Praise the sun
Stone’s solar server project is broadly an exploration of the artistic possibilities of reliance on locally-generated renewable power. Known Mysteries itself is a sorrowful climate change fable in which a woman from a small Canadian town reckons with the dastardly doings of the neighbourhood oil-tech corporation. I’m not captivated by the premise and confessional tone, if I’m honest, but I love the corroded, iridescent visuals, and I’m very interested in how Stone (who serves as writer, designer, artist and programmer) has tailored Known Mysteries towards the server’s capacities.
“The game is designed to be low-carbon,” she observes in a press release. “It has highly compressed images and video that utilizes found footage, a low frame rate, and is divided into three distinct streamable chapters.”
“The idea is that things don’t have to run 100% of the time, especially access to a game - it’s really not crucial for anyone’s life,” Stone told me back then, scandalously. “So even if the server was down every night in my timezone - which it shouldn’t be - I think that’s fine.” The emphasis on not having constant access to the game naturally makes me think of Ritual Of The Moon’s daily rhythms and minimised playtime. (The server is hooked up to a car battery, so it can store a bit of power for overnight operation.)
Stone aside, Known Mysteries is the work of another programmerChris Kerichand voice actorPARTYGIRL, with music fromAmateur Painter. Stone has yet to announce any other games for the solar server. I’m intrigued to see whether the distribution platform might give rise to a range of bespoke “solar” genres, perhaps comparable to the disarming alt-history fusions ofUFO 50.
