Brin Žvan and Mathias Schifter promise us a course on how to use cutting-edge business presentation software that will: “Improve office productivity by 200% and impress your boss by doing many mundane tasks."

‍Presenter Slides, an unconventional video game, quickly turns out to be a scam that instead of the promised business-educational workshop, leads the player into a bureaucratic hell full of constant memos, pie charts, powerpoint presentations, endless queues and soul-crashing inefficiency. By appropriating corporate aesthetics and language, the artists follow the logic of contemporary business models based on the ideas of eternal progress and individual self-fulfilment, which are all essential to flee from hell.

Players can escape on a ferry by successfully completing all mundane chores while at the same time facing surreal, bizarre challenges. Tasks such as completing paperwork, attending online fitness classes, earning money in a call centre, helping a lost German tourist in the desert and directly confronting the devil face-to-face are maniacally swapped in a sinister atmosphere, with the software closely monitoring player’s every move and recording their progress.

Here the question arises - can we really wake up from this bureaucratic nightmare if we diligently complete all the tasks and accumulate enough physical strength, money and overtime hours?  And what really awaits us if we manage to reach the lighthouse?  Or are we just trapped in an endless loop of corporate fever dream, from which there is no escape?

Brin Žvan (1998) is a media artist and game designer. With a Master's degree in Game Design from the IT University of Kobenhavn, he creates games that use too many or too few buttons. His latest work is the game ONE BTN BOSSES (2024), where the player fights a worker's battle against the bosses with just one button. ONE BTN BOSSES has been extremely well received by critics and boasts a Metacritic score of 87/100. He previously worked on Presenter Slides (2022), a bureaucratic adventure that received a nomination for Best Student Game at the 2023 San Francisco Independent Games Festival (IGF). When Brin is not making games, he is teaching how to make them. When he's not teaching, he's tending to plants and cooking with friends.

‍Mathias Schifter (1994) is a game developer and designer from Denmark. They are a Master of Science in Games so naturally their works feature liminal spaces, bureaucracy and questioning capitalism. Previously they developed critically acclaimed Presenter Slides (nominated for IGF 2023) as well as Endling. They are currently working on Discounty, a grocery store simulator where you bring a big business mentality, with all its horrendous side effects, to a small town.

ヽ(*·ᗜ·)ﾉ💥ヽ(·ᗜ·* )ﾉ🔥ヽ(*·ᗜ·)ﾉ💥ヽ(·ᗜ·* )ﾉ🔥ヽ(*·ᗜ·)ﾉ💥ヽ(·ᗜ·* )ﾉ🔥ヽ(*·ᗜ·)ﾉ💥ヽ(·ᗜ·* )ﾉ

Brin Žvan in Mathias Schifter nam obljubljata tečaj uporabe najsodobnejše programske opreme za predstavitve v podjetjih, s katero boste:  »izboljšali pisarniško produktivnost za 200 % in navdušili šefa z opravljanjem številnih vsakdanjih opravil.«

Nekonvencionalna videoigra Presenter Slides se hitro izkaže za prevaro, ki namesto obljubljene poslovno-izobraževalne delavnice igralca popelje v birokratski pekel, poln nenehnih obvestil, količinskih diagramov, powerpoint prezentacij, neskončnih čakalnih vrst in duhomornega neučinkovitega dela. S prisvajanjem korporativne estetike in govorice, umetnika sledita logiki sodobnih poslovnih modelov, ki temeljijo na idejah večnega napredka in individualne samouresničitve, ki sta nujna za pobeg iz pekla.

Igralci lahko pobegnejo s trajektom, če uspešno opravijo vsa vsakdanja opravila in se hkrati soočijo z nadrealističnimi bizarnimi izzivi. Različne naloge, kot so izpolnjevanje obrazcev, udeležba spletnih vadbenih tečajev, služenje denarja z delom v klicnem centru, pomoč izgubljenemu nemškemu turistu v puščavi in neposreden spopad s hudičem, se manično izmenjujejo v zloveščem vzdušju, pri čemer programska oprema pozorno spremlja vsak njihov korak in beleži njihov napredek.

Ob tem se poraja vprašanje, ali se res lahko zbudimo iz te birokratske nočne more, če vestno opravimo vse naloge ter si naberemo dovolj fizične moči, denarja in nadur? In kaj nas v resnici čaka, če nam uspe priti do svetilnika? Ali smo le ujeti v neskončno zanko korporativnih vročičnih sanj, iz katerih ni izhoda?

Brin Žvan (1998) je medijski umetnik in oblikovalec iger. Z magisterjem dizajna iger, ki ga je pridobil na IT univerzi v Kobenhavnu ustvarja igre, ki uporabljajo preveč ali premalo gumbov. Zadnje delo je igra ONE BTN BOSSES (2024), kjer igralka bori delavski boj proti šefom le z eno tipko. ONE BTN BOSSES je bil med kritiki izjemno dobro sprejet in se ponaša z oceno 87/100 na platformi Metacritic. Pred tem je delal Presenter Slides (2022), birokratsko avanaturo, ki je prejela nominacijo za najboljšo študentsko igro na festivalu neodvisnih iger (IGF) leta 2023 v San Franciscu. Kadar Brin ne ustvarja iger, poučuje, kako jih ustvarjati. Kadar ne poučuje, skrbi za rastline in kuha s prijatelji.

‍Mathias Schifter (1994) je razvijalec_ in oblikovalec_ iger z Danske. Je magister_ znanosti na področju iger, zato so v njegovih_ delih seveda prisotni liminalni prostori, birokracija in preizpraševanje kapitalizma. Pred tem je razvil_ kritiško priznano igro Presenter Slides (nominirana za IGF 2023) in Endling. Trenutno dela_ na igri Discounty, simulatorju trgovine z živili, v katerem v majhno mesto vnesete mentaliteto velikih podjetij z vsemi njenimi grozljivimi stranskimi učinki.