Get yer pipin' hot Lesbian Spider-Queens of Mars soundtrack here!

Now that you've not only played auntie pixelante's Lesbian Spider-Queens of Mars, but read a review of it (here), and read a pair of interviews about it (here and here), too, I'd say it's about time you downloaded the game's soundtrack, wouldn't you?

For those of you nodding your heads, here's a link to the site of Amon26, the man responsible for the twitchy title's wicked soundscape. Scroll down to and then click on "Lesbian SpiderQueens of Mars--OST" and, whamo, your day/week/month/year/life are set.

Eight more questions with auntie pixelante (or, why she won't make a game about 'a boy who hates his dad and wants to bone a princess')

In an interview I posted earlier this week, Anna Anthropy (aka auntie pixelante) kindly answered a few questions about her latest creation, the fabulously addictive Lesbian Spider-Queens of Mars.

Well, consider today's follow-up to be a "bonus round" of sorts--in which the affable Anthropy answers questions related to two subjects that are near and dear to my heart: LGBT content in games and... Bubble Bobble.

The Gay Gamer: Pretty much every one of your games includes an LGBT character or storyline of some sort. Is that simply because you're gay, or are there other reasons you tend to include LGBT characters/storylines in your games?

Anna Anthropy: Well, who would I make games about if not myself? I'm a perverted queer transwoman--I'm not going to make a game about a boy who hates his dad and wants to bone a princess. That's why it's so important to me to make my voice heard, though: There are so few games by and about queer women.

Screenshot of Mighty Jill Off

GG: Why do you think so few of your colleagues in the industry do the same (include LGBT characters/storylines in their games)? Is it because most of them aren't LGB or T? Or maybe it's because even in this day and age there still isn't a much of a market for games that feature LGBT characters and/or storylines?

AA: Video game publishers cater to a very specific, exclusive culture: Straight manchildren. Because they're the ones immersed in the culture of video games, the ones who all the video games are designed for, they're the ones who become excited about making games and become the next generation of game developers. then they make games with their values, intended for an audience that is themselves. It's a vicious cycle. People to whom video game culture is hostile and dismissive do not tend to be the people who make space in their lives for making video games. That's something I'm trying to change: To get people like me excited about creating games outside the established games culture.

Screenshot of REDDER

GG: What is the key, in your opinion, to making LGBT characters and storylines more palatable to publishers, developers and even so-called mainstream gamers?

AA: Don't ask me how to make queers more appealing to publishers. I had to argue with Adult Swim for the inclusion of the word "lesbian" in the title of [Lesbian Spider-Queens of Mars].

GG: Part of me wonders if the key, or at least one of the keys, to this may be to treat LGBT characters/storylines like you seem to, which is to adopt an attitude along the lines of, "Don't like it? Too bad!" Would you agree with that?

AA: Video games are never going to have anything to say to anyone until they become a place where sex and identity can be discussed in a healthy way, the same as any other form. I don't see any reason to be apologetic or coy; mainstream developers certainly don't apologize for their dull male power fantasies.

Ten questions with auntie pixelante (or, why the woman behind Lesbian Spider-Queens of Mars wants you to have a 'big fat orgasm')

Shortly after her latest, greatest--in my opinion, at least--creation, Lesbian Spider-Queens of Mars, hit the 'net, Anna Anthropy (aka auntie pixelante) agreed to answer a few questions about what prompted her to make this turned-on-its-ear Wizard of Wor clone, why she had to censor it and how she feels about the LGBT media's "dismissive" response to it.

The Gay Gamer: You wrote on your site that you've been thinking about this game for four years (after Owen Grieve and his students gave you the name). What prompted you to finally create a game around that name? Did it come to you in the middle of a marathon session of Wizard of Wor?

Anna Anthropy: I was really focused on Wizard of Wor for a while, yes. I've always been impressed by how conscious the designers seemed to be of tension and pacing, between the speeding up of the maze, the radar-only invisible monsters, the high-stress worluk encounter at the end of each dungeon, and the surprise confrontations with the wizard himself. I like to use my games to get people to investigate older works that i want more people to play, like Bomb Jack with Mighty Jill Off and Monuments of Mars with REDDER.

