They're not normal games: Whaaat!? Festival returns to CU Boulder

With the Grand Theft Auto VI launch still weeks away, why not get your gaming fix at this year’s Whaaat!? Festival, the biggest experimental gaming event on campus.

We talked to festival impresario (and ATLAS associate teaching professor) Danny Rankin about all things Whaaat!?, and got the rundown on expectations for this year’s event. Hint: It’s going to get weird, comrade!

[Note: This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.]

What defines an experimental game?

A traditional game would be like, “I know what this experience is like.” We're interested in games that are confusing, delightful, but maybe throw off the player a little bit. You don't know exactly what you're getting into. 

A lot of times they are games that have an artistic or absurdist bent. There are games that maybe use controllers that wouldn't normally be input devices for games. They're not mainstream games—they're unusual experiments. 

Talk about the motivation around building a festival where people interact with prototypes, where it's not about the polished, fully finished game. 

If you're designing something, particularly a playful experience, there's no way for you to know if it's good or not until you put it into the hands of strangers and see what they do. We have designers here locally, both our students and in our community that are like, “Hey, I wanna try something out. Can we run this experiment at the festival?”

A lot of designers have a hard time saying something is finished. So we have things that we’ll show that maybe have been done for years, but that the designers are still thinking, “Hey, let's try a totally different angle with this,” or “Let's try a different input,” or “Let's adjust the goals or change how many people can play this game,” and run it for the first time at the festival. 

It's a very live-in-the-moment environment because most of them are not designed to be commercial games in the traditional sense.

What does it mean for people to come together as a community to play games, especially video games, which are often for one or two players?

In the same way that you can listen to a piece of music through headphones or you can watch a movie at home, there's something about the experience of audience and environment, the laughter and the reactions and the communication. I think it changes the whole experience of a game. That's something people really look for more and more. 

Games are meant to be experienced in community with others, so we try to build these spaces where even if this is a game that you could play at home, it feels different because you're getting to play it with strangers. And we mix those experiences so it's not just video games but also physical playground games and weird scavenger hunts and game shows and all sorts of other things.

A big part of the festival is general weirdness and creativity. Why is that important?

When we started Whaaat!? Festival, one of the big goals was: Can we get students to expand their imagination around what games and play can look like? 

So much of what we assume games are is sold to us as a mainstream video game, and that's such a narrow slice of what's possible. If you understood it right away, then your imagination is still matching reality. But when you encounter things that are outside your normal expectations, you can now say, “Wow, my imagination is that much larger around what's possible when I create things myself.” 

Tell us about the theme for this year's Whaaat!? Festival. 

This year we're founding the Revolutionary Micro Republic of Whaaat!?, a fictional republic that has been closed off to the world for its entire existence, but is now opening for just one day for the festival. We have government officials, bureaucracy, forums, weird game shows that are local to the country, and a lot of other things. People are probably like, “That's supposed to be fun?” Yeah, it's supposed to be fun. 

Any special guests this year? 

We have a keynote from Jamin Warren, the founder of Killscreen and Gameplay Arts. 

He's also going to be on the game show, which right away tells me that he's fun and we're going to have a good time. He's very much in the space of talking about how games and culture are not at odds. He works with museums and cultural institutions that want to showcase and talk about video games and how to do that in unexpected ways.

Why is ATLAS the right venue for Whaaat!? Festival?

It's all about experimentation and being creative in weird ways. ATLAS also has a lot of great technology available to us. We have really motivated, creative students who are working to make this festival special, who want to mix technology and physical environments. They want to play experimental games. They are weirdos and artists and engineers themselves. 

The culture of ATLAS is very much a broader reflection of Whaaat!?—or vice versa—so it's a natural fit.