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Porpentine Charity Heartscape

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Porpentine
Illustration used by Porpentine
Other nameXrafstar
Occupations
Years active2012–present
Websitehttps://xrafstar.monster

Porpentine Charity Heartscape is a video game designer, new media artist, writer and curator.[1] While their[note 1] early work was hypertext games and interactive fiction built with Twine,[2] in the mid-2010s they began working with a wide range of mediums and tools, and have since published several written works.

They have been awarded a Creative Capital grant, a Rhizome.org commission, the Prix Net Art, and a Sundance Institute's New Frontier Story Lab Fellowship.[3][4][5] Their work was included in the 2017 Whitney Biennial.[6]

Biography

[edit]

Porpentine Charity Heartscape started making games at an early age, creating "cargo cult" versions of levels from Nintendo 64 games on index cards and then having other kids play them as they narrated and made decisions.[7] They were kicked out of their home at age 14, and was housing insecure for several years, describing their life before creating video games as "just surviving".[8]

They were an editor for freeindiegam.es, a curated collection of free, independently produced games.[9] In 2012 they contributed a weekly series to the online PC gaming magazine Rock, Paper, Shotgun titled "Live Free, Play Hard".[10]

Porpentine's 2012 Twine game Howling Dogs incorporates themes of escapism, violence and religious experience, though they have stated that it should be open to interpretation.[11] They created Howling Dogs shortly after they started hormone-replacement therapy in 2012, in only seven days, while staying in a friend's remodeled barn.[8] It won the 2012 XYZZY awards in the "Best story" and "Best writing" categories.[12] The Boston Phoenix listed it as one of their "Top 5 indie games of 2012".[13]

During the 2013 Game Developers Conference, game designer Richard Hofmeier used the booth he had been given to showcase his own award-winning game Cart Life to showcase Porpentine's Howling Dogs instead. Hofmeier spray-painted the words "Howling Dogs" across the banner of his own booth, and showed Porpentine's game instead of his own. Hofmeier stated he wished to give greater exposure to Porpentine's game.[14][15]

In a 2013 interview with journalist Leigh Alexander, they described being tired by some elements of their reception, such as being portrayed as a figurehead of a movement and being repeatedly asked to talk about bad life experiences.[14]

In 2015 they released Eczema Angel Orifice, a compilation of over 20 hypertext works from 2012 to 2015. The compilation includes critically acclaimed games such as With Those We Love Alive, a queer fable about isolation, abuse, and the relationship between art and power;[16] and Ultra Business Tycoon III, a sprawling textual world disguised as edutainment software.[17]

In 2016, Rhizome commissioned Porpentine along with Neotenomie and Sloane through the series First Look: New Art Online resulting in Psycho Nymph Exile.[1] This work includes an online hypertext work, a booklet, and stickers. The project depicts the experience of PTSD as a visceral physical substance, not an invisible, abstract force.[18]

In the 2020s, Porpenine shifted to written works, including the series Cunt Towards Enemy, the novel Serious Weakness, and the story collection Torture Works.[1]

In 2026, Porpentine released Money for Girls: Amortized, a visual novel with horror and detective elements.[19] It is a collaboration between them and the artist Vich, with music by several artists including Lauren Bousfield and Ada Rook.[† 2] The game is part of a larger multimedia series, with many stories focusing on variations and alternate versions of the game's protagonist, Cancer Prize.[20]

Artistry

[edit]

Trash has been a common theme in Porpentine's art since their early works, such as Howling Dogs.[8][21] Trash is glorified, representing that which is disposable and considered worthless, but which people can reclaim and find refuge in.[8][21] Porpentine extends these elements to their own life, referring to themselves as "trashgender" and "trash-bodied".[8][1] Trash has continued to play a part in Porpentine's art, with them stating in 2024 "My work has only gotten more rancid."[22] They embrace other lowbrow motifs like sex and waste, saying that they write for juvenile and "chuuni" tastes.[22] Defamiliarization is common in Porpentine's art, tying the mundane, "food and shit", with fantastical elements. They argue that this defamiliarization is to break down the categories people are forced into, which are used to support institutions while harming those who are categorized.[22] Many of their early works have been described as "dissociative", with an unclear perspective and settings. However, their 2017 series No World Dreamers: Sticky Zeitgeist marked a shift away from this style, instead focusing on distinct characters.[23]

Porpentine that state they are most inspired by their "dreams and porn", but also reference the work of Shintaro Kago and Aeon Flux as early inspirations. They have cited the work of Thecatamites, Fear and Hunger, Disco Elysium, and Pathologic as returning inspiration for how games can experiment, and The Pillow Man and Zoo Story as inspirations in their play-like works.[22] Their work has reimagined genres such as science fiction, fantasy, and body horror.[1]

