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Te Tuhi Video Game Machine is an interactive exhibition that turns pictures drawn by gallery visitors into video games, which can be played immediately.

Created by Wellington-based artist Douglas Bagnall, the machine can be played by children and adults of all ages. It tends to make 2D, birds eye view games involving pursuit, consumption, evasion and occasionally shooting. Almost any picture can be turned into a game, but, warns Bagnall, “some will be boring or unplayable”.

Creating a game is simple.

Visitors to the gallery draw a picture (on paper) of the game they want to play. They put the picture on top of the machine, which takes a photo. After a few seconds, the computer describes the game, explaining the rules and what role each piece has. Some games have magic food in them that alters the rules of the game as it is played. You have to pay attention to these instructions, because the game might not turn out as expected—for example, a figure you drew to be a helpful ally might turn out to be a nasty monster, or vice versa. Those who drew pictures were encouraged to stick them to the wall after the game.

Te Tuhi Video Game Machine was built for, and exhibited at, Te Tuhi Centre for the Arts, in Manukau City, New Zealand between November 2007 and February 2008. It was a hugely popular with children and adults, and the exhibition at the Film Archive is scheduled for the school holidays.

Douglas Bagnall has made a number of digital artworks that dispense with human labour.

A Film-Making Robot (2004) made it’s own films. Filming video footage from the front of two Wellington buses, Bagnalls robot/computer programme broke the images into separate frames. It then re-edited the material according to principles of colour, line and shape.

Cloud Shape Classifier (2006) filmed images of the sky which were relayed to screens in a gallery. Visitors pressed a button to choose their preferred cloud, thus educating the machine on the desired characteristics in the search for the perfect cloud.

The program was written by Douglas Bagnall and is available under the Gnu General Public License. Another page describes the how to download, install, and perhaps contribute to the code.