Tux and Fanny

Players control the titular characters as they explore and discover their home and surroundings, collecting items and solving puzzles, whilst also completing secondary tasks such as bug collecting and bird-watching. The game was released to a positive reception from reviewers, receiving the 'Most Amazing' Award at the Berlin A MAZE Festival and nominations at the Independent Games Festival in 2022.

• Title — Tux and Fanny • Developer — Ghost Time Games • Designer — Albert Birney, Gabriel Koenig • Platforms — Windows, macOS, Linux, Nintendo Switch • Released — 9 September 2021 • Genre — Adventure game • Modes — Single-player

• Illustration — A screenshot of Tux and Fanny Tux and Fanny is a point-and-click adventure game in which players explore the house of the titular characters and surrounding environment and discover and interact with items. Players alternate between control of Tux, Fanny, a cat, and a flea, with interaction between the characters necessary to solve various puzzles in the game. The game features an inventory-based system where players are able to combine and use collected items, and a points-based scoring system, with points awarded when players collect items. Exploration throughout the world can lead to the discovery of interactive items, including minigames playable on a household computer, and audio tracks playable on a record player. The game features many items or tasks that can be collected and logged by players, including collecting certain types of bugs or plants, identifying different species of birds, and identifying different shapes of clouds. Tux and Fanny also features a library of picture books designed by the developers and other artists, additionally containing the novel Moby Dick which can be read in its entirety by the player.

Tux and Fanny was developed by a partnership of Albert Birney and Gabriel Koenig, with Birney creating most of the game's art and writing, and Koenig "building the game itself, writing code, and assembling levels". Birney is based in Baltimore, and Koenig in Vancouver. The pair collaborated following an open invitation from Birney on Twitter to find a developer to adapt his 2019 film Tux and Fanny into a "point-and-click adventure computer game". The game was constructed in Unity3D, with the pixel art graphics imported from Pixilart, a free online tool. Birney stated that a "core component" of Tux and Fanny was the theme of connection during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the game providing an "opportunity to infiltrate the (video game) medium with a reminder that there's a real tangible world outside of the digital one, full of mystery, absurdity, and beauty." Birney stated that the game's evocation of 8-bit video games were influenced by his childhood experiences playing games on the Nintendo Entertainment System with friends and family, stating "I had somehow found an outlet to channel all my childhood game ideas into something you could actually play." This also prompted the developers to "make (their) own versions" of games from this era in the design of the minigames in Tux and Fanny, with the game becoming a "perfect home (for) stray miscreant ideas" for gameplay mechanics during the development process.

Tux and Fanny received the 'Most Amazing' award at the Berlin A MAZE Festival in 2022, with panel member Ida Hartmann describing the game as "utterly unique and strange experience in a universe that keeps on giving" and praising the game for its "creativity and playfulness with its poetic and meaningful micro-games, imaginative, explorative visuals and weird personal stories". The game was also a nominee for the 'Excellence in Narrative' and 'Nuovo Award' categories at the 2022 Independent Games Festival.