Everything is Going to Be OK

Lore & Background

Everything is Going to Be OK was conceived by California-based independent developer Nathalie Lawhead as a 'cathartic' expression of a 'collection of very abstract life experiences, things I felt while going through hard times, and how I felt, or moved on afterward'. The work aims to open a 'discussion about alternative views of power from a survivor's standpoint'. Lawhead developed the work over one year of 'non-stop, completely focused development' following the completion and showcase of their prior work, Tetrageddon Games, at IndieCade in October 2016. The work was created using self-made tools, with individual pages 'built from the ground up'.

The work is a non-linear interactive work interspersed between a series of individual animations, games, 'silly artistic tools (and) cryptic toys' accessed by the player in separate windows. The sections revolve around the experiences of a cartoon bunny and similar characters who are subject to existential angst and comic violence. Players navigate between sections by selecting icons in a user interface imitative of an operating system. Several interactions blur the line between the player's computer and the work's user interface, with some sections allowing the player to export files locally or connect to the player's Twitter account.

Following release, Lawhead showcased the game at Double Fine's Day of the Devs event in November 2017, prompting a discussion from Lawhead and media publications about the challenges of publishing and exhibiting experimental or art games and the risks of online harassment relating to streaming of these works. Lawhead stated they received harassment following publication, including in response to their discussion of the reception of the work at that event. From September 2022 to July 2023, Everything is Going to Be OK was showcased at the New York Museum of Modern Art as part of the exhibition Never Alone: Video Games and Other Interactive Design.

Reader's Guide

Everything is Going to Be OK is significant as a prominent example of an interactive zine that uses non-linear, collage-like digital art to address themes of trauma, survival, and victimhood. Its reception highlighted how humor can humanize difficult experiences, with critics praising its ability to 'flip the script on the victim narrative' and explore the 'quiet dignity of simply coping with pain'. The work also sparked important discussions about the challenges faced by developers of experimental or art games, particularly regarding exhibition at mainstream events and the risks of online harassment from streaming culture. Lawhead's posts about the hostility encountered at Day of the Devs led to broader commentary on the need to 'carve out the space and understanding' for such works and the influence of streaming culture on audience behavior. The work's inclusion in the Museum of Modern Art's exhibition Never Alone further cemented its status as a piece of interactive design worthy of institutional recognition. Its awards—including the IndieCade Innovation in Interaction Design award and the A-MAZE Digital Moment Award—underscore its impact on the indie game and digital art communities.

Did You Know?

• Lawhead described the work as 'closest to a zine' because it consists of 'pieces of personal writing and abstract cut-together imagery to convey a theme'.
• The work's visual style uses distorted archival stock images that are 'cut out, magnified and layered' to create a 'pixelated, glitch-y effect'.
• Lawhead cited the games Oikospiel by David Kanaga and Problem Attic by Liz Ryerson as inspirations for the vignette approach.
• The work was showcased at the New York Museum of Modern Art from September 2022 to July 2023 as part of the exhibition Never Alone: Video Games and Other Interactive Design.

Creative Vision and Personal Catharsis

Nathalie Lawhead, working under the pseudonym alienmelon, conceived Everything is Going to Be OK as a personal act of creative processing. Based in California, Lawhead described the project as a cathartic outlet for abstract life experiences—feelings that surfaced during difficult periods and the ways of moving past them. The work was designed to open a conversation about power from a survivor's perspective, aiming to strip away the veil of shame surrounding survivors and to normalize discussions of victimhood in creative literature. Lawhead wanted to explore works that provoke discomfort and vulnerability, that acknowledge brokenness, and that confront the possibility that some situations simply cannot be won. Following the showcase of their earlier project Tetrageddon Games at IndieCade in October 2016, Lawhead devoted a full year of focused development to this piece, building every page from the ground up with self-made tools. The result was deliberately framed not as a conventional video game but as an interactive zine—a collage of personal writing and abstract imagery arranged as vignettes, drawing on the work of David Kanaga and Liz Ryerson as well as the aesthetics of early net art and operating-system interfaces.

Interactive Design and Blurred Boundaries

Everything is Going to Be OK unfolds as a non-linear collection of vignettes, each housed in its own window and accessed through a user interface that imitates a desktop operating system. The sections feature a cartoon bunny and similar characters navigating existential angst and comic violence, with many passages functioning as interactive fiction where players select dialogue choices to advance the narrative. Lawhead described the individual components as a mix of animations, small games, and what they called silly artistic tools and cryptic toys. A defining feature of the work is its tendency to blur the boundary between the player's actual computer and the piece's simulated environment. Certain sections allow the player to export files directly to their local machine, while others connect to the player's Twitter account, pulling the real-world digital identity into the artwork. Visually, the piece employs a collage aesthetic built from distorted archival stock images that are cut out, magnified, and layered until they resemble something else entirely, with custom shaders producing a pixelated, glitch-like effect. Lawhead cited the almost alien quality of early computer interfaces as a source of inspiration, noting that their unfamiliar design evoked a fever-dream feeling and allowed the work to subvert what audiences expect from a computer screen.

Critical Acclaim and Institutional Recognition

Upon its 2017 release, Everything is Going to Be OK drew widespread praise from major publications, with reviewers consistently highlighting the work's use of humor to humanize experiences of trauma and victimhood. Jess Joho of Mashable praised the piece's intimate, grounding humanity and its ability to transcend pain in an abstract, humorous register, flipping the script on the victim narrative in delightfully unexpected ways. Jay Allen of PC Gamer emphasized how the work draws the player into its lived experience, inviting them to understand and sit with its pain, and highlighted its exploration of the quiet dignity of simply coping. Julie Muncy of Wired called it a compelling and potent portrait of living with trauma, noting that the deliberately crude visual design was meant to elicit discomfort and push exploration beyond mere unease. IGN nominated the work for Most Innovative Game in its Best of 2017 Awards, describing it as simultaneously funny, crude, gruesome, somber, and human. The piece also collected awards and nominations at the Independent Games Festival, IndieCade, and A-MAZE. In a significant institutional milestone, the New York Museum of Modern Art showcased the work from September 2022 through July 2023 as part of its exhibition Never Alone: Video Games and Other Interactive Design.

Harassment and the Fight for Experimental Space

Following its release, Everything is Going to Be OK became a flashpoint in a broader debate about where experimental and art-oriented games fit within the gaming landscape. In November 2017, Lawhead presented the work at Double Fine's Day of the Devs event, an appearance that sparked a wider discussion among the artist and media outlets about the challenges of publishing and exhibiting non-traditional games, as well as the risks of online harassment tied to livestreaming culture. Lawhead recounted that the work was met with hostility at the event, with younger visitors dismissing it as weird in what they described as pretty rude terms. In a post written after the experience, Lawhead suggested that this ridicule reflected a broader antagonistic and reactionary trend against alternative games, a trend they argued was amplified by the dynamics of video game livestreaming. The episode underscored what Lawhead saw as an urgent need to carve out space and understanding for these kinds of works at industry events and online, pushing back against a culture that often rewards only conventional, easily consumable entertainment.

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