Porpentine (game designer)

{{Infobox person

| name = Porpentine Charity Heartscape

| image = Porpentine portrait.png

| alt =

| caption = Porpentine in 2016

| birth_name =

| birth_date =

| birth_place =

| nationality = American

| occupation = Video game designer, artist

| education =

| years_active = 2012–present

}}

Porpentine Charity Heartscape (born 1987){{cite web |url=https://icavcu.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/MC-EDITS_-ProjectProfile_Burr.pdf |title=Artist Profile |author= |date=21 April 2018 |website=ICAVCU.org |publisher=Institute for Contemporary Art |access-date=8 January 2021 |archive-date=January 10, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210110034138/https://icavcu.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/MC-EDITS_-ProjectProfile_Burr.pdf |url-status=live }} is a video game designer, new media artist, writer and curator based in Oakland, California.{{citation|newspaper=East Bay Express|date=November 22, 2016|first=Donna|last=Kazimarki|title=Porpentine Charity Heartscape's New Novella is Science-Fiction About Living with Trauma, and Slime Sex|url=http://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/future-poems-for-trashgender-girls/Content?oid=5040666|access-date=December 3, 2016|archive-date=November 24, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161124160731/http://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/future-poems-for-trashgender-girls/Content?oid=5040666|url-status=live}} They are primarily a developer of hypertext games and interactive fiction mainly built using Twine.{{cite web|last=Ellison|first=Cara|title=Hypersexed Hypertext: Porpentine and the Twine text game revolution|url=http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/04/03/hypersexed-hypertext-porpentine-and-the-twine-text-game-revolution/|publisher=PCGamer|accessdate=May 15, 2013|date=April 3, 2013|archive-date=May 7, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130507170417/http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/04/03/hypersexed-hypertext-porpentine-and-the-twine-text-game-revolution/|url-status=live}} They have been awarded a Creative Capital grant, a Rhizome.org commission, the Prix Net Art, and a Sundance Institute's New Frontier Story Lab Fellowship.{{Cite web|url=https://creative-capital.org/grantees/view/804/project:845|title=Creative Capital – Investing in Artists who Shape the Future|website=creative-capital.org|language=en|access-date=2017-03-14|archive-date=March 15, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170315091328/https://creative-capital.org/grantees/view/804/project:845|url-status=dead}}{{Cite news|url=http://rhizome.org/editorial/2015/oct/16/fall-2015-program-announce/|title=Announcing Rhizome's Fall 2015 Program|work=Rhizome|access-date=2017-03-14|archive-date=March 15, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170315002646/http://rhizome.org/editorial/2015/oct/16/fall-2015-program-announce/|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.artnews.com/2017/02/16/rhizome-names-three-winners-of-third-prix-net-art/|title=Rhizome Names Three Winners of Third Prix Net Art Award {{!}} ARTnews|website=www.artnews.com|language=en-US|access-date=2017-03-14|date=February 16, 2017}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.sundance.org/blogs/news/2016-new-frontier-story-lab|title=Sundance Institute's New Frontier Story Lab Explores the Future with Six Creative Teams and Projects|website=www.sundance.org|access-date=2017-03-14|archive-date=July 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725033148/https://www.sundance.org/blogs/news/2016-new-frontier-story-lab|url-status=live}} Their work was included in the 2017 Whitney Biennial.{{cite web|title=Whitney Biennial 2017|url=http://whitney.org/Exhibitions/2017Biennial|website=Whitney Museum of American Art|accessdate=March 28, 2017|archive-date=February 6, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170206121825/http://whitney.org/Exhibitions/2017Biennial|url-status=live}} They were an editor for freeindiegam.es, a curated collection of free, independently produced games.{{cite news|last=Ellison|first=Cara|title=Anna Anthropy and the Twine Revolution|url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/gamesblog/2013/apr/10/anna-anthropy-twine-revolution|work=The Guardian|accessdate=May 15, 2013|location=London|date=April 10, 2013|archive-date=February 3, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190203201742/https://www.theguardian.com/technology/gamesblog/2013/apr/10/anna-anthropy-twine-revolution|url-status=live}} They were a columnist for online PC gaming magazine Rock, Paper, Shotgun.{{cite news|title=Live Free, Play Hard #1|url=http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/08/12/live-free-play-hard-the-week-in-free-indie-games/|newspaper=Rock, Paper, Shotgun|date=August 12, 2012|accessdate=May 15, 2013}}

