DUMP Doom Simulator integrates 46 digital assets scanned from artworks held in. These works represent pieces that artists in London could no longer save due to storage and the pressures of the cost of living crisis. Set in a speculative future — a desolate world devoid of observable life — players navigate a landscape that blurs the lines between prehistory and post-apocalypse. In this imagined planet, the ruins of these artworks are scattered, awaiting recovery by the players.DUMP Doom Simulator examines the archive as a construct shaped by acts of preservation, recovery, and reinterpretation. The project reflects on the shifting value of cultural artefacts where material records have been eroded, framing preservation as a dynamic rather than static process. By addressing the ecological concerns of art production and the environmental cost of archival practices, the work critiques the art world’s entanglement with systems of excess and scarcity. Amplified by its open-source format, the game democratises access to these materials and reimagines ownership as collective and participatory. In doing so, it transforms the archive into a site of ongoing interaction, re-engagement, and critical reflection.
DUMP Doom Simulator Credit
Lead artists, Creative Director, Concept: DUMP (aka Li Yu and Chaney Manshu Diao)
Game Design and Unreal Development: Yiyang Lu
Game UI/UX and Gameplay Programmer: Jingyi Yu
Score by: I. Nakhla
Artwork Digitalisation and Studio reconstruction: Li Yu
Special thanks to Freddie Sanders for his creative input during the project’s early development.
Special thanks to Qianlan Wang for her advice on UE environment.
Project Consultant:
Project Consultant: Samuel Capps
Project Management Advisor: Anastasia Sakoilska
Other Contributor(s):
Text-editing: Kate Towsey
DUMP Doom Simulator features 46 artworks from: Anders Aarvik, AC Larsen, Andres Ricklin, ATHENA Mothership, Billy Sassi, Brandy Flakes, Caroline Meyer, Christine Chua, Clark Keatley, Dandy-Day Heffernan, Dou Dou, Ella Woodcock, Flora Hunt, Hannah Imhoff, Harry Smithson, Henryk Terpilowski, Iris Su, Isabelle Pead, Jack Milner, Li Mei, Josh Philpott, Julia Troscher, Juliet Baker, Juliusz Grabianski, Ksenia Ilina, Lei Wang, Lorenzo Bucci, Louie Thornton, Margaux Halloran, MIMI, Narthan Davies, Odie-Grace Urum-Kalu, Paulo Assuncao Vieira Peixoto, Peiting Huang, Richard Matthews, Rosie Harris, Saki, Sam Ge, Sara Christova, Sid and Jim (aka Sid Smith and Jim Bicknell-Knight), Soohyun Kim, Wenxuan Chen, Yasmin Noorbakhsh, Yijue Zeng, Yuecen Wang, and Yuying Huang.
This project is funded by Arts Council England National Lottery Project Fund. Thank you to Arts Council England for your kind support and your trust in us.
