I'm beyond honored to say that my playable essay, "individualism in the dead-internet age" is a nominee for this year's Nuovo award at IGF.

This means I will be showcasing at GDC!

The way "individualism in the dead-internet age" has been received was surprising to me.
I made it for an event in Ljubljana that rejected it because it was too dark. I tried pitching it to a couple other places and it just didn't work. It all seemed very "wrong place wrong time".
I eventually released it on itch.io where it was featured and started some interesting conversations.
It seemed popular in an underground kind of way. It speaks to me that something so critical of tech, AI, and social media resonated with so many others.

It's also worth saying that this is my first game I made since moving to Slovenia. So it's a game made by a Slovenian in Slovenia! ...I just think it's cool that I can represent a little :)

The idea of "playable essay" is something I want to explore more. It's kind of becoming an obsession. I've been thinking a lot about the future of games crit and how it just kind of seems left behind the times in terms of what people care for. There's so much interest, but it seems to not be reaching people.
Video games are a richly visual medium. It's not just images, it's sound, voice, movement, interaction... and it's nearly impossible to capture all that with just text. It makes sense to me that people would prefer to watch streamers or YouTubers over read an essay about something they love... Even so, just video isn't enough.

I think this is an intriguing creative tangent to explore.

What if you brought these types of critical ideas to life in a rich high fidelity almost grotesquely "next-gen" type of way. It seems like such interesting commentary if you think about it that way.
I want to make more of these. I hope some doors at this GDC open so that I can connect with others interested in doing the same!

"Individualism in the dead internet age" is currently in the process of coming to Steam. You can wishlist it here.
Presently the build is stuck in the "Automated tests failed, awaiting detailed report" limbo. I'm not sure what that means but I really hope it doesn't get banned... Other devs seemed to indicate that this could happen if you get that message.

You can also download it on itch.io here.