GENERATIONS

MOBILE GAMING APP, 2012

ONE LIFE REMAINS [FR]

Can we bequeath a save file in the same manner we bequeath a masterpiece or a family photo? Can we have fun playing the game with the objective of allowing a distant heir to see the end of the game? Unlike a conventional video game, it is impossible to finish a game of Generations in your lifetime. The player decides to whom the game will be passed on and if one day they want someone to be able to reach the top of the level. Thus, the work raises at the same time a notion of digital heritage and the player’s capacity to build their performance with long term strategies. Designed on smartphone, Generations also raises the question of the obsolescence of particular digital media. Designed for use with today’s technology, it asks what happens in the future when the digital medium itself may seem unfamiliar. What will be the answers brought to this problem by the heirs of a game? Will they choose to export the save files to a new medium? Or will they prefer instead to consider the game and its current hardware as an integral whole, giving it a status of relic? The whole issue of the game is to leave these questions wide open to allow each visitor to take a stand on those issues.

“We’re mainly focused on experimental gaming, because as game designers we believe in the strong potential of this media. Generations is one of the most conceptual games we’ve produced to date, as it invites player to rethink how they play games not just in the short term [as you can generally find in mainstream video games industry], but also in the long term. It also asks the player to consider their gameplay as a personal artefact, something of their own heritage which could be passed to someone else just like any other personal object. By designing and developing the project, we thought we could be able to provide a new perspective on the media not just for game developers and the player community, but also a non-player audience.”

—one life remains [fr]