Patrick: So was your relationship a handy parallel to a game design idea you wanted to explore anyway, or were you strongly inspired to create some sort of a monument to your relationship with the fucking slut?

Dessgeega: actually, jill off wasn’t even the first game i made about her. i made a two-player version of the old snake game, called snake heart apple, a little while after i started seeing her. she actually dreamt that i made this game, and i decided to actually make it both as a monument to our relationship and as a counterpoint to rod humble’s the marriage.

Patrick: Oh, I’ve played Snake Heart Apple! It’s really cute. I didn’t realise it came first.

Dessgeega: yup. it’s my only two-player game to date, in fact.

Patrick: It’s appropriate that a two-player game should be inspired by a relationship.

Dessgeega: yes, i think that’s my foremost criticism of the marriage. the fact that it’s single-player creates a clear bias, and fails to convey the work that all participants in the relationship perform in order to maintain it.

Patrick: I suppose, stretching that idea a little further, it’s appropriate that a two-player game about a relationship should have no ‘computer player’; no single-player mode, to emphasise that there are certain challenges, and certain kinds of enjoyment, that can only be had with two people.

Dessgeega: yes. i think we’re sorely lacking in two-player-only games. everyone’s designing for this hypothetical player who has no friends.

Patrick: I’m reminded of Bubble Bobble, which was created especially for couples to play, so that you could play with your girlfriend, instead of just with her standing next to you.

But then, everything reminds me of Bubble Bobble.

Dessgeega: bubble bobble, i think, is the font from which all games spring.

Patrick: God bless you Anna Anthropy.

Dessgeega: haha.

when i was little my mother and i played bubble bobble together all the time. it’s probably the game i most admire.

Patrick: Is that a fact? We should do a separate interview about Bubble Bobble sometime.

Dessgeega: we should! i could talk about it for a while if someone let me.

Patrick: Actually, before we move on from the topic of two-player games: May I share a game idea with you?

Dessgeega: absolutely.

Patrick: There’s a story about a composer for the piano – I can’t remember who – who was also a teacher, of course. And he was cripplingly shy, and some of his pupils were young ladies. And this was the most contact with young ladies he could ever hope for.

So what he would do was, he would compose duets, to teach his pupils, and the playing of these duets would necessitate the two players’ arms occasionally crossing over, or brushing against each other. And I suppose his heart would swell and ache and later on he would have a wank.

So, long story short, wouldn’t it be fun to do the same sort of thing with a computer keyboard?

Dessgeega: yes. it would. i’ve actually given some thought to designing a two-player game with controls that would cause the players to have to actually physically interact outside the game. i briefly had an idea for a game called ‘DO NOT LET GO OF THE BUTTON’. each player has to keep her finger on a different key for longer than the other players. the idea, of course, is that players would invariably attempt to get other players to loosen their grip through chicanery.

Patrick: I love the idea of a game – or a piano piece, or whatever – that embraces and exploits the fact of the game’s, er, physical-ness, when played.

Actually, that must be a part of good game design anyway – like, sometimes you play a game, and the controls are just awful, and you decide, “They didn’t think about how this game would actually be played.”

Dessgeega: yeah. having one player use the keyboard in snake heart apple and the other use the mouse fits the asymmetrical dynamic of the game, but it’s also a solution to the ‘two people hunched over the uncomfortably tiny keyboard’ problem.

Patrick: Harmony of form and content!

Dessgeega: it is what i strive for.

Patrick: On that note, I’d like to reiterate that I really enjoy the hell out of Mighty Jill Off. It’s just a perfect little game, like Super Mario Land.

Dessgeega: well, thank you. that’s why i’m a little nervous working on jill off harder.

feel free to ask me what that is.

Patrick: DESS, WHAT IS JILL OFF HARDER! FOR GOD’S SAKE!

Dessgeega: it’s mighty jill off’s second quest. better, it’s super mario bros. 2, the disk system version. same mechanics, same assets, but i’m trying not to retread any ground i visited in the original. which is a challenge, but i think there’s enough of jill off that didn’t get explored the first time through.

Patrick: So, what it says on the tin, basically.

Dessgeega: basically. we all felt like we had unfinished business with the game.

Patrick: Well, I’m looking forward to playing it. I guess I’m the audience for it because Mighty Jill Off was a real cunt the first time through, but after several plays through I find it fairly easy.

Dessgeega: yeah. it was funny; feministe, a feminist blog, posted about jill off, and some anonymous internet guy commented on indiegames: “once again, feminists prove they know nothing. that game is easy!”

Patrick: Ha ha!

Recently, in your own blogging and article-ing, you’ve been enamoured with... I’m forgetting the term you use. Bastard fucker prick games.

Dessgeega: ‘masocore games’.

Patrick: That’s the one.

Dessgeega: yeah, i have to make jill off harder, now that it’s getting compared to games like i wanna be the guy.

Page << 1 2 3 4 5 >>