my adventures in video games art
A while ago I got an email from someone saying they found my work while looking through recent vibe-coded and AI-built games And they wanted to feature my games on this AI website. You can imagine the bout of panic. Vibe-coded?? How did they jump to that conclusion? Based on what? I make everything myself. No artificial , I m just intelligent !! Oh god, is this the beginning of being canceled yet…
Years ago, during my second time at IndieCade, and when I was fairly new to attending video game events, there was a lot of talk about prioritizing events that focus on local community over an international crowd. The conversation being that it was more important to build things specific to local spaces. At the time things like IndieCade, GDC All seemed so new and amazing to me. I thought not…
The name “meanderware” is based on what people used to call my first netart project. I always loved the term. It kind of encapsulates that era of internet exploration, or fascination with digital work. The joy of existing in a digital space.
I wasn’t able to give up on the macOS version, so after a lot of hard work (way too much hard work… the working was HARD)… there’s now a functional macOS version. Get it here: https://alienmelon.itch.io/flower Some features do not work, but this does not impact the overall experience. You cannot save poems to your desktop so you don’t get the ending poem. You cannot change resolution settings,…
I hope the Linux build will work. At least Linux is free, so I can keep trying if it doesn't!
I guess I m going to be here to vent a little, about culture in general, because I m doing a bunch of maintenance and have to watch status bars go up It s been an interesting past few weeks. I think the biggest observation I have is how absolutely everything established seems to be failing people on some level or another. It all seems so inexcusably broken. Adobe had announced an end of life for…
I just published my newest work to itch.io. It's called " she danced in the wind like a holographic dream before the world died ". A game that ended up being very relevant to the social climate right now, even though I've been working on it for over a year. A lot of my own experiences in dealing with surviving powerful abusers went into it, wrapped into a science fiction about the end of the…
The EU game scene was always something I admired from a distance. All the quirky interesting events that you'd only hear about when you attended GDC for your once-a-year catchup with friends that flew in from all around the world... You know, when you'd finally be able to get the (top secret) news of what they've been working on... Or who is doing what interesting new thing... It's different now,…
Yesterday I gave a talk as part of Ljudmila s Kontrolerji series of events. The day before, a friend had an exhibition opening where him and another artist made an installation (a game-like playable installation) about mold. It was beautiful to see in person. Image of me from Ljudmila Before that I was part of IDFA s DocLab and gave a zine making workshop (along with participating in other parts…
Pictured above: Gamejam pizza! This post is a transcript of a talk I gave at BIMM University, Berlin. Thank you for inviting me! I had a lot of fun sharing :) Links in this slide ~ tetrageddon.com alienmelon.com alienmelon.itch.io mackerelmediafish.com Games make impactful, unique, and complex storytelling possible. I think we have only scratched the surface of what that means, because interactive…
Counter-culture in our digital world is an expression of the better future we know is possible. Gaming, fandom, artists, developers, are part of the solution. We can empower each-other to make a positive difference here.
Our digital world is a collective dream. The journey is the point.
The last couple months leading up to A MAZE have been difficult. The Oblivion remaster launched. Since I am so unfortunately linked to it after coming forward about the composer, it caused another long wave of harassment. Before that, it was game journalists dunking again either side (gamergate or game journalists) seem to go hand in hand when it comes to this sort of thing. Sorry if that s harsh,…
Since games are at the point that they are right now, I think being a solodev, or working with a team of friends, will become much more of an established mode of being here. Success cannot be guaranteed. The liberating thing about that is that you can really claim your own space here, on your terms. You define being in the game industry for yourself.
The BlueSuburbia world update is now live on itch! It adds a new poetry world where you gain your ability to fly. I'm proud of this update because the Butterfly poem turned out so beautifully. I'm excited to be able to share it in context of BlueSuburbia. I still have to update the Steam and Epic Games builds but I wanted itchio to have it first. Itchio has always been the best home for my work.
I'm beyond honored to say that my playable essay, " individualism in the dead-internet age " is a nominee for this year's Nuovo award at IGF. This means I will be showcasing at GDC!
These ruins of a lighthouse have brittle bones. Ocean once surrounded it. You know the stories... Of a great beautiful oasis where titans came to die. Grief brought you here. Now you are trapped in an endless cycle, on a world that is lost to you.
In light of all the promise that AI will "revolutionize" gaming, this post is about how AI has already affected the home of experimental games: Itch.io.
Despite how misunderstood the internet was, there was this immense possibility space for us artists to shape what it meant to create there. Anything was possible. It could become anything!
There is a positive feedback loop that happens when you make a tool for people, how people that use it inform what you build, and in turn what you build informs their creative decisions. We will talk about how building these alternatives helps to create a better overall culture where everyone can participate. Let's leave behind monopolies, enshitification, and present tech controversies to discuss…