Porpentine's work has employed a wide variety of mediums, including video games, prose works, graphic novels, interactive fiction, and museum installations.[22] Their 2016 multimedia work Psycho Nymph Exile includes a novella, sticker pack, the interactive poems Girlbeam and Probiotic River Therapy, a photography website, and a series of minigames titled Girlshard Portal unlocked through keywords in the novella.[1] While their earlier video games were primarily created in Twine, episodes two and three of No World Dreamers used GameMaker and HyperCard respectively, representing a shift away from the software.[23] Porpentine has used more unusual tools as well, such as Google Forms for their 2016 game All Your Time-Tossed Selves.[24] They made most of their early games free on their website so that more people, who might not be able to buy their games, had access to them.[21]

Selected works

[edit]

Video games

[edit]
Year Title Ref.
2012 Howling Dogs [8]
2013 Their Angelical Understanding [25]
2013 Ultra Business Tycoon III [17]
2014 With Those We Love Alive [16]
2014 Everything You Swallow Will One Day Come Up Like A Stone [26]
2015 Neon Haze [27]
2017 No World Dreamers: Sticky Zeitgeist [23]
2026 Money for Girls: Amortized [19]

Written works

[edit]
Year Title Notes Ref.
2015 Hot Allostatic Load Essay [28]
2016 Psycho Nymph Exile Novella [1]
2022 Serious Weakness Novel [22]
2024 Torture Works Short story collection [22]

Awards

[edit]

2012

[edit]
  • XYZZY Best Writing for Howling Dogs[12]
  • "Golden Banana of Discord" for Howling Dogs at the 2012 Interactive Fiction Competition, a prize awarded for the highest standard deviation "both the most loved and the most hated."

2013

[edit]
  • XYZZY Best Writing for Their angelical understanding[25]
  • Indiecade Special Recognition for Porpentine's Twine Compilation[29]

2014

[edit]
  • XYZZY Best Writing and Best Individual NPC for With Those We Love Alive[30]
  • Wordplay Festival Award for Most Unique World: With Those We Love Alive[31]

2016

[edit]

2017

[edit]

2018

[edit]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ↑ Porpentine says of their pronouns: "realistically i use 'they' and any are fine if you're horney".[† 1] For clarity, accessibility, and consistency, this article uses they/them throughout.

