Play Online (for phones only)
Description
Look at you! On your phone! But you’ve got a secret! And you won’t tell! You’re not on your phone! It is only as if you were on your phone! You’re just pretending to be on your phone! On your phone!
It is as if you were on your phone is an almost speculative game about an incredibly near future in which we’re all simultaneously under significant pressure to be on our phones all the time, but also to not be on our phones all the time. Our fingers want to touch the screen, our eyes want to watch the surface, our brains want to be occupied efficiently and always. But it’s also exhausting liking photos, swiping profiles, watching short-form video, and everything else we’re always doing. It is as if you were on your phone presents an alternative: pretend to be on your phone so that you pass as human, but actually do essentially nothing instead. Follow the prompts and be free.
It is as if you were on your phone was created using p5 along with Hammer.js for touch gestures.
Press
- Iwan Morris. It’s As If You Were On Your Phone is a bizarre new introspective desktop mobile release. Pocket Gamer. 6 March 2025.
- Jason Kottke. A game called “It is as if you were on your phone” is designed to make you look like you’re on your phone.. Kottke.org. 7 March 2025.
- Dan Q. It is as if you were on your phone. Dan Q (Blog). 10 March 2025. (This guy recorded a video of him playing which I love!)
- de Rochefort, Simone. Finally, I can pretend I’m on my phone - And it’s giving me an existential crisis!. Polygon. 10 March 2025.
- Stroili, Marine. C’est quoi ce jeu vidéo qui vous permet de faire semblant d’être occupé sur votre téléphone ?. RTBF Actus. 10 March 2025.
- Web Curios. Web Curios 14/03/25. Web Curios. 14 March 2025.
- Hacker News. It is as if you were on your phone. Hacker News front page. 9 March 2025.
Read the Press Kit for press information.
Documentation
- Read the Process Documentation for todos and design explorations
- Read the Commit History for detailed, moment-to-moment insights into the development process
- Look at the Code Repository for source code etc.
License
It is as if you were on your phone is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.