Cats vs. Raccoons

Conducting an interview with indie game developers Kyle Reimergartin and Ben Esposito via conference call might have been a mistake. Their voices sound similar on the phone, and when asked “Who said that?” the response was “Precisely. Kyle did, and also Ben.” Hmmm.

From there the conversation drifted to Reimergartin’s past experience with Fantastic Arcade (“I’m in a very negative and cynical profession as a teacher. Most of my time is spent being a terrible person, so I was disappointed that I didn’t have a chance to exercise those skills.”) and Esposito’s appreciation for wildlife (“Raccoon hands are probably the most interesting thing I can think of”). In between these seeming tangents the two discussed the games they’re bringing to Fantastic Arcade, their influences, and a few worthwhile conversational side quests.

Like his previous game Fjords, Reimergartin’s latest, Banana Chalice, might seem on the surface anarchic. A cat flies around collecting bananas in a living house. There is some rhyme and reason to the game that slowly reveals itself, but Reimergartin isn’t afraid to experiment. It’s something he learned from the elementary school kids he teaches. “The main way that teaching informs my games is that I’m constantly being submersed in this miasma of people having ideas and not being afraid of them.”

Esposito’s critically acclaimed game, The Unfinished Swan, played like an interactive storybook with just enough darkness to keep players wanting to dive deeper into the world. For Fantastic Arcade, Esposito’s Donut County plays like a reverse Katamari Damacy. Instead of adding junk to an ever-growing ball, conniving raccoons and mystical pastries create a hole that grows with every item it sucks into the void. The game’s action mirrors Esposito’s experiences with gentrification and he admits that, in his metaphor, he is the raccoon. But like a black hole, gentrification isn’t willfully evil, he says, “It’s just this system that keeps going on because it needs to survive, and when it gets momentum it will take more and more and more and more.”

Both games (along with six others) will be in custom arcade cabinets awaiting your interaction at the Highball. Esposito and Reimergartin will be there too if you need help navigating their worlds. Only don’t expect the straightest of answers from them.

As our interview comes to a close the two prey on my inability to distinguish them. Esposito signs off, “I just want to say that I think Ben is a really interesting guy, and I really want to work with him in the future and talk to him more and exchange ideas.” Reimergartin follows: “I’ve been really enjoying meeting Kyle over the phone. It’s been curious to hear him talk about some of the things that he thinks about while he’s making games and I’m encouraged by his existence.” Or maybe they said that about each other. I’ll probably never know.

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Kyle Reimergartin On …

How to suss out who is a real "gamer":

You have to place both of your palms together, you know, like you’re a mirror for them, and they’re on the other side of the mirror trying to get into your side of the mirror. So, you press both of your palms together and spread your fingers as wide apart as you can. Then you take your nose and put it between each of the fingers of both of your hands, and you have to do that five times. You do it right to left because true gamers don’t read. So, you go right to left, five times … ten times actually. Ten times! And after you’ve finished touching your nose to the crevices of both of your conjoined hands then … [things trailed off from there, sorry].

Raccoons and cats:

It’s that manipulation of objects that makes a raccoon so fearful to us. Whereas cats are like, “Yeah, we’ll have this thing indoors." It’s like this weird little mascot I have for my life. I’m going to project all of my fears and anxieties onto this cat, and then I’m going to pet it, and I will dominate those fears. A raccoon, we look at and say “You are like me. I don’t like you. I see myself and I cannot control or tame myself. I cast you out.” That’s what I say to a raccoon. I don’t want a raccoon to enjoy that familiarity with me. I don’t want to learn from a raccoon because I fear to encounter myself so closely in nature.

Playing Banana Chalice:

Real gamers will find themselves sinking slowly backwards into a molten pool of castoff remnants of amniotic fluids until they find themselves suspended effortlessly in a void. And to them will appear the true Banana Chalice. So I'm really excited for these people to eventually have this experience. True believers as it were.

How to experience Fantastic Arcade:

I would say, based on my extremely extensive experience, the best way to do Fantastic Arcade is to go for exactly one day, don’t sleep at all, and spend the entire time talking about Dune, because that’s the only way that I’ve ever experienced it, and I believe the only way it should be experienced. [Reimergartin might have said "Doom" instead of "Dune." When asked which it was he said either was fine.]