Lena NW and Costcodreamgurl
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The game creators Lena NW and Costcodreamgurl are nominated for the A MAZE. Awards 2020 with their fresh released chyoa, dating-sim & rap musical game Nightmare Temptation Academy. Enjoy reading their wild hearts answers.
A MAZE.: How would you describe yourself?
Costcodreamgurl: An adult baby
Lena NW: A workaholic rapper on edge.
A MAZE.: Are you a wild heart? If yes, what makes you think you’re a wild heart?
Costcodreamgurl: Yes, because I am soul sisters with Conner O’Malley.
Lena NW: Yes, because I built my life around creating the things that I want to create, regardless of sacrifice and consequence.
A MAZE.: Why did you start making games or playful media works?
Costcodreamgurl: Because still pictures are not the most fun!
Lena NW: I grew up on the internet and was really inspired by the DIY art/gaming communities I became a part of on websites like Neopets.com, newgrounds.com, etc. I had been doing copy-paste HTML to make my neopets profile page have a sick custom design; which I continued to do as I got older and would customize my myspace profile. There was a feature on neopets called “Neopian Adventure Generator” which was a game where users could make their own Choose Your Own Adventure game for other users to play - this is where I made my first CHYOA game when I was 11 years old. Newgrounds showed me the weirdo side of early 2000s browser games usually made by one person; tools were accessible for individuals to make their own games. I had access to the tools, and engaged with my media in a way where I was always creatively involved in the interactive/playful experience. I feel like I have been creating interactive work in a way for my entire life, since childhood.
A MAZE.: Who (or what) is your biggest inspiration? Think beyond games too - musicians, writers, filmmakers, artists, scientists, …
Lena NW: Internet culture: Newgrounds.com (specifically the adult games), neopets.com, myspace.com, Rule 34, early 2000’s 4Chan. Cartoons/Anime: Happy Tree Friends, South Park, Kakegurui. Artists: Shintaro Kago, Junji Ito, Satoshi Kon. Music: Lil Kim, Eminem (pre 2004), Peaches, Sneaker Pimps, Eartha Kitt.
Costcodreamgurl: Mike Judge, Christian Rex van Minnen, Jack King-Spooner, Jerry Springer, Liquid Television, the aura of Costco.
A MAZE.: Where can we find this in your work?
Lena NW: Most of the artists/cartoons I listed are very gorey, and you can see this kind of attention to detail in the depiction of aesthetic violence in my work. Internet culture has thematically and aesthetically influenced my work; you can see artifacts of internet culture remixed and collaged. The crude amatuer adult flash game sensibility also prevails in my point and click games. In my music, you can hear a bratty delivery/vocal style influenced by the electroclash genre, descriptive narrative-driven lyricism, with trip-hop sounding instrumentals; each element that the aforementioned musicians possess.
Costcodreamgurl: Mike Judge, Jerry Springer, and Costco inspire me thematically while I greatly admire the artistic styles of van Minnen, King-Spooner, and all of the artists involved in Liquid Television.
Screenshot of Nightmare Temptation Academy
A MAZE.: What message(s) are you sending out with your works?
Costcodreamgurl: I don’t aim to send a message, but I do try to reflect what I have seen.
Lena NW: I agree with Costcodreamgurl. In my work I am processing my experiences, both with media and through media, and how it has shaped every other aspect of my life, including experiences with identity, trauma, mentality, & world view. But it’s not necessarily autobiographical, I think I am responding to/representing a condition/culture a lot of other people relate to. It is nice to find other people who relate to my work; I think we are all helping each other feel less alone. It is more about making media that represents you; which includes making a game you wish would exist but does not yet.
A MAZE.: Is there a repeating pattern in all of your works the players may experience?
Lena NW: The games I’ve made so far have gameplays that resemble your own adventure/dating simulation games, and feature interspecies/interdimensional relationships, angsty teenage girl protagonists, and narrative lyricism.
Costcodreamgurl: Kids being bad, lots of skin folds, a healthy mixture of yucky-cute.
A MAZE.: What influences your work more: Past (history), present (contemporary) or future (scifi) and what are your sources?
Lena NW: The recent past and tracing it to the present; my anxiety makes the present always concerned with the future. I think especially in Nightmare Temptation Academy, I anachronically hyper-condense time into this warped world reconciling a lifetime of internet addiction from the late 90s to the present. With the increasingly real threat of environmental/economic/social collapse, feeling like you are living on the verge of end times makes the present revolve around the future (or lack of a viable future).
