Cold Sweat: A Video Game of Change
Competition:
3rd Annual Digital Arts Student Competition 2026 – Speculative Futures Honorable Mention (Graduate Student)
Artist(s):
Artist School Information
| Education Level: | Graduate Student |
|---|---|
| School: | Bowling Green State University |
Artwork Details
| Year Produced: | 2026 |
|---|---|
| Medium: | Playable game |
| Category: | Game Art |
| Link(s): | https://alixsaffari.itch.io/cold-sweat |
Description:
My practice represents an ontological shift from functional architecture to expressive digital world-building. Cold Sweat examines the enduring psychological residue of political repression and failed societal shifts. Driven by my experiences during Iran’s 2019 internet blackouts, my work proposes digital spatial narrations as indestructible archives against state-sponsored historical erasure. The game structure functions as a Dantean descent into a system failing its inhabitants. By contrasting the cold, rigid infrastructure of the United Earth Guard with an untamable, organic beast representing the raw nature of trauma, I mirror the way memory buckles under systemic decay. Through dual camera mechanics and the narrative constraint of a paralyzed protagonist, players negotiate between localized truth and obscured context, embodying the helplessness of a witness. Ultimately, I merge the stillness of digital imagery with interactive agency, granting silenced voices a permanent, inhabitable home in the digital world.
Technical Information:
Cold Sweat is a three-level video game experience created utilizing 3D modeling tools and game engines. The interactive environment spans five stages: Intro, Mouth, Uncle, The Belly, and The Heart, utilizing non-linear progression and fragmented storytelling. A central technical feature is its dual-camera mechanic, allowing players to toggle between an accurate, claustrophobic first-person view inside a machine and a blurry, wide-angle third-person perspective. Movement mechanics emphasize active witnessing and narrative negotiation over traditional gameplay mastery.
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