Game design

Porpentine's 2012 Twine game Howling Dogs incorporates themes of escapism, violence and religious experience, though they have stated that it should be open to interpretation.{{cite web|last=Short|first=Emily|authorlink=Emily Short|title=Interview with Porpentine, author of Howling Dogs|url=https://emshort.wordpress.com/2012/11/23/interview-with-porpentine-author-of-howling-dogs/|accessdate=May 15, 2013|date=November 23, 2012|archive-date=July 25, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130725100456/http://emshort.wordpress.com/2012/11/23/interview-with-porpentine-author-of-howling-dogs/|url-status=dead}} They created Howling Dogs shortly after they started hormone-replacement therapy in 2012, in only seven days, while staying in a friend's remodeled barn.{{cite news|first=Laura|last=Hudson|date=November 19, 2014|title=Twine, the video-game technology for all|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/23/magazine/twine-the-video-game-technology-for-all.html|newspaper=The New York Times Magazine|accessdate=November 23, 2014|archive-date=January 29, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190129001012/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/23/magazine/twine-the-video-game-technology-for-all.html|url-status=live}}

It won the 2012 XYZZY awards in the "Best story" and "Best writing" categories.{{cite web|title=XYZZY Award Winners|url=http://xyzzyawards.org/winners.php|accessdate=May 15, 2013|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100324110839/http://xyzzyawards.org/winners.php|archivedate=March 24, 2010|df=mdy-all}}

The Boston Phoenix listed it as one of their "Top 5 indie games of 2012".{{cite web|last=Meyers|first=Maddy|title=Outside the box: PC indie games of 2012|url=http://thephoenix.com/Boston/recroom/149128-outside-the-box-pc-indie-games-of-2012/|publisher=Boston Phoenix|accessdate=May 15, 2013}}

During the 2013 Game Developers Conference, game designer Richard Hofmeier used the booth he had been given to showcase his own award-winning game Cart Life to showcase Porpentine's Howling Dogs instead. Hofmeier spray-painted the words "Howling Dogs" across the banner of his own booth, and showed Porpentine's game instead of his own. Hofmeier stated he wished to give greater exposure to Porpentine's game.{{cite web|last=Alexander|first=Leigh|title=IGF winner Hofmeier pays it forward for Porpentine's Howling Dogs|date=March 29, 2013|url=https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/igf-winner-hofmeier-pays-it-forward-for-porpentine-s-i-howling-dogs-i-|publisher=Gamasutra|access-date=May 15, 2013|archive-date=May 18, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130518232643/http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/189558/IGF_winner_Hofmeier_pays_it_forward_for_Porpentines_Howling_Dogs.php|url-status=live}}{{cite web|last=Conditt|first=Jessica|title=IGF grand prize winner gives his booth away to 'Howling Dogs'|url=http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/igf-grand-prize-winner-gives-his-booth-away-to-howling-dogs/|publisher=Joystiq|accessdate=May 15, 2013|archive-date=June 3, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130603133418/http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/28/igf-grand-prize-winner-gives-his-booth-away-to-howling-dogs/|url-status=live}}

