On the Thursday night before the IGF deadline, and after a few drinks, I decided 'fuck everything' and that I would attempt to get at least a trailer finished for the competition after all. I had previously given up and felt pretty awful about the prior month (most of the actual work just involved a couple small games which are neat and some writing). With new motivation, I pulled it all together a little and submitted. Right now this is 'It Clicks'; the name seems to change faster than I can type it.

I'm unsure about the video quality, Youtube - even in HD - isn't quite friendly to it, but it was nice to stake a marker of the game's development into the ground. Indie Statik noticed it and Cactus! It also continued my IGF submitting streak for the third year, so with that in mind I thought it might be interesting to take a look at some of the other games I've entered in the past and whether that might illuminate over two years of making games.

What went wrong:

- A focus on mechanics, AGAIN. I've become increasingly disinterested with game mechanics, at least the traditional forms of them, beyond being a means to an end, and the real lasting appeal of digital attractions for me is in their sustance. By 'substance' I don't mean "hours of content" or even exactly a thematic total but the volume, maybe density, of detail/love/personality/experience/gamestuff/expression/ units of resonance a game contains. Expression might be a good word actually. Often things that have no functional reason to be there. Example! Earthbound & Mother 3 are full of it. The black & the white pixels you can talk to or don't in the desert, that's substance. In Problem Attic, the entire game is built upon distorted memories and methaphor, everything drips substance. In Stephen Lavelle's Missing the world is full of characters despite them all saying the same thing, no they haven't seen your son, and every character is aching substance. It's not necessarily textual either. In Proteus, the standing the stones, the crabs, the owl, the abstact reactive music itself is all substance. So, a fairly ill-defined, nebulous idea so far but an idea all the same. Strange. Funny. Heartrending.

 

Way too much more after the jump...]]>

This was written, a bit more formally than presented here, last year during my Master's at Abertay University, Dundee. I thought with Ludum Dare 26 coming to a close this was an apt time to repost and would love to hear any thoughts.

Suibokuga - Shek Ho (2007)
Abstract
Writing in computer games is often criticised; the narrative of most contemporary mainstream titles is expositional, obvious and largely redundant. I argue that we shouldn't worry about ensuring every player knows perfectly what is happening at every moment. Instead that by leaving purposeful but known gaps and ambiguity we can give a player's imagination room to breathe and engage with the material as they do with the game itself, and thus create stronger expierences.

First we will look at art movements and theories in other media, such as Hemingway’s ‘Iceberg Theory’ and ‘Pure Cinema’, to demonstrate the power minimalist techniques can have. Secondly we apply these minimalist concepts to the allure of ‘retro’ games and explain why many contemporary games such as ‘A Slow Year’ have come to draw on those aesthetics again. Thirdly we look at minimalist techniques which are already pervasive in many modern titles such as the fragmented delivery of ‘Dear Esther’ or the embedded narrative of ‘Amnesia: The Dark Descent’. Finally to conclude the author looks at why such techniques may not always appeal, and why experimental games and fostering audiences for them are vital for the health of the industry.]]>

When I learned of my scholarship I was absolutely thrilled, having been a fervent follower of E3 for over a decade. However none of this could have prepared me in the least for the week I had and everything I took from the experience.  Indeed, it’s certainly hard not to have preconceived notions about this week of publicity, business deals and announcements; from a distance it can appear big, loud and crude. This is far from the whole story. Yes, I was certainly impressed by the bravado and showmanship; choppy video streams do not do the press conferences justice (although I remain less enthused by the ever pervasive dubstep!).

However what really made an impression on me as I came to meet and know so many attendees was a simple, undoubtedly obvious, realisation. E3, and by extension the videogame industry itself, is just people: lots and lots of dedicated, hardworking and interesting people. It was great to get a ticket to E3, but it was fantastic to get a chance to meet and be inspired by so many of those who make up the industry.

Venice Beach near sunset. Lots lots more after the jump!]]>

I've been running game jams in Dundee since December and the biggest to date was the recently finished #molyjam based on the crazy tweets of Peter Molydeux from the 30th of March to the 1st of April. We are totally indebted to the enormous amount of organization that went into this around the world to pull it off at such short notice, and I feel grateful to play a small part in this rolling ball of awesome. Check out the website here with all the games.

I was initially reluctant to play the game, to turn Journey from a mythical idea into a memory, regardless if it would fit the abstract idea I had in my mind or not. As I write this I’m now mere moments from completing the ‘game’; I can still feel my heart in my chest. That Journey has rendered me, someone who exists from minute to minute by subsuming himself under constant idle distractions, quietly mute and thoughtful is quite a feat. Over the next few rambling paragraphs I’ll touch some of thoughts swimming around and attempt to circle what made those two and a half hours special.

Before that I have a post about Journey which I played and was blown away by very recently. I was compelled to write about initial impressions while I was still experiencing a sudden wave of thoughtfulness on finishing. If you want something actually clever and well written I suggest reading Ian Bogost’s thoughts on the game. He looks at it from many angles, but I particularly like his take on the rarity of watching an artist or collection, Thatgamecompany, in games mature and change against a fixed background rather than adapting to evolving technology. Anyway!

This is the second half, about 49 mins, and the first is here.

Listen on soundcloud here. 

This is the first half, about 47 mins, and the second should follow within the week.

Podcast available on soundcloud here.
Or as mp3 here.