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The Game About People Who Pretend to Be Airplanes Is 'Deadly Serious'

In 'Cult of the Wind,' your character runs around with his arms sticking out to the side, making airplane noises and firing a variety of imaginary weapons.

How's this for an indie game: a third-person multiplayer shooter with unique physics and a custom map builder that lets you share maps instantly with anyone. Sounds cool, right? Well, now add this: Everyone in the game is pretending to be an airplane.

Yes, it's exactly what it sounds like. In Cult of the Wind, a game currently looking to get greenlit on Steam, your character runs around with his arms sticking out to the side, making airplane noises and firing a variety of imaginary weapons from somewhere in his fuselage at other like-minded individuals. As expected, you can also jump and catapult around the levels, which, as the trailer suggests, makes for a fast-paced game.

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But seriously, people who pretend to be airplanes? After a year in which odd indie games have received a ton of mainstream attention, Cult of the Wind could be just another goof. On /r/gaming, where the game's Steam Greenlight trailer hit the front page yesterday, the top comment is particularly harsh:

So we're designing games to be as bizarre and nonsensical as possible so they stand out, get upvoted on reddit, and succeed on Greenlight and crowdsourcing platforms, now?

This thing is sitting at +114 on r/games right now, even though if you look past the bizarre premise, it appears to be a Quakeish arena shooter with a few cute mechanics, some very muddled visuals, and no real information about the game itself behind it.

But according to Alex Allen, the lone man behind developer North of Earth, that's far from the case.

"The concept evolved in my head over many years, like all my games," he said in an email. "I do not make things on a whim or as a reaction to popular trends—that is impossible for a game of this size."

Based on footage from the game's alpha version, it certainly makes for interesting gameplay. And, really, it's pretty cleverly implemented. In an FAQ on North of Earth's forums, Allen explained that it's not simply people running around shooting each other in unorthodox fashion.

Instead, the game's concept allowed for a unique set of physics that take into account the fact that the characters really believe they can fly. That includes having damage be based on speed, "so camping and sniping are impossible." Meanwhile, the gameplay is "extremely vertical, featuring minimal falling damage and the ability to be flung high in the air." Combined with the level editor, it makes for a game that's deeper than it may first appear—an impressive effort considering Allen largely built it himself.

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"With the exception of music and testing, this has been a solo endeavor for the last two years," he said. "This is North of Earth's second major game, the first being Omegalodon, which was released on Desura in March 2012 and on Steam in September 2013. It's a labor of love, and I don't sleep much!"

Naturally, the concept alone—a cult of people who think they're airplanes is compelling any way you spin it—has gotten the game a fair bit of attention. The comments on the game's Steam page are fairly universally positive, with many commenters calling it hilarious, and a few comparing it to Goat Simulator, the current high water mark for weird, jokey indie games.

"Though the response has been overwhelmingly positive, some expressed concern that this was merely a 'joke game,' likening it to Goat Simulator. I cannot emphasize enough that this is NOT the case," Allen wrote. "Cult of the Wind is one of my brain-children. It is heavy on gameplay and community, finely tuned, and stable. As for inspiration, the game draws from an obsession with flight and a humorous outlook on human behavior."

While I suppose that if you spend two years working on a game about grown men pretending to airplanes, you'll have to expect some criticism, it's still fascinating that some of the immediate response has dismissively labeled it as People Pretending to Be Planes Simulator.

It speaks, for one, to the intertia endemic to the internet's culture cycle. Train Simulatorand its ilk were favorites for years, largely because they represent such an oddly specific part of the gaming world. Then came Goat Simulator and Bear Simulator, which both found success not just for their absurdity, but because they were so clearly in on the joke.

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But as anyone who's looked for Flappy Bird or 2048or whatever in the app store knows, as soon as something taps into a rich vein of zeitgeist, a flood of copycats follows, perhaps moreso for games than any other cultural medium. (They certainly arrive in more earnest in games.) And now comes Cult of the Wind, which, humorous or not, is getting heat for allegedly trying to capitalize on the success of something it by all appearances has nothing to do with.

Call of the Wind may be a good game or not—it's novel, to be sure—but in either case, seeing it judged on the basis of another game's perceived transgressions or lack of gaming gravitas is a bit of a bummer, even if those expressing that sentiment are probably concerned mostly about games losing their depth and richness in favor for whatever's going to grab the most simplistic, viral attention.

Of course, that feeling is a bit of a pushback to the vast number of people on the other side of the camp. "I think i speak for everyone when i say this is the stupidest game ever, and i will instant-buy on release," wrote one commenter on Steam, and that encapsulates the concern around something like Goat Simulator or Flappy Bird: That they suggest the path to success in indie games is to shoot for the lowest common denominator. Fair points all, but it's still notable to see an unrelated game like Cult of the Wind get saddled with some of the fruits of that frustration.

Allen said that Cult of the Wind is currently playable, and that he's working to build maps, fix bugs, and finalize the map editor. Of course, the big thing is getting the game on Steam, which he says will "allow proper matchmaking and map sharing through Steam Workshop."

"I want to integrate Steam in ways I couldn't with Omegalodon—really make it part of the community with Workshop support, clans, and contests," Allen said. "If the campaign succeeds within reasonable time I'd like it to be Steam-exclusive. As the game is multi-player, having multiple versions would only divide the community. After release I plan to support and update the game throughout its life. If the community drives the demand for features, I will meet them."

If the community response is an indication, Cult of the Wind certainly has a groundswell of support. In a forum post, Allen said that the game will probably run "$14.99 with a $9.99 launch day deal," which seems like a good deal if the game can inspire a vibrant matchmaking and map-building community. But whatever happens, just don't call it silly.

"Running around like an airplane might look silly to an outsider, but to the Cult of the Wind it's deadly serious," Allan said. "That's the meta-joke."