In 2015 they released Eczema Angel Orifice, a compilation of over 20 hypertext works from 2012 to 2015. The compilation includes critically acclaimed games such as With Those We Love Alive, a queer fable about isolation, abuse, and the relationship between art and power;{{citation|first=Michael|last=Rougeau|date=December 4, 2014|title=Making "With Those We Love Alive," a Game That Leaves its Mark on You|url=http://animalnewyork.com/2014/making-love-alive-game-leaves-mark/|work=Animal|accessdate=December 18, 2014|archive-date=December 18, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141218204427/http://animalnewyork.com/2014/making-love-alive-game-leaves-mark/|url-status=live}} and Ultra Business Tycoon III, a sprawling textual world disguised as edutainment software.{{Cite web

| url = http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/198341/The_poignant_vocabulary_of_Porpentines_Ultra_Business_Tycoon_III.php

| title = The poignant vocabulary of Porpentine's Ultra Business Tycoon III

| last = Alexander

| first = Leigh

| website = www.gamasutra.com

| date = August 19, 2013

| access-date = 2016-02-26

| archive-date = March 10, 2016

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160310180237/http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/198341/The_poignant_vocabulary_of_Porpentines_Ultra_Business_Tycoon_III.php

| url-status = dead

}}

In 2016, Rhizome commissioned Porpentine along with Neotenomie and Sloane through the series First Look: New Art Online resulting in Psycho Nymph Exile. This work includes an online hypertext work, a booklet, and stickers. The project depicts the experience of PTSD as a visceral physical substance, not an invisible, abstract force.{{cite web|title=FIRST LOOK: PSYCHO NYMPH EXILE|url=http://www.newmuseum.org/exhibitions/view/first-look-psycho-nymph-exile|access-date=March 11, 2016|archive-date=March 11, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160311082839/http://www.newmuseum.org/exhibitions/view/first-look-psycho-nymph-exile|url-status=live}}

In 2022, Porpentine published their first full-length book Serious Weakness, a 625-page novel exploring themes of trauma, neurodivergence, and manipulation. The title is a translation of an autoimmune disease called myasthenia gravis, which causes weakness and fatigue within the skeletal and central nervous systems.

Selected works

Howling Dogs (2012){{r|emshortinterview|nyttwine|xyzzy12|globbox}}
Their Angelical Understanding (2013)
Ultra Business Tycoon III (2013){{r|poignant}}
With Those We Love Alive (2014){{r|any}}
Everything You Swallow Will One Day Come Up Like A Stone (2014){{Cite news|url=http://storycade.com/twine-everything-swallow-will-one-day-come-like-stone/|title=Storycade: Twine "Everything you swallow will one day come up like a stone"|date=April 18, 2014|access-date=2017-03-14|language=en-US|archive-date=October 25, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161025050822/http://storycade.com/twine-everything-swallow-will-one-day-come-like-stone/|url-status=dead}}
Neon Haze (2015){{Cite web |last=Budgor |first=Zach |title=Play This: Elegant Indie Cyberpunk Text Adventure Game 'Neon Haze' |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/zachbudgor/2015/08/18/play-this-porpentines-indie-cyberpunk-text-adventure-video-game-neon-haze/ |access-date=2024-11-23 |website=Forbes |language=en}}
Aria End (2015){{r|aria}}
Psycho Nymph Exile (2016){{r|ebx|nmpne}}
No World Dreamers: Sticky Zeitgeist (2017){{cite magazine|magazine=Wired|title=Porpentine's new Twine game isn't just a Twine game|first=Julie|last=Muncy|date=September 13, 2017}}
"The Decision So Many People Were Forced To Make Throughout History", Whose Future is It? (2018)"Porpentine Charity Heartscape" in Cellarius Stories, Volume 1. Cellarius, Ed., New York: 2018, {{ISBN|978-1-949688-02-3}}. (short story)
Serious Weakness (2022)

Awards

= 2012 =

XYZZY Best Writing for Howling Dogs
"Golden Banana of Discord" for Howling Dogs at the 2012 Interactive Fiction Competition, a prize awarded for the highest standard deviation "both the most loved and the most hated."

