Yet Another Graphomaniacs Compendium
Monday, January 11, 2010

Flower


Yesterday, I went to FACTto see an exhibition that purported to be about video game art. Most of it was mildly interesting, some as a historical document, some as hinting at different possibilites. Among the exhibits was a Research Machines 30Z running the original Dungeon. Alongside it was another game, at the other end of the spectrum called Flower. Its a long time since a game had any kind of emotional impact on me, but this did, mostly because it was a very carefully crafted aesthetic experience, matching fluid control, music, sound and visuals.


I think it's an important reminder that drama is only one mechanism by which emotional impact is achieved: that color, rhythm, form and melody are just as important. To this day one of the most impressive theatre productions I've seen was a staging of Electrain which an ensemble chorus, music and lighting was used to complement a whole in a similar way.


It also reinforces the limited nature of interaction we have with the games. Primiarly we have focused on point and act selection semantics, especially shooting. The question thats running through my mind now is - what have we missed? If we went back in time and gave this medium to William Blake, or Coleridge, or Mozart, what would they see? What would they do with it? What possibilities are we missing just because we are blinded by the norms that have been established by an industry thats been hideously successful, commercially?

posted by John Connors at
Monday, January 11, 2010

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A miscellany of topics that intersest me: deaf culture, game design, politics as soap opera, the cyborg condition and the experience of learning to hear again. Other topics presented are speculative fiction and imaginary cities. There are appearences of snippets of work in progress, public rants, pointless posts and Mish the Mouse.




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A lower middle class cyborg living an innocous life in a suburban village near Newcastle On Tyne, in the United Kingdom. Mostly autobiographical and creative notes posts and musings on the topic du jour.


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