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On The Fringe, Part Two: Robin Arnott's 'Deep Sea' and Anna Anthropy
On The Fringe is a two-part series from freelance contributor Danielle Riendeau that focuses on games designed to push beyond established boundaries in the video game industry. Read part one now! On top of being Antichamber's audio designer, Robin Arnott is the mad scientist behind Deep Sea, which is perhaps one of the furthest "fringe" experiences – and one of the most truly intense and successful experimental games ever produced. In playing it, players don a light-and-sound-blocking WW1-era gas mask, hold onto a joystick, and descend into a terrifying, sound-only world, where the enemies – a brand of sea monster you never want to meet – are attracted to the sound of your real-life breathing.It's sensory deprivation and physical punishment married to gameplay, and Arnott has called it a "series of uncomfortable choices." It scared the bejesus out of everyone who played it at last year's E3, so much so that Arnott was invited to speak at the prestigious (and never boring) Experimental Gameplay Workshop at this year's GDC."Working on Deep Sea has gotten me into a state of mind where I as an artist, am trying to interface directly with the player's body," he says. It's a direct result of his taking the project to it's full potential, and it has impacted the way he sees everything else in the world."Whatever you devote your mind to over an extended period of time, it's bound to influence the way you think. Deep Sea has taken me towards radical, holistic experiential design ... that thinking has worked its way into my blood, into every project I work on."
