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HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Local artists are bringing together art, games, and technology. The owners of Pelta Games say their studio focuses on: “Play is Art and Art is Play.”

Robin Luft-Kite and Thomas Kite are the owners of Pelta Games. They moved from Panama City, Florida to Huntsville in the past year. After Hurricane Michael destroyed their studio, they say they decided to move to the Rocket City “because of the vitality in the Arts.”

“Lowe Mill is actually the largest, private arts and entertainment center in the United States,” says Robin. “And it has close to 200 artists and we thought, wow.”

The two artists create, design, and produce everything within the games in their studio.

“This board was cut out on a laser,” says Thomas. “This is acrylic. And before that, it was printed with UV printing which is a process. We do all this stuff ourselves.”

Thomas says how they design games is backwards. “Art drives the game. It’s totally backwards,” says Thomas. “We design something, an image or an object and then it’s like… okay, is this something that could be a game?”

He describes that sometimes, a design wasn’t originally intended to become a game. “This is a design that didn’t know it wanted to be a game, but then sooner or later you look at it and you start to see things,” says Keith. Those “things” create memories and experiences for those who play. The Kites say that’s the most important part of what they do.

“This is not obvious,” says Robin. “You have to actually experience it.”

The studio of Pelta Games opened up in June 2019 at Studio 1063 in Lowe Mill Arts and Entertainment as an experimental arts and games space. On Saturdays, they invite people to “play test” games, check out art, and talk about both.

The first game they released is called PeltaPeeps. The game was selected to participate in the MENSA Mind Games 2018 competition in Denver. A few other games you can test out in the studio are PeltaWorld One and PeltaTess. PeltaDrone is currently in production.

The free game events are from 12:00 p.m. until 3:00 p.m. on Saturdays at Studio 1063 in Lowe Mills Arts and Entertainment. They give away free t-shirts, pins, or game art to the winner of each game… Good luck!