On Art and Games As Art
Why We Create Art
Greg just wrote about Why do we do what we do? and eloquently summed up the hard-to-define reason for why we at Intuition create art:
These are all things that fester inside me and I desperately want to expel them. Not that they’re demons of any shape, but it’s this compulsion to create that drives me.
I really like how he put this because it can be difficult to put into words. He makes it look easy. The only other thing I can compare this to is something from Judeo-Christian culture – the psalm. This compulsion is why I created MEHC. It’s not the kind of game I like to play, but I just needed to make it somehow.
Alec Holowka was kind enough to respond to Greg’s post and suggested we check out his recent post Why Art?. I was inspired enough by both of them that my comment to both of their posts turned into this. Check them out if you haven’t yet.
In Response To “Why Art?”
I’m very comforted and honored to be amongst such final gentlemen who can present a rational argument. Alec makes a good point that anger about discussing art often comes from fear or misunderstanding. I especially like the video he posted – that says as much about his point as the words that follow it. We’re just a part of the continuum, communicating something about humanity to each other through time. And because we are unique, the message will be different for each person. I like that attitude.
What I got from his argument about why games are art specifically seems to be that art gives him something about life to relate to, and because games also give him something to relate to, that makes them art. I would go even further and say that art is created (it doesn’t just happen), communicates something human (a story/idea/emotion), and is otherwise “non-functional.” By that, I mean that the thing in question has no function other than the act of communication itself (thus separating the word from design). And because video games have these properties, they are art, too.
I was a little confused by the statement about art being subjective, though. Did he mean that the experience of art is subjective? Or the work of art itself is subjective? There is a distinction to make here, and it partially forms the basis to my answer of “Why art?”.
I believe that art can be perceived in a subjective way. But isn’t the work of art itself – the video game in this case – an object? It is a collection of code and binary data running on a computer of some sort with input and output. That makes it material, existing in reality, which is objective by definition.
Furthermore, because art “speaks to us,” that seems to make it objective, too. Something is doing the speaking, and I think the thing that speaks doesn’t really change. It is we who change and hear different things.
Therefore, I’d say that a more specific argument would state that the perception of art is subjective, based on each of our life experiences and unique brains, while the work itself is objective. That can explain why we can look at a film several years later and see or learn something different. The film itself remains unchanged, but our perception of it changes. It communicates something about humanity in a different way than before, because we understand humanity in a different way than before.
I think this distinction is important because it suggests that a work of art is unchanging, yet communicates on a level higher than normal understanding. The fact that we can return to an object and subjectively learn something new suggests that we can’t fully comprehend the work all at once.
To me, that gives art a magical quality (in the emotional sense). That is one of the reasons why I think it’s important to call games art.
Saving the World
In the comments of Greg’s post, Alex and Greg were discussing saving the world with art. The notion may seem impossible to some, but I’d argue that we are living proof that it can work. Inspiring people through creation seems to be one of the simplest (though still very hard!) ways to change the world with art. Saving it is just a few steps away.
By making something of incredible quality that communicates to people and inspires them in a lasting way, you can inspire them to either change or to create themselves. And them creating will often lead to change later. Here’s a quote from Eva Zeisel to illustrate my point:
It’s very difficult to know exactly whether to live for an ideology or even to live for doing good. But there cannot be anything wrong in making a pot, I’ll tell you. When making a pot you can’t bring any evil into the world.
Just think about the games we’ve played that have inspired us to make games ourselves. Those games have done good things because they have inspired us to create, and those acts of creation have changed us. Those games have changed the world. Saving it is just a few steps away.
Megabank Executive Humiliation Challenge
I’m pretty much done with a new game called MEHC. It’s a Unity game meant for sponsorship on a game portal, so I’ll start the process of shopping it around now. Here’s the trailer:
In gamer lingo, it’s a 3d, physics-y, psuedo-pixel-art cannon-shooting game with a strategic probability management element. Based on tester feedback, it seems to be pretty addictive, too. Here’s the “official” description:
As a producer for the Japanese game show Megabank Executive Humiliation Challenge (MEHC), the nation is counting on you to keep them entertained by humiliating the best of the best in Western banking executives. Balance money-making obstacles and hire better executives to make the most profit you can in one season. Don’t let your nation down!
