While Waiting is, in fact, a long dream.
In it, Adam experiences his entire life and what the future has in store for him. When players restart the game, everything resets and begins anew. So no matter what Adam does, he always reaches the same ending. This shows the theme of our game, which is like determinism. So like everything is determined.
The reason the setting is Times Square, NY is because, as most people know, the main “New Year's Eve celebration” in the US and is one of the most iconic celebrations in the world. In the game, we have several New Year levels. It is more like the ending of the chapter, where players can see Adam grow up later. This is why the first level, the New Year level, is in Times Square. So that's why.
We hope players will learn to accept and embrace their life and discard the attachment. The game includes so many stickers, but aside from the “doing nothing” sticker, none of them actually affect the game's progress in any way. Some stickers are designed to be very, very difficult, and in most levels, it's impossible to collect them in one run. That's because we intentionally make it difficult and want the players to learn how to give up.
Here's a short story:
So when I was young, I loved playing games, especially JRPGs. But as I get older, I was trying to complete every side quest. I know what the structures of these games are, and I tried to get all the achievements, but I never had the same feeling when I was playing JRPGs as a child. It became more like a complete to-do list. An attachment. This kind of attachment made it hard for me to truly enjoy the game.
The intention behind making this game was to help players learn to let go, to experience a game with just their pure heart, feel free, and not care too much about the ending. Just enjoy the game itself. Yes, it's a very simple thing and pretty hard to do, but that is how we designed the game and hope players can take away from While Waiting.
We hope you continue to find the game inspirational and find joy in life while being patient 🙂
Sincerely,
- The While Waiting Team