Art Games! Part Deux.

"What constitutes an art game?" The time has come once again to tackle this rather hefty question, as well as equally interesting sub-questions of what different roles both game design and art direction play into art games as opposed to mainstream games. Due to the massive writer's block I am currently experiencing at the wrapping up of my final term, I will start off with some limericks as to what two very apt, and one very random person think art and art games are.

simulacrum [ˌsɪmjʊˈleɪkrəm] n pl -cra [-krə] Archaic  1. any image or representation of something  2. a slight, unreal, or vague semblance of something; superficial likeness  [from Latin: likeness, from simulāre to imitate, from similis like] Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged

In Manuel Pina's class we have been learning about and discussing the simulacra as it is both created and deconstructed by art. According to Manuel, in order for a piece of media to considered art, it must somehow work to deconstruct the medium it is created in. In any given medium, the images created for mainstream consumption seek to simulate reality to such a believable point where it can be twisted ever so slightly. Art (at least in the conceptual sense) is any image created in a given medium, not with the intent to mimic reality, but to question, explore, and display that's medium's ability to mimic reality. There's no reason to differentiate the merit of a given image as art or not dependent upon its medium, but rather wether or not the image itself questions and deconstructs the medium in which it was created.

Soooooo random. Youtubed 'Simulacra' and found this. An artful machinima accompanied by words of Jean Baudrillard.

George Johnson, recently named one of the top 10 innovators in the Canadian film industry by the Georgia Straight, and professor of narrative design at my school, has similar definition of what he considers an art game to be. Like a good art-house film, he says (i'm paraphrasing here): "an art game is any game that examines the nature of what it is to be a game." To take the film example, Adaptation at every point in the action, seeks to either subtly or overtly remind the viewer that they are watching a film. In a like way, art games should remind the viewer that they are in a game. This can be seen as the opposite of the widely accepted main stream of both films and video games, which tend to opt for the maximum level of immersion (having you forget you are watching a film or playing a game).


Hilarious excerpt from Adaptation.

On the flipside of this view, I had the recent experience of attending part of a new indie developer's meetup event here in Vancouver, called "Full Indie". The event features independent game developers, ranging from single programmers/designers to small groups, presenting the games they have been developing, getting feedback, and looking for assistance. At one point early into the presentations, the laptop-projector setup exp'd some technical difficulties, and projected a massive blue screen for a few min. To fill the air, the host was quick to quip, "you know... it's one of those new art games" prompting a hearty laugh from the audience. Though likely the laugh was as much knowing as it was mokcing, this joke nevertheless reflect the somewhat dubious view people in the video game still tend to view art games with. We can see once again, like art films, art games tend to play to a smaller niche audience to be viewed as successful.

An angry man yelling about film critic Roger Ebert's, by now, well known statement that video games can't be art.

Both points (though vastly different in terms of critical origin) are equally valid in positioning art games in the broader game discourse. Art games are self-concious in terms of their construction in a particular form of consumable media, and are also admittedly created for a specialized niche audience, a.k.a., the art-house. Due to their niche-bound nature, art games tend to be created by smaller teams with smaller budgets, and therefore must be designed extra creatively within these constraints in order to even be noticed and publicized. Teams of one-two can make a noticeable game if they innovate and work hard enough. This means for the programmers/designers to do something completely different in terms of game design to get real gamers enthused whilst also making up for the lack of programmers necessary to create a completely immersive world (full of a.i.'s, rules, physics, etc). On the art side, there may simply not be enough to make convincing real life details for a 3D world, and therefore artists must create something unique yet awesome looking, if not just to capture roving eyes on the internet.

Excerpt from IndieGame: The Movie featuring an interview with Edmund McMillen, co-designer and artist on Super Meat Boy.

But for this game to be critically successful, and consequentially garner attention on Kotaku and other blogs, it must have a tight design. This means cool game mechanics supported by cool visuals. Both must be totally unique in their respective fields, but must together, must commingle to create a fully satisfying concoction in the unified field of game design. Certainly this is true not just of art games, but of any popular and well-received independent game at all, such as Super Meat Boy (gameplay video). Because any art game which expects to be seen or heard of by the public at large needs a forum upon which the public may learn about it. Unlike galleries for paintings and installations, or even theatres for films, art games have only countless independently owned consoles and computers to be displayed upon. Both a challenge and opportunity.







A few games that have made a true an impact upon me really typify this interaction between a unique visual style and gameplay. The first would have to be Echochrome. With it's crisp minimalist aesthetic, it's drawing mannequin protagonist, and M.C. Escher inspired game mechanics, as well as the fact that it is produced by a significant studio, it may be construed as a game that is trying too hard to be considered art. This however does not matter to me, because the pastiche of art styles (including a brilliant neoclassical soundtrack) and incredibly innovative game mechanic work so well together, I cannot help being attracted and enthralled into this paintng-like game world. However, once I am transported there ala the transitive effects of simulacra, the game mechanic itself leads me to thoughtfully postulate on not only the game world in which I am, but also my own life. The mechanic involves the manipulation of perspective. The rules of the game world change according to how the camera views it. If the camera can't see an obstacle, it doesn't exist, and thus the user must navigate their mannequin through the puzzle-maze.

When I am in this world, manipulating my possibilities through a mere change in perspective, I am forced to wonder... to what degree can I do this in my own life? It's not a new conceit to compare life to a game, but when we 'gamify' such fundamental life concepts as perspective, we can begin to see the gamelike nature of these things even more clearly. Going in this direction, one can begin to see the true potential for video games as art. If video games seek to mimic real-life like no medium before, what potential does this medium have to tell us about that aspect of our life?

[Flow: more on this coming soon]

[The Passage: more on this coming soon]

[Braid: more on this to come]