A haunting ambient soundscape by Patrick Heilman accompanies a number of nervously teeming balls that propel themselves in a seemingly random fashion within a rectangular frame. The coloured balls represent a virus living in a miniature ecosystem. 'Strain' is a single-player computer game. The object is to destroy the virus by manipulating sections of the playing field in the right way – with the keyboard. Once the virus has been eliminated, the visual, auditory and play elements are randomly combined into a new level. Zimmerman is an artist, designer and academic investigating the practice and theory of game design. With a small team, he works on modest productions that in terms of visuals and content have little in common with Hollywood-style genre games that owe their success mainly to spectacular action and realistic 3D environments. Zimmerman's 'garage band' approach to computer game design demonstrates that there are workable alternatives, because although computer games have become an important and influential part of pop culture in the last twenty years, there is scarcely any independent circle of computer game designers worth mentioning such as that which exists in film and pop music for instance. The development of alternative psychological, emotional and aesthetic game experiences is only possible in an environment where experimental research isn't hindered by economic interests. According to Zimmerman, the artistic challenge lies not only in the craftsmanship – devising, designing and programming a game – but also in the content; designing a conceptual framework that helps to increase the acceptance of games as significant cultural objects.
– Remco Vlaanderen |
Game design: Eric Zimmerman
Programming: Peter Berry/Tall Software
Sound: Patrick Heilman
Visuals: John Sharp
Eric Zimmerman, 1969, Bloomington (USA)
Lives and works in New York (USA)
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