Author: Sandra Kang

Artist Statement: Our piece looks to explore the heightened anxiety and stress that comes with searching with searching, uncovering but being unable to find. In addition, we want to explore how identity is pieced together by the world and people around us. As the player interacts with the strange and familiar faces lingering around the board walk, they being to uncover the identity of the child and the character they are playing it.

CONTROLS
Z – see wallet
X – show wallet
GOAL: find the boy in the wallet, talk to others for clues – you have five minutes!!!

PLAY

 

 

Robin Hunicke is an American video game designer and producer, as well as a professor of game design at UC Santa Cruz. She is probably most known as the producer of Journey, and is also the co-founder of Funomena. She is recognized for her support of independent game development, experimentation in game design, and her research in dynamic game balancy. She is also known for her advocacy of women in the game industry. Hunicke holds a B.A. from the University of Chicago and is currently finishing a PhD in Artificial Intelligence with a focus on Games/Game Design from Northwestern in her spare time.

What I find interesting about Hunicke is that I believe she does (while she does not state explicity) support the idea that games can move beyond simply entertainment and into art. Hunicke aspires to make games that mean something to people, not just to those that are fans of the game, the “gamers.” Her work on the Sims, Journey, and her recent side projects Wattam and Luna really demonstrates the way that her work has been focused on how video games relate to life.

“I want games to be an event — I want them to be a social, fun experience if they can be,” says Hunicke. “Or, I want them to be a moving, emotional experience — like one of those really intense art films that you take your secret crush to, hoping that it turns into a really awesome date.That’s what I want games to be for people. I don’t want them to be just this pasttime on the train or a way to immerse yourself so you forget about your life. I want them to be a part of your life, in a way that helps you reach new places in your life.”

It should work now… 

Mac

Windows

***Some parts of the game don’t require clicking

———–

I have my game, Ren’Py effed it up when I was building it, and it won’t even open the game file anymore. Trying to fix it. I don’t know if this works.

Game

OK I builded it? Somehow? I still don’t know if it works:

Mac

Windows

Probably still doesn’t work because Ren’Py hates me.

 

In the presentation Over Games,  I found the point that “Games Are Not Art” interesting and rather funny, being the fact that I am taking this game design course as part of my art degree. The presentation makes the statement that gamest are intrinsically created — that “people have been playing games for as long as they have existed.” By presenting this information, the presentation implies that art is not born of this intrinsic need, whether it be medical, psychological, or social. Games have rules. Art does not. You can “win” a game. You cannot “win” in art.

While I agree that these differences are distinct, there exist games that can crossover into some kind of artistic expression or as an artform in many ways. Game mechanics and play cannot be considered as fine art, or anything that is simply well-engineered can be considered “great art”. Otherwise,  the complex rules of Go or football can be considered “fine art.” Therefore, we don’t consider great players of Go “artists.” We don’t consider the great players of football artist; they are great athletes.

What set video games apart is the dual nature of both gameplay and narrative, the combination of play with an immersive “alternate reality.” This is what sets video games apart from sports and commercial card games, which do have gameplay but arguably not the same level of immersion. No one would argue that a game of football is “art”, yet fiction in both film and literature is widely considered as a form of art. Games can be art because dramatic/narrative elements can convey artistic thought. Games are creative. Legally, they are afforded legal protection by the Supreme Court as creative works.

However, the boundaries are still unclear. Is art just consisting of observation (you observe a painting, drawing, etc. traditionally)? Can art be interactive or immersive? I believe with the acceptance of the rise of New Media as an art (as well as interactive installations), video games can be considered as art simply if they reach a certain “threshold” of being immersive. But what is that threshold? If someone considers Super Mario Bros immersive and engaging, is it then art? And then, what is the threshold of literature and cinema being considered as an artform. In those mediums, there is also a sense of distinction between movies that are considered “art” and those are not, literature considered “art” and those that are not. Critically acclaimed films are considered to be “fine art”, but no one would claim Twilight as “fine art.” Again, widely acclaimed literature (including “the classics”) are considered an art form, but trashy romance novels and most young adult books are not. Perhaps there exists such a distinction in video games. Or is there a difference between “video games” and “art games”? Another additional layer to consider is the difference between commercial games created by the game industry in comparison to “indie games.” Are video games considered art because of progressiveness or certain elements with concept? And so the debate keeps going…

