I’ve never proposed to anybody, but I can imagine it would be pretty anxiety-provoking. I totally understand why some folks prefer to let their favourite video games do the talking. Last week, an Australian woman sat her significant other down to play a modded version of The Binding of Isaac that included a special marriage proposal quest built just for him.
In a video shared on April 17, Salome (whose last name has been withheld for privacy reasons) explains how the mod works. The player—in this case, her significant other Andrew—is rewarded with a unique clue item once Mum is defeated. From there on out, The Binding of Isaac churns out a series of missions. These missions include surviving in a challenge room without killing a single enemy, killing a shopkeeper as the character Eve, and destroying a set amount of rocks, poops , and cobwebs. Once completed, the player is transported to the marriage proposal hallway.
As shown below, Andrew is blown away by the turn of events, likely because he was apparently planning to propose to Salome that same day. His response might not be obvious in the candid video, but don’t worry: he said yes.
“One of Andrew’s friends suggested he try this ‘really cool Indie game’ in 2016,” Salome told Kotaku, describing her fiancé’s history with The Binding of Isaac. “He’s been playing it nearly every day since. I wanted to use something that he loved, that meant something to him.”
Salome contacted Isaac developer Edmund McMillen in March for help in putting her proposal together, and he directed her towards the game’s expansive modding community. She eventually found Jan “Wofsauge” Andresen, a prolific Isaac developer whose work has previously been included in the game’s official community booster packs.
“Normally when I create a mod, it has no real purpose other than to entertain the player or help them understand the game better,” Andresen explained to Kotaku. “This mod, on the other hand, needed to deliver a very private and important message to a specific person, while also entertaining him for the amount of time he is playing it. I would describe the experience as writing a small story, where each chapter needs to keep the reader interested, while also leading to the big reveal at the end.”
Salome and Andresen started brainstorming ideas for how to turn The Binding of Isaac into a marriage proposal the same day she reached out to him. Once that was settled, it took around a week to finish. And while not quite as complex as his previous work, Andresen described the project as “much more meaningful and long lasting” compared to other mods due to its impact on Salome and Andrew’s lives.
“It was a little nerve-wracking getting Andrew to play the game on my laptop, instead of on the PlayStation 4 where he normally does,” Salome added. “I enticed him with the promise of expansion packs not available on PlayStation 4. As you can see in the video, he had no idea at first, until the game suddenly knew his name!”
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