Welcome to the beginnings
What is this? It is a series of words which I will use to cover 5 topics that interest me throughout the week. These will mostly be game related but not always.
I’ve been inspired by the likes of moshboy to try and give back to a community that is constantly filled to bursting with creativity. Thus begins a tradition of 5 topics a week of varying length, relevance, and precision. To begin with I’ll be talking about a game
I’ve had something of a tradition for a long time of playing a short little game at least once a week if I can. The past week, the ludum dare results came out and I always like to play through the top games from the jam.
One of these games I played was Lonk’s greedy adventure which got 3rd overall. This is a 2D platform that takes inspiration from Zelda in terms of its theme. The player is tasked with rescuing a princess, and along the way they can gain items to help them along.
What I found interesting about this game was how it’s metroidvania-esque framework is used, in the sense that getting items is optional, and choosing which items you get change the direction the game takes (in the form of multiple endings). It made for a few funny moments and piqued my curiosity.
The controls were fine. It was serviceable to the game and its purposes, but I wasn’t thrilled in the platforming sections which makes me feel as though its lacking something to support those aspects better.
The level design is the standout here. This part also makes me relax a little on my judgement on the controls because the items you earn can change the way the player controls. Javicepa did a great job here, making the paths feel natural and flow into one another.
Good funny game, worth a play : 7/10
Video Games by @bastienre4 and @pizzatotino
Video games is another ludum dare game that took 3rd place in the jam category. This is a rather simple game, there are multiple mini games that share the same controls. However, the twist is that multiple of these games can show up once, forcing the player to consider which game takes priority in terms of what needs to be done with the controls on the fly.
I have a love\hate relationship with these types of games. In principle they are fun, simply due to the fact that they stretch my management abilities to the limit. This game does that well, it introduces a few concepts early and sticks with those. This alleviates one of my problems simply being having new mini games thrown at you and having to learn it while managing other games. You know at all times what all the mini games are.
However, this game still has another issue I have with these games which is simply just their simplicity. It’s inherent to the format of the game, having multiple games handled at once means what is asked in each individual game must be pretty light. I like surprises in my games and these types of games don’t tend to surprise me by nature.
That being said, this game was well executed. The art style and atmosphere of it was nice. Having the high score board inside the game itself was a nice touch, I was constantly considering my own placement on the board as I played, rather than as an afterthought from seeing the leader boards after the game ends.
I don’t have much else to say, this game was fine : 5/10
Embuscade is a short horror experience with an very well done visual style. Basically this gist of it is you walk around this world and you constantly have to eat as you are always going hungry.
This game fell a little flat in terms of mechanics, since all you can do in this game is walk around and eat. This makes a very flat experience, you are either moving forward or looking for food. However, this game resolves itself through a little twist of perspective at the end of the game which was amusing and thematically relevant. This, while also taking into account the shortness of the game, makes the mechanics tolerable.
The art style is also worth mentioning. Maxparata makes excellent use of voxels, creating a simplistic, somewhat abstracted world. On top of this, more detailed models are mixed in, to flesh out aspects of the world that require more fine grain. The animation is also quite well done, smooth.
I’m very impressed that this was their first game : 6/10
Let’s plays vs playing the game
A couple days ago, Nathalie Lawhead brought up the topic of watching people playing a game vs actually playing the game and the differences between the two. Thinking about it, I thought this was an interesting topic so I thought I’d chime in with my thoughts here.
Games are not complete until someone is playing the game. Otherwise its just a pile of rules that have no context. The feelings felt, during playing, are the context.
“Why is this rule about health here?”
“So that someone feel anxious about losing life.”
“Oh.”
This brings us to the idea that a game gets its meaning when there’s someone playing it.
When watching a game, you get meaning not from yourself, but through the person playing the game and the energy they feel playing the game. This creates an experience guided by another, where as playing a game is an experience guided by your own being. It’s much more intimate.
However, in that intimacy there are certain things that get glossed over due to the fact that the focus is generally on what the player is curious about. Where as by watching someone you can ease your focus to be more fuzzy and on different aspects that don’t directly relate to the gameplay.
Basically, I think that the difference between Lets plays and playing the game is a factor of focus on certain aspects and the ability to direct the experience. The experience can still be meaningful either way, as anyone who sat beside a friend play a game can attest to, but they are fundamentally different. Do not assume by watching a game, you understand it.
Expression in games
Something I’ve thought about for a very long time is the concept of expression of self through making a game. Spontaneity of ones inner being coming through a game. This is something easier to parse in other medium such as art and music, where decisions can be made on the fly and tried out easily, where as with games a decision takes a while to be felt and evaluated.
This does not mean that games are less expressive, just simply that comparison to other mediums won’t do justice to this art form. Instead, lets look at this problem closer which is the problem of “How does one express themselves through design.” First lets break this down piece by piece and then with a better understanding of the problem, maybe the answer will reveal itself.
Let’s first ask what is design and its nature. A definition for design I found online is as such “Design is the creation of a plan or convention for the construction of an object, system or measurable human interaction.” Thus, with games, our design are intended to take into account human nature and what feelings we want them to feel as they play the game. As a designer makes choices for the design, they are using all their knowledge and intuition to arrive at some path for the game to follow. This can come through deliberation, play testing their game, or any other method.
Knowing this, it seems that we have already arrived at our answer which is that our expression through design comes from deciding on which choices to take. This, funnily enough, is the exact same process in art and music, however, sometimes due to the slower nature of game development, it can be harder to see.
TLDR : How does one express themselves through design? By being themselves, which one already is so the question is kinda meaningless.
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