Last night I had a dream which I think is interesting enough to make a webpage about.
In this dream, the new version of GIMP is extremely complex, adding a crazy amount of features to make GIMP basically "2D Blender". It is turing complete and you can make games etc.
The new version of GIMP has a hidden feature, which I discovered by accident. If you right-click in the file chooser dialog and select "show hidden files and directories", you will be presented by the screen seen on the image below. It is a game, which is built-in to GIMP as an easter egg.
Clicking "begin" brings you to the character selection screen. It starts playing the background music, which is specific to each character. As you switch characters, the music transitions smoothly between the different themes, which are always perfectly matching.
There are about 30 characters, all humanoid 2D animated sprites. Some of them are only slight variations of each other. I remember a bunch of pirates among them.
There are also cameo characters from other games and shows that don't exist irl, they only exist in this particular dream world. For example "Captain Universe" is a mix of the two characters seen below.
After clicking the button to begin the game, the tool switches to Eraser and is locked (remember, everything is implemented inside GIMP) an you can erase the character selection screen, revealing what's behind it. You can't erase your character sprite - it will automatically walk from one screen to the next as it is revealed.
Using the Eraser tool, you progress through many screens while playing the game. It is a stealth game, you need to strategically leave some of the previous screen for your character to use as cover to hide. The game is 2D, with the vertical dimension acting as depth in an orthographic view, similar to eg. Pony Town.
The whole game was set inside a building, progressing through different rooms. I believe it was a preparation for a party, with many people walking around doing chores, and your character is also able to blend in doing some chores. But as soon as you do something suspicious, word quickly spreads and they all start chasing you.
I don't know how the game ends, because I never got very far. But I think some other tools were also used, besides the layer eraser.
Q: Will you make this game?
A: Probably not.
Q: Can I make this game?
A: If this inspired you to make a game where you progress by erasing layers of the scene, please go ahead and make it! You can credit me if you want - but regardless - I'd be happy to see what you've put together!
Q: Have you ever made a game from a dream?
A: Yes, for example AAGRINDER. At least early versions were very similar to what I saw in a dream in 2017. But it has evolved a lot since then.
Q: Will GIMP really become a game engine?
A: You can probably do this via plugins, but I don't think there's a need for base GIMP to ever have such features.