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{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2024}}
{{Infobox video game
| title = Dujanah
| image = Dujanah title.jpg
| fetchwikidata = NONE
| developer = Jack King-Spooner
| platforms = {{ubl|[[Windows]]|[[macOS]]|[[Linux]]}}
| released = '''Windows'''<br/>September 19, 2017<ref>{{Cite web|author=Jack King-Spooner|date=September 19, 2017  |title=Dujanah, OUT NOW! |url=https://twitter.com/king_spooner/status/910192084426117120 |access-date=2023-03-05 |website=Twitter |language=en}}</ref><br/>'''macOS'''<br/>October 22, 2017<ref>{{Cite web|author=Jack King-Spooner|date=October 22, 2017  |title=Dujanah now available for Mac! |url=https://twitter.com/king_spooner/status/922194514126823424 |access-date=2023-03-05 |website=Twitter |language=en}}</ref><br/>'''Linux'''<br/>October 25, 2017<ref>{{Cite web|author=Jack King-Spooner|date=October 25, 2017 |title=Dujanah now available for Linux 64bit!|url=https://twitter.com/king_spooner/status/923214918756786176 |access-date=2023-03-05 |website=Twitter |language=en}}</ref>
| genre = [[Art game]]
| modes = [[Single-player]]
}}
'''''Dujanah''''' is an [[Art game|art video game]] developed and published by Jack King-Spooner, a Scottish [[indie game]] developer. It was released on September 19, 2017. The game follows Dujanah, a Muslim woman in a fictional country under the occupation of foreign powers in a stylized [[Magic realism|magic realist]]–style world as she tries to find out what happened to her husband and daughter. The game focuses on the theme of death, and explores it through the stories of people that Dujanah meets as she walks through her country. Reception to ''Dujanah'' was positive, with praise focused on its themes and storytelling.
== Gameplay ==
[[File:Dujanah screenshot.jpg|thumb|Dujanah watches a band perform in her town. The game's claymation visual style is on display here.]]
The player controls Dujanah, a Muslim woman that lives inside of a fictional country in a [[Magic realism|magic realist]] styled world that is under the occupation of foreign powers.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Graham |first=Roy |date=2016-01-20 |title=Dujanah will bring magical realism to Islamic struggles |url=https://killscreen.com/previously/articles/dujanah-will-bring-magical-realism-to-islamic-struggles/ |access-date=2022-11-04 |website=Kill Screen - Previously |language=en-US}}</ref> In the beginning of the game, the rest of her family is killed by one of the occupying armies of their country while they leave the house to bury the family hamster.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Allen |first=Jay |date=2017-11-02 |title=Dujanah review |url=https://www.pcgamer.com/dujanah-review/ |access-date=2022-11-07 |website=PC Gamer |language=en}}</ref> Dujanah travels throughout the area and talks with people while ruminating on her loss and trying to come to grips with what has happened to her family.<ref name=":2" /> Events in the game have randomized elements which makes each playthrough a unique experience.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=McKeand |first=Kirk |date=2016-01-24 |title=Dujanah casts you as a woman fighting against an opposing military force in an Islamic country |url=https://www.pcgamesn.com/dujanah-casts-you-as-a-woman-fighting-against-an-opposing-military-force-in-an-islamic-country |access-date=2022-11-07 |website=PCGamesN |language=en-GB}}</ref> Dujanah traverses the desert between locations via a giant robot.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rad |first=Chloi |date=2016-02-03 |title=Dujanah Is a Magical Realist Revenge Tale Set in a Fictional Islamic Country |url=https://www.ign.com/articles/2016/02/03/dujanah-is-a-magical-realist-revenge-tale-set-in-a-fictional-islamic-country |access-date=2022-11-07 |website=IGN |language=en}}</ref> The player interacts with characters throughout the game and learns their stories, and is also able to play six different games within the game at an arcade in Dujanah's hometown of Touf Lajjel.<ref name=":2" /> One of the games within a game, ''Caves of Al Dajjal'', is a [[Metroidvania]]-style platformer that re-emphasizes the major themes of the game.<ref name=":2" /> Themes of the game focus in detail on death and the threat of sudden death on the inhabitants of the country.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last=Alexandra |first=Heather |date=2017-09-22 |title=An Indie Game About Accepting Death |url=https://kotaku.com/an-indie-game-about-accepting-death-1818653019 |access-date=2022-11-07 |website=Kotaku |language=en}}</ref> The game is made in a [[claymation]]-style that is a hallmark of King-Spooner's work.<ref name=":4" />
== Development ==
