Games As Art

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Here's Charlie Brooker talking about games:

(Skip to 00.48 if you just want the most relevant part)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzlJo0vwAqM&feature=related[/youtube]

Dreamfall The Longest Journey

I consider this adventure game art because firstly I like the graphics, the game has nice textures and lighting. Secondly because of the amount of cinematics. It might not be the most challenging game as far as puzzles go but it is definitely nice to look at. The fairly easy puzzles don't make it a bad game though, I am having fun playing it.

Even THINK about saying anything negative about Panzer Dragoon Saga... and I will track you down, kill you, and when I eventually die then I'll set my ghost the task of tormenting your ghost for the rest of eternity.



Except that it takes over your entire computer, and needs to actually be hacked into to play. The anti-hack software they splurged all over it not only stopped me playing my LEGAL copy of the game.... but it triggered all my Anti-Spyware AND Anti-Virus filters. It wasn't even all that good as games go. The first one was better.

Hmm, I didn't have that problem with Dreamfall, SotiCoto.

I do agree that it's art, because it is creative and original and non-commercial...but it's one of those rare cases where it's a good work of art--and a bad GAME. XD The story, characters, and visual design were all good, but the actual GAMEPLAY and TECHNICAL graphics didn't impress me at all. I still loved it far more than the average game, but I liked it more a visual novel than as an actual GAME.

...Now when will they get to releasing Dreamfall Episodes? D: Curse that cliffhanger ending!

Some of it may be bad art, but anyone who's worked on games will tell you there is a LOT of art involved. Even things going on behind the scenes, like the code, or intangible things like the gameplay itself feel like art to me when I'm designing them.

I have this really weird analogy, I don't know if it makes sense to anyone else, but when I'm designing a level, it feels just like writing a song...the layout is the melody, the textures are the lyrics...detail brushes are the rhythm...brush sizes are defined by the timing (there are whole notes, quarter notes, etc.)...large rooms are sweeping epic movements, hallways are segue passages...a really good level is like a long progressive rock song...complex layout, large, sweeping areas, recurring themes...

I could go on and on @_@

Sure, video games are an artform, but that's no reason to disrespect them. After all, people all over the world are paying a lot of money to hear symphony orchestras performing video game music. I like the artistic look of The Legend of Zelda: the Wind Waker, although I don't usually like it when well-established characters are so radically altered. And as for music, Chrono Trigger is my favourite.

I think Bioshock is a perfect case for how games can be art. It's basically the definitoin of what the critics who say games aren't art consider as art in that it really made the player think, had a great plot and really sucked the player into the setting.

I'll add a little and obscure one, Braid, recently released on Xbox Live Arcade. Try it...