Tetrageddon Games
Steam header art
Developer(s)Nathalie Lawhead
Platform(s)Windows, macOS
ReleaseWeb 4 October 2012
Desktop 12 May 2016
Mode(s)Single-player

Tetrageddon Games is an online compilation of video games and digital art by alienmelon, the pseudonym of independent developer and net artist Nathalie Lawhead. First published as a website titled Tetrageddon, hosting web games designed by Lawhead from 2008. Lawhead combined the releases into a compiled form on the website from 2012, receiving several iterations and revisions over time, and released a downloadable desktop release titled ARMAGAD in 2016. Following release, critics praised Tetrageddon Games for its eclectic mixture of aesthetics and gameplay styles. The project received several awards and nominations, including a Webby Award for the website version and a Nuovo Award at the Independent Games Festival.

Development and release

The visual aesthetic of Tetrageddon Games was strongly influenced by Lawhead's nostalgia for early web and interactive media design.

Tetrageddon Games was a collection of interactive web games developed by Lawhead and collaborators and hosted on the website Tetrageddon, a landing page created in 2008.[1] Games published on the website were open-source, allowing users to collaborate with Lawhead by downloading and modifying the game files.[2] In October 2012, under the initial title Tetrageddon Arcade, Lawhead compiled the games on the Tetrageddon website into a single freeware project.[3] A downloadable desktop version of Tetrageddon Games was published to Game Jolt on 12 May 2016.[4] Following the discontinuation of Flash integration, a revised version of the website was overhauled and introduced on the Tetrageddon website in 2021.[5] A Steam version was released on 29 June 2023.[6]

Describing the project as "experimental",[7] Lawhead stated the objective of Tetrageddon Games was to explore the Internet as a medium for creating interactive games,[8] designed to reflect "the fast-paced nature of web humor" and taking influence from internet hypermedia, interactive literature and pop art.[9] The visual presentation of the project combined a mixture of "hand-drawn vector art with dynamically generated or code-drawn visuals" in order to deliberately combine disparate styles and techniques that reflected this theme.[9] Lawhead described the compilation as a "love letter to the internet of old", particularly in the design of its user interfaces,[10] and was strongly influenced by the nostalgia of early web design and computer games.[11]

Reception

Critical reception

Describing the game as "playful and delightful", Alice O'Connor of Rock Paper Shotgun expressed that the compilation was a "bigger and weirder" summation of Lawhead's work due to its breadth of content,[12] with the website citing the game as one of the best titles of 2016.[13] Sophie Henry of Communication Arts expressed that Tetrageddon Games was "one of the most interesting pieces of interactive art I've seen", highlighting its "provocative and modern" collection of "references in style and content to old video games, Internet memes (and) digital pop culture".[7] Leigh Alexander of Boing Boing praised the collection as "delightful" and "nostalgic", highlighting the game's "multifaceted" assimilation of net art and gameplay.[14] Writing for Twinfinite, Andres Ruiz found the web version of the collection to feature games that were "wholly unique" and "bursting with personality", remarking that the game resembled "more of an interactive art piece than a video game" at times.[15]

Accolades

Tetrageddon Games received several awards and nominations, most notably including receiving the Nuovo Award at the 2015 Independent Games Festival and a Webby Award in 2022,[16][17] as well as selections at the 2013 SXSW Interactive Awards and 2016 IndieCade.[18] On 26 May 2012, Tetrageddon Games received the 'Site of the Day' on The Favorite Website Awards.[19] Select titles from Tetrageddon Games were showcased at the 2015 Fantastic Fest Fantastic Arcade and the 2016 Game Developers Conference.[20][21]

Awards and nominations received by Tetrageddon Games
YearAwardCategoryResultRef
2013 SXSW Austin Interactive Award Nominated [22]
2015 Independent Games Festival Nuovo Award Won [16]
2016 IndieCade Official Selection Nominated [18]
2022 Webby Award Weird Won [17]

References

  1. ↑ Lawhead, Nathalie (7 April 2008). "Tetrageddon Dot Com: CENTALLY MHALLENGED GMAIMES!". Nathalie Lawhead.
  2. ↑ Lawhead, Nathalie (28 August 2012). "Tetrageddon: Desktop Games (PC)". Nathalie Lawhead.
  3. ↑ Lawhead, Nathalie (4 October 2012). "Tetrageddon Games". Nathalie Lawhead. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
  4. ↑ Nathalie Lawhead (12 May 2016). "ARMAGAD (also Tetrageddon Games)". Game Jolt.
  5. ↑ Lawhead, Nathalie (20 January 2021). "New Tetrageddon.com is here! (Cybermonkey has died, a broken desktop haunted by skeletons of the past, and more…)". Nathalie Lawhead. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
  6. ↑ alienmelon (29 June 2023). "Tetrageddon Games". Steam. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
  7. 1 2 "Interactive Annual 19: Websites/Microsites - Tetrageddon Games". Communication Arts. 2013. Archived from the original on 8 March 2013. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
  8. ↑ Ford, Rob (30 May 2012). "The Internet As A Game Mechanic". TheFWA. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
  9. 1 2 "Design Diary - AlienMelon/Tetrageddon Games". Web Designer Magazine. September 2012. pp. 28–31.
  10. ↑ "Documenting the Internet & Webring of Tetrageddon (the desktop version)". Nathalie Lawhead. 20 March 2019. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  11. ↑ "A Flock of Pixels: The 80s Design Comeback". Print Magazine. 19 May 2014. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
  12. ↑ O'Connor, Alice (13 May 2016). "Oddball IGF Winner Tetrageddon Games Released". Rock Paper Shotgun. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
  13. ↑ O'Connor, Alice (14 June 2016). "Our favourite PC games of 2016 so far". Rock Paper Shotgun. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
  14. ↑ Alexander, Leigh (25 March 2015). "Fall in love with one special freeware arcade". Boing Boing. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
  15. ↑ Ruiz, Andres (11 June 2014). "E3 – Tetrageddon Hands-On Preview". Twinfinite. Archived from the original on 19 August 2014. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
  16. 1 2 "2015 Independent Games Festival Winners". Independent Games Festival. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
  17. 1 2 "Tetrageddon". Webby Awards. 2022. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  18. 1 2 Bittanti, Matteo (18 September 2016). "Event: INDIECADE 2016 (October 14-16 2016, Los Angeles, California)". GameScenes.
  19. ↑ "FWA of the Day: Tetrageddon Games". TheFWA. 26 May 2012. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
  20. ↑ "2015 Games - Froggy". Fantastic Arcade. 2015. Archived from the original on 18 August 2015. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
  21. ↑ "Stop by Mild Rumpus at GDC 2016 and play some charming indie games". Game Developer. 23 February 2016. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
  22. ↑ "Interactive Awards Finalists". SXSW. 2013. Archived from the original on 26 January 2013. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
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