When Tyler Bushnell was 19 years old, he went to an event at the SFMOMA that asked a question he’s been trying to answer for years: Can art and video games coexist? Now, as the CEO of a connected arcade platform called Polycade, Bushnell is proving that the two disciplines can live together in perfect harmony with Polycade Limiteds.
“We wanted to bring together video games and contemporary art in a way that gave the artist the most possible freedom to easily work inside what is traditionally a very specialized medium,” Bushnell shares. “We really wanted this [initiative] to be art-first.”
During this partnership, Polycade will collaborate with 12 contemporary artists, each of whom are tasked with redesigning a classic Atari game. “Everyone knows the games and how they work, leaving the artist with no responsibility to communicate gameplay,” he adds. “Plus, the abstract art used in the original Atari games lend themselves very well to reimagination.”
For its inaugural collaboration, Polycade tapped Shantell Martin to provide her spin on Asteroids, which was the artist and philosopher’s favorite game when she was a child. “There was a time when all the commercials on [the television] seemed to be for the Atari game system,” she recalls. “To my surprise, I was given one for Christmas one year — and I was so happy! To now be an adult and have this connection to my younger self, through art? It’s beyond surreal and rewarding.”
Martin gave Asteroids a personalized touch by experimenting with scale and line thickness, bringing a new narrative to the game in the process. “The player in this version is a semi-circle when representing the sun; when the thruster is activated, the player becomes a full sun,” she explains. “The idea is you become your full self through movement.”
As Martin points out, coming into your full self can be difficult—and it can often be easier to stay in the same place—so she doubled down on the journey to self-actualization. “The asteroids are my signature faces that break down into smaller faces, a representation of shooting at your ego, fear, sadness, [and] anger; breaking yourself down, in a way,” she adds. “It was important for me to connect the old game with my fingerprint. If an asteroid hits, the user is fragmented into a bunch of ‘Y’s’ or tying to the theme of my work, ‘why’ giving you a question to ask yourself.”
Starting December 12, all three versions are accessible by owning a digital cartridge, which will be stored on the Ethereum Blockchain as well as available through a pre-buy and auction accept list on Polycade’s website. The sale of the Artist Edition will be located on nft.coinbase.com, the Silver Edition will be available as a prize via online tournaments, and the Gold Edition will be up for auction. With a digital cartridge, players can access Martin’s version of the game on the Polycade Limiteds website, Polycade downloadable software, and on any physical Polycade arcade machine, including those in public places like bars. Game over.
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