"Have you met Eskil Steenberg?"
I ask this question a lot when I go to the Game Developer's Conference, an annual gathering of more than 15,000 game developers here in San Francisco. You've got to meet Eskil, I tell my fellow reporters. The guy is amazing.
"You need to." That's usually what I say next.
Eskil is a GDC fixture. He walks the halls with a giant laptop in his bag, and if you stop him, he'll show you what he's made on it. What he's made is a game called Love, a massively multiplayer online game that he created all by himself in Stockholm, Sweden.
Eskil's game is beautiful. It looks like a post-Impressionist painting come to virtual life.
Eskil's game is magical. It appears impossible that it's the creation of this one man.
Eskil's game was offline for six months, because he had an epiphany about how to make it better and wanted to re-do it, add a bunch of stuff to it and then re-launch it two Saturdays ago.
Love is back now. Eskil will show you what it's all about now, in the video above. We shot this off of his laptop. Yeah, we got some glare. It's bright here at GDC. You'll literally see Eskil in his game, reflected off his laptop screen as he plays. It's fitting, really, Eskil Steenberg is in his game. This thing is all him, and it's wonderful. I think the beauty of what he's made will shine through, too.
Watch the video and then, if you're intrigued, head to the Love website and download a free demo. Windows-only. Eskil's a busy man. Sometimes he releases two title updates a day.