This is What Internet Does to Your Brain: Reflections on Tetrageddon Games

Tetrageddon Games (Armagad) is an OS game, meaning the game takes place in a fictional operating system. It is created by Nathalie Lawhead (a.k.a alienmelon), that features around 10 minigames, however this description does not do it justice as it is something bigger than the sum of its parts. Lawhead describes Tetrageddon as “what internet does to people” and this can be easily experienced from the beginning of the game as we start operating a chaotic interface, we get constantly bombed with new surprises, interactions, bots, animations, jokes and bits. Tetrageddon has a lot to show to us and does not care if we have time to breathe in between.

The minigames featured in Tetrageddon cover a lot of different topics from trying to escape death as a spam mail to destroying internet trolls in a post-apocalyptic cyberspace, to making anatomically incorrect dinosaurs in a laboratory. There are two different kinds of games in this selection, some of them adhere to a traditional understanding of digital games by providing challenges to be overcomed, the other kind of minigames could be called “interactive vignettes” as they don’t necessarily provide challenges, rather they feel like statement pieces or sketches. In my opinion the vignettes work quite better in general as Lawhead’s artistic approach can sometimes make it hard to understand how the game mechanics work, or sometimes the gamelike elements such as scores and leaderboards feel distinctly traditional to an extent that breaks the general aura of the game. However these are quite minor complaints, as the collection all together provides a uniquely and chaotically fun experience, that is fuelled by curiosity.

What makes Tetrageddon feel so important and unique to me is Lawhead’s unique approach to User Interface(UI). While in many games UI is often considered a hassle and an afterthought, Lawhead approaches UI as the most central element in their game and uses it to constantly tell us something and surprise us.

Since UI and UX (User Experience) has become a very central aspect of our lives, it has created its own standards and almost a specific language of its own that we are all intuitively familiar with because of all the central place technology has in our lives. Lawhead understands these interactions as possible avenues of subversion and uses even the most simple and traditional of UI interactions into a whole section of its own.

A large part of Lawhead’s work shows a deep understanding of our general interactions with computers. By identifying the specific elements of our interactions they seem to  be able to construct experiences that both celebrate computers to some extent, and give various characters and soul to all kinds of interactions. For example pressing a simple button can turn into a whole debate because the button “just wants to be left alone”.

This whole approach to game-making that embraces UI as a language of its own, complemented with Lawhead’s beautiful and chaotic artstyle and in-your-face brand of animation overall left me exhilarated and kept me asking for more.

 

All pictures used are screenshots taken by the author.

Developer: Nathalie Lawhead

Publisher: Self-published

Platforms: Linux, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS

Release Date: 2015

Genres: Simulation

Not Rated for Audiences

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