"edutainment is NOT A CRIME"

The word arcane means mystery, or a secret, which aptly describes my first impression of the Arcane Kids. When a friend told me to check out Bubsy 3D, an "edutainment" game that allowed you to explore a James Turrell exhibition at LA Moca all I wanted to know was who made this game. Was it a one off? Googling the Arcane Kids I found myself watching the indescribably awesome trailer for Perfect Stride, a first person skateboarding game set in a dystopian future that asked the question "what if in 1999 Tony Hawk didn't land the 990." Again, WOW. Reading their Manife$to (they had a Manifesto!) it seemed that the games created by the Arcane Kids were far from random jokes but rather the highly principled output of one of the most defiant voices in independent video games today. When I asked to talk to them, they invited me at SK8 MUD, a virtual Denny's parking lot where you can type in commands to skateboard, drink a milkshake, listen to music and talk.



ashermixtapehell: HI

lil_vertex: SUPPP

ashermixtapehell: AM I CAPS?

ashermixtapehell: SORRY NOT TRYING TO YELL

lordanime: this is a new feature

lil_vertex: YO U ARE HELLA CAPS

coolatv: hi lil_vertex: HELLA SAME

ashermixtapehell: STILL CAPS

ashermixtapehell did a GNARLY OLLIE

lil_vertex: me flips magazine page

lil_vertex DIEZ

lil_vertex: if u use say then its caps

lil_vertex: but if u use forward slash, its not caps

coolatv99: DUH

yuliy: ;)

lil_vertex: SAY IS VERY FORMAL

lil_vertex: LIKE SHOUTING

ashermixtapehell: ok i think i got it

ashermixtapehell did a SICK OLLIE

lil_vertex OPENS UP CD PLAYER

lil_vertex LOADS OFFSPRING - CONSPIRACY OF ONE CD

lil_vertex did a TIGHT OLLIE into a SICK GRIND on that HOBBIT GRAND SLAM BREAKFAST

lil_vertex: i wonder,... if we will ever get to eat another hobbit GSB in our lifetimes

ashermixtapehell: so, i'm talking to coolatv, lil_vertex_, lordanime, and....

lordanime: our tech guru yuliy is hanging out

lil_vertex: namaste yuliy

ashermixtapehell: hi yuliy

yuliy: yooo

coolatv99: hey

ashermixtapehell: how many people are in the arcane kids? is it a loose collective ?

lordanime: There are 5 of us, turbo loose

lil_vertex: ya its v project based, we usually form subgroups

ashermixtapehell: where does the name come from?

lordanime: We found a blank CD-R with the name written on it

lordanime: well we don't know what was on it

lordanime: it was fucked up

lil_vertex: ya it was in the dirt

ashermixtapehell: do you all have different skills?

lil_vertex: hmmm skills wise we have a ton of crossover

lil_vertex: everyone can do everything but we usually specialize based on what we like

lil_vertex: like i like sound / art / level design n shit

lordanime: we are all kinda just out of school, went through similar programs, so had the same basic skills

ashermixtapehell: did you all go to the same school?

lordanime: yeah, but we're not going to plug it

lil_vertex: ya i owe them A LOT OF MONEY still

lordanime PUKING

ashermixtapehell: wanna plug your majors?

lil_vertex STANDS ON A SOAPBOX

lordanime: i was a computer science major

lil_vertex: ELECTRONIC MEDIA ARTS AND COMMUNICATION

lil_vertex: so basically photoshop

coolatv99: computer science and game hell

yuliy: cs

yuliy: some dumb minors also

lil_vertex: ya we all did computer science in some capacity

lil_vertex: yuliy what did u minor in?

yuliy: electronic arts and math

lil_vertex: o dang

yuliy: i took the ultimately multiple choice based art history class to get that e arts minor

lil_vertex did a WICKED KICKFLIP

coolatv99: whoa

yuliy: 8)

lil_vertex: props

ashermixtapehell: what kind of jobs did you want out of college?

lil_vertex: i always wanted to make games but TBH i thought it was like... super unlikely that id be able to get a job doing it

lil_vertex: so i was learning relevant skillz but not actually game dev

lordanime: I wanted to be an architect, but also an art school drop out, So i did that and decided some creative programming thing would be better, so when I transferred i saw they had a game program

lil_vertex: i was thinking like maybe web design or something

coolatv99: im a product of the times

yuliy: same

lil_vertex: lol

ashermixtapehell: what kind of games were you into before you started making them?

lil_vertex: SHOOTERS!!!!!!!!!

