Uploaded November 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
September Hofmann interviews Malizma about his October 2022 Line Rider track, Gamification. Watch it here: youtube.com/watch?v=_9nt64t3Ob4
Highlights:
- Coding in Line Rider
- Approaching Line Rider from a puzzle-solving perspective
- Why a blank sheet of paper is a game engine
Read a transcription this interview in article form (edited for concision and clarity): lineriderreview.substack.com/p/interview-malizma-gamification
Outside the Lines: A Line Rider Podcast is an interview series where September Hofmann interviews fellow Line Rider creators about their Line Rider creations, exploring a unique angle on what it means to make art and to be a person in the world. Listen to September Hofmann talk to a wide variety of interesting people and exploring deep dives on the creation process of specific works within an otherwise obscure art medium. Find it wherever you listen to podcasts, or on its Anchor Page: https://anchor.fm/outsidethelines/
Support Line Rider Review and the Line Rider Artists Collective on Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/lineriderreview
Line Rider Review Monthly Roundup newsletter: lineriderreview.substack.com
Apply to Join the Line Rider Artists Collective: goo.gl/forms/RN1xWPzcjgkx5UI03
Malizma YouTube channel: @Malizma333
Ava Hofmann YouTube channel: @Ava_Hofmann
Theme music by Nouveau Life™: tigerbloodtapes.bandcamp.com/track/--105
Edited and produced by Bevibel Harvey. Interview conducted on March 21, 2023.
Table of Contents:
00:00 - Intro
01:52 - What is Gamification?
03:25 - Creation Process
20:55 - Technical Aspects of Line Rider
29:35 - Games
37:28 - Music Synchronization
43:29 - Color
47:07 - Line Rider Meta-Commentary
54:24 - The Future
57:33 - Outro
September Hofmann interviews Malizma about his October 2022 Line Rider track, Gamification. Watch it here: youtube.com/watch?v=_9nt64t3Ob4
Highlights:
- Coding in Line Rider
- Approaching Line Rider from a puzzle-solving perspective
- Why a blank sheet of paper is a game engine
Read a transcription this interview in article form (edited for concision and clarity): lineriderreview.substack.com/p/interview-malizma-gamification
Outside the Lines: A Line Rider Podcast is an interview series where September Hofmann interviews fellow Line Rider creators about their Line Rider creations, exploring a unique angle on what it means to make art and to be a person in the world. Listen to September Hofmann talk to a wide variety of interesting people and exploring deep dives on the creation process of specific works within an otherwise obscure art medium. Find it wherever you listen to podcasts, or on its Anchor Page: https://anchor.fm/outsidethelines/
Support Line Rider Review and the Line Rider Artists Collective on Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/lineriderreview
Line Rider Review Monthly Roundup newsletter: lineriderreview.substack.com
Apply to Join the Line Rider Artists Collective: goo.gl/forms/RN1xWPzcjgkx5UI03
Malizma YouTube channel: @Malizma333
Ava Hofmann YouTube channel: @Ava_Hofmann
Theme music by Nouveau Life™: tigerbloodtapes.bandcamp.com/track/--105
Edited and produced by Bevibel Harvey. Interview conducted on March 21, 2023.
Table of Contents:
00:00 - Intro
01:52 - What is Gamification?
03:25 - Creation Process
20:55 - Technical Aspects of Line Rider
29:35 - Games
37:28 - Music Synchronization
43:29 - Color
47:07 - Line Rider Meta-Commentary
54:24 - The Future
57:33 - Outro
![A History of Line Rider [Lecture]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/n_kwIPDWSO8/mqdefault.jpg "A History of Line Rider [Lecture]
Lecture starts at 2:21 / Q&A at 56:10 / Turn on subtitles!!!!
Lecture at Match Gallery Line Rider exhibition in Ljubljana, Slovenia, March 21, 2019. Full description below.
Lecture also given on March 23, 2019: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v i5v7vCdlKk
(Video is unlisted - audio quality is better, but I wasnt as happy with the delivery of the lecture. The Q&A features creators Hanuman and Anton presenting Boštjan with a gift from the community, so please do feel free to check that out.)
A History of Line Rider
13 years of a niche subculture at the intersection of art and gaming
Award-winning internet phenomenon Line Rider, which began in 2006 as a flash “toy” uploaded to DeviantArt by university student Boštjan Čadež, may have faded into relative obscurity by 2010, but a small but dedicated internet community continued probing the possibilities of this open-ended sandbox game for years. From lush landscapes drawn by hand, to advanced animation tools, to detailed analysis of the physics engine, the endless possibilities of the blank canvas have been explored beyond what anyone could have imagined. Line Rider aficionado Ben Harvey, A.K.A. Rabid Squirrel, will take us through more than a decade of Line Rider history, philosophy, and culture. Now that new viral works have brought Line Rider back into the cultural spotlight, what can we learn about art, gaming, and online communities from studying the history of the Line Rider subculture?
Ben Harvey, A.K.A. Rabid Squirrel, is a multimedia artist and designer who has been creating things in Line Rider since 2007. They ran the Line Rider community hub We Ride The Lines from 2008 to 2016, and have directed and produced numerous community events and projects. They have long been one of the most prominent curators and one of the foremost critical voices in Line Rider, known for analyzing Line Rider works from an artistic perspective and for creating and maintaining the Line Rider Archival Project. Following the viral success of their 51-minute track This Will Destroy You, they became the first Line Rider creator to freelance in paid commissions, as well as creating the video essay “Line Rider: The Gamification of an Art Medium”
Line Rider and the Gamification of an Art Medium: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJP1lXzm7-c
Rabid Squirrels YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/rabidsquirrel117
Rabid Squirrels Website: http://www.benjaminharveydesign.com/
Rabid Squirrels Twitter: https://twitter.com/baharv89
Rabid Squirrels Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/rabidsquirrel
#linerider")
