Gifts of the Furfarers

The Team

Untitled design(25)
Colleen Morgan
Untitled design(24)
Despoina Sampatakou
Untitled design(26)
Aris Politopoulos
Untitled design(27)
Angus Mol
Untitled design(50)
Saad Maqbool

Paradata Resources and Direction

    Why has the resource being created and for what audience?

 

We have created Gifts of the Furfarers as an agglomeration of interests and motivations in response to the Heritage Jam 2022 Prompt, “Life in the Decolonies.” We have imagined three decolonies, Aquila, Hayriye, Majilas, and a band of merry furry be-hatted travelling furfarers moving between them. The people who live in the decolonies are cyborgs and the furfarers trade gifts and cast offs between the decolonies. We have created this resource to reflect how interaction, “trade” and travel may work in a decolonised world. To reflect decolonisation we have chosen to represent societies that employ mutual aid. We have included mechanisms that encourage care, empathy, rest and anti-work. Our antagonists are giant titans that roam the wastelands–they are not hostile, merely too big and lack the depth perception to see our furfarers individually as they only have one eye. Hence our furfarers travel in a lego-shaped vehicle which the titans avoid. The audience for our resource is 1) ourselves 2) participants in the heritage jam 3) people looking for alternative representations of the future based on care 4) people who employ care in their daily lives.

 

    How will the resource be put to use? Is it sustainable and accessible?

 

This resource will be hosted on heritagejam.org. It is sustainable as long as the website remains and html works. We have embedded all the meaning of the images in the text, so have not employed any alt-text. The font we have chosen is X, and it is X on a X background.

 

    Why have you chosen to use the approach/methods applied? (e.g., why is it static or interactive; high or low in detail; photorealistic or schematic; digital or analogue; impressionistic or grounded only in available data; etc.)

 

We have used Twine as it is what we are using in this particular Jam.

 

    What are the basic steps you followed in putting together the resource?

 

We first brainstormed the themes and mechanics of the game. Angus mapped out the framework of the game, Aris filled in the details, Angus, Aris, Despoina and Saad wrote the story, Colleen drew the images and Despoina edited the images. Aris, Angus and Despoina put together the Twine.

 

    What supporting evidence did you rely upon?

 

This was a science-fiction story, but we drew from our understanding of trade and interaction in anarchist societies. We also used tropes from other science fiction games and media, such as Noname from Spirited Away appearing as a titan in the wastelands. 

 

    How have you acknowledged uncertainty in the resource? Where might alternative interpretations have been made or where are such interpretations otherwise available for viewing audiences to refer to?

 

We have not acknowledged uncertainty in the resource as it is a science fiction tale. It is in itself an alternative interpretation. 




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