#aether interactive

ICYMI, I am a partner at Humble Bundle, and I’m really excited to tell you about a game that has just been added to Humble Monthly! If you sign up using my partner link, you’re supporting me and my favorite charity Disability Rights International.   The game: Subserial Network. Join with the Terminal & terminate defective synthetics. Dive into the mesh network of the post-singularity. Synthetic humans, built in individual recreations of original human selves, are creating a revolution against their directive: they are installing a serial port, modifying their bodies away from human image, and becoming more machine. Using a multi-window communication suite on your desktop, your directive is to find and terminate their leader. But who's giving the order? Why did they build the mesh network? Who are they hiding from? And why is this all just a game for you? The developer:  Aether Interactive is a game development company based in Toronto, Canada, founded by Sophia Park and Penelope Evans in 2017, who continue to serve as its co-owners.  Aether Interactive is devoted to creating interactive media and video games according to its values of deconstruction, compassion, empathy, and accessibility. Why should you get this game: I am HELLA into futuristic sci-fi games about robots & technology, that feature queer, trans & female voices. If you’re also into that, this game is for you. For only $12 you can get Subserial Network & support Aether Interactive, as well as tons of other games like Destiny 2, Pillars of the Earth & more! Sign up here : https://www.humblebundle.com/monthly?partner=thatjayjustice&charity=1765734

The physical copies were made in a limited number, but the game and soundtrack are also available for purchase via digital download.

"Ultimately, what we see over and over is that people within dominant ideologies appropriate from these aesthetics and [their work] becomes the point of conversation in its stead," says Matilde Park, co-owner of Toronto, Canada-based studio Aether Interactive. "I think that happens all the time - look at cyberpunk. What does cyberpunk really mean to AAA corporations owned by other, bigger corporations making multimillion dollar fantasies within its aesthetics? Apparently, it means body modifications that don't change the body in any transgressive way; pervasive, overwhelming corporate dominance that is passively accepted as a fact of life. In a sense, when dominant ideologies appropriate the aesthetics of these movements, they're defanged, they're the same sort of narratives we see over and over. I think they're inherently less interesting stories, and I think that's why the movements begin to 'die.'" It's just as well, then, that there's more to videogame punk and cyberpunk than blockbuster games. Park and her colleagues are part of a cluster of developers - many of them queer, trans and indigenous people - who are learning from or embracing punk not just for its flavour but for the traditions and techniques it embodies.

How is it even possible to launch two games in a month? How is it possible to launch two lengthy visual novels in a month? My working theory is that the crew at Aether Interactive made a pact with a wizard to get more hours in the day. I tracked down these time travelers to chat about their recently launched Sol Hemochroma and their upcoming Subserial Network.