INDIE GAMES SUMMIT: PLAY CACTUS’S LESSONS ON THE ART OF 4 HOUR GAME DESIGN
Cactus is a name I haven’t mentioned nearly enough on Offworld (in fact, the last time I gave him his due was in 2007 when his Clean Asia and Protoganda: Strings topped my top 5 freeware games list).
Apart from being one-eighth of last week’s Game Over/Continue indie dev/art crossover team, he’s one of the indie scene’s… well, prolific is too tame a word, and attention deficient sounds far too pejorative: let’s just say that Crayon Physics creator Petri Purho’s PC desktop is a photo of Cactus saying “while you were slacking off I made three more games,” and realize that it’s funny because it’s true.
From the grain-filtered 8mm stylings of his shooters to the terrifying Lynch-ian void of his Mondo series to the candy striped sunburst pixels of his upcoming games, he possesses one of the most singular and distinct visions in the scene, and manages to keep that consistent despite the jackrabbit pace with which he takes on new projects.
That’s why I was so disappointed to have missed the first half of his over-capacity Indie Games Summit session (until I convinced a volunteer I’d just stepped out for a bathroom break), though what I did see was every bit as uniquely him as I’d expected. Managing to make all the sweat and tears of game creation look like melodramatic trifles, his dual underlying message of keeping-it-simple and going-with-instinct was one of the most inspiring of the two days.
And now, though it doesn’t have the narration to match (there is a bootleg video torrent making its way around the internet, however), you can play through his fantastic presentation slides (created, of course, in GameMaker software itself) by downloading his just-uploaded executable (.zip here) and get a taste of his flavor before moving on to tackling his prodigious back-library. Get more of a sense of the surrounding lecture by flipping through TIGSource’s write-up here.
[As a further bonus, at the end of the lecture Cactus played through a series of games he found inspiring, which indiegames has helpfully cataloged here — see especially I Was In The War.]
Cactus 4 Hour Game Presentation [zip, via CactusSquid]
Previously:
Indie Games Summit: 2D Boy/Polytron's top 10 ways to market your …
Indie Games Summit: Ron Carmel explains 2D Boy by the numbers …Indie Games Summit: Polytron debut new Fez trailer – Offworld
Giant Robot, artxgame announces Game Over/Continue? exhibit – Offworld
Only on Offworld: indie game and artist all-stars collide at Giant …
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ONLY ON OFFWORLD: INDIE GAME AND ARTIST ALL-STARS COLLIDE AT GIANT ROBOT/ATTRACT MODE’S GAME OVER II
As I mentioned at Offworld’s launch, one of my goals for the site was to see artists and illustrators from outside the games industry have more influence within, as it’s been in those moments that we’ve seen some of gaming’s most memorable experiences.
That’s why I’m tremendously pleased to be the one to announce that culture magazine/shop/gallery Giant Robot and upstart gaming label Attract Mode have partnered to bring four Giant Robot artists and four of indie gaming’s best developers together to create four new games for this year’s Game Over II exhibit at San Francisco’s GRSF gallery.
A follow-up to last year’s debut Game Over exhibit, this year’s show will cap off the end of the Game Developer’s Conference with a March 27th opening that — in addition to the return of Giant Robot’s curated games-related artwork — will have the newly created games on display for attendees to play.
Let’s Meet The Teams:
Saelee Oh, like many Giant Robot collaborators, is an LA-based artist whose delicate organic sculptures and illustrations have been shown across the country in both GR related group and solo shows as well as the Poketo-curated benefit for McSweeneys non-profit 826LA.
Anna Anthropy, also known as dessgeega or auntie pixelante, is the “freelance scratchware game creator, critic, and all-purpose pervert” behind recent indie low-res fast-draw Calamity Annie and “definitive chubby little dyke gimp platformer” (!) Mighty Jill Off.
For some years now, Deth P Sun‘s work has focused on a “mythological quest of anthropomorphic cats”: storybook scenes cut from stories never written that’s spread across his print, zine and gallery work. His latest output can currently be seen at Oakland’s Rowan Morrison gallery and in various Bay Area group shows.
Jonatan Söderström, better known as ‘Cactus’, is one of indie gaming’s most obsessively prolific auteurs, creating a raft of games over the past few years each ranging from two days to two weeks per, and from wonderfully low-bit Lynch-ian first person adventures to hyper-neon and 16mm constructivist shooters.
Souther Salazar‘s work carries a childlike innocence that can be seen across all his output from his dreamscape collages, clay sculptures and even the work he did for recent abovetheinfluence anti-drug ads (!). You can see recent examples of all of the above via this FecalFace studio visit, as he prepares for his latest exhibition at NYC’s Jonathan Levine Gallery.
Finland’s Petri Purho needs little introduction as the developer behind recent IGF winning PC and iPhone hit Crayon Physics Deluxe. Prior to that, Purho had given himself the challenge of continually coming up with new 7-day game ideas (from which Crayon Physics sprang) at his Kloonigames blog, creating a portfolio of games from Jimmy’s Lost His Marbles to Jimmy’s Lost His Toilet Paper.
Hellen Jo is the artist behind the recent Sparkplug Comics debut Jin & Jam about “two unlikely companions that meet and forge a friendship stronger than nicotine addiction,” and had her work featured in Giant Robot’s December Post-It Show, where artists created new art on post-its affixed to the wall, which patrons could then buy and directly take home. Aside from her comic, you can see some of her fantastic watercolor illustrations via her blog.
Derek Yu is another indie dev whose renown has grown exponentially lately with the release of his brutally difficult and brilliantly rewarding rogue-like platformer Spelunky. He’s also best known as one of the co-founders of premier indie gaming community TIGSource, and as part of the Bit Blot team behind underwater Metroid-esque adventure Aquaria.
Let’s Have A First Look:
While the teams are still working to put together their respective games for the show, Offworld does have the first look at Saelee and Anna’s collaboration, which highlights the strengths of both artists (Saelee’s painterly backdrop overlaid with Anna’s signature expressive pixels) and gives you an idea of what kind of mash-ups magic we’ll be seeing.
Offworld will continue to cover developments as the show approaches, and be sure to check both Attract Mode and Giant Robot for their own respective Game Over II coverage. For more information on the GRSF gallery, contact them at (415) 876.4773, or drop by at 618 Shrader St., San Francisco CA 94117.
See more posts about: Cactus, Offworld Originals
