Dominique Pamplemousse
Dominique Pamplemousse in "It's All Over Once the Fat Lady Sings!" is a 2013 video game by independent developer Deirdra Kiai. The game is a musical interactive fiction game with characters and visuals animated in stop motion. Following release, the game was nominated for several awards at the 2014 Independent Games Festival, including the Seumas McNally Grand Prize and Nuovo Award.
Also recorded as It’s All Over Once The Fat Lady Sings!
Dominique Pamplemousse
- Date
- 2013
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wikidata · Q29877614
In this article
The object
The object
A sequel, Dominique Pamplemousse & Dominique Pamplemousse in: "Combinatorial Explosion!" was published in 2017.
Key facts
Key facts
• Title — Dominique Pamplemousse in "It's All Over Once the Fat Lady Sings!" • Released — 31 March 2013 • Developer — Deirdra Kiai Productions • Platforms — Windows, Mac, iOS • Modes — Single-player
Gameplay
Gameplay
• Illustration — Screenshot of gameplay in Dominique Pamplemousse Players assume the role of Dominique Pamplemousse, a non-binary detective who is called upon to solve the case of the disappearance of teen idol and pop star Casey Byngham. Dialogue in the game is sung by the characters, accompanied by subtitled text. The game uses a point and click interface for players to reveal clues through dialogue with characters, with puzzles completed through dialogue.
Development and release
Development and release
Dominique Pamplemousse was created by independent developer Deirdra Kiai, a graduate at UC Santa Cruz and a former Hothead Games programmer who had made games for over a decade prior. Kiai said that completion of the project was made in the time expected, although they experienced minor delays due to a competing work contract. The game was re-released on Steam and Humble on 11 March 2014. Kiai announced the game and published a demo in 2012 as part of a successful crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo. Describing the game as "endearingly ramshackle", Alec Meer of Rock Paper Shotgun praised its "unabashed silliness" of the demo, although considered that "meaty puzzles perhaps aren't in great supply". The game was also exhibited at IndieCade for E3 in 2013 as part of its Official Selection.
Accolades
Accolades
Dominique Pamplemousse received several nominations at the 2014 Independent Games Festival, including the Nuovo Award, Seumas McNally Grand Prize, Excellence in Narrative and Excellence in Audio Awards. Kiai expressed surprise at the nominations, but stated they were reassured to not have won an award, stating greater visibility for the game may have exposed them to online harassment.
Reception
Describing the game as "charming, witty and experimentally fun", Adventure Gamers found the game "amusing" and considered the "unpolished" nature of the game's singing and claymation helped in "creating a world which strays from easy interpretation and is inevitably messier, more confusing, and ultimately much more personal and compelling than most conventional narratives". Becky Chambers of The Mary Sue praised the game's commitment to its "oddball humour", "cheeky" plot, and "half-assed" visual presentation. Chambers lauded the game's "effortless subtlety" in its themes around gender identity, considering the ambiguous presentation of Dominique's gender identity as subversive and demonstrating the "ridiculousness" of characters' efforts to "tie themselves in knots over what pronouns to use" for the character. Cassidee Moser of Kill Screen commended the game's "valiant mission" of its intent to "deliver commentary on social issues" around the economy and gender identity. However, Moser critiqued these as "half-realised" and "forced", stating that "gender never plays a meaningful role in Dominique's characterization", and "we never get a real sense of how tough or in what way economic struggles have hurt any of the people outside of our main character".
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Dominique Pamplemousse in "It's All Over Once the Fat Lady Sings!", revision 1354386233 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Walker, John. IGF Factor 2014: Dominique Pamplemousse. Rock Paper Shotgun. 20 March 2014.
- 2.Matulef, Jeffrey. Peculiar B&W stop-motion musical adventure Dominique Pamplemousse gets a demo. Eurogamer. 17 August 2012.
- 3.Alexander, Leigh. When crowdfunding reveals the realities of game dev budgets. Game Developer. 8 July 2013.
- 4.Meer, Alec. Once Morph, With Feeling: Dominique Pamplemousse. Rock Paper Shotgun. 2 April 2013.
- 5.Conditt, Jessica. IndieCade at E3: Dominique Pamplemousse in 'It's All Over Once The Fat Lady Sings!'. Yahoo! News. 14 June 2013.
- 6.Entertainment Software Association. IndieCade, Videogame History Museum, and Pro Vs. GI Joe Add Diversity to E3's Events. E3 Show Daily. 54. June 2013.
- 7.Dominique Pamplemousse in “It’s All Over Once the Fat Lady Sings!”. Adventure Gamers. 8 April 2013.
- 8.Chambers, Becky. Indie Game Dominique Pamplemousse Tackles The Gender Binary Through The Majesty of Song. The Mary Sue. 28 February 2014.
- 9.Moser, Cassidee. Dominique Pamplemousse commits the sin of telling instead of showing. Kill Screen. 16 April 2014.
- 10.Crecente, Brian. Papers, Please wins big at the 16th annual Independent Games Festival awards. Polygon. 20 March 2014.
- 11.Sinclair, Brendan. IGF finalists named. GamesIndustry.biz. 7 January 2014.
- 12.Grayson, Nathan. Making Games Is Easy. Belonging Is Hard. Kotaku. 1 April 2014.
References
Citations
References
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reference work
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