Pokémon Millennial Edition, 2014

lil_vertex: i was really into quake and halflife

lil_vertex: i got my start by modding those gamez

lil_vertex: AND rollercoaster tycoon

lordanime: weird japanese stuff, tycoon games

lordanime: call of duty

lordanime: 2

coolatv99: gameboy and bad 10000 games in one office max bundles

lil_vertex: officemax-core

lordanime: i bought one of those and thought it was super good

lil_vertex: good value?

lordanime: i wonder what it would be like to slip your own games into those bargin bins

ashermixtapehell: did you all get into development through modding?

lil_vertex: were u guys doing any modding at all?

yuliy: i tried making wc3 mods caused i loved those RP maps

yuliy: but i never got really far with it

coolatv99: didnt have the ram back then

lordanime: i started off in flash, it made sense to me at the time that your game logic would be in an animated timeline

lil_vertex: bahaha

lil_vertex: ya i was using flash a lot too

lil_vertex: i used to make a lot of on rails shooters that were just animations and buttons

lordanime: coolatv99 doesn't want to admit his firs games were in power point

lil_vertex: i mean powerpoint has GOTO... thats like 90% of what u need

lil_vertex: plus built in laser sound FX

coolatv99: edutainment is NOT A CRIME

ashermixtapehell: hahaha

lil_vertex: did edutainment weekly ever become a thing

yuliy: no but i get the reminder every year

yuliy: when that blog ages

coolatv99: http://edutainmentweekly.tumblr.com/

ashermixtapehell: so were you all doing this stuff before arcane kids started?

yuliy: lil_vertext made me go my first gam jam

lil_vertex: B-) ruined your life

yuliy: yeah really fucked up my life

coolatv99: i made bad games in rpg maker and game maker when i was a teen

lil_vertex: haha

lordanime: we were all pretty green, but once we started to make things pretty consistently after "starting" arcane kids is when i would say I really started

lordanime: i used the word started way too many times there

lil_vertex: hmm ya i like barely finished anything before AXK

lil_vertex: couple of counter-strike maps

yuliy: that one half life mod tho with the brothers lil_vertex

lil_vertex: o frick ya

ashermixtapehell: i read it started in the basement of a music club?

lil_vertex: ya most of us were affiliated with this basement venue

lordanime: we thought we would ruin the place with video games

lil_vertex: lol ya it was a very wholesome DIY scene

lil_vertex: before the TERROR

ashermixtapehell: were you guys making music?

lil_vertex: some of us were in bands

ashermixtapehell: what kind of music were you making?

lil_vertex: we had a pretty good shit-fi surf punk band...........

lil_vertex: NO BACKSIES

lordanime: 2nd place battle of the bands

yuliy: ummm

yuliy: we won one

lil_vertex: yeah dude

yuliy: never forget fall battle

lil_vertex: AND we played an anime convention......

lordanime: anime convention was my favortie

yuliy: yeah that was the best show i think

lil_vertex: thats why we wrote "It'd Be Cooler If You Were Into Steampunk"

lordanime: the cosplay ball

yuliy: was that the one with the fat man stealth bat balloon?

coolatv99: i was there to see that... very fateful

lil_vertex: i cant remember

lil_vertex: but ya asher all our songs were like under 1 minute

ashermixtapehell: sick

yuliy: crystaline

lil_vertex: lemme link one our TRACKS

lil_vertex:https://nobacksies.bandcamp.com/track/tom-arnold-schwarzenegger

lil_vertex: that one is based on the trailer to True Lies

lil_vertex: ive never seen it

lil_vertex: but yuliy described it to me

lil_vertex: also this one is our most classic

lil_vertex:https://nobacksies.bandcamp.com/track/i-used-to-surf-but-now-i-work-for-the-government

lil_vertex: our maybe most popular song was called "I Bought A Sex Pistols V-Neck at JC Penny"

lil_vertex: u can find it on the bandcamp

ashermixtapehell: this is great

lil_vertex: a lot of the songs are garbage but there are some good ones in the trash heap

ashermixtapehell: so how did you end up ruining the really healthy diy scene?

lil_vertex: we decided to try and make games to go with some of the shows

lordanime: usually they were made in a day

ashermixtapehell: i figured you would have been more into electronic music cause of your games

lil_vertex: haha i was more into folk and punk originally

ashermixtapehell: can you describe a game you made in a day?

lordanime: our finest was mirage cat

lil_vertex: oh yeahhhhh MIRAGE CAT