= 2013 =

XYZZY Best Writing for their angelical understanding{{cite web|url=http://xyzzyawards.org/?p=273|title=The XYZZY Awards|date=April 6, 2014 }}
Indiecade Special Recognition for Porpentine's Twine Compilation{{cite news|url=http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/07/indiecade-games-festival-celebrates-winners/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=2|title=IndieCade Games Festival Celebrates Winners|first=Harold|last=Goldberg|publisher=ArtsBeat New York Times|date=October 7, 2013|access-date=April 10, 2014|archive-date=April 13, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140413150545/http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/07/indiecade-games-festival-celebrates-winners/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=2|url-status=live}}
Porpentine's Twine Compilation listed by the Museum of the Moving Image (New York City) as one of "25 Must-Play Video Games".[http://www.movingimage.us/exhibitions/2013/12/14/detail/indie-essentials-25-must-play-video-games/ Indie Essentials: 25 Must-Play Video Games] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141102233746/http://www.movingimage.us/exhibitions/2013/12/14/detail/indie-essentials-25-must-play-video-games/ |date=November 2, 2014 }}, Museum of the Moving Image, accessed 2014-11-02.

= 2014 =

XYZZY Best Writing and Best Individual NPC for With Those We Love Alive{{Cite web|title = 2014 Awards results {{!}} The XYZZY Awards|url = http://xyzzyawards.org/?p=415|website = xyzzyawards.org| date=April 27, 2015 |accessdate = 2016-01-05}}
Wordplay Festival Award for Most Unique World: With Those We Love Alive{{Cite web|title = Hand Eye Society {{!}} WordPlay 2014 Photos and Awards|url = http://handeyesociety.com/event/wordplay-photos-and-awards/|website = handeyesociety.com|accessdate = 2016-01-06|date = November 9, 2014}}

= 2016 =

Creative Capital Emerging Fields for Aria End (in collaboration with Peter Burr){{Cite web

| url = http://creative-capital.org/projects/view/845

| title = Creative Capital – Investing in Artists who Shape the Future

| website = creative-capital.org

| access-date = 2016-02-26

| archive-date = January 15, 2016

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160115073521/http://creative-capital.org/projects/view/845

| url-status = dead

}}

Otherwise Award Fellowship{{Cite web|url=https://otherwiseaward.org/otherwise-fellowships/previous-fellows/2016-otherwise-fellowships|title=2016 Otherwise Fellowships « Otherwise Award|last=Notkin|first=Debbie|website=Otherwise Award|date=December 15, 2016 |language=en-US|access-date=2020-02-16}}

= 2017 =

Prix Net Art, in collaboration with Rhizome and Chronus Art Center{{Cite web|url=https://prix-netart.org/2017-winners-of-the-prix-net-art/|title=WINNERS OF THE THIRD ANNUAL PRIX NET ART: Eva and Franco Mattes, Porpentine Charity Heartscape, Bogosi Sekhukhuni|website=Prix Net Art|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170315085608/https://prix-netart.org/2017-winners-of-the-prix-net-art/|archive-date=2017-03-15|url-status=dead|access-date=March 14, 2017}}
With Those We Love Alive and howling dogs included in the Whitney Biennial

= 2018 =

Sundance Institute New Frontier Lab Programs Fellow{{Cite web|url=https://www.sundance.org/blogs/news/2016-new-frontier-story-lab|title=Sundance Institute's New Frontier Story Lab Explores the Future with Six Creative Teams and Projects|date=May 12, 2016|website=www.sundance.org|language=en|access-date=2020-02-16|archive-date=July 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725033148/https://www.sundance.org/blogs/news/2016-new-frontier-story-lab|url-status=live}}

References

External links

{{official website|http://xrafstar.monster/}}
[http://xrafstar.monster/games/twine/howlingdogs/ Howling Dogs]
[http://xrafstar.monster/games/twine/vesp/ Vesp: A History of Sapphic Scaphism]
[http://xrafstar.monster/blog/ Blog]
[http://arcadiamissa.com/product/psycho-nymph-exile/ Psycho Nymph Exile Secret Book]

Category:Living people

Category:American video game designers

Category:Interactive fiction writers

Category:1987 births

Category:American electronic literature writers

Category:American transgender writers

Category:American transgender artists

Category:LGBTQ video game developers