alicia astronomo talks>vitalicio: ep1
https://vomitmouth.medium.com/alicia-astronomo-talks-vitalicio-ep1-d2d6e01d68e9
[Author’s note: This is Alicia Astronomo’s recorded reflection on her first video game, VITALICIO, which was created in Microsoft Powerpoint 2007, CapCut, and reprogrammed for online play. She takes the time to discuss the entanglement of technology and art during her upbringing, and the importance of video games, Powerpoint, and projects throughout her life. This article is transcribed directly from the first half of a 30 minute recording on April 10, 2024. No adjustments were made for grammatical correctness, but one note is made.]
It’s 3:35 am, I’ve got three jobs to do today, and all I can think about is VITALICIO.
There’s a lot on my mind. I really wanted to bring up why I created this in the first place, this is something that I’ve been itching to do for a very long time. Um, and just as a contemporary forefront, this game is released in accordance with me throwing out naked art museum and vomitmouth. These are two concepts that I’ve been thinking about for two years?
I’ve been watching myself taking all the information I’ve learned and gathered, and been frustrated that I didn’t know what to do with it, but here I am, and, it– it– it– feels like it’s been a whirlwind but really everything has been so clear at the same time. I’ve always felt like I’ve been floating in this mist, in this cloud, and the word “Myst” I will get back to in a brief moment …
But, um, I pray a lot. I talk to Spirit very often. I use my I Ching relentlessly because making decisions on my own can be … confusing. Whenever I make decisions, sometimes, they’re too rapid, or I know that I’m very passionate about things, and also very obsessive compulsive, um. So I need an outside perspective to kind of weed me out, but it’s also encouraging, y’know.
I’ll get back to the basics now. So, I remember, as a child, video games were pretty much the center of my life, um. It’s how I interacted, really, with my father. My mom really hated video games because they made her dizzy but we would do Playstation Move bowling and, um, we would play chess, um. Me and my family would play cards. I’ve always been really competitive, they also made me very competitive, um, just as a very high achieving student and overall individual. The consoles I remember growing up with start in order from the Sega machine to the Playstation 3 then to the Nintendo DS – Lite? I don’t think it was that, I think it was the regular one. I had the Playstation Move, um, then finally I had the PS4. I did play on a PC as well for games like Webkinz, Howrse (with a “W”), and Animal Jam in particular. It’s really funny that actually, coming full circle, the last game that I actually played was Webkinz. Um, and, I gave my animal pet a, um, a studio apartment with no furniture, so that goes to show from being a child with extremely, like, deluxe everything, um, to bare necessities.
Now, alright, let me explain why “Myst” is so important to me. On the PS3, you could play PS2 games. My dad and I had downloaded “Myst” (with a “Y”). Um, this game really baffled me as a child. It was a point and click adventure game, um, there weren’t really that many animations, for example, if you switched a lever, it would just be like one frame to the next, and like audio. Um, and I loved that. Like you couldn’t really walk around, you just clicked around. Um, and, the plot was between these two brothers, and you, you’re just in this land. You’re in this weird, spooky place, and I love it because it’s just, it’s terrifying. The sound, the audio engineering, plus desolation, and you don’t see anyone in this uncanny valley place. Um, other than, these two brothers which talk to you in video. These are real human beings that recorded themselves and, well, I’ll spoil it. So, in elementary school, our teachers would make these presentations, and they weren’t necessarily through Powerpoint, but it was another program, and they were interactive, like you could do “drag-and-drop” games, you could draw on the board, you could click buttons and make things happen. I loved school presentations. My mom really spoiled me. Any time I had a presentation, y’know those parents that are like, they really want to help! And it’s kinda like their project but we would split it up, because my mom, my mom is the artist of the family. She can do anything. She can, she’s a culinary artist, she is a textile artist, she’s a painter. Um, she’s crafty, she does everything she can to make everything right. She goes out of her way to care. So we would do these school presentations and I actually will say that I, I, in recollection, I learned how to use Powerpoint 2007 through my mother. I would write the script for my presentation and she would create accompanying visuals. And she always, like, timed them. We always did a timed presentation, I never did the clicker, ever. And it was fantastic, y’know. I love giving presentations, I know a lot of people don’t. I love rehearsed things. I love things that I’ve practiced. I love things that I