Costcodreamgurl: Recent past (~10-20 years prior to now), because I process life in a delayed manner. I am not interested in the future at all!
A MAZE.: What does responsibility towards your players mean to you as an artist?
Lena NW: I feel responsible for being honest about what I create. I wouldn’t tell people that there was a moral or lesson they should walk a way with, when there isn’t one. I also don’t want to restrain myself, or compromise my vision; I have to create something because I believe it is worthwhile and meaningful.
Costcodreamgurl: I feel responsible for giving players things they have never seen before, which is one of the only worthwhile pursuits of life
A MAZE.: What impact is the current pandemic having on you and your work?
Lena NW: Having just finished this game (Nightmare Temptation Academy), and being a self-employed freelance animator, I have been working from home, hardly leaving my house for the past year. I am used to being home all the time; I feel like I was just about to get the opportunity to leave the house and go on an adventure when social distancing started. I was hoping to show Nightmare Temptation Academy at certain events/shows that have now been cancelled, which is disappointing. So I am going a little stir crazy, having been stuck in place for many months prior to the stay at home order. I also don’t believe things will be better in a few months, I think this will go on consistently until there is a vaccine.
Costcodreamgurl: Simultaneously gives me more time to work while injecting a sense of panic into my everyday life and artwork.
Screenshot of Nightmare Temptation Academy
A MAZE.: If there is something wrong in the field of games / playful media, what would you fix first?
Lena NW: I wouldn’t want to fix anything in terms of changing what has been made, or being prescriptive in what kinds of games people should make/telling people/entities what they must stop doing in their games. I make games that I want to play, because they do not exist yet. The games I make represent a perspective and a taste that I wanted to see in games. A solution for anything that is lacking in games/playful media would be to have more individuals creating unique games on their own without compromising their vision.
A MAZE.: What are the three games someone who never played a game before should play? Why those?
Lena NW: The Pokemon Games; Pokemon Yellow, Diamond/Pearl, Sword/Shield: These are all essentially the same game remade at 10-ish year intervals (even though there were many in between). Pokemon Yellow was my first video game, and everything I wished Pokemon Yellow was, it became by the time Pokemon Sword/Shield was released. Pokemon is just the best, it’s like cute cockfighting, breeding Pokemon for battle should be illegal. Bayonetta: The sexiest protagonist ever! Bayonetta is so sexualized it feels like a parody of the sexualization of women characters in video games, it becomes comical. The game is also very fun, killing angels (instead of demons) is refreshing. Truth Or Dare: The thrill of every childhood party, where I hoped someone would request something terrible and outrageous. An excuse to eat cat food.
Costcodreamgurl: The Sims 1 (or 2) because you will learn a LOT about yourself, Super Mario 64 because it is the best 3D platformer ever made, and chess because it is an essential intro to tactical thinking.
A MAZE.: How do you relax and find balance?
Lena NW: This is something I struggle with. I feel as though I have been constantly working for the past two years (on Nightmare Temptation Academy + grad school + freelance) and I have been desperately seeking the opportunity to take a meaningful break. It is hard for me to get my mind off what I am supposed to be doing during relaxation. The things that bring me the most joy lately are writing and recording raps, playing Pokemon Sword, planting cacti/succulents, and 420 blazing it.
Costcodreamgurl:I cultivate my Animal Crossing island and play electric guitar!
A MAZE.: What are the main challenges for artists in your country to sustain themselves?
Costcodreamgurl: Finding a way to financially support yourself (day job) that won’t completely drain your creative energy.
Lena NW: Yes, exactly what Costcodreamgurl said- Financial stability is definitely the biggest challenge as an artist. I think it is a very big challenge for most Millennials in the U.S. regardless of occupation. I am EXTREMELY devastated by Bernie’s loss of the 2020 primaries. As an artist you will need a day job, and then you will need to find time to make your own work around that job. Even though I am able to generate some money off of my own work, it is not enough to survive. Also I think artists' work is undervalued- people might expect you to work for cheap because you are doing “what you love.”
A MAZE.: How do you see interactive arts in 10 years from now? In 2030! Tell us your vision.
Lena NW: I envision a bigger presence and legitimacy in the art world. Paintings and sculptures might not be stimulating enough to hold the attention of future generations. As the tools to create interactive works become increasingly more accessible, we will see an exciting variety and innovation in the field from a greater diversity of artists creating interactive work.