Update Available

Created by FoxEcho for Game Poems issue #2

Update Available is a short exprimental game poem about existence and life experience. In videogames, the player does not simply read, listen to, or watch a world. They exist in it through an interface, a character body, a rule-set, and a sequence of permissions. What interests me is the tension between agency and the systems that make agency possible.

The game uses the language of updates as its poetic material. Each version changes the player’s body, the rules of movement, the presence of goals, and the meaning of progress. What begins as open movement becomes constraint, then platforming, then optimization, and finally an accelerating loop where the score, version number, and speed keep inflating.

For me, this is a poem about being: not only about the meaning of existence, but about the condition of existing inside structures that continuously redefine what one can do. It can also be read more personally, as a compressed reflection on a life shaped by changing expectations, systems, and promises of improvement.

Move: WASD / Arrow Keys;   Jump: Space;   Click: Left Mouse Button

PS:  It's fun to draw these squares and circles :)

《Update Available》是一首关于存在，也关于生命经验的游戏诗。在电子游戏中，玩家面对的并不是一个只能被阅读、聆听或观看的世界；他们以某种方式存在于其中。界面、角色身体、规则，以及一连串被系统允许或禁止的行动，共同构成了这种存在。我感兴趣的，正是玩家的能动性与赋予这种能动性的系统之间的张力。

在这个作品中，我尝试将 “更新” 本身作为一种诗的语言。每一个新版本都会改变玩家的身体、行动方式、目标的有无，以及 “前进”  所意味的东西。从最初的开放移动，逐渐开始限制，继而变成平台跳跃，优化，最后进入一个不断加速的循环：分数、版本号和游戏速度持续膨胀。

对我来说，这是一首关于 “存在” 的诗。它不仅追问存在的意义，也试图描写一种存在的处境：我们总是在某些结构之中生活，而这些结构又不断重新规定我们能够做什么。它也可以被理解为一种更私人的生命经验：关于不断变化的期待、系统，和进步的承诺。

移动 : WASD / 方向键;    跳跃: 空格键;    点击: 鼠标左键

PS:  画这些方框和圈圈还挺有趣的hhh

### Attribution

"Gymnopedie No. 3" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/