The time for pondering has come

Calm your mind. Focus your attention. Ponder your orb.

Orb Pondering Simulator furnishes you a digital orb of your own for you to ponder at your leisure. A number of attractive color palettes and hypnotic backgrounds are provided to help you find the arrangement most conducive to pondering. You can also download a free, self-contained offline copy for when internet access is unavailable.

Let the outside world fall away for a while, and concentrate on your inner life instead. What thoughts or insights does pondering your orb reveal? Does your encounter with the orb leave you changed in some capacity? Has anything become clearer – or more complicated – after your pondering?

Relax. Reflect. Repeat as necessary. Your orb stands ready always to receive your ponderings.

Controls

On the title screen:

• Press X to begin pondering.

On the orb screen:

• Press UP or DOWN to change the color of your orb. Several different palettes are available.
• Press LEFT or RIGHT to cycle through the available backgrounds.
• Press X to pause or resume the background's animation.

Why ponder an orb?

This project was made for the Pretentious Jam in 2024.

Aside from the meme, two sources provided the inspiration for this project:

• Kenta Cho’s Paku Paku, which has been dubbed “1D Pac-Man.” I appreciate that this probes the absolute minimum of what's required to constitute a “game” – and it’s staggering how little it uses in the way of space, inputs, enemies, and objectives. It led me to question what kind of minimalist formats could still make for a viable game. For example, could an animated GIF be a game unto itself? (Or a game that amounts to a pixel art GIF?)
• Bennett Foddy’s “Eleven Flavors of Frustration,” specifically this remark: “A game that is completely devoid of frustration is likely to be a game without friction, without disobedience. Games that are perfectly obedient are mere software.” I agree with the sentiment, but I found it interesting how it presupposes that the source of friction should come from within the game. It had me wondering whether friction from outside the game could be a potential source, and set me to thinking that the presumption of playability, when foiled, could perhaps provide that friction. For example, what happens when a game has no need of you – not because it plays itself (cf. beanborg’s Endless Marble Racing), but because it asks for a different kind of engagement than what games typically demand?

I am also motivated by a series of hermeneutics-related questions that are liable to become their own essay.

Credits and such

• Orb Pondering Simulator was made using PICO-8.
• The cover image is adapted from the infamous "pondering my orb" meme, which was originally drawn by Angus McBride. The image was formatted for PICO-8 using Jenny Schmidt's Depict.
• The background image for this page is taken from Cethiel's Orbs Collection on OpenGameArt.org. The image has been dedicated to the public domain.