electroplankton

it's FUN.

it's the kind of computer game i like because it isn't really a game. there's no high scores or items to collect or any of that palava. you poke at the screen and clap you hands and say random words into the microphone and things happen.

it's creator, Toshio Iwai, was obsessed with looking at things through a microscope and playing super mario bros. on the NES as a child. he also liked fiddling around with a tape recorder and a synthesizer, all of which he managed to incorporate into electroplankton.

the game has two modes, performance mode which lets you play around, and audience mode which lets you kick back while the little plankton do all the hard work. there's ten different kinds of pankton, there's tracy which follows lines you draw on the screen, hanenbow which bounce off leaves, luminaria which follow arrows, sun-animalcule which grow and fade, rec-rec that record what you say into the microphone, nanocarp that respond to your voice and claps, lumiloop which you spin around really fast to make sounds, marine-snow that you disturb, beatnes that remember beats you tap onto them and volvoice which distorts your voice. it's all good fun.