a videogames site for everybody else

The Forest Ambassador project is about highlighting unusual and interesting work in videogames that tends to fall through the cracks. Whether it's because they're short, 'unpolished', or don't look like what we typically think of as 'videogames', these works don't often get spotlighted by games media, who tend to focus on larger, commercial releases. Forest Ambassador's goal is to raise the profile of these kinds of games and interactive media, and to curate a selection of games that are accessible to audiences who might not have an interest in or history with videogames.

Forest Ambassador is about strange, unexpected kinds of games: games that aren't products, artgames, artist's games, outsider games, interactive fiction, playful digital toys, and more. We're about the castoffs, the runaways, the cute ideas, the proofs-of-concept, the fleeting engagements. We believe in using games and play for a wide range of purposes beyond time-killers and comfortable entertainment.

We reject videogames culture's focus on hype and the new. In the place of a constant firehose of information, we present four games a week, with the notion that it is possible for a person on a busy schedule to play everything we post. Each game is presented with minimal editorial information -- we prefer to let these works speak for themselves. And rather than collect games by genre, we sort them by the mood they evoke.

Forest Ambassador is a videogames site for anyone who is excited or even simply curious about the possibilities of digital play, but feels excluded, intimidated, or put off by videogames culture.

Woodland Secrets is a sister podcast that extends the Forest Ambassador mission by bringing the works we curate into conversation with a wide range of guests. Rather than a group of specialists talking about the technical aspects of the work, the podcast uses each week's games as catalysts for broader discussions with interesting people about storytelling, relationships, communities, and more. Hosted by Forest Ambassador founder merritt kopas and featuring guests ranging from artists and authors to porn producers and professors, Woodland Secrets is a unique conversational podcast about play in an expansive sense.

By supporting the Forest Ambassador project, you enable the maintenance and expansion of the site and podcast. Past support has allowed for features like mood-based tagging of games, as well as provided funds to purchase equipment like a professional-level microphone and to pay a podcast producer, greatly improving the quality of the listening experience. Your future support will help us maintain the podcast and site and will allow for additional features such as podcast transcription, site upgrades, and live shows/game installations.