GG: My first reaction upon playing Lesbian Spider-Queens of Mars was along the lines of, "Man, this would have been perfect alongside the games at my childhood bowling alley/arcade." It gives me a vibe--in terms of sound and graphics and even gameplay--similar to the one I get/got from games like Robotron and Sinistar. Is that the kind of reaction you were shooting for?

AA: I've always admired the sort of design decisions that the arcade format promotes: Games need to be fast, to teach the player the rules as quickly as possible, to communicate everything that happens in the game clearly. These games from 1980s arcades--particularly Vid Kidz and Midway games--informed a lot of my ideas on game design, and I wanted for a long time to make a game that I could place side-by-side with them.

GG: I really like the one-handed nature of the game. Why did you decide to go that route--by eschewing the shoot button?

AA: Because it was an extra button I didn't think I needed. I felt like I could fit the player's entire vocabulary into the buttons she uses to move the protagonist. Relegating some of the most important actions to a secondary function is distance I thought the game didn't need. And I think it does a lot to characterize the spider-queen: She's powerful enough that just a glance at a woman is enough to ensnare her. So much of the game followed from that decision.

Saucy or simple?

I'm a bit torn when it comes to choosing a headline for a post--a Q&A with Anna Anthropy, aka auntie pixelante--that's going to be published this coming week.

Should I go for something "saucy": auntie pixelante's goal for Lesbian Spider-Queens of Mars: to give gamers 'a big, fat orgasm'

Or should I go for "simple": Ten questions with auntie pixelante

It probably won't surprise anyone to hear that I prefer the saucy option, but I have to admit that it also gives me pause. Is it too sensational? Does it scream, a little too loudly, "click on me! PLEASE!!"

Regarding that latter comment, the fact is that I do want people to click on it. Not because I'm desperate for hits, pageviews, etc., but because I think Anthropy is a brilliant woman and I want as many people as possible to read what she has to say about her latest creation, Lesbian Spider-Queens of Mars.

The question, then, is will the saucy headline draw people in or turn them away? 

Of course, the same could be asked of the simple option. Sure, it's the complete opposite of sensational, but it's kind of boring, too. Also, it doesn't really give any indication as to the content of the post.

What do all of you think? Should I go with saucy or simple--and why do you think I should use that option?

A somewhat gay review of Lesbian Spider-Queens of Mars

My first thought upon playing auntie pixelante's latest creation--a twitchy, throwback of a game called Lesbian Spider-Queens of Mars--was that it could confidently and comfortably sit alongside such classic quartermunchers as Robotron and Sinistar.

Of course, pixelante was inspired by Midway's Wizard of Wor while creating Lesbian Spider-Queens of Mars--she even goes so far as to call the latter a "reinvention" of the former in a recent blog post--so it's likely she expected or at least hoped for such a reaction.

Regardless, her creation is a more-than-reasonable reproduction of those stress-filled games so many of us relished as kids. Calling Lesbian Spider-Queens of Mars a simple facsimile of its predecessors, though, does both it and pixelante a disservice.

Sure, Lesbian Spider-Queens of Mars looks and sounds a lot like the aforementioned games that inspired it--what with its sparse backdrops and pixelated baddies (who the titular protagonist taunts with appropriately lo-fi barbs like "I'm not finished yet!" and "Kneel before your queen!")--but it blazes a few trails, too.

Case in point: Lesbian Spider-Queens of Mars, like many of today's Flash-based games, is a one-handed affair. The titular Spider-Queen's "bondage ray" is always on, so all gamers have to do is aim said ray at one of her highness' escaped slaves in order to wrap them up and rope them in.

If you think that might sap the game of the tension that's typical of the genre, think again. Even without a shoot button there's plenty to stress out about while playing Lesbian Spider-Queens of Mars--especially when the attackable-only-from-certain-angles Armors, fiery Alchemists and slippery Assassins (all of whom are topless, by the way) start to fill the screen.

Thankfully, the tension never ratchets up so high that the game becomes unenjoyable or unplayable. Oh, you'll die--a lot, especially on the later boards--but if you're anything like me you'll have a blast right up until your last breath.  

Play: Lesbian Spider-Queens of Mars