Theresa Duncan (October 26, 1966 â€" July 10, 2007) was an American
video game designer, blogger, filmmaker and critic. By the late 1990s,
she was recognized as one of the most critically acclaimed game
designers for young girls.Collaborating with her boyfriend Jeremy
Blake, Duncan created three influential CD-ROM computer games for
young girls in the second half of the 1990s: Chop Suey, Smarty, and
Zero Zero. These games were designed as alternatives to her
traditionally male-oriented field where the few "girls' games" created
embodied a "model of boy-catching self-fulfillment". Duncan spoke out
against market-tested girls' games characterized by an "earnest
blandness" and a "perfunctory feminism [like] slapping the pink bow on
Pacman".All three games created by Duncan are story-based and revolve
around search and discovery. 1995's Chop Suey is an interactive
storybook, where two young girls explore the town of Cortland, Ohio.
Smarty (1996) tells the story of the titular young girl's visit to her
Aunt Olive for the summerâ€"there she hosts a spelling radio show,
explores small-town life, and visit a mysterious dime store. Released
in 1997, Zero Zero follows a young girl named Pinkee in Fin de siècle
Paris who hops from rooftop to rooftop, explores the catacombs, and
experiences the city.Chop Suey was co-created with Monica Gesue and
narrated by then-unknown author David Sedaris. Gesue strived to design
a "colorful, warm, and bright" game that contrasted with the way "a
lot of computer graphics at the time were really icky". For Smarty and
Zero Zero, Duncan collaborated with her partner Jeremy Blake. Smarty
maintained Chop Suey's "warm, handmade, and folk-inspired" look, but
was also "less messy, and more idyllic, with more carefully rendered
perspective with "loose and painterly" backgrounds. Blake created more
than 3,000 drawings for the game. Zero Zero was "a period piece, and
Blake used thick, crooked lines that sometimes seemed to suggest a
woodcut drawing".
video game designer, blogger, filmmaker and critic. By the late 1990s,
she was recognized as one of the most critically acclaimed game
designers for young girls.Collaborating with her boyfriend Jeremy
Blake, Duncan created three influential CD-ROM computer games for
young girls in the second half of the 1990s: Chop Suey, Smarty, and
Zero Zero. These games were designed as alternatives to her
traditionally male-oriented field where the few "girls' games" created
embodied a "model of boy-catching self-fulfillment". Duncan spoke out
against market-tested girls' games characterized by an "earnest
blandness" and a "perfunctory feminism [like] slapping the pink bow on
Pacman".All three games created by Duncan are story-based and revolve
around search and discovery. 1995's Chop Suey is an interactive
storybook, where two young girls explore the town of Cortland, Ohio.
Smarty (1996) tells the story of the titular young girl's visit to her
Aunt Olive for the summerâ€"there she hosts a spelling radio show,
explores small-town life, and visit a mysterious dime store. Released
in 1997, Zero Zero follows a young girl named Pinkee in Fin de siècle
Paris who hops from rooftop to rooftop, explores the catacombs, and
experiences the city.Chop Suey was co-created with Monica Gesue and
narrated by then-unknown author David Sedaris. Gesue strived to design
a "colorful, warm, and bright" game that contrasted with the way "a
lot of computer graphics at the time were really icky". For Smarty and
Zero Zero, Duncan collaborated with her partner Jeremy Blake. Smarty
maintained Chop Suey's "warm, handmade, and folk-inspired" look, but
was also "less messy, and more idyllic, with more carefully rendered
perspective with "loose and painterly" backgrounds. Blake created more
than 3,000 drawings for the game. Zero Zero was "a period piece, and
Blake used thick, crooked lines that sometimes seemed to suggest a
woodcut drawing".
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