Go There

A game that asks you to go from Point A to Point B, but is actually designed for the players who do the complete opposite.

An original Ludagon title developed for the CanDev Digital Dissent Showcase in November 2026

Play it for free at the National Film and Sound Archive in Canberra during November 7-8 and 14-15 during the Digital Dissent showcase.

Ricky’s story

Go There began as a response to an open call from CanDev for interactive works exploring the theme of “Dissent”, as part of the 2026 Craft + Design Canberra Festival. Go There was selected along with six other games as part of this commission, co-curated with the support of the National Film and Sound Archive’s curators.

My main train of thought was “How do you design a game for players who dissent from the game’s core instructions?”

The player is given a clearly outlined path to follow in an urban setting, and one simple instruction to go there. Being a videogame, ultimate control and direction rests with the player.

Go There is designed to be played with and disobeyed, but that is never stated explicitly in any of its presentation. Instead, the wealth of mini-distractions and delights in each level sit quietly awaiting the players who actively deviate from the purpose of the game. If the level tells you to walk to the upper right, you could walk left instead and discover a soccer game to join!

The game quietly tracks how closely players follow the “Correct Path” and how much of the wider world they explore. The game itself tries to encourage the player to follow the path, and gets irritated by players who stray.

One of the eight selectable player characters uses a wheelchair, and in one of the game stages the “Correct Path” goes up a staircase. I designed this deliberately to give players a small taste of the frustration created when urban design exludes the very people it is supposed to serve.