.

*You could include other killers leading along other prisoners, to show the player how they “should” be acting.

You also could give the player more options at the end. Maybe there are other killers around showing the player what to do with the prisoner. Maybe the player could try to shoot the other killers. You could immediately show the player the price of mercy, showing the player being shot and the prisoner killed anyway.


I showed this game to a

I showed this game to a Vietnamese friend (the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge are well-known there, as you may know) and she took a look at it.

At first, she seemed almost amused that someone would make a (not)game like this.

About 10 seconds or so in and realizing where this was going, she promptly pushed the back button saying “I’m not like this.”

I just wanted to share this story with you.


I really liked this

I really liked this experience (nongame, game, how ever you want to call it).
At first I tried to not harm the person in front of me, but soon realised that the game didn’t let me do that. What followed was a really long time walking (I kept on walking although I already had reached my destination, not knowing any better).
During that time I pondered about how the killer (just like me the player) probably didn’t have any other chance then to do this horrible thing, because of the way he has brought up, because for his entire life he had learned to hate the ethnicity of his victim. Btw, while playing I assumed that the “crime” for which the victim was supposed to be shot was being black.
I walked so long that I began to wonder whether the game even had an end (that would have really been the ultimate nongame). Finally I stopped. When I got the command “aim your gun”, I emmidiately pointed the gun upwards and shot in the sky. When this actually led to the prisoner’s escape I was happy and grateful for the designer to give me this option, to put this tiny bit of humanity into this otherwise very bleak and depressing experience.

Also, thank you for educating me about Pol Pot and his dictatorship in Cambodia. Up to this point I didn’t know much about him except that he had been a dictator and responsible for a genocide, which was especially targeted at educated people. I heard that some people were killed simply for wearing glasses, since these made them look intelligent…

Anyways, thanks for making this :)


took me awhile

I walked and walked. I kept walking past a beach…to fields….finally I stopped. I realized I could aim gun.

I had no reason to shoot a man. I shot the air. he ran happy for freedom. it was touching.

where are other comments?


too much walking

too much walking


too much walking

too much walking


wow..

what happened in columbia is really sad.. and that “notgame” was actually pretty moving.. you did a great job at relaying your message..


The little flash is nice. I

The little flash is nice. I love it! It was sad, and it delivered the message.


Take yourself out into a field you nigger.

What a pointless and angsty way to give me a history lesson.
If I wanted to be reminded of some mass genocide that took place in the past I would just play wolfenstein, or oregon trail.
At least those had some game play and without all the angsty bullshit music.
I turned that off and it STILL played at the end. I could take a dump, measure it and still make a better and more poignant point than this tiny sloppy turd.

But hey, like creator like game huh?

Go eat high-explosives you fairy faggot chink.


This is a critic of both :

This is a critic of both : The killer, Bridge of freedom and Walk or Die.

the bad point first or the good ones ? i will go for the bad one : Do not call a game something that is not linked to fun in anyway what so ever.

Walk or Die was not interesting to me even in the smallest manner. And since the other 2 were that good I was expecting something…Better. Your message was probably to use the complete silence to make people think but since I’ve already made a much deeper thought on the subject years ago then an half hour worth one. It lacked something to actually makes me enter the area and feel the situation. compared to the other 2…this one is a complete failure i am afraid.

Now the good ones : the Very simplistic graphics make us eager to listen to get more information I stopped myself multiple times to read the message appearing hoping it would change. And this just make us even more affected by the wonderfull music you choosed and when the characters exploded i was shocked because the peace you had provided was shaken, destroyed so easaly and quickly. Even if it is not a game it is clearly a piece of art. Like your game bridge of freedom in wich the lack of sound and the simplistic and yet overwhelming shot comes and says “nope” crushing the hope. Smart use of your own “game“‘s name there.


ON The Killer.

Though I say it takes a long time to get to the fields. The game is very atmospheric, and really lends to how well done this product is. This is a beautifully well done game. It tells a better story than 50% of games released. It uses the background to tell a story. It was jarring but a beautiful game.

Continue the good work!


second time

I tried and found a much more satisfying ending, but the end message stayed the same. Keep up the good work and I will bookmark your site, to play any new games and share with my friends.


stopping and starting.

All I could do was move forward or stop. I wanted to stop many times and even tried tapping other keys than space to see if they would do something different. I eventually stopped stopping until I got to the beach because I felt bad forcing the prisoner on, but felt worse when I stopped and had to run into him with my gun. The ending was very moving even before the explanation was given.


Amazing!

I just found your site, and after playing this game and then learning so much about Cambodia I had to tell you how amazing it was. Please keep making these, I really think you’re on to something!


The Killer

The Explosion didn’t really match up with the song so it felt really odd.