Rat Chaos
Rat Chaos is a 2012 stream of consciousness art and browser game created by Winter Lake.
Rat Chaos
- Date
- 2012
- Genre
- science fiction video game
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Rat Chaos is a 2012 stream of consciousness art and browser game created by Winter Lake.
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Authority files
wikidata · Q29831780 · wikipedia · Rat Chaos
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Title — Rat Chaos • Designer — Winter Lake • Engine — Twine • Released — 2012 • Genre — Art game Electronic literature Interactive fiction • Modes — Single-player • Platforms — Browser
Plot
Plot
A spaceship captain chooses between going about their daily routine or "unleashing rat chaos."
Development
Development
While learning the software Twine, author Winter Lake made the game "in a couple hours" on July 18, 2012. Originally, the game was available via Winter Lake's website monster killers. The game disappeared for a number of years with copies only available on saved hard drives. Rock, Paper, Shotgun contributor Robert Yang made it available again on his personal website.
Reception
• Illustration — "Whatever we may have got up to in other branches of this stream-of-consciousness Twine story, New Rat City knows we're not real space adventurers. He knows we're just sitting in front of a computer." In 2012, IndieGames.coms Konstantinos Dimopoulos described Rat Chaos as "weird, sports a really odd use of the English language, will make you both laugh and wonder, features some interesting drawings and was created with Twine." Free Indie Gamess Porpentine said it was "the funniest Twine game I've ever played, and the most human." Interactive fiction (IF) writer Emily Short critiqued it as "a very short Twine piece" that "plays with agency not in the usual ways [...] explores the idea of surface agency as a distraction." In 2013, Rat Chaos character New Rat City won the XYZZY Award for Best Individual NPC in 2012. Jenni Polodna reviewed the character: "New Rat City is a personal statement. New Rat City is a tuning fork for all of our weird-kid mitochondria, which, if you squint, might or might not be covered in little rat faces trying to look normal. This might or might not be how you were able to unleash all that rat chaos." Comics & Gaming Magazines Reid McCarter called it "a surrealist adventure." In 2015, Gamasutra published a preview excerpt chapter, "Rat Chaos by Winter Lake", from the Merritt k-edited book Videogames for Humans. In Videogames for Humans, Rat Chaos was praised by one contributor: "I couldn't have asked for a better or more meaningful or more personally resonant piece to introduce me to Twine than Winter Lake's Rat Chaos." In 2016, Rock, Paper, Shotgun staff ranked it 47th on their list "The 50 Best Free Games On PC" saying "[it's] as odd as a Twine game can get and just as funny, playing with language and mistyping in a way that evokes the weirdest of Weird Twitter."
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Pacian, C.E.J. C.E.J. Pacian on Best Individual NPC 2012. XYZZY Award. WordPress. June 7, 2013.
- 2.Porpentine. rat chaos (j chastain). Free Indie Gam.es. WordPress. August 12, 2012.
- 3.RPS staff. The 50 Best Free Games On PC. Rock Paper Shotgun. October 31, 2016.
- 4.problems, eva. Videogames for Humans. instar books. 23, 31. 2015. 978-0-9904528-4-3.
- 5.problems, eva. A conversation with a Twine game. Gamasutra. UBM plc. May 12, 2015.
- 6.Dimopoulos, Konstantinos. Browser Game Pick: Rat Chaos (j chastain). IndieGames.com. UBM plc. August 12, 2012.
- 7.RPS staff. Live Free, Play Hard: The Week In Free Indie Games. Rock Paper Shotgun. August 12, 2012.
- 8.Short, Emily. Rat Chaos (j chastain). Emily Short's Interactive Storytelling. WordPress. November 8, 2012.
- 9.Plotkin, Andrew. IF News: The XYZZY Awards (and context). IndieGames.com. UBM plc. May 13, 2013.
- 10.Porpentine. PORPENTINE — HOWLING DOGS CONTINUES THE SWEEP. PORPENTINE. Tumblr. May 12, 2013.
- 11.Polodna, Jenni. Jenni Polodna on Best Individual NPC 2012. XYZZY Award. WordPress. June 13, 2013.
- 12.McCarter, Reid. Playing with Words. Comics & Gaming Magazine. Ronald P Frye & Co. June 2013.
References
Citations
References
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Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 20 August 2026.
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