this was one of two paintings I did recently for a gallery show that never came to be, I’ll post the other later this week.
The brief was Egypt so I did some god-like cats!
this was one of two paintings I did recently for a gallery show that never came to be, I’ll post the other later this week.
The brief was Egypt so I did some god-like cats!
Today I read this article about Warface and how Crytek designed the in-game “female skins” based on regional audience demand—the result being purposefully sexualized female 3D models, of course. I refuse to believe that warped proportions, pearly flawless white skin and unrealistic cup size is actually how the majority of people on earth would “demand” the female body be represented. There is nothing wrong with a sexy woman, don’t get me wrong, but there is a clear bias and thus a problem here. After all, “sexy” is not a standard—what someone perceives as sexy is very personal. What we need is more diversity in the representation of the female body. That said, I want to see how WOMEN THEMSELVES want to be represented in video games—each and every one of them. This is a call to all people identifying as women—show us how you want to be represented so that these game developers don’t have to rely on “regional audience demand,” whatever that means.
This is a call to people who identify as women: submit art that expresses how you want yourself or women in general to be represented in video games.
This blog will accept anything from illustration to writing to video. Also, send games and games art that you think does a good job representing women. I’m especially interested in drawings and 3D models that show explicitly how diverse representation can be.
People who identify as male have asked me if they may submit as well—if you received direct input from a person identifying as a woman during the process of your artwork and have documentation of it, then feel free to run it by me. I’m really interested in how women want themselves to be represented, so having a woman’s input and direction during the process is the key part of the art this blog is attempting to explore.
Submit here: bustwaisthipbs@gmail.com
If devs don’t ask us how WE want to be represented, then we need to show them ourselves.
Nina
@hentaiphd
icon image via aupoman
(from Be an Interplanetary Spy 2: The Galactic Pirate, 1983)
The current congress could use a few more mutant Zapfs.
The Architecture of Density
Cities with high population densities are, by some, considered to be overpopulated, though this depends on factors like quality of housing and infrastructure and access to resources. These incredible photographs by Michael Wolf in his series Architecture of Density show just how dense the city of Hong Kong in China has become. Some of the most densely populated cities in the world are in southern and eastern Asia, though Cairo and Lagos in Africa.
Highnoon is a game about deadly duels originally by Chris Gaylo and recreated online by Emmanuel King Turner.
Why Try It: A speedy strategic text-based duel simulation.
Time: Five minutes.
How to Play: Click links to choose an option each turn — your goal is to win the duel with Black Bart.
Author’s Notes: "My major motivation for this is to show how versatile Twine can be (which is why I choose it over alternatives)."
More Info: Highnoon was made was made using Twine, a free tool for creating hypertexts, interactive stories, and text-based games.
You can download the source files for the game (which you can then open in Twine to examine how the game works) here. Emmanuel King Turner can be found at his blog.
Vidiot Game is a game about repetition, deterioration and deals with the devil by GZ Storm.
Download (Windows only)
Why Try It: A collection of minigames that involve a wide range of mechanics but are easy to play; humorous in a nonsensical, Dada-inspired way.
Time: Can be experienced in as short a time as five minutes, though worth replaying.
How to Play: The game is composed of a number of smaller minigames, though the game is always controlled using the arrow keys and the x key. Your character can die as a result of any number of events, some of which are completely unpredictable — but as a result of the premise, this is rarely frustrating and instead usually an invitation to try again.
Author’s Notes: “WARNING: VIDIOT GAME MAY CAUSE BRAIN DAMAGE. PLAY AT YOUR OWN DEMISE.”
More Info: In a sense, Vidiot Game is a collection of minigames linked together by loose narrative threads. Minigame collections, especially those like Vidiot Game which throw the player into the game without much prior instruction, rely on context and a restricted range of controls in order to ensure that the player is able to actually play the games. This post by anna anthropy — based on a talk at the Game Developers Conference discusses this and other considerations in making game design accessible to people without a great deal of experience with games.
You can find more games by GZ Storm at their website.
S.P.F. - Road to Wastedmania
The Book Reporter
by Emily Alden Foster
A zine collecting excerpts from eight of the year’s finest book reports about totally real fake books. The cover of each book is reproduced in glorious full-color next to the report
Hear me reading a few selections here.
For anyone who reblogged the other one please delete it!! This one is the actual finished one. ;w;
Those Darn Nipples is a game about unusual bodily sensations by Andrew Gray and Harriet Lloyd.
Why Try It: A game about breasts that avoids sexualizing; unique visual style; fast-paced, unusual mechanic.
Time: Five minutes.
How to Play: Use the A, D, and arrow keys to maneuver each pair of nipples as it ascends the screen. The goal is to place the nipples in the same relative position as they were on the previous pair of breasts that appeared. This takes some getting used to but the game lets you know how close you were after each round.
Author’s Notes: "Some women experience a phenomenon when their boobs rapidly change size, such as during puberty or pregnancy; their nipples feel like they’re still where they used to be, rather than where they are after the size of the change."
More Info: Those Darn Nipples was created for the Boobjam, an event in which participants “make a game that talks about boobs without resorting to the straight male gaze.” Several other games have already been posted to the jam site.
Andrew Gray can be found at his website.
I’ve been using Twine to make games for around a year now, and I’m amazed at the range of purposes to which others have put it to use.
I wanted to make a short list of works I’ve enjoyed and appreciated that demonstrates this range, in the interest of providing a starting point to dive into the much larger lists provided by TwineHub and Leon’s 7z archive file which currently contains 678 (!) works made in Twine. (If I wanted to, I could easily just post things made in Twine on forest ambassador and not run out for a long time.)
So this is my list — I tried to cover a range of structures and visual styles. These pieces range from interactive poetry to traditional CYOA, from unmodded defaults to heavy CSS and Javascript modifications.
The Hunt For the Gay Planet - anna anthropy
Player 2 – Lydia Neon
Highnoon – Emmanuel Turner (original by Chris Gaylo)
Magical Maiden Madison – Christine Love
Spoken – Chrisamaphone
SABBAT – ohnoproblems
Brooklyn Trash King – Ben Esposito
Destroy / Wait – Pierre Chevalier
anhedonia – Maddox Pratt
scarfmemory – Michael Brough
Rockin’ Night Crusade – Aevee Bee
Your Lover Has Turned Into a Flock of Birds – Mira Simon
diving into pits, hoping for the best, kissing your loved ones, betting it all on a slight chance… – [Author's description]
Here is the little zine I made for SPX, a followup to the one I made for SFZF. There are slightly fewer pages in this one. The drawings are a bit better.
SPX was really fun, and I was happy to meet so many new & old friends.
Thanks to everyone on twitter who volunteered their selfies for the last double spread.
I’m working on a paper about “indie game dev[eloper]” discourse, but in the meantime, a GIF.