Little Nemo and the Nightmare Fiends is an upcoming video game based on Winsor McCay’s classic comic about a young boy who fights fantastical battles against nightmares and other demons in Slumberland. The game is still in development, but you can play it for free at Free Play: Innovative Game Design at the Cleveland Institute of Art until Feb. 8. If you’d rather wait, you can back the project from your couch and receive a beta-testing copy before the end of January, according to the game’s developer, Chris Totten.
If you’re a nerd, you might also recognize the name because of the Ghibli-like feature film that was released in 1989. If you’re a really big nerd, you know that the film was based on McCay’s comic from 1905. McCay also created one of the first animated films in history in 1911, containing more than 4,000 hand drawings.
“What if this game were a game that kids sleeping over at a friend's house could stay up way too late to play?” Totten said, having grown up playing video games himself. “That’s the kind of game we want to make.”
The video game prioritizes Little Nemo’s original 2D style. Illustration provided by Chris Totten.
Since 2022, Totten, a professor at Kent State University, has led a small team of game developers – including students – to carry Little Nemo into the 21st century. He studied both architecture and game design, before finding a career in game design. The game is handdrawn, an art form that corporate media has generally tried to leave in the dust.
Part of Totten’s vision is to create a game that uplifts McCay’s original art style, a relatively new feat, he said. Little Nemo and the Nightmare Fiends is meant to be a living version of the comic, which is demonstrated through the careful hand drawn style of the game.
At the same time, the game isn’t meant to be a sequel or an exact copy. Instead, it’s meant to “help people understand a very old piece of art from a pioneer of animation,” such as McCay, Totten said. This version also introduces an original character named Peony, a ballerina. The game allows you to play as four characters, including Nemo and Peony. The game is told through vignettes rather than a serialized story, according to Totten.
“It’s more like a fever dream,” he said, referencing the strong themes of dreams and subconscious, even in the title of the game.
Because the original comics showcase a lot of architecture, particularly Art Nouveau and some Art Deco, Totten exercised his architecture training to include some iconic Cleveland Easter eggs throughout the game. For example, the Guardian statues make regular appearances, he said.
One of the many dream sequences in Little Nemo and the Nightmare Fiends. Illustration provided by Chris Totten.
In addition to carefully crafted graphics, the game features an original soundtrack composed by Wayne Strange. One of the most recent updates from the project includes the promise of an original song performed by Arizona-based and Grammy-nominated nerd core rapper, Mega Ran.
FREE PLAY: Innovative Ohio Game Design is open until Sunday, Feb. 8 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Reinberger Gallery at Cleveland Institute of Art. The exhibit features seven playable indie games from creators across the Buckeye state. On Jan. 23, you can also attend the juried exhibit for free.