Navigator B, 2020, videogame/installation

Link: https://darkomasnec.itch.io/navigator-b

music: Luka Smetiško

Gazing into the sky. Gentle floating of the colourful balloons calms me down and I don't have to think about the important things. My mind is empty, I am breathing deeply, the sky is completely blue. This is something that shouldn’t be stressful.

This piece is a failed attempt to capture the moment described above. In the form of a game, passive balloons become objects that must be directed. Their travel now has a destination. If they fall too low, the game is over. Other objects should be avoided. Time passes and the sky changes. The stress is there again, that soft aimless feeling is now only found in the short breaks between solving tasks.

There are different ways to play this simple game. Hopefully pleasant. I will try to stay out of your way in this process.

Byl-ka, 2019, videogame/installation

Link: https://darkomasnec.itch.io/byl-ka

music and sound design: Luke Nickel

"Byl-ka is envisioned as a set of possible digital translations of the herbal world and how the concept of flora can be redefined in a digital surrounding. In a simple interface, we can see empty planter and five elements. The elements we can manipulate with are in control of growth, appearance, and life of the plant. Light, color, transparency, sound, attention, and combination of these five elements are a base to cultivate your digital plant. Each element can reach a value of a maximum of 100 points. The player is trying to find balance among all of the elements to achieve homeostasis: the optimal conditions needed to reveal the plant. There are more than 8 billion different possible combinations of intertwined elements.

Byl-ka project is also focused on building a digital archive of all created plants. Player has an option to memorize and screenshot a finished plant or the process of plant’s creation. In that way, this artwork includes another dimension by transforming into a plant catalog, the digital herbarium."

Text by: Lea Vene

In this piece the player is invited to reveal the plant that is randomly generated with each new game. I'm fascinated how the nature is represented in virtual worlds, often becoming more inviting that the actual nature itself. Despite slightly cynical outlook, the piece aims to be soothing and pleasing, representing flora but straying far from it at the same time, bringing sense of safety to otherwise unforgiving environment. The process of manipulating the image is the process of growing a digital plant. There are various stages of difficulty that produce more complex plant combinations in which elements have to be carefully balanced.

Makh, 2017, videogame

Link: https://darkomasnec.itch.io/makh

Music and sound design: Nikola Kovač

The player and the stylized character explore an unfamiliar abstract world, gradually comprehending and absorbing its elements and colours. Various interactions between empty contours and solid content create a visual, symbolic play. The space is multidimensional: the goal becomes secondary to the process of exploration.

The game combines abstract aesthetics of modernism, classical animation gag and platformer mechanic, relating it with dynamism of manifold digital image. Exploration and play are conceived as processes of artistic intention, hence raising the question of video games as an art form.

Dream Control, 2016, html5 program

Link: http://www.netdotcube.org/darko-masnec-dream-control-hr.php

The program is designed as a series of malfunctioning menus that the player interacts with, but without encountering traditional gameplay elements. While interaction is possible, it becomes a cyclical process. The player has no real choices, just a loop of menus that ultimately reveal the game's non-existence.