Quite a few booths at MIGS 2024 seemed to showcase the next big thing in gaming. Massive set pieces. Cosmic horror. Robot dinosaurs. But in a quiet corner, Montreal developer Olivier Bouchard is showing off something different: anindie gameabout a mother trying to get her daughter through the first week of elementary school. That’s it. No hidden monsters, no dramatic twists. Just a story about one of life’s quiet turning points.
The first thing I noticed about the game is how it’s visually designed. The art looks like actual children’s crayon drawings, complete with the rough edges and imperfect lines that make kids' art so genuine. Bouchard is super open about this choice. “I’m not the best artist in the world,” he admits, explaining how the style emerged from necessity as much as artistic vision. But watching the game in motion, it’s hard to imagine it looking any other way.
Camille And Laura: The Charm Of Crayon Art
This small title carries a warmth that’s hard to describe. As a point-and-click adventure, it guides players through the steady pulse of daily life. Laura balances work, handles household tasks, and faces the constant quiet challenges of raising Camille alone. The game unfolds in Montreal, where conversations drift naturally between French and English, creating a sense of place that feels lived in rather than designed.
Players make choices throughout their day, some obvious and others hidden in how well they manage daily tasks. Each decision shapes Laura and Camille’s relationship in small but meaningful ways. “How well you perform in certain mini-games will change the story later,“Bouchard explains, but these consequences feel natural rather than mechanical. Like real parenting, you often don’t know which moments will matter until long after they’ve passed.
Before making games, Bouchard worked as a film editor on children’s shows, and that experience shows in how Camille and Laura treats its subject matter. While games likeGod of WarandThe Last of Usapproach parenthood through the lens of epic adventure, this game finds its heart in ordinary moments. The quiet victory of getting through another day.
Small Victories, Big Stories
The project existsthanks to funding from theCanada Council for the Arts, which allowed Bouchard to pursue his vision of showing “regular people having regular problems.” In an industry where even walking simulators often end with cosmic revelations, there’s something brave about a game that trusts in the power of everyday life to hold our attention.
What makes Camille and Laura special isn’t just its focus on single motherhood, but how it treats that subject with genuine respect. The game acknowledges the weight of unpaid labor that falls disproportionately on women, the isolation that can come with single parenthood, and the grinding nature of adult responsibilities. Butit does so without turning these challenges into metaphors or boss battles. They’re just part of life, faced one day at a time.
Coming to the duration, the game takes about ninety minutes to complete, time spent in a world of small victories and quiet struggles. Between morning routines and bedtime stories, players might spot a giraffe, share a laugh, or find a moment of connection. These aren’t side activities or bonus content, they’re the heart of what makes parenting matter.
Why Everyday Life Matters
Camille and Laura feels personal in a way few games do. Not personal in the sense of deep artistic expression or autobiographical revelation, but in the simple recognition that everyday life is worth paying attention to. In an industry obsessed with the extraordinary, there’s something powerful about a game that looks at the ordinary and says “this matters too.”
The game will launch first on PC in 2025, with other platforms under consideration. A demo is currently available onSteam, offering a glimpse into Laura and Camille’s world.
It’s a small window into a modest life, but sometimes that’s exactly where the biggest stories live.
Camille and Laura
WHERE TO PLAY
It’s Camille’s first week of elementary school, one of the most important weeks in someone’s life. Take the role of Laura, Camille’s mother, as she tries her best to be an exemplary mother for her small family. Navigate your work environment, do daily chores, and try as you might to raise your kid the best way you can.
