A collection of items from the Prosthetic Knowledge Tumblr archive and around the Web, returning to the theme of "Other Worlds" (previously explored in a post from August 2012), which takes a brief look at independent creative games that challenge conventions of the form and bridge the divide between art and gaming. 

Animated GIF extract of Void One by Luis Hernandez.

After the original Other Worlds post was published, the theme became part of an art and gaming convergence festival called Vector, conceived by Skot Deeming. We managed to find many more examples, and below are a couple of pieces from that exhibition. There are also some brand new examples included--it is a creative field which is growing in prominence, as evidenced by the forthcoming establishment of the LA Game Space, which brings a Bauhaus-inspired approach to creative computing.

Void One

This game experience by Luis Hernandez takes the participant on a journey through different unrelated spaces: you could be roaming a familiar video game level or science-fiction landscape, or find yourself in a Kurt Schwitters’ Merzbau-esque room... or in another kind of place entirely.

Here is a video I put together, briefly touring the first few levels (apologies for the lack of sound):

Bad Trip

Alan Kwan's interactive game world is a trip into the artist’s subconscious. Scattered around the world are "memory cubes" which, when approached, display recordings of moments of the artist’s real life, recorded using a video camera mounted to his glasses. Watch the video below:

Bad Trip: Navigate My Mind from KwanAlan on Vimeo.

Kwan describes the work as follows: 

Bad Trip is an immersive interactive system that enables people to navigate my mind using a game controller.

Since November 2011, every moments of my life has been logged by a video camera that mounts on my eyeglasses, producing an expanding database of digitalized visual memories. Using a custom virtual reality software, I design a virtual mindscape where people could navigate and experience my memories and dreams. The mindscape grows continually as fresh memories and dreams come in.

The artist is interviewed about the work at Gamescenes, which you can read here.

Memory of a Broken Dimension

Forthcoming independent game which smartly employs glitch aesthetics as part of its game world and narrative, by xra AKA Ezra Hanson-White:

If you would like to try out the game yourself, an early build can be found via a tweet from the developer here. The full version is forthcoming.

FRACT OSC

FRACT OSC, by Phosfiend Systems, is a first person puzzle platformer with a musical focus. As you complete the puzzle, you develop a virtual synth studio.

FRACT is a musical exploration game. Explore an abstract, broken-down world built on sound, rebuild its forgotten machinery and create your own sounds and music within the world. It draws inspiration from Myst, Tron, electronic music, and most importantly, synthesizers.

A quick look at some of the things we have planned for FRACT OSC - a first person adventure game inspired by synthesizers (no kidding!). We’re building some really interesting tools that combine exploration, puzzles and musical creation - and we’re really excited to share them with everyone!

Paradis Perdus (Lost Paradises) 

High Definition low polygon game world to explore, only your path destroys the landscape:

Paradises Perdus is about not belonging. You are in a world that is beautiful and green, but the moment you enter it, you start infecting everything; the world starts decaying, until it eventually ceases to exist. You are the bad guy; you kill everything you touch. You can choose to exit the world, and then it will heal itself, but then you don’t get to enjoy it, of course.

More information, with links to download the alpha for PC, Mac, and Linux, can be found here.

EXO by Tabor Robak

Part first-person game, part demo-scene presentation, part "experience," all Sci-Fi, all worthy of 35 minutes of your time. EXO is available for free for PC and Mac. Here is a silent preview, embedded below:

If you don’t want to download the game, there is also a 35-minute video to guide you through the experience here.

You can get hold of this gorgeous piece of work here.