A performance art piece by Tony Heaton - reimagined as a retro arcade throwback.

Now playable in browser!
Press the ‘fullscreen’ arrows on the bottom right corner of the player for best effect.

Shaken Not Stirred: The Video Game

In the UK in 1990 and 1992, campaigners for disability rights gathered to protest Telethon, a televised charity drive. It depicted the disabled as passive, pitiful recipients of care rather than people with autonomy and freedom. The protest was called Block Telethon.

Tony Heaton put together a performance art piece called Shaken Not Stirred as part of Block Telethon. Tony smashed a pyramid of charity cans with a prosthetic leg - symbolising breaking the hierarchy that disabled people suffered under. Commissioned by Shape Arts for NDMAC and developed by Harry Bushell, this game recreates Shaken Not Stirred so that you can experience the performance anew.

Designed with accessibility in mind, the game features an assisted mode for those with slower reaction times & motor functions, as well as a font-swapper which switches the game’s 8-bit font to OpenDyslexic - a Dyslexia-friendly font. Many audio cues were recorded and composed to make the game more playable to those with vision impairments, and the visuals were run through several CVD colour-blindness filters and tweaked for the greatest legibility. NDMAC will also feature a wheelchair-friendly physical arcade cabinet of Shaken Not Stirred: the video game

Download Desktop/Arcade versions
Maximise your shot's strength and accuracy to raise your score and cause mass mayhem!
The gallery is filled with bystanders, journalists, fellow protestors and British MP's looking for photo ops. Give them a story worth writing about!
Extra score is provided for the objects struck by the scattered cans, as well as the sheer distance the player manages to throw the prosthetic leg.
Points are awarded for every other one of Tony Heaton's artwork struck by stray shaker cans - as well as the satisfaction of seeing them collapse out of their fixtures.
Bonus points are awarded for bystanders struck by stray cans - as well as a score multiplier. A KO'd nameless British politician doubles the score here.
Scattered cans, collapsed sculptures and KO'd journalists. A successful run of Shaken Not Stirred.
Each shaker can is an independent physics object - adding the modern-gen physics capabilities of Unity engine to classic design principles of old arcade bowling games.
With 3D models and animation from Benjamin Caulfield - watch the irreverent spirit of a 30+ year old piece of performance art come to life through the lens of a quirky love letter to arcade games of the time.
The game features a Gallery Mode in which players can get up-close looks at Ben Caulfield's detailed models and learn about the real-life works of Heaton they represent.
Players charge up their shots with an initial button mashing minigame - adjustable for accessibility - using the space and arrow keys/WASD
After the button masher - players must carefully line up their shot with two well-timed button presses!
Originally designed to be played on a bespoke art cabinet - players can also download the arcade version with original button prompts via itch.

Credits

Design and Development: Harry Bushell

Graphics, SFX & Design: Liam Hevey

3D Artist: Benjamin Caulfield

Voice: Sam Stafford

Music: Blake Day

Commissioned and published by Shape Arts as part of NDMAC