Free Again 心的解放 (2017)
Free Again: Sexuality Spectrum Snake
心的解放：性向光谱贪食蛇
"How many roads must a man walk down before you call him a man?"
Bob Dylan - Blowin' in the Wind (1962)
Free Again is a five-level snake-like puzzle game in which a cat-faced snake thinks about the definition of manly man and his four stages of life in relation to the human sexuality spectrum.
The game is called Free Again because, while children's minds are free from rigid ideas about the world (including sexuality), adults' hearts are often constrained by strict beliefs. The spectrum model of human sexuality, among other less binary ideas, helps loosen some of that rigidity, making us freer just as we were when we were children.
Level 1: Manly Man
The famous song "Blowin' in the Wind" by Bob Dylan begins with the line, "How many roads must a man walk down before you call him a man?" When a boy is born, his biological sex is usually determined for life. However, being biologically male does not automatically qualify him as a man; this title must be earned and maintained. People are constantly judging, and a person's worth as a man is often scrutinized.
Level 2: Childhood
Let me tell you a story about a cat. When the cat was a boy, he did not consider himself a man, nor did he think of himself as a woman. Without a strong masculine role model in the family, he had limited opportunities to express and develop his masculinity. He was somewhat feminine, with a sharp voice. He had friends who were both boys and girls, but he was not romantically or sexually attracted to either.
Level 3: Teenage and Young Adult Years
As the cat grew into a teenager, he became self-conscious about his romantic and sexual attraction to other males. He also worried about his expression of femininity and a perceived lack of masculinity. After hiding his feelings for many years, he finally confided in his best friend in college that he was attracted to males.
Level 4: Older Adult
In the following three years, he met many people and spent time reflecting deeply on his sexuality. He read extensively about various identities, and by the end of this journey, he felt more assured of himself. He grew to accept both his masculinity and femininity.
Level 5: Future
Moving forward, the cat intends to continue exploring his identity. He embraces the concept of a spectrum of sexuality and no longer feels the need to confine himself to a single label.
Narrative controls:
- Display the following sentence: Arrow key →
- Display the previous sentence: Arrow key ←
Game controls:
- Start & restart the game: Enter
- Direct the cat: 🅐-LEFT 🅢-DOWN 🅓-RIGHT 🅦-UP
In each challenge, your goal is to gather a specific number of blocks. Empty shapes represent your objectives, while filled shapes show what you have collected.
If the cat touches a colored dot, it becomes longer.
If the cat hits a box with a black dot inside, it gets shorter.
Featured in SIGGRAPH SPARKS: Queer Digital Art Now
Comments
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Free again is where a cat-faced snake takes on the role of a storyteller. Snake seems like an unlikely candidate to undertake a mission to discuss the human sexuality spectrum in relation to the definition of a manly man and the four stages of a young man's life. The basic game mechanic is similar to the classic Snake game; however, it’s also completely transformed and expanded. The cat-faced snake is fast. It can hit itself or the wall and die. Now, the food comes in five different colors and has two shapes carved inside. An abundance of food is scattered around the scene. Unlike the traditional Snake game, the goal is to survive longer; the goal of the Sexuality Spectrum Snake is to collect a specific amount of each type of food. The level's meaning determines the exact amount needed for each category. Sometimes, food is the snake’s enemy because eating too much of a particular type might force the snake to vomit it up.
Really cute! I played it until the end and I enjoyed it. It was a little frustrating, however - sometimes the keys wouldn't respond, or the "eraser" blocks were so tight together that it was better to die and start over than to try to erase a mistakenly-gotten gender block.
However, the gameplay was unique and cute, and the message was nice. I liked it.