It’s an experiment in many ways, including emotional, commercial, and production..al, but not so much in gameplay. It’s kind of weird to look back at your baby after you’ve given birth. Sometimes you didn’t see yourself making that kind of game, and I can say that about this game. However, I’m happy with the work I’ve done. It’s quite a fun game. I’d also like to thank the Gratton brothers from the Napkin Sketch collective for doing the sound.
Even though I didn’t originally see myself making this kind of game, I think in some ways I needed to make it, at least to just express my frustration with my current feelings on the nation’s economy and moreso on capitalism in general. I’ve grown increasingly dissatisfied with it as a system lately. And maybe I needed a break from taking game design so seriously, too.
I’m hoping to find a sponsor for it by the end of the year. And it should end up on FGL in some form or another soon for auction. The sponsorship space seems pretty barren when it comes to Unity games, so who knows what will happen…
Blurst Now Open to Other Developers
The awesome indie developers at Flashbang have opened up their website Blurst (http://www.blurst.com) to submissions of Unity games from other developers.
Hopefully this will be a big success, since we as developers really need more Unity portals out there. I’ve been working on a couple small Unity games myself and have been a little uncertain if I would be able to shop my games around much.
I even considered e-mailing the guys at Blurst to propose putting something on their site, but it looks like they’ve already done the work required to set something like this up.
More and more, it seems like Matthew Wegner and Steve Swink at Flashbang are becoming the father figures of the indie games scene. The IGF, the IGS, an indie games portal… What’s next, indie games philanthropy? An indie games school? At any rate, I salute the fine gentlemen of Flashbang for their work at building the indie community up. A Blurst portal is simply the next step for them.
How to Run Spelunky in OS X
For those of you who haven’t heard yet, Derek Yu of TIGSource fame released a freeware game recently called Spelunky. As I found out recently, you can run the game in OS X without having to boot up Windows. I’ll show you how.
Here’s a description of Spelunky from Spelunky World:
Spelunky is a cave exploration / treasure-hunting game inspired by classic platform games and roguelikes, where the goal is to grab as much treasure from the cave as possible. Every time you play the cave’s layout will be different. Use your wits, your reflexes, and the items available to you to survive and go ever deeper! Perhaps at the end you may find what you’re looking for…
Don’t be afraid to die! But also don’t be afraid to live! Happy Spelunky-ing!
The game has received a lot of buzz for being a great game and doing such a good job of using procedural algorithms for replayability. Taking a look at the TIGSource forums, the feedback thread has dwarfed all other threads in terms of views by more than an order of magnitude – nearly 490,000 views (as of now). So I’m assuming there are a sizable amount of gamers that are interested in trying to run Spelunky in OS X. Those gamers can now rejoice. 
Before I get started, I have an important disclaimer:
Skip step #6 if you’re on Snow Leopard, and try the game first in step #5 before moving to step #6 if you’re on Leopard. Step 6 requires special care, so perform it at your own risk.
Overview of How to Run Spelunky in OS X
Here’s a short rundown of the steps needed to get Spelunky running:
- Download Spelunky
- Download and install CrossOver Games (8 or higher)
- Set up CrossOver Games
- Run the Spelunky config
- Set the Spelunky settings config file values to 1,1,0,0,1,15, and 15
- Download and install X11 2.4.0 (skip for Snow Leopard, and try running the game first)
- Play Spelunky using CrossOver Games
Detailed Instructions
First of all, in order to run the game, you’ll need an Intel Mac. More info after the jump.
Star Guard Impressions
I’ve taken a few minutes here and there in the past few days to play Star Guard by Vacuum Flowers, after being introduced to it by my partner Mike via twitter. It just got frontpaged on TIGSource. Here’s an excerpt where Xander mentions his one qualm about the game:
Where as typically mines/traps would require caution and dexterity, these will simply not respawn so even if you die you can just get through the section without worrying about the consequences.
One of my favorite things about the game is Xander’s problem – i.e. it’s not a big deal at all when you die. To me, that made dying in the game fun in itself. I reveled in the fact that I could carelessly blast forward with glee, knowing that if I would die, I’d come back to the same spot in a matter of a couple seconds.
The character design is amazing, considering they’re expressed in just a few pixels. The player has a surprising amount of life through the animations, and the Zomboid and charging rhino characters have a very distinctive personality.
Also, the game’s sound design is superb. I’m not saying that just because it’s created with SFXR, but because the sound choices made within that 8-bit limitation were very tasteful. Jumping is noticable, yet not obnoxious. The explosions are just right, the lava sounds are charming, and timer-based platforms give you a perfect feeling of urgency before they blow up.
