Gnome’s Lair has just announced a new project called Wikileaks Stories.
The 6th of December is a very important day indeed, especially if you live in Greece. Two years ago a 15 year old boy, Alexis, was brutally murdered by the police. It was a shocking event that led to a month-long revolt throughout Greece, which signaled a new phase of civil disobedience. Today, just like last year, the streets are once again (already) overrun by the angry youth (and many more) and this blog is happy. Then again, a blog can’t help you join the students, workers and school-kids of Greece.It can on the other hand interest you, oh fickle reader, with a new indie gaming initiative: WikiLeaks Stories. A selection of short and sometimes longer games that will turn some of the more interesting WikiLeaks …err… leaks into playable stories. Maybe even provide you with a hacker game that will let you attempt to battle the powerful censors and their allies; we’ll see about that.Now, where are them games? Well, they are being made. I have already put a variety of other projects on hold and started working on a piece of WikiLeaks Stories interactive fiction (you know, a text adventure) and Jonas Kyratzes will soon come up with something himself. Hopefully a few more indie developers will join the fun, as being indie does not simply mean going for a pixel-art look…
If you are a game developer, join us in making games about the crimes that governments try to keep quiet. Use your artform to fight for democracy and freedom. Art does not exist in a vacuum, and neither do artists. Some people will call it preaching, but take it as a compliment: preaching is the act of telling the truth as you have found it, and art has its roots in religion, in revelation.
Let’s remind them that art is not abstract navel-gazing engaged only with “universal themes.” Art is right here, right now, and it has teeth.
