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This column is supported by DPAG, but has no influence on the reviews

Every week we send two writers to an art exhibition in Ōtepoti Dunedin. One of them will choose a specific piece and describe it to the other without them looking. They will try to figure out what the piece actually is before diving into their minds about the entire exhibit. You can’t assign meaning to any piece of art, so this works a bit like an artistic phone game. Let’s dive in.

This week: code breakers: women in games

Justina: The piece I’m looking at is digital and interactive. The visuals focus on a cyberpunk inspired cityscape. Special attention is paid to movement and navigation through urban space. It uses 3D elements, seen from a side view of the camera. It is accompanied by electronic beats.

Esmond: Okay, this must be some kind of video game? Or maybe some kind of virtual reality experience? My guess would have to be an entry from the Mirror’s Edge series.

The answer: We take a look at Ninja Pizza Girl, an indie platformer developed by Disparity Games. It is part of the exhibition Code Breakers: Women in Games of the Tūhura Otago Museum.

Now, before we begin, you may be thinking to yourself “are video games art?” In general, when we think of video games, we tend not to consider the artistic processes behind them. But video games are an amalgamation of many forms of artistic expression, from 3D modeling and texture painting to voice acting performances and sound design. They need a whole team of creatives to make. Long story short, a game is one big art collaboration!

About half of gamers are women, but video game development continues to be disproportionately dominated by men. It’s time to level up and break that glass ceiling. In this exhibition, Tūhura Otago Museum presents several video games, all made by women from Australasia, celebrating their creations as well as personal stories. The featured games span a variety of platforms and genres, with something for all gamer gurls and boyz.

The first game we checked out was SPARX, a free online game that was originally released in 2013. It was created by a team of researchers and clinicians from the University of Auckland. The game is aimed at teens as an e-therapy tool, using cognitive behavioral therapy, and it aims to equip its players with the tools to solve problems related to mental health; something SPARX should be for and has been praised. It’s rare to see a video game have a real focus on mental health rather than using it for a cheap plot trick, but the visuals were where this game fell flat for us. Textures are muddy and grainy and character design and animation are janky. But it’s from 2013, after all, and it’s not made by some triple-A company.

The next game we tried to play was Need for Speed: No Limits for iOS: a racing game developed by Firemonkeys Studios and released in 2015. We were greeted with a slew of pop-ups and were almost tempted to grab the daily deal. buy on the fastest car (now only tens of thousands of in-game currency!). But we decided it was better not to test whether microtransactions would be processed on the museums iPad.

Another iOS game we checked out was Māori Pā Wars. An upcoming title, developed by Metia Interactive. It’s a tower defense game set in our very own Aotearoa! It sees you placing Pā, aided by Atua to defend you against hordes of warriors and native beasts, all in a cute illustrative style. It was heartwarming to see the Māori culture so lovingly and appropriately (looking at you Far Cry 3!) It really showed the potential video games for display when executed correctly.

The last game we tried was Tearaway Unfolded, developed by Media Molecule and Tarsier Studios: a platform adventure game released in 2015 for the Playstation 4. This game features an enchanting art style wrapped in a world of paper and in-game animations run at a specific FPS to mimic the style of stop motion. The game goes the extra mile to immerse the player by implementing the light bar on the front of the DualShock controller; being able to aim and “shine” the light in the game world and see it physically affect it was awesome. Flowers bloom, enemies are drawn to a flame like moths, giving you a sense of divine power over this cute world.

Whether you’re a video game vet or just need a break from that essay, cross the road to the Tūhura Otago Museum to experience the mahi of some inspiring developers and break that digital ceiling along the way.

Recommended number for your visit: Infinite Amethyst by Lena Raine