ABSTRACT

Punk Playthings
Provocations for 21st Century Game Makers

"Punk was an attitude. It was never about having a Mohican haircut or wearing a ripped T-shirt. It was all about destruction, and the creative potential within that."

Malcolm Mclaren

Warning: If you want a silver bullet solution for efficient game making or a step-by-step guide to receiving Indie Game Dev hero worship, you’re in the wrong place. Put the book back on the shelf.

Punk Playthings is an antidote to complacency and orthodoxy. Packed with probes and provocations that explore game making through fresh lenses for uncertain times, it challenges gaming monoculture by constructing a trading space for ideas and learning from across domains and cultures. Punk Playthings has zero respect for boundaries between mediums, industries, sectors, specialisms or disciplines. Instead, it challenges you to expand your cultural capital, think laterally and make new connections.

Punk Playthings advocates a truly independent mindset and DIY approach for creating playful experiences with cultural resonance. It proclaims creative entrepreneurship as the true legacy of punk.

Punk Playthings is not for everyone. But it might be for you.

chapter 1|60 pages

The Road Less Traveled

chapter 2|42 pages

Ideals Over Ideas

chapter 3|60 pages

Remake/Remodel

chapter 4|54 pages

Success Doesn’t Suck