''Dujanah'' was developed by indie video game developer Jack King-Spooner.<ref name=":1" /> Initially, King-Spooner wanted to develop a game that was set in [[Belarus]] after the fallout from the [[Chernobyl disaster]], but he decided that the setting should be more topical.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last=Treese |first=Tyler |date=2016-02-10 |title=Exclusive Interview: Jack King-Spooner Talks Dujanah |url=https://wegotthiscovered.com/gaming/exclusive-interview-jack-kingspooner-talks-dujanah/ |access-date=2022-11-07 |website=We Got This Covered |language=en-US}}</ref> The idea for the character of Dujanah came from wanting to create an inverse of the main character from his semi-autobiographical game [[Beeswing (video game)|''Beeswing'']] along with giving representation to a group that is generally underrepresented in both media generally and video games specifically.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":0" /> In order to familiarize himself with a setting in an unnamed Muslim country, the Scottish King-Spooner said that he "spent time researching and talking with people relevant to the subject" and was determined to avoid the "ideological and symbolic ‘otherness’ that many media decisions exacerbate."<ref name=":1" /> When creating the story, King-Spooner was inspired by ''[[Point Omega]]'' and ''[[Ratner's Star]].''<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=A Wee Interview with Jack King-Spooner |url=https://gamejolt.com/p/a-wee-interview-with-jack-king-spooner-9-questions-answered-by-the-2hd9utg6 |access-date=2022-11-04 |website=GameJolt |language=en}}</ref> King-Spooner was particularly inspired by the random, but fully fleshed out characters in ''Ratner's Star'' that "amount to an overall feeling greater than the sum of its parts."<ref name=":0" /> King-Spooner also noted that he was inspired by trying to understand the contemporary political climate and that he was interested in the theme of death.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Robertson |first=Murray |title=Game on: Scottish artists bring their work to life with video games |url=https://list.co.uk/news/4368/game-on-scottish-artists-bring-their-work-to-life-with-video-games |access-date=2022-11-07 |website=The List |language=en}}</ref> In preparing to make the game, King-Spooner held background interviews with people ranging from [[Apostasy in Islam|Muslim apostates]] to a Scottish veteran of the [[War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)|War in Afghanistan]].<ref name=":5" />
In order to get funding for the game, King-Spooner launched a successful Kickstarter. When running the Kickstarter campaign and based on his previous experience with ''Beeswing'', King-Spooner decided to give more digital rewards to backers versus physical ones which were harder to fulfill.<ref name=":0" /> King-Spooner worked on Dujanah during "the evenings and weekends."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Micek |first=Greg |date=2016-02-10 |title=Jack King-Spooner Discusses Surreal Adventure, Dujanah |url=http://cliqist.com/2016/02/10/jack-king-spooner-dujanah/ |access-date=2022-11-07 |website=Cliqist |language=en-US}}</ref>
== Reception ==
''[[Kotaku]]''{{'}}s Leah Williams called the game "an extremely interesting piece of art" and noted that years after initially playing it, she "still [thinks] about it regularly."<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |last=Williams |first=Leah |date=2020-06-12 |title=The Best Games From Itchi.io's Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality |url=https://www.kotaku.com.au/2020/06/itchio-racial-justice-equality-bundle-best-games/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200612180017/https://www.kotaku.com.au/2020/06/itchio-racial-justice-equality-bundle-best-games/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 12, 2020 |access-date=2022-11-07 |website=Kotaku Australia |language=en-AU}}</ref> ''[[PC Gamer]]''<nowiki/>'s Jay Allen gave the game a generally positive review, calling it "a delirious fugue state of mourning" and that it largely succeeded in bringing the player to a place to share the character Dujanah's crippling sense of loss—Allen also criticized the ''Caves of Al Dajjal'' game within a game, calling it "out of place" and so frustrating to play that it fails to convey the meaning that it was intended to.<ref name=":2" /> ''Kotaku''<nowiki/>'s Heather Alexandra in a very positive review felt that the game, despite its focus on death, "reminded that life is still full of interesting people to meet and places to see."<ref name=":4" />
Critical reception highlighted ''Dujanah'' repeatedly as one of the highlights from a large racial justice video game bundle sale that happened on the website [[Itch.io]] which included over 1,500 games.<ref name=":6" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Carpenter |first=Nicole |date=2020-06-11 |title=What to play from itch.io's huge bundle with 1,500 games |url=https://www.polygon.com/2020/6/11/21287814/racial-justice-equality-bundle-recommendations-itchio-black-lives-matter |access-date=2022-11-07 |website=Polygon |language=en-US}}</ref>
=== Sales ===
An initial reaction from ''[[Rock Paper Shotgun]]'s'' Dominic Tarason noted that the release seemed to have "largely slipped under the radar" and that "it's sad that it launched to so little fanfare."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Tarason |first=Dominic |date=2017-09-30 |title=Clay-punk fever dream Dujanah rises from the sands |language=en |work=Rock, Paper, Shotgun |url=https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/dujanah-released |access-date=2022-11-07}}</ref>
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
== External links ==
* [https://jackspinoza.itch.io/dujanah itch.io page]
[[Category:2017 video games]]
[[Category:Video games developed in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Indie games]]
[[Category:Single-player video games]]
[[Category:Art games]]
[[Category:Video games about death]]
[[Category:Claymation video games]]
[[Category:Linux games]]
[[Category:MacOS games]]
[[Category:Windows games]]