{"id":310,"date":"2016-05-13T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-05-13T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/2016\/05\/13\/five-or-so-questions-with-alek%c2%adsan%c2%addra-son%c2%adtowska-and-kamil-wegrzynow%c2%adicz-on-the-beast\/"},"modified":"2021-11-16T00:41:39","modified_gmt":"2021-11-16T05:41:39","slug":"five-or-so-questions-with-aleksandra-sontowska-and-kamil-wegrzynowicz-on-the-beast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/2016\/05\/five-or-so-questions-with-aleksandra-sontowska-and-kamil-wegrzynowicz-on-the-beast\/","title":{"rendered":"Five or So Questions with Alek\u00adsan\u00addra Son\u00adtowska and Kamil Wegrzynow\u00adicz on The Beast"},"content":{"rendered":"


Today I have an interview with Alek\u00adsan\u00addra Son\u00adtowska and Kamil Wegrzynow\u00adicz on their game, The Beast<\/a><\/i>, a single player, long-play, narrative game. I played The Beast<\/a><\/i> in an early playtest, and it was fascinating – an experience I could never repeat, but certainly a game I’d try again to see something new! See their answers to my questions below. <\/b><\/p>\n

Note: The Beast<\/a> is targeted for adults, and the game and this interview both contain sexual content.<\/i><\/p>\n

What excites you about The Beas<\/i>t?<\/b>
Kamil: <\/b>For me it\u2019s about body horror and physiology. It was about breaking boundaries about what I can do with my body and how can I perceive it. There\u2019s a lot of tension and excitement with breaking, rearranging the body, the way it works, experimenting with it.<\/p>\n

On the other hand there are feelings involved. What do I feel about sexuality, how do I approach my physiology. How can I deal with all the things that turn me on. So, yeah, these are all the things I found in Barker and Cronenberg and was fascinated by them and I wanted to put in the game.<\/p>\n

Aleksandra:<\/b> One of the things that excites me most about Beast are secrets. The Beast <\/i>is a secret. You can remember that when I was organizing playtests, the playtesters reveal sparingly what happened with their Beasts, what they looked like, what they wrote in their diaries. People told me what cards didn\u2019t work and why, but without details. They pointed which cards were triggering, but not why. Even now, when there are 2 or 3 actual plays online, I feel there\u2019s so much more, hidden behind what was said or written.<\/p>\n

I know, too, that the fact that the game explicitly says to burn or hide the diary makes people uneasy. There\u2019ll be a reason for them to do it.<\/p>\n

And I too won\u2019t tell what happened with my Beast. I too shivered with desire and disgust of vivid imagery that came to me. <\/p>\n

When you were designing The Beast<\/i>, what sources did you use for inspiration?<\/b><\/p>\n

Kamil:<\/b> I was this brooding and rebellious art geek for a long time, so it was my hobby to find transgressive and weird media. Right now I\u2019ve mellowed but there\u2019s counterculture guy still inside – besides the most important here and mentioned before – Clive Barker and David Cronenberg there was JG Ballard, Kathe Koja, Dusan Makajevev\u2019s Sweet Movie<\/i>, cinema of transgression, Coum Transmissions\u2019 art and so on. Not always obvious and not always mentioned, we didn\u2019t have enough space, but I guess I owe them a lot.<\/p>\n

Also, we were thinking about and designing games about sex and sexuality before. This is what you get when two game designers become a couple. For my part it was a follow up to our earlier game project – Mistress and Sexbot – and the thought that we couldn\u2019t finish this game was nagging me. The Beast<\/i> first appeared from this design frustration.<\/p>\n

But most important and inspiring thing for me here was Aleksandra\u2019s input – her emotions, ideas, and sources she found. They really pushed The Beast<\/i> forward. <\/p>\n

Aleksandra:<\/b> My sources were more personal . I suddenly discovered pleasure of sex, and then I was reading everything I could find. Mostly these were articles about sex and interviews with people into BDSM and kink. Kvinden der dr\u00f8mte om en mand<\/i><\/b><\/a> was an important movie for me, showing a woman sexually obsessed with a man – who was an asshole, really, but it didn\u2019t matter for her. Not often can you find a movie showing sex from woman\u2019s perspective. <\/p>\n

What about The Beast<\/i> do you think causes players to dig so deep into their dark fantasies?<\/b><\/p>\n

Aleksandra:<\/b> Is it so? I think important part of this experience is that we\u2019re upfront what the game is about. And when I say: \u201cin this game you\u2019re fucking the monster in your basement\u201d most people will know in a second whether they\u2019re excited or disgusted by the idea (or both). If they\u2019re excited, we\u2019re just helping them.<\/p>\n

Kamil:<\/b> First, long term play. You get used to the beast, and even if question you get is triggering or uncomfortable, you have whole day to deal with your emotions. And long term play makes The Beast <\/i>part of your daily routine.<\/p>\n

Second, questions. Every question had to:<\/p>\n