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Pippin Barr's philosophy of developing 'curious' games
Pippin Barr's doctoral thesis is titled Video Game Values: Play as Human-Computer Interaction, submitted in 2008 to the Victoria University of Wellington as the final stage of his degree, Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science. In the thesis, Barr highlights the act of playing a computer program rather than simply using one, with case studies in Civilization 3, Fable, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Half-Life 2, and The Sims 2.Schoolwork completed, Barr spends his time teaching at the University of Malta's Institute of Digital Games, and developing small, profound games with an experimental edge. Barr's projects are simple, thoughtful and play with the boundaries of what a "game" can be:The Artist is Present is a game about waiting in line at New York's Museum of Modern Art, complete with real-life museum closing times and hours of standing, doing-nothing excitement. Let's Play: Ancient Greek Punishment is a series of short games about Greek myths – short because they're all unwinnable, with death as a constant outcome looming behind each stark, pixelated scene. Barr's most recent project, the Mumble Indie Bungle, features six games based on popular indie titles as if your grandmother misheard them at the last family dinner, such as World of Glue, Carp Life and Gurney. They're short, minimalistic and frustrating, but they're definitely not all supposed to be "boring," Barr tells me."I want to make games that controvert the standard rules – I spent quite a bit of time on that in my early games – well, maybe all my games," he says. "Games that you can't win, games where you just have to wait for a long time, games where you win but it's not satisfying, games where you're not very important in the world of the game, and so forth. These games can be boring if you're not prepared to embrace a different perspective on things – but if you are prepared to do so, I think they can be quite interesting experiences."Surprisingly, Barr has never been called a hipster.
World of Glue, Gurney, Spy Parity, more free in Mumble Indie Bungle
Pippin Barr is up to his academic tricks again, this time with a bundle of six new games based on popular indie titles as if they were misheard in conversation: Gurney, World of Glue, Spy Parity, Proteas, 30 Flights of Loathing and Carp Life. These make up the Mumble Indie Bungle, and five of them are completely free, available to download for PC and Mac on Barr's site. Carp Life – a play on IGF mega-winner Cart Life – is extra special, available for $1 or any price over it."The idea for the collection, in keeping with the titles, is that it's meant to be this set of crappy indie games that someone perhaps bought for you, mistaking them for the originals," Barr writes on his blog. "So you might excitedly unwrap your new bundle of games to find something like Subpar Meat Boy and Flour (Instead of Super Meat Boy and Flower). Not that I'm using those two titles, though both were originally near the top of the list."Gurney – a title parody of thatgamecompany's Journey – has players type out religious phrases as they scroll across the bottom of the screen, over the rolling, flickering lights of a hospital ceiling and anxious faces of doctors. The words become jumbled as the player loses consciousness, and Barr warns that eventually the game can cause seizures, so be careful with that one. Or, have fun.World of Glue is a platforming play on World of Goo, Spy Parity is a jab at Chris Hecker's Spy Party, Proteas is an experiment on Proteus and 30 Flights of Loathing is a step away from Blendo Games' Thirty Flights of Loving.Check out all the games your aging aunt thinks you're talking about on Barr's site, and buy Carp Life for whatever you think it's worth right here.
