a set of rules based on thoughts about richard lemarchand’s experimental games class and also
extreme meatpunks forever (and also genderwrecked a little bit) (and the mountain goats)
1. MEATPUNK GAMES ARE ABOUT SURVIVAL IN HARD CIRCUMSTANCES
the world is super fucked up right now and we live in a giant capitalist machine that will grind all our
bones into dust to make bread for the rich. there are no heroes in meatpunk games, only people doing
their damnedest to make it through the day. the goal of success is not grace, in making it through the
game unscathed, but in taking as many hits as you humanly can and stand up again and again to take
more. there may not be hope but we have each other and we can trust our fists and that’s enough
2. SUBTLETY IS FOR FUCKERS
if you’re going to say something then say it loud and say it clear. there are times for clever metaphors and
there are times when you gotta punch a fash’s lights out and we live in the second time
3. ART IS POLITICAL, DON’T LET YOUR ART GET COOPTED BY FASCISTS
make all your art as gay and trans and leftist and intersectional as humanly fucking possible. if there
aren’t lesbians then you’re probably doing it wrong. the more fascists in it that get completely owned the
better
4. BODIES ARE WEIRD AND GROSS BUT ALSO COOL
bodies are fucked up. they are so fucked up. but they also kind of rule??????? part of the meatpunk code is learning how to forge a positive relationship with your body. this isn’t really a game design thing, i just think it’s a good idea in general
5. MAKE ART MAKE RENT HELP OTHERS DO THE SAME
pay every person on your team as much as you can, they deserve it. no exceptions. if they do something
for you then you gotta help them out back. it’s the meatpunk code. additionally do research on the
issues that matter to your game instead of just going in with your own
6. MEEEEAAAAAAAT
deal with viscerality in original ways. send everything to hell. make mechs out of meat. there’s a whole
world of weird shit out there that we’ve barely scratched the surface of. this is why this thing is called the meatpunk manifesto. add meat to your punk and punk to your meat
7. JOKES ARE GOOD
nothing wrong with mixing in some funny stuff along with the angry garbage. sometimes the angry
garbage ends up being funny. that’s just how it is sometimes
8. PUNK ROCK
the other half of “meatpunk” is that meatpunk games are grown from punk rock. take all that anger, all that sense of injustice, all that three-chord blast, and shove it into your work. it’s not about fancy production values, it’s about the strength of your conviction and how well it shines through. if your game can exude raw fury then there’s nothing else in the world like that.