James Wright
At First It Was Nothing
At First It Was Nothing is an interactive art game that explores the philosophy of Jacques Lacan’s ‘mirror stage’ through level design, illustrating the freedom of uncertainty through the player’s response to their environment.
A download is available at the following itch.io link: https://jacqal.itch.io/at-first-it-was-nothing
For more information or to contact me, see my website: https://jacqal.carrd.co/
My capstone project, titled At First It Was Nothing, is a video game/interactive art piece based around Jacques Lacan’s concept of the ‘mirror stage’. I use level design in my game to explore Lacan’s idea of the mythical “self”; an ever-changing projection of our perceived identity that simultaneously comforts and torments us - put simply, it is the inception of our self-image.
As Jane Gallop describes in Lacan’s Mirror Stage: Where to Begin, “Narcissism is love of an image of self, and so demands the image of self which is achieved for the first time in the mirror stage.” (Gallop 1982) With video games rapidly being realized as a tool for social change and well as an artistic medium, it presents an exciting opportunity to create new games that challenge the player’s perspective on identity.
