Photos: Mike Huguenor Launches SURFING THE WEB WITH THE ALIEN: THE GAME
The game accompanies Huguenor's all-guitar solo album, marking his debut as a DIY game developer.
Mike Huguenor, known for his distinct guitar tone and riffsmanship in Jeff Rosenstock's band and projects like Hard Girls and Shinobu, today launches Surfing the Web With the Alien: The Game, a retro side-scrolling companion game to his 2025 sophomore solo album of the same name. Out now on PC via Steam, as well as hand-assembled limited edition Game Boy cartridges, the game marks Huguenor's debut as a DIY game developer and arrives in celebration of the album's one-year anniversary.
Following this summer's launch of his imprint Infinite Baffle Records and the release of Surfing the Web With the Alien: 8-Bit, a full 8-bit recreation of the album, Huguenor now brings the project into its most interactive form yet. Surfing the Web With the Alien: The Game turns each of the album's tracks into a playable level, culminating in a rhythm-game finale where players take the stage for the climactic show.
'This release is a little like a show for me, the performance after all the practice and prep when you get to finally give it to an audience,' Huguenor says. 'The whole development process kind of mirrored the game itself: it was full of unexpected twists and turns, but was always headed towards the show at the end. I'm very excited for everyone to be able to experience it! It's been a journey.'
Huguenor developed the game himself while writing his literary debut, Elvis is Dead, I'm Still Alive: The Story of Asian Man Records, and touring with Jeff Rosenstock. Though he had built HTML websites around the year 2000, Surfing the Web With the Alien: The Game marks his first true programming project. Like his work as a guitarist, songwriter, and longtime fixture of the punk and indie underground, the game was built through curiosity, experimentation, and a deeply DIY approach to learning by making.
A love letter to both rock music and gaming history, Surfing the Web With the Alien: The Game follows a musician protagonist on a quest to put on an unforgettable performance. Drawing from Huguenor's own experiences of life on tour, the game turns the unpredictable rhythms of van life into a series of playful, surreal challenges: guitars break during load-in, strange detours pile up, and supernatural threats can only be defeated with the power of rock and roll.
Each level pulls inspiration from some of Huguenor's favorite video games, with references ranging from Castlevania and EarthBound to skateboarding games and Frogger-esque challenges. Across the game, the structure mirrors the strange momentum of touring itself: one obstacle gives way to the next, plans fall apart and reassemble, and the fantasy of the perfect show remains just within reach.
That sense of surprise is central to the project. By adapting Surfing the Web With the Alien across album, 8-bit soundtrack, and playable game, Huguenor expands the record into a new narrative format, treating game development as another way to build a world around the music.
Surfing the Web With the Alien: The Game is out now on PC via Steam, as well as limited edition Game Boy cartridges. For more information, visit infinitebaffle.net.
About Mike Huguenor
A guitar virtuoso whose storied career in indie-rock and punk encompasses two of his own bands (Hard Girls and Shinobu), playing in Jeff Rosenstock's band, and too many other projects to name, Mike Huguenor lives to push the limits of what six strings can sound like. Grounded in San Jose, CA, but more than likely to be found touring nationwide, Huguenor is currently in the process of pioneering a genre he calls 'new guitar pop,' referential of rock anthems he grew up loving but informed equally by his everlasting faith in the untapped potential of guitar-playing itself. Follow Mike Huguenor on Instagram and BlueSky.
