Three artistic games directed at young girls in the ā90s will be made available on modern browsers if Rhizomeās Kickstarter is successful.
Lots of adventure games for kids in the ā90s were aimed at boys; itās not that different today. Arts organization Rhizome has launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the relaunch of three games by Theresa Duncan.
Theresa Duncanās games Chop Suey, Smarty, and Zero Zero, all released in the 1990s, were based on the common experiences of young girls while embracing their imagination.
Speaking in a video for the Kickstarter is Duncanās mother, Mary Duncan, who describes her daughterās games as whimsical portrayals of the every day to take girls on a journey of discovery.
āYou see that in boysā games,ā Mary Duncan said. āParticularly at that point in time, there wasnāt a lot of that in girlsā games.ā
Should this funding campaign be successful, Rhizome will make Duncanās three games playable for free in any modern browser. In addition, Rhizome is working with the New Museum in NYC to hold a public event and an online exhibition of Duncanās work in the context of feminist gaming history.
Duncan committed suicide in 2007. She moved on to film and writing after making games directed at a group of people games were ignoring: young girls. These three CD-ROM games encouraged players to explore the world, and it especially encouraged young girls to be adventurous.
Beyond a celebration of young girls, Rhizomeās project is also a work of digital preservation. The CD-ROMs are inaccessible today, so Rhizome will use Emulation in Service to use the game as it appeared without needing additional software. Emulating the game allows it to be played as closely as possible to its original. The games will be available for free for one year, after which the rightsholders would have to agree to an extension. After this project, Rhizome stated it āwill be able to re-enact many more artworks on a wide array of legacy systems.ā
The Kickstarter campaign is asking for $20,000, over half of which is developer costs and server infrastructure. The campaign will end on Dec. 18.
Source: Rhizome (Kickstarter)
Published: Nov 21, 2014 11:58 PM UTC