Hello fellow reader! It's time to turn over another bag of tomes and take care of another game developer. This week we talk to Nadya Lev – co-founder of New York studio Aconite and developer of the gloriously unsexy hooliganwhich I had the pleasure of trying not to be seen playing in a crowded airport hall in 2024.
Lev is also the co-creator of the augmented reality phone game HoloVista, publisher of the American alternative magazine Coilhouse, and a lecturer on “everything from Soviet-era mind control techniques to ancient spells found in the Egyptian Book of the Dead.” Hello Nadya! Do you mind if we take a look at your bookshelf?
What are you reading now?
Eudaimonic Pie. It's a non-fiction book about how a group of Bay Area physicists invaded Vegas in the 1970s with the goal of cheating at roulette, a game of chance that was notoriously impossible to win. Their plan involved using Newtonian physics to predict where the ball would stop. They built a tiny microcomputer that fit inside one of their shoes. They used foot tapping to secretly communicate with each other through their shoes. What they will do is observe the specific conditions of each roulette spin (how hard the wheel spun, how the ball bounced, etc.) and by inputting this data into their shoe microcomputer, they will receive predictions on what to bet on. This is a wild, true story! I like the concept of Eudaemon; this is a cybernetic term. In the old days, it referred to a benevolent spirit that brought good luck. But in this context it refers to an invisible assistant – an algorithmic spirit that quietly controls the results.
What was the last time you read?
A/S/L Gene Thornton. This is a deeply mystical, extremely funny and very moving book about three trans women who meet online in 1998 and try (and fail) to release a game called The Sorceress Saga. The book is a love letter to ZZT (the ASCII game creation system with a very creative subculture around it), the 90's Internet, Hermetic Kabbalah, mental illness and/or divine inspiration, and the artist's work. The story begins in 1998 and moves to 2016. Life has taken the three women in completely different directions, but the process of trying to create this game together haunts each of them in different ways. The story is about what will happen when they collide again. I feel like a lot of people missed this book because it said “LGBTQ lit” and people thought, “This isn't for me.” But it is so universal and deep! I love this book so much. Thornton grew up making games, so she can write about game development from the perspective of a teenager, both grandiose and insecure, in a very real way.
What are you looking at next?
It's not out yet, but I'm really looking forward to Creation by Miracle Jones. This is the fourth book in a seven book series called Fold. The first three books are absolutely mind-blowing madness (the first in the series is called Sharing and it's wild). I love The Fold because it's a completely different take on fantasy. Much of the fantasy genre has Old World European DNA, despite the fact that 90 years have passed since The Hobbit. Fantasy usually deals with lords, peasants, castles, succession drama, enchanted swords, names like “Aldric Thornwood” or whatever. This is not quite fresh! Wonder Jones does a really interesting thing when he asks, “What would it look like if we started over and created a fantasy series that was purely American in its DNA?” What are its components? Diners, roadside attractions, mixed immigrant towns, puritanism, crime. The Fold series takes them at their spiritual core, and from there, an absolutely crazy world unfolds… it's hard to describe, but it's one of the most breathtaking, creative worlds I've ever encountered. MJ's stories are also really crazy. Horror, sci-fi, stories too weird to categorize… it's all free on his website and they are all very funny, smart and strange! His writing can also be found in the marketing-fetishistic horror simulator Fucksweeper and in our new game, which will be announced soon!
What quote or scene from the book stood out to you most?
There is a scene in The Master and Margarita that I really like. Everyone remembers “Satan’s Big Ball”; This is one of the best scenes in the book! (I actually talked about this.) But there is another scene in this book that I like even more. This is the scene in which Margarita, a woman who has made a pact with Satan, is given cream by Azazello, one of Satan's minions. Satan wants her to host his ball, but to do this she needs to turn into a witch. So she rubs this cream on her face and suddenly the transmutation begins. Her neat hairstyle is falling apart and her hair is disheveled. Her skin takes on a supernatural quality. She starts to swim. She laughs for the first time in a long time. She starts creating chaos. She jumps on a broom and flies to the ball… but on the way to the ball, she accidentally flies through the window into the apartment of the guy she hates, and completely destroys it. It's just such a dark, joyful, beautifully written scene. I think we all wish we had a little jar of this cream sometimes!
What book do you recommend your friends read?
I love The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. This is one of my favorite books. I think this is… a real work of modern literature. This book truly paints a beautiful picture of lost New York and the desolate suburbs of Vegas. Many of the themes in it are very universal. It's sad, it's funny, the prose is simply amazing. Everyone should read this. This is the kind of book that makes you feel like you've actually lived someone else's life when you finish it.
What book would you like to see someone adapt into a game?
Borges' labyrinths. Still one of my favorites! I'd really like to see this turned into a series of little vignettes in the spirit of The Beginner's Guide. Endless libraries, labyrinths that fold in on themselves, gardens where all paths exist simultaneously, stories within stories… this book is so rich in material for game worlds. David Foster Wallace once allegedly said, “When you read a Borges story, you are playing a game, perhaps a funny game, perhaps a deadly serious game – and you do not know the rules of the game.” His stories are essentially games. I know this is the theme for a level in the awesome game Manifold Garden, but I want more!
One more from me. After the Geoff Awards, it's time to check out Brendan Keogh's monograph. The video game industry doesn't existwhich “challenges mainstream assumptions about video game production and reveals the diverse and unstable communities, identities, and approaches that make it an important cultural practice.” I don't remember if there is a section on industry awards ceremonies, but I would be surprised if there wasn't. In other news, I need to get my hands on one of these eudaimons with some regional modifications. I need a pair of shoes that will allow me to crack the UK housing market. Book now!
