Friday, 19 December 2014
Genesis Foundation shining new light on the art game
Released on the Winter Solstice, 21 December: The Sun Stands Still – an art game by Naomi Alderman, co-creator of Zombies, Run!, lead writer on Perplex City, and author of award-winning literary fiction
- Explores the spiritual possibilities of the art game
- A ground-breaking commission by the Genesis Foundation – nurturing the professional careers of outstanding young creative artists
- Game to be distributed for free via the web for either Mac or PC
- http://the-sun-stands-still.com/
“The winter solstice has always been, for me, almost unbearably moving. This still point at which everything is at its darkest and yet which, imperceptibly but necessarily, is the moment when the light begins to return to the world. From its very inception, I knew this project would be about lightness and darkness.”
Those are the words of Naomi Alderman, creator of the art game The Sun Stands Still, available for free download from Sunday 21 December – the date which marks the Winter Solstice 2014. In fact the very name The Sun Stands Still expresses the meaning of the word ‘solstice’.
An award-winning literary author (mentored by the great Canadian writer Margaret Atwood), Alderman is also a luminary in the world of games: she co-created the immersive best-selling fitness game Zombies, Run!, was lead writer on Perplex City and writes a regular column on gaming for The Observer.
This is how she describes The Sun Stands Still:
“The game is a digital journey – a short narrative about the feeling of hopelessness, the descent and the start of return to light. It comprises nine levels. In the first six, the audience players visit different ‘rooms’ (the home, the office, the supermarket). They have control of a smoke-character and a list of tasks to perform – things to pick up and use. There are also hazards to avoid. To do both of these things they’ll need to turn on various lights in their environment. As time goes on, the tasks become progressively more difficult to achieve.
“In the fourth room, a trip to the supermarket to buy bleach and breakfast cereal, only one light can be turned on at any time. The entire environment has become darker and more sombre. In the bottom of the screen is a figure who is slowly turning to smoke – a thought about how others’ sadness becomes more visible when one is in grief.
“The sixth room of the piece is an ‘office party’ – the way that these events can seem when one is feeling low! In one of the ‘vignettes’ the smoke character triggers one of the hazards – in this case getting tangled up in some party balloons. The environment is starting to feel increasingly hostile. Even quite normal things feel like an effort, and very ordinary and even joyful events can seem like a trial. At a certain point, all the player can do is to just keep on. Just stumble through the day. I suspect we’ve all had days, weeks, or even months like that.
“By the final levels, however, things start to feel just a little better. In the eighth room, the player buys a ticket to board a train. And in the ninth and final scene, as the train emerges into daylight, their character helps another who has stumbled. This short scene ends the digital piece – a thought about hope and about the possibility of helping others through their suffering.”
The Sun Stands Still is a ground-breaking commission from the Genesis Foundation which since 2001 has been nurturing young creative and performing artists. The Foundation is especially closely linked with high-profile organisations in the fields of music and theatre, so a digital game is something of a new departure. The Sun Stands Still, and its depiction of a turning point from darkness to light, picks up on the implications of the Stabat Mater, the stark and powerful 13th century poem describing Mary standing by the Cross at Calvary. In the context of its established collaboration with the Genesis Foundation, the renowned choral group The Sixteen gave three world premieres in June 2014 of settings of the Stabat Mater by young composers, and further Stabat Mater projects are underway.
As Naomi Alderman – whose 2012 novel The Liars’ Gospel provides a fascinating and unnerving take on the story of Jesus – says: “A mother weeps at the foot of the cross. Her son is dead. And yet, for a believing Christian, this point of ultimate loss is also the fulcrum of the world, the preface to salvation. There seems to me a profound and deep truth to this re-visioning of loss, one which crosses the borders of faiths and cultures. With The Sun Stands Still I wanted to make a piece about that seemingly inexorable journey into darkness, and the feeling that the light will return.”
John Studzinski, Founder & Chairman of the Genesis Foundation, feels that:
“The Sun Stands Still, as a digital game, is undoubtedly something new for the Genesis Foundation. But I’d also like to think that, in its sensitive and subtle exploration of existential issues and spirituality, it represents something new for the genre of the art game. With her multi-faceted skills as a thinker and storyteller, and her reputation in the field of digital media, Naomi Alderman has created something that will prove compelling and, dare I say, illuminating for many thousands of people.”
Notes to editors
The Genesis Foundation is a UK-based charitable foundation established by John Studzinski in 2001. Through its partner programmes, the Foundation enables prestigious, progressive organisations in the fields of theatre, music and visual arts to nurture the careers of outstanding young artists, developing their talents and giving them access to influential mentors and valuable networks. The Genesis Foundation runs dedicated programmes with the Royal Court, The Sixteen, Welsh National Opera and the Young Vic, and supports graduate and post-graduate training programmes at LAMDA and the Royal College of Art.
The Sun Stands Still by Naomi Alderman
Supported by the Genesis Foundation
Developer: Alex Macmillan
Illustrator: Marsh Davies
Gameplay designer: Holly Gramazio
Composer: Ryan Ike
Foley by: Alex Macmillan and Ryan Ike
Producer: Seb Emina