A MAZE.: Are you a wild heart? If yes, what makes you think you’re a wild heart?
N.P: Cause I (almost) never choose a project for money.
N.P-O: Hum… not sure I understand what a “wild heart” is, but it’s attractive so the answer is yes.
D.B: Hell yeah ! That’s what my mom tells me all the time.
A MAZE.: What message(s) are you sending out with your works?
Jai Bunnag: FINIFUGU's Games almost always engage the idea that mobile entertainment is something that brings us together and is a lens that allows us to engage with different layers of our daily lives.
A MAZE.: If there is something wrong in the field of games / playful media, what would you fix first?
Daniël Haazen: The internet is going in a direction where copyright rules are getting stronger. I prefer an internet where everyone can use each other's work to make their own, as long as it's fair use. This counts for games as well. I hope
A MAZE.: Why did you start making games or playful media works?
David Martin: Because it seemed like the most complete art form, potentially encompassing all the strength of the others in it.
A MAZE.: What message(s) are you sending out with your works?
Andreas Wangler: That games as a media is only at the start of a fantastic development - and that games can bring people together and create true emotions.
A MAZE.: What message(s) are you sending out with your works?
Bobbi A. Sand: Every work/story has its own theme and message, or maybe rather conversation, but I tend to circle around topics such as relationships, identity, mental health, sexuality.
A MAZE.: Who (or what) is your biggest inspiration? Think beyond games too - musicians, writers, filmmakers, artists, scientists, …
Enric Llagostera: Storytelling, theatre, political economy, DIY, migration, conversations with my peers. I am inspired by humour, a certain level of mischief and trickster ways. The game making and critical work of (in no particular order) Jess Marcotte, Dietrich Squinkifer, Sabine Harrer, Kara Stone, and Pedro Paiva.
A MAZE.: Why did you start making games or playful media works?
Coline Sauvand & Laurent Toulouse: We wanted to: make art, tell stories with drawing / painting, make drawings / paintings alive; which could have lead to animation but since Laurent knows how to code we decided to go for games.
A MAZE.: What message(s) are you sending out with your works?
Nils Deneken: Make love, not war. Oh, and also: take care of our planet, it’s only borrowed.
A MAZE.: Who (or what) is your biggest inspiration? Think beyond games too - musicians, writers, filmmakers, artists, scientists, …
Manu: All the great scientists. Newton, Einstein, Tesla, Curie, … They all invented amazing stuff. I want to invent amazing stuff for games too.
Léa: No rules there. When you fall in love you don’t choose with who/what. Same here, so a bit of everything. But music and science are two side-passions if you ask.
A MAZE.: What influences your work more: Past (history), present (contemporary) or future (scifi) and what are your sources?
Julián Palacios: The past. I like to use spaces in videogames as a way to connect our memories and our experiences of reality with what we see on the screen. And I love old music, movies, pictures, books. They give us glimpses of what were different ways of life.
A MAZE.: How do you see interactive arts in 10 years from now? In 2030! Tell us your vision.
Gabriel: In 2030, VR is still not a thing, Itch.io has become a giant mass media and entertainment conglomerate and we are still releasing games people think we made on drugs.
Jira Trello: I hope (and imagine) all work created in the same medium of game engines is not constrained to one context.
A MAZE.: Why did you start making games or playful media works?
Eve Golden Woods: I've been telling stories and playing games as long as I can remember. Stories are important to me, and games are a cool and beautiful medium in which to tell them.
A MAZE.: What message(s) are you sending out with your works?
Marc Loths: Whatever message my work is sending depends on the work, really. Some of it is very self-indulgent, wallowing in emotions and feelings, some of it is more political in a broader sense and yet more work is more in the vein of ludic exploration. A lot of my recent work focuses on climate change and capitalism…
A MAZE.: Where can we find this in your work?
Maria: I suppose it is an outcome of the whole influence and sometimes a few more specific references (not so often).
Andreas: I hope it is somewhere there. If I could just name one would be “transitions”.
A MAZE.: Where can we find this in your work?
Kas Ghobadi: I think it’s easy to see environmental themes and ideas throughout Stereophyta and my other games which focus on nature, dynamic music, and use procedural generation to create the world. …
A MAZE.: Is there a repeating pattern in all of your works the players may experience?
Ata Sergey Nowak: Most of my works were done on strategy games so some influences might have reflected upon Suzerain even though it is primarily a narrative game. Our goals as a new indie studio however is to tackle interesting subjects and to provoke thoughts.
A MAZE.: What message(s) are you sending out with your works?
Joon: Squirrels like nuts.
Char: Connection, sharing & enjoying the small things together.
Muuutsch: Sound is super important. It can define your whole world, you can sell textures through sound only, and I so hope I convey that with my work.
Pol: We might be sneaking in some themes of worker alienation and isolation into the game, and hinting at a path to overcome it through solidarity with other disenfranchised critters! You didn't hear this from me.
A MAZE.: What message(s) are you sending out with your works?
MatLab: Life is a wonderful game! So let's live it with all our senses and have fun together!
TomAvatars: Search simplicity in complexity and the other way round. Have fun. Dream. Be fair and lovely.
A MAZE.: Are you a wild heart? If yes, what makes you think you’re a wild heart?
Costcodreamgurl: Yes, because I am soul sisters with Conner O’Malley.
Lena NW: Yes, because I built my life around creating the things that I want to create, regardless of sacrifice and consequence.
