CORNER BROOK — Pasadena native Matthew Hollett is really making an art out of gaming.
The 2004 graduate of the visual arts program at Grenfell Campus, Memorial University of Newfoundland, has been exploring the combination of online-based gaming, web design and art.
Hollett said his interest in the gaming world is more from a creative standpoint than a player, especially as a means to keep a finger on the latest programming and web-design technology.
"Making games was just kind of a way for me to work with games in a more creative way, where I was not feeling like I was wasting my time," he said. "I was making something and also getting to mess around with the best kind of interactive game stuff that I like. It lets me combine a lot of things that I like — storytelling and drawing, things like that."
Playing around with HTML5 programming, the masters graduate from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design just launched Make No Wonder — his third game. This game, for which he received a professional project grant from the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council, is more extensive than his first two experiments, he said.
The online game begins with a character lost in the wilderness — inspired by Newfoundland and Labrador's landscape — and the gamer must find resources and discover new areas in hopes of eventually finding the way out. The gamer can build things such as campsites and transportation networks to make the landscape like a home.
Hollett said he put a lot of work into the project last summer — prior to spending some time teaching at Grenfell, where he just finished a part-time job as digital imaging instructor — and completed it over the last few months. It is now available online, but he said he is continuing to tweak the product and make additions.
"I am really happy with how it turned out," he said. "I learned a lot doing it. Each game project I do, I learn how to do that stuff better.
"I am just teaching myself how to do programming stuff. I have been doing it for a long time, but it is always changing and you find better and better ways to do things."
The visual artist said he has been getting a good response from gamers. He said there were some bugs found, but he has been working on fixing those as they arise.
He is hoping to develop an iPad application for the game, which would be his first, and eventually plans to sell it. Right now, it is available to play online at www.makenowonder.com.
You can also access his other two games, Probable System — a game artwork inspired by Canadian experimental poet bpNichol — and Favimon — a game which lets you battle your favourite websites, building a collection of icons as you attempt to conquer the web, through links on that site.
Hollett says the experience has been a positive one, and he has other ideas he hopes to explore in the future.
"It has been really rewarding," he said. "People have been finding them online, playing them, and providing lots of feedback. So, it is really fun."
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