Photography games have been on trend lately. Just last year among major publishers there’s been Pokémon Snap and the re-release of a maligned Fatal Frame game. You don’t have to look far to see that every triple-A game these days has a photo mode, but if you extend your gaze beyond that you’ll see independent developers have been the ones pushing the genre forward. Games like Umurangi Generation, Alba: A Wildlife Adventure, and the upcoming Pupperazi show the emerging genre has as much range as, say, the first-person shooter.
TOEM is one of the most charming and recent examples in this space, a game about exploring and taking pictures as you move through pocket-sized communities. But TOEM didn’t start as a photo game. It began simply as a non-violent game that would allow the player to stop and appreciate the game’s illustrative art style. The original idea spawned from a conversation two friends had about leaving game development forever. TOEM might not be their Final Fantasy, but the heart-to-heart sparked the sketch that would become the basis for the game’s striking art style. The road ahead would be long.
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