Final Game: Draw This

by | Apr 11, 2016 | Artwork #4: Experience, Uncategorized

Materials: Paper, pencil/pen, way to play audio.

How to play:

  1. Each turn, one person will decide on a song, or part of a song to play.

2. The remaining members will now have up to 2 minutes to draw after the song has ended. You may start while the song is still playing.

3. The chooser of the song will then decide which of the drawings they believe best fits the song they played.

4. The winner gets a point.

Playtesting:

Some images from the in class play test of people’s drawings:

Ghosts: Mystery Skull

IMG_3764 IMG_3765 IMG_3766

Party Party Party: Andrew WK

Am I Wrong: Nico and Vinz

IMG_3771 IMG_3772 IMG_3773

Lean On: Postmodern Jukebox

IMG_3774 IMG_3775 IMG_3776

 

 

Variations:

Write the music yourself.

Sing/Play the music yourself.

 

Statement:

This deals with concepts related mainly to appropriation. It’s core point giving mechanic is taken from games like Apples to Apples, and the method of play is also similar to Pictionary. This musical twist however separates it from the other games and adds a new idea to a widely understood concept. The reason I chose to go in this direction is due to what I feel is an underrepresentation or recognition for music in games. We all have our favorite video games and frequently we are aware of the music in the games, or at least the very core themes for them. I think it is important for me to bring further attention to how music works in games and to give others a glimpse into how I work. Music to me is just as important the as visuals or story in a game, which is why I have equated them in terms of their value in the gameplay. When I listen to music from any type of visual media, I see an image. This game is my way of trying to bring that to anyone else who plays by forcing them as well to create an image and then bring it to life. This was partially inspired by the ideas discussed in our third project: Intervene. The reason I say this is because I see this in a way as a type of intervention on the general process of playing games. Generally music is in the background and this changes that aspect  of gaming and makes it the focus.

Originally I had planned to use some of my own music in the inaugural edition of this, however I was not able to find a good time for everyone so I asked some of my friends separately to create some works for me, which they all agreed to and never actually sent anything. So I decided to include the images from the in class play test instead. I think this worked well as an exercise and I received very positive feedback from each of the players as to their experiences playing the game. Generally they all stated that the game made them think about playing the Apples to Apples style game differently which was effectively my goal. In the future I think the main thing that I would focus on improving is creating a more isolated environment as well as having all participants listen together rather than separately through headphones.

In terms of my inspiration for this it is along the same vain as the Yoko Ono scores in my eyes. The overall goal of this projects was to effectively show others how I see the world and get them to think about music and gaming differently. This I believe is what Ono was trying to accomplish in her scores, to help people see the world she sees, but also to make the world into a place closer to what she would like to live in.