The character design, sound design, and effects combine to form a polished feel from an otherwise minimal, low-budget aesthetic. For the past few months, I’ve been trying to take the same perspective on art direction. Vacuum Flowers has nailed it and made it look easy.
The story is presented in a minimal and pleasing way. As the image above suggests, it is simply displayed in the background of the level. There’s rarely more than 12 words to read. And the level design usually suggests what the words of the story are trying to express. It works so well that I’m sure we’ll see more of that in the future.
It’s an excellent game all around, with solid tuning to the platforming. I just wish I could get to the 8th and 9th level since there’s a random level-loading bug with the OS X version.
Des Moines Parties Relevant to Iowa Game Developers
I would like to invite any Iowa game developers to two upcoming parties here in Des Moines. The first is a Wes Anderson-themed costume party entitled I Always Wanted To Be A Tenenbaum. Since a friend or two from 8monkey Labs will be showing up, I figured I would invite any other devs in the area to stop on by and hang out.
We’ll probably be playing Pong in tennis outfits. Actually I don’t know what would be appropriate – maybe Eliss on a Tablet PC? But I have neither an iPhone nor a tablet, so how about you show up and bring something cool.
Also, if the concept on its own wasn’t enough to bring you here, FLATFORM, an awesome DJ/VJ duo will be doing an audio-visual mix-up of the films along with records of music from the various soundtracks. Even more notable is that ReadyMade magazine will be at the party documenting how awesome it is. If enough of us show up, I bet we could convince them to publish an article about how DIY hipsters should decorate their rooms with indie gaming merch from Attract Mode.
I Always Wanted To Be A Tenenbaum is October 17th at 8pm at 1705 Pleasant St, Apartments #1 & #2. There will be rooms themed to each film, lots of quality free food, free drinks, and free prizes. Cover is $5 if you get a freaking sweet ticket (pictured above) in advance. Send an e-mail to iheartwesanderson [at] gmail [dot] com. I’ll be going as Bert Fischer, Max Fischer’s dad in Rushmore.
The second party is called MOVEMENT BASH, held at Impromptu Studio (300 SW 5th St) on October 22nd at 6pm. The idea behind this party is to celebrate the local entrepreneurs that are doing cool stuff in the area. Other people from around the Midwest will be coming to Des Moines for Highlight Midwest, so this is intended as a party to get them warmed up.
I figured we should show up to let them know there are devs around making games. Like the previous party, there will be free beverages, free food, and free entertainment. No cover either. My friend Matt Shwery hand-screenprinted the posters I designed for MOVEMENT BASH. It was a fun project, and I hope to put those skills to use on some game posters in the future. Maybe it’s just me, but I fantasize about guerilla marketing antics plastering posters and stickers of indie games all over the city.
torncanvas.com Portfolio Website Up
Hey internet. One of the things I’ve been doing for the past 3 days is working on a portfolio website. It is now officially online at http://www.torncanvas.com. I started out making a Flash version of the website early this spring, but decided to go with a Wordpress site instead in the hopes that I’d actually keep it up to date with my latest projects.
This site unfortunately doesn’t have a plant-growing Conway’s Game of Life simulation like the Flash version was going to, but it does have more accessibility and a faster way to get to the content. I’m scratching the plant-growing itch by making a musical gardening game anyway. More info on that in the future.
It’s a bit nostalgic/embarassing looking through the wayback machine at my site circa 2002. I had a “news archive” since there wasn’t really the word blogging in use yet. Heh. And I wanted to make it like makeoutclub…oh man. I’m much more happy with the direction I was going in June 2003. It was going to be a Flash site with little sci-fi/sleek modules that you slid out and stick in the content section to load the content. I was soooo inspired by the Zion “white room” scene in the second Matrix movie with all the switchboard people.
But hey, this site is actually finished and will actually allow people to view my work quickly. So go check it out if you are so inclined.
Branches Interactive Music Video Prototype
This last weekend I finally finished a (rough!) prototype for the second of three ideas, which is a sort of interactive music video. The general idea is that I could create a game-like experience that allows players to play the equivalent of visual instruments while a band plays live music. The setting I had in mind was during Christian worship, but really it could be used anywhere.