References

[edit]
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Kazimarki, Donna (November 22, 2016). "Porpentine Charity Heartscape's New Novella is Science-Fiction About Living with Trauma, and Slime Sex". East Bay Express. Archived from the original on November 24, 2016. Retrieved December 3, 2016.
  2. ↑ Ellison, Cara (April 3, 2013). "Hypersexed Hypertext: Porpentine and the Twine text game revolution". PCGamer. Archived from the original on May 7, 2013. Retrieved May 15, 2013.
  3. ↑ "Announcing Rhizome's Fall 2015 Program". Rhizome. Archived from the original on March 15, 2017. Retrieved March 14, 2017.
  4. ↑ Durón, Maximilíano (February 16, 2017). "Rhizome Names Three Winners of Third Prix Net Art Award". ARTNews. Retrieved March 14, 2017.
  5. ↑ "Sundance Institute's New Frontier Story Lab Explores the Future with Six Creative Teams and Projects". Sundance. Archived from the original on July 25, 2018. Retrieved March 14, 2017.
  6. 1 2 "Whitney Biennial 2017". Whitney Museum of American Art. Archived from the original on February 6, 2017. Retrieved March 28, 2017.
  7. ↑ Chan, Dawn (March 13, 2017). "Porpentine Charity Heartscape Talks about her Works in the 2017 Whitney Biennial". Artforum. Retrieved August 8, 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Hudson, Laura (November 19, 2014). "Twine, the video-game technology for all". The New York Times Magazine. Archived from the original on January 29, 2019. Retrieved November 23, 2014.
  9. ↑ Ellison, Cara (April 10, 2013). "Anna Anthropy and the Twine Revolution". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on February 3, 2019. Retrieved May 15, 2013.
  10. ↑ RPS Editors (August 12, 2012). "Live Free, Play Hard #1". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved May 15, 2013. {{cite news}}: |author-last1= has generic name (help)
  11. ↑ Short, Emily (November 23, 2012). "Interview with Porpentine, author of Howling Dogs". Archived from the original on July 25, 2013. Retrieved May 15, 2013.
  12. 1 2 "XYZZY Awards Historical Results 2012". XYZZY Awards. Retrieved September 2, 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  13. ↑ Meyers, Maddy. "Outside the box: PC indie games of 2012". Boston Phoenix. Retrieved May 15, 2013.
  14. 1 2 Alexander, Leigh (March 29, 2013). "IGF winner Hofmeier pays it forward for Porpentine's Howling Dogs". Game Developer. Archived from the original on May 18, 2013. Retrieved May 15, 2013.
  15. ↑ Conditt, Jessica. "IGF grand prize winner gives his booth away to 'Howling Dogs'". Joystiq. Archived from the original on June 3, 2013. Retrieved May 15, 2013.
  16. 1 2 Rougeau, Michael (December 4, 2014). "Making "With Those We Love Alive," a Game That Leaves its Mark on You". Animal. Archived from the original on December 18, 2014. Retrieved December 18, 2014.
  17. 1 2 Alexander, Leigh (August 19, 2013). "The poignant vocabulary of Porpentine's Ultra Business Tycoon III". Game Developer. Archived from the original on March 10, 2016. Retrieved February 26, 2016.
  18. ↑ "First Look: Psycho Nymph Exile". New Museum. Archived from the original on March 11, 2016. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
  19. 1 2 Evans-Thirlwell, Edwin (August 24, 2026). "This week in PC games: Gamescom and GTA 6 fight for our attention, but don't forget Folk Emerging, MGS4 and the horror game about balancing a cake". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved August 29, 2026.
  20. ↑ Stinsoup (August 25, 2026). "Money for Girls: Amortized — língua no açúcar, mão no coração" [Money for Girls: Amortized — Tongue in Sugar, Hand in Heart]. Recanto do Dragão (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved September 14, 2026.
  21. 1 2 3 Klepek, Patrick (January 21, 2014). "Porpentine's Wonderful World of Slime". Giant Bomb. Retrieved September 2, 2026.
  22. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Quasney, Aria (April 22, 2024). "'I will only accept being my own genre': an interview with Porpentine". The Isis. Retrieved August 29, 2026.
  23. 1 2 3 Muncy, Julie (September 13, 2017). "Porpentine's new Twine game isn't just a Twine game". Wired. Retrieved November 23, 2023.
  24. ↑ Muncy, Julie (September 6, 2016). "Finally: Somebody Built an Adventure Game Using Google Forms". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved September 3, 2026.
  25. 1 2 "XYZZY Awards Historical Results 2013". XYZZY Awards. Retrieved September 2, 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  26. ↑ "Storycade: Twine "Everything you swallow will one day come up like a stone"". April 18, 2014. Archived from the original on October 25, 2016. Retrieved March 14, 2017.
  27. ↑ Budgor, Zach (August 18, 2015). "Play This: Elegant Indie Cyberpunk Text Adventure Game 'Neon Haze'". Forbes. Retrieved November 23, 2024.
  28. ↑ Porpentine (May 11, 2015). "Hot Allostatic Load". The New Inquiry. Retrieved September 24, 2026.
  29. ↑ Goldberg, Harold (October 7, 2013). "IndieCade Games Festival Celebrates Winners". ArtsBeat Blog. Archived from the original on April 13, 2014. Retrieved April 10, 2014.
  30. ↑ "XYZZY Awards Historical Results 2014". XYZZY Awards. Retrieved September 2, 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  31. ↑ "WordPlay 2014 Photos and Awards". Hand Eye Society. November 9, 2014. Retrieved January 6, 2016.
  32. ↑ "Investing in Artists who Shape the Future". Creative Capital. Archived from the original on January 15, 2016. Retrieved February 26, 2016.
  33. ↑ Notkin, Debbie (December 15, 2016). "2016 Otherwise Fellowships". Otherwise Award. Retrieved February 16, 2020.
  34. ↑ "WINNERS OF THE THIRD ANNUAL PRIX NET ART: Eva and Franco Mattes, Porpentine Charity Heartscape, Bogosi Sekhukhuni". Prix Net Art. Archived from the original on March 15, 2017. Retrieved March 14, 2017.
  35. ↑ "Sundance Institute's New Frontier Story Lab Explores the Future with Six Creative Teams and Projects". Sundance. May 12, 2016. Archived from the original on July 25, 2018. Retrieved February 16, 2020.

Sources by Porpentine

[edit]
  1. ↑ @xrafstarguts (February 26, 2024). "What are your pronouns — never touch the stuff but realistically i use "they" and any are fine if you're horney" (Tweet). Retrieved August 30, 2026 – via X (formerly Twitter).
  2. ↑ Heartscape, Porpentine Charity (September 11, 2026). "Money for Girls Hyperpost". Retrieved September 14, 2026.

Further reading

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[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Porpentine_Charity_Heartscape&oldid=1376408570"