Seemingly an old-school intelligence test machine, Victor the Loser reveals its true colors when it feels threatened by the player’s imminent victory, at which point it tries to sabotage the player’s progress and mock their destined failure. Victor is a bad loser.
Role: Helped with Game Design, Hardware development
Created by a group of Creative Technologists hacking together something that resembles a game. Collaborators: Chao Hui Tu, Chuck Kuan, Jane Mitchell, Magnus Pind, Xianghan Ma, Yumeng Wang
The game was born from a discussion about playing games with children and the use of positive reinforcement to keep them engaged. Sometimes pretending to lose to protect their egos. Eventually, we wondered if a game controller can exhibit these traits. We began creating a controller that exhibited childlike qualities.
Victor complicates the gameplay process and makes you question the goal. What are you really trying to accomplish with Victor? It is redefining what it means to win, because Victor only cheats when you are winning. Can you find a way to out-cheat the cheater? It puts an emphasis on being just ok at playing a game. Victor provides a different experience that is focused on the journey versus the result, a journey that is unexpected and becomes a negotiation of sorts.