Fantastic STIs 2022: From 18 To 81

A colorful queer-themed game about finding love and dealing with loneliness amid threats of viruses and bacteria, reflecting the history, activism, and science related to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. 

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Use 🅐 🅢 🅓 🅦 on your keyboard to control the chaotic messy character that's you.

To win: Enjoy the joy / pleasure of ❤️/🍑/🍆 =) , while keeping yourself free from 🐛STIs.

To lose: Become too lonely or too infected.

REFRESH the browser to restart.

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PrEP: pre-exposure prophylaxis

PEP: post-exposure prophylaxis

☔: condom 💬: have conversations 🧪: get tested

💉: vaccine/antibiotic 💊: antibiotics

💊💊💊💊💊💊💊: Daily HIV Antiretroviral Drugs (ART)

🪔+🏊: HIV/AIDS organizations/people

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Fantastic STIs 2022: From 18 to 81 is a game about sex education, the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and other STIs, which are topics rarely discussed in games. I created this game because HIV and other STIs have devastated the gay community and beyond since their onset in the 1980s, and have frustrated me in my journey of finding love and dealing with loneliness. The goal of the game is to celebrate the progress we have made so far, highlighting the role of science and activism. Although the game deals with a serious topic, I want players to feel cheerful while playing it. I hope that with the advancement of science, we will one day be able to clear the virus from infected bodies and free people living with the virus from stigmatization.

I created this game because HIV and other STIs frustrate me in my journey of finding love and dealing with loneliness. The HIV pandemic is very personal to me, and getting tested for HIV is likely a common experience for gay men, like myself.

Although the HIV/AIDS pandemic has been represented in Queer Cinema, it is rarely represented in games. As a game maker who integrates game-making with Queer Studies, it is time for me to take the history and science of the HIV/AIDS pandemic seriously. This game matters to everyone because avoiding conversations about HIV and taking chances will not protect you from infection. However, having frank conversations about it and taking scientific measures to prevent infection can save you from future suffering. By featuring viruses and bacteria, I want to emphasize that the fight against them should be medical and scientific, rather than against the people who carry them.

The goal of the game is to celebrate the progress we have made so far, highlighting the role of science and activism. Although the game deals with a serious topic, I want players to feel cheerful. We can live fulfilling lives while scientifically combating viruses and bacteria.

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The game progresses as the years progress. The goal of the game is to live until you are 81 years old, which is the life expectancy in some parts of the world, without succumbing to infection or loneliness.

You can think of the game as swimming in the river of life. You must keep moving while dealing with various obstacles that come your way. As you move towards your destiny, you will encounter people who have already completed their journeys...

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This is a fun game that focuses on a topic rarely explored in games: sex education and the history of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. It is one of several games in a series that I have developed, integrating Queer Studies with game-making. The game is a video game that uses innovative mechanisms to capture the complexity of finding love, dealing with loneliness, and avoiding infection from viruses and bacteria.

Despite the serious subject matter, the game maintains a cheerful mood that contrasts with the often somber imagery associated with STIs. This cheerfulness stems from the knowledge that dedicated activists and scientists are working tirelessly to combat these viruses, and that significant progress has been made since the onset of the HIV pandemic in the 1980s.

The game was created using a small game library called p5.play, and the process of making the game involved describing it with code. Additionally, the game is part of my effort to create generative-art-based games, with all graphics generated through code and the use of emojis.

The game focuses on the HIV/AIDS pandemic, as well as other common STIs that can interfere with finding love and dealing with loneliness. As a gay man from a younger generation, I made this game to learn more about the history of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, which devastated the gay community and others. The game is also infused with my hope that, with the advancement of science, we will one day be able to clear the virus from infected bodies and free people living with the virus from stigmatization.

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Special thanks to David Gere, Daniel Snelson & UCLA DMA Faculty

Game profile @ UCLA Game Lab

QGF Awards - Shortlist