know, I know what I’m doing. If it’s impromptu, I trip up on myself and I’m working on it. Um, I, recently in 2022, I went to Northern Virginia Community College as a Communications major as my first semester ever for school and … my one real Communications class was public speaking and we had to give presentations, and I remember creating a timed presentation, um, I think it was on Powerpoint actually, because since I had a school account, but I didn’t touch it in some time and y’know, doing the timed animations again, it, it snapped me back to my childhood. Going back to my childhood. And now, in relation to Myst! Since I was so fascinated by this game, I wanted to create my own version of it. Um, and so, I did basically steal this entire concept of waking up in a weird place and you’re trying to figure out what to do and where to go and I’m like, building the world out of the shapes and the textures that Powerpoint had. I was really into like, clip art, I was also a big, big Ratchet and Clank geek and I remember outside of this presentation, just like making, essentially, like fan-fiction and lore through Powerpoint. I remember even trying to create a fake version of the desktop where you could open up, um, a web browser and you could go in your email, and I really wanted to, like, make a keyboard and have nearly every option of words that you could type in sentences, but of course, y’know, I was like eight years old. Um, I did, I do think I actually had like finished the game, but I didn’t really understand how to efficiently hyperlink anything, so all my links were broken and it was unplayable after a certain point.
Last year, I really had been wanting to make … VITALICIO. VITALI– [I struggle with word pronunciation sometimes and will make strange stutter sounds] I want to say it correctly because this is Spanish for “for life”. I’m still learning. I love the concept of learning and inheriting other languages because you can think differently, you’re expanding your mind, you are becoming a different part of yourself that you didn’t even know you had. Of course, this game, sadly, does not have any … non-English components as of yet, but, my goal is for all my art, um, to become translatable at a certain point. I want to make this inclusive. I know it will take a long time to get everything I’ve done but I know it’s worth it. I think that it’s worthwhile and I want this to be accessible.
Um, so, also, alright, let me run this back. Accessibility: the game being made through Powerpoint is my testament that anything can be done with the tools you have. Um, eventually I’d like to ascend to knowing how to program and code and use Unity and use Blender and even for the concept of naked art museum I want better softwares, um, but I’m mastering what I’ve known and what I have. This concept came to me about like last year, like really hard, I really wanted to go back to what I had done in childhood. I needed to connect to my inner child. I feel as though I have a giant gap, um, between me and my childhood, and that’s my teenage years, but really of course, it’s all the same, and I’m still the same person no matter what, and even me at four years old I can see why I did the things I did and why I’m here now, ‘cause it’s all there; but I need to connect to the root, like, where did all my love for art come from? I’ve – my first thing I ever really did was illustrate and write stories. I would just make books all the time as a kid, so, for me, transforming 2D into 3D into 4D is super intense and important. Um, I guess I’ve also mentioned that as a kid, really, the highlight of my life were these games like GTA V, and Free Realms, Playstation Home, just places I could get lost in. Places where I create an avatar and I can connect with people around the world where I’m literally keeping on my headset and taking a shit because I don’t want to leave the game, I don’t want to leave my friends, I could be here forever. I find that games are a special companion. And because of that, I really wanted – last year, my brain told me that I really wanted to make a game that was a companion because I’ve always felt that way about games. Um, I really wanted something where, someone, y’know, people that know me, or strangers in the present day or in the future, they pick this up and they go, “That’s, that’s Alicia, like this is a person encapsulated in time. This is her diary entry,” and really, diary entries are the basis and the foundation of my whole artistic practice.
[Author’s note: If you are interested in playing VITALICIO online, you can access it via a monthly subscription of $10 by following this link. You will receive email notifications as updates are made.
At the end of 2024, Alicia Astronomo will compile all vomitmouth articles from the year into print publications and distribute these magazines across Baltimore, MD, and other art communities.
If you would like to support vomitmouth’s production, donations are accepted. All donations go towards funding the physical magazine.
To donate or contact, please direct all inquiries to nakedartmuseum@gmail.com.
