We’re less than two weeks away from the 9th Annual No Quarter Exhibition, so we wanted to take some time to introduce you to the 2018 artists and games! Each of the four 2018 designers spoke with curator Robert Yang on their game, design process, and New York City! For 2018, we are bringing back a No Quarter tradition of featuring a recently released game that we love, and think you will love too. This year we are featuring Ayla Myers and her game Arpongi!
Arpongi by Ayla Myers
Ayla Myers is an independent game designer and developer based in New York City. She spends her time creating delightful games that were missing from the world. For the past year she’s been putting most of her energy into the PICO-8 fantasy console community, but she also streams game development on Twitch and creates beginner-friendly game dev tutorials on YouTube.
Robert Yang: What are you making for No Quarter?
Ayla Myers: I created Arpongi, the two-player competitive pong RPG! In addition to playing pong, both players also gain XP/gold that can be used to level up, spawn units, make buildings, cast spells, etc.
Tell us about your design process.
For all of the games I create I always have a core concept that drives me forward. In this case it was, “What if pong, but a RPG?” Normally I start by creating an asset-less prototype to ensure the gameplay holds up, but for this project I actually created all the visual assets up-front. I found that exploring the design space visually really opened me up to some cool ideas, and oftentimes just seeing a mock-up of what the game could look like was enough for me to imagine what it would feel like playing it.
Do you have any favorite No Quarter games from the past?
Holly Gramzio’s Drawing Games from No Quarter 2016 were super inspiring for me. I easily spent at least an hour and a half just trying to find clever little word-constellations in that beautiful starfield of letters. It was also a great reminder that awesome games come in all forms.
Any favorite places to see in New York City?
I’ve been meaning to check out the Recurse Center new location, since they moved recently. Other than that… maybe dinner at Cheers Thai sometime soon?
Yeah, Thai food is the best. Thanks for talking to us, Ayla!
No Quarter is free and open to the public. Please RSVP to guarantee your entry!