PROJECT: PROJECT: ABSOLUTELY NORMAL
a completely normal game about completely normal things
An island where nothing unusual ever happens. Drive anything, take any job, launch a cow. Everything you see is procedural. Even the cows.
Early build · v0.1.0 · Windows 10/11 · keyboard, mouse or gamepad
Nothing unusual
A perfectly normal island. Mostly.
The game loads no asset files. The terrain, the towns, the people, the cows, the sky, the sound effects and the music are all made when it starts, from one seed. So every island is its own, and none of them is weird. (They are a bit weird.)
- 28 vehicles one of them is a bathtub
- 18 world events one is a giant cow
- 10 jobs six ranks each
- 4 lands one is always autumn
- 5 radio stations every song made as it starts
- 110 trophies "Completionist: why?"
- 50 gnomes hiding
- 30 secrets not telling
The trailer
Seventy-two seconds of normal.
Filmed in the game, by the game, and scored on the game's own instruments. (The cow is fine.)
A day on the island
You were asked to do something useful.
That's the first objective: OBJECTIVE: DO SOMETHING USEFUL. What counts as useful is up to you.
Drive anything.
Twenty-eight vehicles, from the Beige Sedan ("the most average car ever built") to a Bathtub of Questionable Seaworthiness, an Office Chair (Rocket-Assisted), a Monster Truck called Consequences and a Washing Machine With Wings. Take any car off the street with F. The tank parks wherever it likes.
Get a job. Or don't.
Ten careers, from St. Normal's Hospital and Pizza Normale to Fire Station No. 1 and the Normal Air Crew Room, six ranks each, all the way up to Minister of Rubble. Or ignore all of it: there's fishing, metal detecting, cow bowling, car soccer, a Ferris wheel and three human cannons.
Something will happen.
Every few minutes the island has a moment. A meteor. A UFO. A giant cow walking down the high street, stomping parked cars into the air. Cows falling out of a clear sky. A rubber duck armada. The sun, recalled due to a manufacturing defect. The banners stay very calm about it.
Four lands. Every island new.
The island; the Mainland's red desert, Normal York and an airport; the North, where it always snows a bit and the northern lights come out; and the Woods, where it's always autumn. Every new world is its own seed, with its own roads and towns, and a save only remembers what you changed.
Meanwhile, on the radio
The island's news, as it happens.
- IT IS RAINING COWS. THIS IS NOT A METAPHOR.
- UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECT. PROBABLY FINE.
- A GIANT COW IS PASSING THROUGH. DO NOT MAKE EYE CONTACT.
- THE SUN HAS BEEN RECALLED DUE TO A MANUFACTURING DEFECT
- PHYSICS DEPARTMENT ON LUNCH BREAK: GRAVITY 30%
- TORNADO WARNING. PLEASE SECURE YOUR COWS.
- FOG BANK ROLLING IN. THE LIGHTHOUSE IS FINALLY USEFUL.
- BOUNCY DAY: THE GROUND HAS BEEN REPLACED WITH RUBBER
- A RUBBER DUCK ARMADA HAS BEEN SIGHTED OFF THE COAST
- WEATHER: RAIN. ROADS ARE NOW SLIPPERY. (THEY WERE BEFORE.)
- LOCAL PERSON BEHAVES. EXPERTS BAFFLED.
The towns
Welcome. Bon bini. Welkom. Yokoso.
Every island grows its own towns, each with its own look, its own snacks and its own things to say. The names change with every island; the welcome signs don't.
- WELKOM IN
Gewoondorp
Canal houses, bicycles, tulips and a draaiorgel on the corner. On Koningsdag, a vrijmarkt: wearing orange is not optional.
- BON BINI NA
Punda Normal
Willemstad's pastels, palm trees and a steel pan. At Karnaval the Gran Marcha comes down the street, and tumba is not optional.
- YOKOSO
Futsuu-machi
Deep eaves, lanterns, torii gates, vending machines and cherry blossom.
- BENVENUTI A
Villa Normale
Whitewash, blue domes, terracotta and olive trees.
- WELCOME TO
Normal York
Glass towers, fire hydrants, hot dog carts and a lot of honking.
- HOWDY! WELCOME TO
Dusty Normal
Adobe, saloons with false fronts, a motel, cacti and tumbleweeds.
- VELKOMMEN TIL
Lagom
Falu red houses under the snow, a white church, fika and a sauna. Not too much, not too little.
- WILLKOMMEN IN
Bad Normal
A Very Big Cuckoo Clock, a Kurhaus, and a campsite full of Dutch caravans.
Also on the island
More normal than you'd think.
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Karnaval & Koningsdag
The Gran Marcha comes through the Caribbean town after dark, all lit up. The Dutch town holds its vrijmarkt. Honk, or get out and dance along.
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Five radio stations
Normal FM, Smooth Moo Jazz, Chiptune Chaos, Radio Dushi and Radio Gezellig: twelve songs, every one of them made by the game as it starts. Press Y.
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The police
Speeding in a tank is a crime. Wanted stars, roadblocks, a helicopter, chase music that grows with every star, and a respray at Gas & Paint to start again.
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Ten friends
The regulars, from Gary the Jogger to DJ Wub. Do them favours and earn their hearts. Punch them and they will remember that.
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Things to find
50 gnomes, 30 secrets, 17 postcards, 16 kinds of fish, 40 buried things, 8 dinosaur bones and a Golden Gnome that runs off giggling.
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Known Issues
Eleven glitches, on purpose, each with its status: THE KRAKEN (CANNOT REPRODUCE). NOODLE PHYSICS (WON'T FIX). COW DUPLICATION GLITCH (EXPECTED BEHAVIOUR).
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A home of your own
Three for sale, from The Shed to The Mansion (Suspiciously Cheap), twelve pieces of furniture, a bed that skips the night. Or press U and build one.
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Going fast
Time trials on every land, street races against rivals, stunt ramps with rings, speed traps, drift zones and THE NORMAL HILL: a ski jump, for cars.
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The Daily Normal
A newspaper every in-game morning about what you did yesterday. On a quiet day: LOCAL PERSON BEHAVES. EXPERTS BAFFLED.
Pictures
Taken on the island.
Questions
Frequently asked. Normally answered.
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Absolutely. Every road, town, person, cow, car, sound and song on the island is made by the game as it starts. Nothing about that is unusual.
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Whatever you like. Take a job, buy a house, collect gnomes, race, fly, fish, or stand in a field and wait for something to happen. Something will.
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Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit, with a graphics card that does DirectX 12 or Vulkan. Three graphics presets (FAST, BALANCED and PRETTY) cover everything from a laptop to a big desktop.
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Yes. A gamepad works everywhere, menus included.
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Into a saves folder beside the game. Every world is its own island with its own progress, and the Worlds screen keeps them all. It saves every minute, and when you quit.
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The cow is fine. Physics says so.
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It's an early build, and new things arrive all the time. The download page has the latest.
Go on. It's normal.
One file, nothing to install. Unzip it anywhere, double-click, and you're on the island.
(go on, click the cow)
