blog: New from my links pages

"Wordscapes", by Peter Cho (http://www.typotopo.com/wordscapes/): Made in Processing, which is Java-based open-source image-processing software, this is a sequence of 26 animated words - one for each letter of the alphabet. As there are a lot of them some are naturally more interesting than others, but the best are very witty and inventive: I particularly like "restless", for example, where whichever part of the word you point at with your mouse stays still, while the rest of it jiggles nervously about.

"Clearance", by Andy Campbell (http://www.dreamingmethods.com/): The latest project from Dreaming Methods (Andy Campbell, Author X). "A protagonist experiences frightening apocalyptic visions whilst trapped in a hypnagogic state." Throughout most of this work we are finding our way through parts of the British countryside, which is littered with the evidence of some kind of disaster, and studded with mysterious stone or wooden heads. The text is almost disposable: the pictures and soundtrack might well have been enough by themselves in this instance. But there is a genuinely heart-stopping moment at the end, involving a hooded figure in a shed.

"Passage" and "Gravitation" by Jason Rohrer (http://hcsoftware.sourceforge.net/jason-rohrer/): Jason Rohrer, the designer/programmer, refers to these as "autobiographical" games. "Passage" is a kind of maze-game in which the maze represents life, and "Gravitation" is about Rohrer playing with his son and getting inspiration from him, but needing to stop playing with him in order to work. The startling thing about both is the emotional punch they pack, and the economy of means with which this is achieved.