“Hug Machine”
2020
art game, installation
a silly and sentimental art-game about learning how to hug
It is the year 3XXX and humanity is finally emerging from solitary, radiation-safe bunkers to a once-again habitable planet. Having spent hundreds of years only interacting with others via Twitter, humanity no longer knows how to communicate in physical forms. Fortunately, a rogue scientist from the year 2020 created HUG MACHINE TRAINING CORPS, an advanced simulation that will re-train humanity in the lost and diverse art of the human hug.
experience
Players push arcade buttons attached to a dress form to learn to execute a wide array of hugs with maximum efficiency, and climb the high-scoring ranks of the hug machine training corps.
A silly and sentimental game about learning how to hug. This is an early prototype! See the final version at GDC 2020 as a part of alt.ctrl.GDC Public domain...