 

 

 

I BELIEVE I CAN FLY

So, I was thinking about simulation games (which we’ve talked about in class before), which is a kind of genre in games that I’ve loved since I was a kid — The Sims, Nintendo’s Animal Crossing, Tomadachis (do kids these days even have those anymore?), Farmville, etc. Because they are built on interactivity, these simulation games have literally boundless of potential for action and adventure, as well as for a relatively passive experiences. I think that the point of these games is to play a “new reality”, where you can make decisions where you otherwise cannot in real life. They give you a sense of control (which makes it extremely appealing to people who like to micromanage).

SPENT takes this genre of “simulation” and pushes it to the opposite direction.

SPENT is an online poverty simulation game, walking the player through the tough choices that unemployed people have to make. The question they pose is: Can you make it through the month? You are given $1000 to survive on. The goal is to survive with some money left over.

You have to get a job, secure housing after losing your home, get rid of your treasured possessions, decide which bills to pay because you can’t pay them all, and make other extremely tough decisions to simply just get by on a daily basis. Do you make a healthy meal or keep the lights on? Do you cover the minimum payments on your credit cards or pay the rent? Let your son play in the after-school sports league, or save the money that you would have to spend on his uniform? You deal with the shame and humiliation and sacrifices that comes with poverty.

This game was created by ad agency McKinney for non-profit organization UMD (Urban Ministries of Durham). The idea was spurred by the explosive popularity of other simulation games on social media like Farmville and Mafia Wars. They decided to make a simulation game that people can engage in as a powerful, learning experience about the reality of poverty and homelessness lived daily by people helped by UMD. The game is connected to social media (asking your friends on Facebook for some money, help, etc) which makes the game more personal — as well as a tool for more organic advertising. In 2011, McKinney and UMD also launched a petition to Congress to take 10 minutes to experience the challenge that more than 14 million Americans have to face everyday.

I think that it was a successful game. Of course, the game isn’t reality. It provides a somewhat slanted view of what it is actually like to live under such circumstances. Not all possible choices that are available for you in reality is possible in the game. And it’s obviously an advertising means for UMD. But I think that in the aspect of spreading awareness, the game succeeded. It is heartbreaking to experience. It is not a game you have fun playing. It was stressful for me to play. I think that it achieved it’s objective.

Although this game was essentially an advertising tool for UMD (after you quit or finish the game, you are asked if you are willing to donate $5 to provide a day’s meal for someone living SPENT), I think that it was a powerful conceptual game idea. I am interested in the idea of bringing the mundane, the everyday (or a sense of reality) into a game and expanding upon that to allow someone’s envision of the world to expand. I think that these kinds of games can be an exceptional tool to provide awareness of a problem that goes unnoticed or is ignored.

PLAY SPENT HERE

Egg Sperm Shoot!
By Elizabeth Agyemang, Madeline Finn, and Sandra Kang

 

In 2016, people became disinterested in sex. Thus, there is now a population problem:

3 Players start with 5 zygotes + 3 infertile eggs in the pool (it is where all the infertile eggs go).
Each turn players take a decision in Rock Paper Scissors style. Players can choose Action A (vagina) or Action B (penis).
There are 4 possible outcomes:
Outcome 1 – one player chooses Action A: this player takes 1 zygote from each other player.
Outcome 2 – two players choose Action A: these players both give 1 zygote to the third player.
Outcome 3 – three players choose Action A: all players put 1 zygote in the pool, where they become infertile eggs.
Outcome 4 – three players choose Action B: all players put 1 zygote in the pool, where they become infertile eggs.
The game ends when the one player is out of zygotes. The player with the most fertilized zygotes wins.