Games

Final Update: The project is playable here: https://alienmelon.itch.io/runonce For reasons mentioned on the project’s page, and at the bottom of this dev post, I pulled out of DeleteGDC. For the sake of awareness, I encourage you to read it. —- I’m participating in Delete GDC! Yay? What I make will be shown there for one night, and then destroyed. ?DELETE GDC? A NIGHT MADE FOR GAMES/GAMES MADE FOR A NIGHTMAR 20 2019 @ Venue 550, SFhttps://t.co/KNXVv3jhpq New works by @radiatoryang @alienmelon @ra @kahodesu @smitleu @dogs_R_cool DJs TBA poster by https://t.co/jjgAgIxL51#deletegdc#GDC19 pic.twitter.com/CMvoasjXBn — BAR SK (@SK_BARSK) January 14, 2019 The idea...

I just published something new! It’s called A_DESKTOP_LOVE_STORY. You can download get it on itch.io: https://alienmelon.itch.io/lovestory A_DESKTOP_LOVE_STORY is a short love story told between two files. Due to system restrictions this is a forbidden love. As a system administrator, you are the only one that can help them. A_DESKTOP_LOVE_STORY is a very short cute little piece. You talk to the files, they give you things to pass to eachother, after a while they realize they like eachother, and you help them meet. This is also one of the most weirdly designed, and technically difficult things I built so far. I...

ELECTRIC FILE MONITOR, my virus scanner, was just posted to itch and gamejolt. Here are the links: itch: https://alienmelon.itch.io/electric-file-monitor GJ: https://gamejolt.com/games/efm/371598 ELECTRIC FILE MONITOR is pitched to you as a state of the art virus scanner, and free preventative tool against all types of malware… but there’s a lot more to it. This is software as political commentary. I mean, they said to keep politics out of games. Nobody ever said anything about software. So this is OK. The program is a joke. It’s comedic, and the premise is antivirus software. I suggest maybe trying it before reading about it...

My little treat-myself-project is done! I’m excited to share this with the world. You can download it from… GameJolt: https://gamejolt.com/games/graveyard/351892 Itch: https://alienmelon.itch.io/graveyard Cyberpet Graveyard features a little over 41 programs. That does not include html pages, or all the other things to find and look at and be amused by… Basically it’s a collection of strange, goofy, software that you discover by rummaging around in folders. The premise is a set of abandoned cyberpets. There aren’t THAT many of those, but what is charming about this is all the junk surrounding them. There are a lot of .html pages that...

I’ve been talking about this a bit on Twitter. I’m making a collection of virtual pets. The project is called “Cyberpet Graveyard”. This is under development and will be released eventually. The premise is that sometime during the early 00’s there was a critical malfunction at the cyberpet factory. The meltdown led to the miss-creation of several unlikeable and unwanted cyberpets. Nobody knew what to do with them, and they never made it past quality assurance. Therefore the CD project was canceled. They were eventually banned, and buried, never to be seen or heard from again. Thanks to the efforts...

It’s been an interesting episode of mainstream games culture this year. It also reminded me how much I value itch… and GameJolt… and Glitch City… and ok, that could be a long list… I had the opportunity to showcase “Everything is going to be OK” at the MIX. I keep realizing how important it is to showcase art games like that at mainstream events like E3 because it normalizes them. It kinda dawned on me how things are changing… especially when people that I would never have pegged for enjoying something like this, come by and get excited about it....

I just published the final update to “Everything is going to be OK” and, with that, this interactive zine is now completely done. This update features a lot of personal writing, and a strange fever dream OS for you to explore. There’s a lot to get lost in. You can play it on… itch.io or GameJolt If you feel so inclined, please help spread the word about the update being out. I will love you forever. Thank you! I also updated the page description, and the itch page has a nice theme with a fire to keep prospective players, journalists,...

Before GDC I was feeling incredibly ground down after all the aggression “Everything is going to be OK” was generating at me. I was at a point where I wasn’t too sure if keeping this up even mattered. After seeing everyone come by and voice how much “Everything is going to be OK” meant to them, and how much they love my work, I’m very encouraged to keep it up. If you are one of those people, thank you so much, it really means the world to me to know that my work is appreciated this way. People where genuinely...

So there are exciting things happening. First of all, I’m going to be at GDC. Yay! Since “Everything is going to be OK” has been nominated for the Nuovo award, I’ll be showcasing most of the time in the IGF pavilion. If you want to check out “Everything is going to be OK”, or just chat, please come by! I also finally have a Patreon. People kept asking. You can donate here: https://www.patreon.com/alienmelon Every bit goes to supporting the next game or current project. It does help immensely, but if you can’t pay just know that I’m also powered by...

So, wow a lot has happened since my last post. The time between the end of last year, and beginning of this one has been pretty crazy. Now that things are somewhat calm I’m taking the time to write an update. Yay! To start with the best news… “Everything is going to be OK” is nominated for the IGF Nuovo award! It also got an honorable mention for Seumas McNally Grand Prize. I’m blown away by this. This is the second Nuovo nomination for me! I find this amazing. Considering all the up’s and down’s this game has been through,...

Over this weekend James from Seemingly Pointless contacted me saying he’ll reference some of my writing in a piece that he was writing about “You Must be 18 or Older to Enter” being banned from Steam. As you can imagine I was pretty pissed when I heard this news. At the same time I was not surprised that this happened. As (game) creators, we’ve heard this type of thing being said often in discussion about the App Store guidelines. If you want to make this type of art (app/game) make a book, a movie, anything else. Not a game. In...

First, to start with some positive news! IGN has nominated “Everything is going to be OK” for the Best of 2017 under the most innovative category! Vote for it! (or your other favorite innovative game) This is tremendous and I so hope some of this (in whatever small amount) sets a stage for how other games like this will be viewed. I really hope these types of experimental games start getting the respect and recognition they deserve. It’s legitimate art that deserves a voice. It sounds so crazy saying something like this in 2017 because I thought we where long...

If you have been following me on Twitter then you may have noticed my tweet thread here explaining that “If games are art then we have to embrace the idea that they don’t have to be fun. Art is not always fun. It covers a wide spectrum of emotions, and concepts.” That’s the opening tweet, I explain more in the thread. It’s worth reading in full before commenting or attacking. This was largely a reaction to criticisms from gamers that where justifying the toxicity directed at me by saying “if I didn’t want to receive toxicity then I should have...

Earlier last week VentureBeat / GameBeat reached out to me and asked if they could re-publish my Day of the Devs article. In it I described my experience showcasing the game at Day of the Devs, and the douchey behavior from the crowd. The article was titled “YouTube culture is turning kids against art games”. The title was suggested to me and I okayed it. I understood the consequences. I’m not good with article titles… as this current blog post’s title demonstrates. This recommendation seemed fair. I do suggest that you read my original post (all the way through, before...