Pippin Barr (previously at BB) makes bizarre and insightful art games that yet fun (though often frustrating) to play. We Make Money Not Art interviewed him about his work.
Something I admire really in your work is that your first concern is not about the player laughing and having a particularly pleasant experience. For example, I love It is as if you were doing work as much as I hate it because it's an irritating game to play. I had to stop before finishing the session because I was getting a bit angry at the constant pop-up and at the requests to write yet another email. Can you say something about the playability of the game?
When I think of a game, I don't set out to create a frustrating or challenging experience. I think of an idea first. Maybe something that amuses me in the shower or while I'm walking down the street… anything that makes me laugh for a moment. For example, a game where literally all that you do is interact with standard user interface elements. The very first genesis of the idea was that it would be a game with a slider that you move up and down to different settings and it would just tell you to set the slider to nine and you would do it and then you would get points or something and then that would be it, that would be the game. You get a standard user interface interaction and I ask you to play it. It is like the minimal sense of what a game can be.
