Last week was GDC, the massive game developer conference in San Francisco, and we went to take in our favorite part, the weird wonderful world of alternative controllers at alt.ctrl.GDC. It’s like a tiny Maker Faire of inventions intended to delight, surprise, and occasionally weird you out.
There were 20 games in the exhibition this year, and it’s tempting to want to cover them all. Every exhibit we saw had something special worth sharing. Our favorites are featured below, but were by no means the only ones worth seeing.
Back Off Me Booty
This was the most fun game I played at GDC. You and a partner sit on a seesaw and bounce up and down to aim the on-screen cannon on your pirate ship at enemies like a Kraken, a pooping seagull, or an enemy ship. The University of Utah team described it as a cooperative seesaw shooter.
The graphics are a ton of fun, but it’s the bouncing up and down on a kid’s toy that really makes me want my own. If two people entered as strangers, they left as friends. The team brought their third-generation seesaw controller, strong enough to hold three people per side. An Arduino and gyro sensor handled the tilting control. You can find out more about how to build it yourself and download the game on itch.io.
ChromaCorp
ChromaCorp won the alt.ctrl.GDC Award this year, which comes as no surprise as the ArtCenter team also won the last two years in a row. This time their game was a 20-minute puzzle experience (itself paired down from the full version of their game) where you had to take down an evil corporation that has stolen the color out of the world from the inside.
The aesthetics are gorgeous. They had an art book on display to browse while people were waiting for their turn. The theme is a mashup of 1920s-30s era cartoons and a whimsical, disturbing style that fits the whimsical yet disturbing corporation players were breaking out of.
Last year they brought a Chú Mó, an immersive game where visitors played as students taking an entrance exam at an exorcism school.
Before that they won with a Studio Ghibli-inspired food truck game Kitchen Kauldron, based on the frantic cooking simulator Overcooked, which itself was based on kitchen work, making it a physical experience based on a game based on a physical experience, only more chaotic every time. You can find out more about the game and the team behind it at Warped Worlds.
Sashimi Slayer
There is no shortage of rhythm games at alt.control.GDC, but Sashimi Slayer by Shrimp Fried Rice stood out. Utilizing an Arduino, a gyro, and a handful of switches, players sliced up seafood by aiming and unsheathing a costume samurai sword while nodding along to the beat. This was probably the best game I played inspired by a TV sound effect.
As if exhibiting at a week-long conference wasn’t enough, GDC landed the same week as final exams at UC Davis, so team members were shuttling back and forth in-between taking tests and showing off the game. But they had a fantastic turnout with players moving through the line for their chance to be a sushi samurai. You can find the Shrimp Fried Rice team on linktr.ee, and listen to the soundtrack on bandcamp.
How to Pet Your Cat
In the “most memorable” category, How to Pet Your Cat asked grown adults to kneel down on the floor and pummel the tail end of a giant, fluffy feline. The handcrafted controller actually tracked various locations and pressure levels, making this more than just a game of beating your side of the foam harder than the person next to you (although that helps).
You can see some behind-the-scenes shots in their walkthrough video and learn how they made such an authentic-feeling alternative controller. The LA-based team consists of four cat owners, and at least one player reflected that it’s actually a pretty realistic simulator of their cat’s petting preferences. They insist it’s more whimsical than scientific, but I’m skeptical. Learn more at DaChu Interactive.
Limbitless Journey
One thing all of these games have in common is that they’re more about the interface than what’s on-screen. That’s especially true for Limbitless Journey.
The project began with making 3D-printed prosthetics for kids, something that’s generally not covered by insurance companies (kids tend to grow faster than their prosthetics). The organization made games as a way to teach children how to control their new limbs.
Eventually that grew into developing wheelchairs controlled by flexing muscles, which was the application on display at GDC. The group now has multiple teams totalling about 60 interns at the University of Central Florida. You can learn more about the project at Limbitless Solutions.
If you’re a painter or a woodworker, you can show off your creations on walls, cafes, homes, or galleries. But if your medium is weird controllers or large-scale puzzle experiences, there are very few places where the public can experience your work. Similarly, there’re few venues where people can go to be inspired by unconventional, interactive art. So alt.ctrl.GDC is a rare showcase for pieces that seldom exist outside of Maker Faires and escape rooms. We could use more exhibitions like it.
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