Experience Designer, Game Writer, Game Designer, Lead Programmer, Object Designer
NOTE: There is no audio in the clip for participant privacy
As part of the game-performance made for Game Recognize Game/Bazi Recognize Bazi, the video game Grandma Invaders, developed in Unity in collaboration with a software engineer, satirizes the Space Invaders' game mechanic - kill demonized aliens. Space Invaders was developed the same year as the Iranian Revolution and the Iranian Hostage Crisis, when US foreign policy switched to demonizing Iranian "aliens." Grandma Invaders quickly complicates the targeted aliens in the game's mechanic by revealing that players must navigate through volcanoes, Iranian women fighting for their rights, threats to nature, military presence, and tainted water supplies. Players realize the win-state is to protect rather than shoot the "aliens" thanks to the wisdom of the grandma avatar inspired by my Iranian grandmother. With this new mechanic, the game now serves as a platform for other issues like water rights, women’s rights, and others who seek protection from injustice and inequality.
The game was developed through a series of playtests, as part of Karimi’s Playtesting as Community Engagement methodology. Karimi spent 1 year interviewing local Hawaiians and Iranians on what needs protection. For example, Karimi visited sites (photo left bottom) where Hawaiian fought for protection from water contamination by the US Navy.
Karimi then designed game levels to fit the conversations – in one level, players must protect Hawaii from tourists and invasive species, and another, players protect the water. Grandma Invaders is a game performance site specifically designed to be performed in the Shangri La's Qajar Room. Ten portable computers become game consoles for the video game Grandma Invaders. As part of the experience's design, a host/activator, The Game Player, excitedly teaches museumgoers the game, rewards them for playing, and offers cheat codes to keep them playing.
Photos (starting at top, clockwise) display a game level, the game-performance at the Shangri La Qajar Room, and playtests at ASU E-Sports Lounge and Shangri La. As part of Playtesting as Community Engagement, Community Playtests occurred in Tempe, Honolulu for a female coding group, and online.
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