Happy October everyone! It’s a month of warm meals, movie marathons, and you guessed it: spooooOOOoooOOoky scary video games. But, if you’re like me, you are a soft little wimp who threw up watching The Conjuring 2. You might be wondering, are there any fun games of the season that can give me a little chill without scaring my eyeballs out? You betcha! Here are some suggestions of spooky games that might just be okay for us that are faint of heart. All of these are available on Steam.

​​When I was talking about prototyping this system, you know, it had like, kind of like moves and HP and damage and stuff planned. And, you know, a lot of planning and not a lot of coding with that. And I feel like, I learned that, you know, there's a certain point you can feel where you should just try to design a few levels, and then use that as, like data without, and, you know, don't worry too much about setting up systems, because you're probably not even gonna need those systems that much, you know, like, there's only like, what 30 of these links in the game.

Video games have taught me more about myself than years of schooling. I’ve become a talented problem solver, keen observationalist, and an empathetic human being. With the tools I have to focus myself, moderate my gaming intake, and maintain a balance between work and fun-time (mmm, capitalism am I right?), I no longer consider spending hours attempting to catch ‘em all a guilty pleasure, rather, a self-care activity.

“How much did you pay for this game?” one of my roommates asks. All three of them have gathered behind the spine-mangling futon where I’m sitting, pulled into my shared bedroom by the cacophony of obscenities and jangly slot-machine sound effects emanating from my tiny, second-hand TV.

Out of the Park Baseball is a boring simulation of an already boring game (baseball is the sports version of a delayed flight), and I have spent the last year of my life playing it with small breaks for sleep and sustenance. It is, defying all odds and its own design, the best, most poisonous, most addictive video game I have ever played. I hate it I hate it I hate it.

We have been collaborating with Bit Bash Chicago since their very first festival back in 2014, and with that partnership we have been able to exhibit our collection at their events, manage their print competitions, curate exhibitions of digital art, and highlight our developed work such as the exhibition of Frame Switch in 2019. Today, we’re thrilled to announce we are taking that partnership even further, as VGA Gallery is now the fiscal sponsor of Bit Bash Chicago.

So in what ways do video games teach us? Well, obviously, trivia games and the like teach us facts and bits of useless knowledge to lord over others at parties. But more generally, games teach us how to manipulate and explore a virtual space in order to overcome specific roadblocks. Teaching how to explore is a game’s most important job, for without it, the player would be unable to see the carefully coded experience laid out by the developers.

One thing that has helped me massively through all of this? Video games. I have spent many late-night hours discovering some incredibly beautiful pieces of art from indie developers that somehow manage to encapsulate all of my emotions wordlessly. I have whittled down a long list of recommendations to six indie games that have had incredible significance to me. Some of these games are gay, some of them are sad. Some of them are both. All of them, however, have helped me confront some really difficult and emotional questions in the middle of a bewildering world.