In this video, I recorded myself playing through the interactive environment, which I created in Unity. The interactive parts are triggering scenes, blooming flowers, changing gravity behavior of the spheres/particle systems, changing the brightness of trails, and moving the trail thingy during the chorus. In hindsight, I think I have a ways to go in terms of adding more interactivity in this. I suppose that’s what prototypes are for, though! But I’m pretty happy with how it turned out in the end.
The music is Branches by Finn Miles, and this last weekend I performed the visuals using a gamepad while Paul Gratton of Finn Miles played the song live at our church. Paul is a part of Napkin Sketch, a creative collective of which I am also a member.
I’m really looking forward to the next two weekends. This coming weekend is TIGJam Midwest #2, which is a game jam event where those of us from Intuition, in addition to other developer friends, try to make games in a weekend. The name comes from TIGSource, our favorite gaming community. Rumor has it some of the other guys are interested in making something in Unity, so that got me even more excited than usual.
The weekend after that is the Des Moines 48 Hour Film Project, and those of us from Napkin Sketch will be participating in it once again. That event is where we try to make a film in 48 hours after given a genre, character, line, and prop on Friday evening. It should be a blast once again.
Interactive music video, worship prototype WIP
I’ve been doing a lot of things lately, but one of them has been a prototype for what is basically an interactive music video. I’ve been collaborating with Paul Gratton and his brother Scott Gratton (of Finn Miles) through our collective Napkin Sketch, and this will be for their song Branches. The player would perform the piece to match up with the music in an appealing and expressive way. In this way, the experience is like playing a “visual instrument” of sorts. I think it’d be fun to use a Wii remote to do this, and once I get a Unity Pro license, that’ll be really easy to take input from. Until then, the interaction will be done with a gamepad.
It has been a big struggle trying to get an acceptable visual style going. I wanted to progress from the pretty rough interactive sermon prototype. I decided to go 2.5D, and by that I mean planes/sprites in 3D space. I’ve also been learning to write my own shaders a little, though at this point I’m mostly hacking ones I find on the Unity forums.
This screenshot was taken in the editor and shows grass dynamically moving away from a cube. It’s based on a script by metervara who kindly provided it to the Unity community. I’ve shared my version, which ports his shader to Unity 2.5 and adds the ability to grow the bending effect radius when you press a key/button. The intention is to allow the player to use that ability as one means of expression for a visual instrument.
The original context I imagined this being used in is during worship at a church. So the band would be playing musical instruments and people could play visual instruments as a complement. In fact, the first usage of this prototype will be at our church. The deadline is July 12th, which I will probably (hopefully!) make. Of course, this could be used in any live music setting, and in fact the three of us are planning to do that for a future project.
Oh! To continue the visual instrument analogy, I was thinking that the Wii remote would basically be like a tambourine in that the primary action would be percussive. This led me to think about other parallels, like a melodic device. And now I have dreams of circuit bending some sort of guitar thing to use for this idea, hopefully with the help of someone more engineering savvy. Just think how sweet it would be to have a circuit bent Guitar Hero guitar that played music and visuals!
Interactive Sermon Tool Prototype
Over the past few months, I have received a vision for 3 types of interactive experiences. I just finished a prototype for one of them – an interactive tool that could be used to supplement a message to help visualize the concepts being discussed in the message.
I imagine this tool most often being used to help visualize a sermon being delivered to a church congregation. The goal of the tool would be to present an environment that someone on the media team – a “player” if you will – can interact with. The player would interact with the environment in a way that matched up with the speaker who is delivering the message. One example would be if that speaker was telling a story. The player would explore the environment and trigger events to match up with the timing and emphasis of the speaker’s story. If the speaker was emphasizing a certain part of the story, the player could trigger events to help emphasize that part. The final result would be an expression of the story experienced simultaneously through the mediums of virtual interactive experience (of which I consider computer games to be a subset) and oral tradition.
Here’s a run-through recording of the prototype. It’s based on a story given to me by Chris Petrick, Perry Ross, and Richard Webb at Lutheran Church of Hope, with music and sound design by Paul Gratton (one of my partners from the Napkin Sketch collective), and voice acting by Julie Bull.
Here’s a recording from the production room while I, err….performed it during the last of 4 worship services at Lutheran Churh of Hope. It kind of shows how the whole thing would fit into a traditional Christian church service. In this case, it was between two songs and presented on the screens. I imagine a “final version” being like this, but with a speaker telling the story live up on stage and a more developed interactive environment.
