Life, Games & Adam Walker Studio

Often I find myself searching for some kind of meaning - a reason for existence, a purpose to being, some way of understanding the ins and outs of daily life.

Shortly after I begin to undertake this weighty topic, it’s inevitable that I find myself overcome with an intense urge to play video games. Then I think, “If only there were a way I could combine the two; a life lesson with a high score.”

Help me Adam Walker Studio! You’re my only hope!

There’s a certain school of thought that suggests Tetris (the game of the people) is actually a metaphor for the human experience: the falling blocks (yes, yes, I know they’re technically called tetrominoes, you pedant [although, for those that didn’t know, today’s fun fact is that the shapes in Tetris are known as tetrominoes (Tetra being the numerical prefix for four, each tetromino being constructed from four blocks [kinda like dominoes, where do=two])]) represent tasks and events in a person’s life, and it requires skill and flexibility to successfully manage and organise these into a neat, cohesive structure.

Unfortunately however, as the game (your life) goes on, the pace increases and you’re bound to eventually make a mistake, which in turn leads to more mistakes. All of a sudden everything’s going insane, and then (exactly like in real life,) once that 4×1 tetromino you’ve been waiting for finally appears you realise you’ve blocked up that slot on the side it was intended for, the game’s over, you didn’t break a million points, you’re not going to see a little animation of a rocket taking off, and you’re dead. See? Just like in real life.

It’s not a perfect metaphor, I’ll admit, but I still think it’s pretty attractive.

What I really like about Tetris though, is the fact that you’ll never beat it. You can never win at it. You will always be, in the eyes of your peers, a Tetris loser (It’s OK though, because they are too.)*

In fact, there are quite a few games about that subscribe to a similar kind of design theory:

The time-proven classic Snake, in which a serpent with an eating disorder eventually collides with his own body and (presumably) dies immediately from the shock of recognising the monster that it has become. (Incidentally, did you know that you can actually play a version of Snake on YouTube while watching certain videos by holding down the left arrow button for a few seconds? That’s quietly fantastic, but at the same time - what’s the point? [I mean, you’re on YouTube, right? You’re specifically choosing to watch a video, yeah? It’s probably a short video, too. But you’re just so incredibly bored by this video, that instead of just choosing not to watch one minute and fourteen seconds of a cat riding a turtle, you feel you need to play snake to pass the time. AT THE SAME TIME. (Or if you’re feeling postmodern, play Snake while watching a video of someone playing Snake)])

2009s instant classic and super-fun Canabalt, in which a man runs (more like FUNs, right?! Ahem.) and jumps his way across rooftops for as long as possible, before eventually falling between buildings, colliding with a wall, a bomb, or (in my case every time) missing a narrow window.

And - oh look! It’s Adam Walker Studio’s own 2008 release Critter Rush, in which the protagonist of the AWS short Arcade Trap must beat away a rush of rushing critters.

Yeah, yeah, while this is a game structured around a set of ten levels, and there is technically an end, I challenge you to reach it. I can’t, and that’s why it’s included here. It’s very similar to the other games mentioned in terms of the way in which you face a constantly mounting threat (which in turn becomes an inevitability) of being overcome by what you’re up against.

Tetris blocks (tetrominoes, whatever) come at faster and faster rates, your snake will grow longer and become more difficult to manoeuvre, your rooftop runner will start going too fast and, just like in real life, you’ll eventually find yourself swinging a bat in increasing futility as red balls of teeth latch onto your dying body.

To summarise: Adam Walker Studio’s Critter Rush is a fun metaphor for life and the human experience. With hammers.

You can play it for free here.

*in an embarrassing side-note, my copy of Tetris for the Game Boy has a flat battery. You see, old-school game cartridges (ask Grandpa) have tiny batteries on-board to maintain your high scores. So obviously, every time I turned off my Game Boy I lost all of my amazing, 161 line-and-over scores (Yeah! OVER 161 lines! Pick your jaw up off the floor, I’m not quite done.) In an exceptionally nerdy display of obsessive-compulsive record keeping (because I NEEDED TO KNOW WHAT MY PREVIOUS HIGH SCORES WERE), I actually drew a table on a piece of paper with ten slots, then ripped up bits of paper, wrote my scores on them as I finished each game, then organised these in order on my table.

An addendum: yes, I’m sure some of you will be thinking in regards to these games “Can’t win? But surely the high score is the goal, to best yourself and your friends in a controlled situation!” To which I say “Who cares about high scores?”

A second addendum: I am fully aware of the fact that my previous confession betrays the fact that I myself care about high scores.