Sever

• Take the hand of someone close to you.
• Tell them them the worst thought you’ve ever had about them.
• Tell them that you love them.
• Walk away.

Heart

Reiteration of Sever

• Take their hand
• Share yourself with them
• See if they share themselves with you
• Embrace them if they share, leave them if they don’t.

Result of me doing the score and “embracing” my teammates:

I applied Heart to the team members of Team Giant at the Global Game Jam, using the score as an excuse to go outside of my comfort zone while interacting with these people who I mostly haven’t met. Opening up to them and sharing with them my areas of inexpertise, wound up with them sharing with me their own skills and along the way I gained some friends thought it as well. They shared their skills with me, teaching me some animation tricks, helping me design and create portions of the game I wouldn’t have necessarily have worked on otherwise. The video and game below are the product of my application of my score.

https://teamgiant.itch.io/valley-of-the-giant

Artist Statement

Relationships can be difficult, frustrating, and emotional. I wanted to create a score that recreates the lows of a relationship, because of how often people tend to bottle things up and how in arguments it’s not uncommon for someone to try to be as hurtful as possible before leaving the argument. I wanted to circumvent the entire argument altogether and immediately get to the finisher; the part that’s supposed to sting.

I liked the initial score. Performing it is not meant to be fun and there isn’t really a way to enjoy it when you perform it with someone you’re intimate with. The more you know someone, the bigger the blow you’ll be able to make often times. It becomes less a game and more a jackhammer to the foundation of your relationship. I love the intensity of it.  To me, the game is fun, but it isn’t enjoyable. It’s as excruciating as it is exhilarating.

But, after sharing the score with the class there was a split from some of the thoughts I heard. Some liked the score, some thought it was too harsh. Understandable. Who wants to damage a friendship over performance art after all? So, I tried removing the necessity for it to be harsh and kind of cruel and took a step towards making it more intimate. Now, instead of abandoning your partner regardless of what their response is, you can now embrace them if they share themselves with you. The score is now  one for connection and not severance.

And that’s pretty neat too.