Chain of Games – Ep. 4: Everest Pipkin

The Chain of Games project is a serie of short articles dedicated to solo game devs and their projects. More informations here.

Today we welcome Everest Pipkin, game developer, artist and writer, creator of Drift Mine Satellite previously featured. I asked them to recommend me a web game that inspired them, here is their answer…

__LOCKDOWN__ Protocol (2021)

Continuing the thread of games made for the browser (a tradition I both work inside of and am deeply moved by), I am bringing LOCKDOWN Protocol by Tim Busuttil.

In LOCKDOWN Protocol, you play as a pilot, sealed and isolated inside of your mech, under the control of the mech’s system logic as an exterior threat passes. You are not in mortal danger, but you have no indication of how long you will remain there, or what it is that is outside. Maybe days, maybe months, maybe years. You sleep, dream, pass the time. Send missives, play music, remember home. Wonder what it is that keeps you here.

LOCKDOWN Protocol is a one-player journaling game, supported by prompts built from generative text and dice rolls. It is based on the Alone framework by Takuma Okada, which was originally developed for the solo tabletop journalling game Alone Among the Stars. Although LOCKDOWN Protocol is far from the first digital adaptation of a tabletop framework, the themes of the game lend themselves beautifully to this format. In play, the website itself begins to feel like both your journal and the mech that holds you– far more than a simple skeleton on which the diary you write hangs.

You can find LOCKDOWN Protocol here: http://cordite.org.au/poetry/game/lockdown-protocol/

__LOCKDOWN__ Protocol (2021)

Thanks a lot to Everest, you can follow them on Twitter, Mastodon, cohost, or check out their website. Next time I’ll get in touch with Tim Busuttil, see you next time!