Experimental Game Design

Show & Tell

Art Game Show N Tell – Jazzpunk

by | Nov 7, 2017 | ,

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1c1JyafNs84A7ZxBso7ahRwYjvDlZXM8ElTFkhEXKTd0/edit?usp=sharing

 

JazzPunk:

Jazzpunk is an adventure video game made by Adult Swim in 2014. The game takes place in a 50s setting, where you play as a spy in a top secret spy agency. You get sent out to abstract and nonsensical missions with pretty much just one object, however, the game makes it so that exploration plays a huge part in the gameplay. There are NPCs, objects that you can interact with placed all over the map in every level, thus really driving players to go check out each one of those objects and interact with them, rather than focusing entirely on the objective. I think this is a great art piece because of the art style, the gameplay and the humor.

Art Game

So why I think JazzPunk is a great art game is because of the art, gameplay and humor. First looking at the humor, the game provides all kinds of jokes and one liners when interacting with NPCs, which really bring the barely animate NPCs alive. The little interactions such as putting food on NPCs so birds can charge at the NPCs, spraying things at NPCs, and blowing smoke from cigerattes into NPCs which really enhance the comedy aspect of this game. These interactions actually remind me of the game Postal, where you get to do all kinds of things in the game world. Furthermore, the game has a some mini games, so games within the game. These aspects in the game really break the conventions of a normal game because it really gives players something new and unexpected in each new level!

Not like most games out there, the art style in this game is truly unique. With its low poly, cartoonish, minimalistic, 50s style design, the game truly stands out in the art direction compared to many of the other indie games out there. The art has a strong relationship to the abstract and comedic aspects of the game, which makes me further admire this game. The art style actually also looks very much like many of the art pieces in the Dada movement of Zurich and Hannover. Very colorful, abstract, and toy-like art pieces, which can be seen in this game too. So I also think this game reflects well on the two movements.

Overall, this is a great art game that reflects on many of the experimental art pieces that were discussed in class. Like Yoko Ono’s Chess set, or the giant joystick controller, by breaking gameplay conventions, this game truly is a unique art piece.

 

Indie Game- Lisa: The Painful RPG

by | Nov 7, 2017 |

Lisa: The Painful RPG is a game about pain, perversion, addiction, and the social darwinism of a world in ruin. In the game, players play as Brad Armstrong, a drug-addicted man who stumbles upon an abandoned baby. As far as Brad knows, the baby, who he takes in and renames Buddy, is the only female left in the entire world. He swears to protect her, dressing her as a boy and raising her underground.

When Buddy is kidnapped, Brad embarks on a quest to find her and bring her back home. During his journey, Brad is faced with tough decision after tough decision, forcing the player to realize that, sometimes, there is no such thing as a painless choice.

Watch a trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-kT5SDifCU

Screenshots:

http://www.lisatherpg.com/images/screenshot1.jpg

https://33.media.tumblr.com/661a83e80bbc9f5a3f768836ed0c8662/tumblr_inline_nh2xwqbNF81r35ep2.png

http://i.imgur.com/JJkQhdB.png

https://img.fireden.net/v/image/1449/60/1449603457916.png

https://img.fireden.net/v/image/1450/18/1450183009636.png

Indie Game Show and Tell: Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP

by | Nov 7, 2017 | ,

Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP is a really strange game. I love it. It was a collaboration between musician Jim Guthrie, the game studio Superbrothers, and publisher/developer Capybara Games.

It initially released for iPad on March 24, 2011 with an iPhone version about a month later. A Steam version was released in April 2012, with an Android version later in December. I’d recommend the iPad or Steam version, the small phone screens don’t do it justice.

I’m going to try really, really hard to write this in a way that doesn’t spoil the game, though the nature of the game makes that very hard. It really doesn’t want to fit in a specific genre of game, so the best I can do is say that it’s a 2D adventure/puzzle/rhythm game told in second person. It’s really hard to describe. I recommend going in completely blind, preferably alone and wearing headphones.

Here’s a mostly spoiler-free synopsis: the plot centers around a mysterious book called The Megatome, and follows a character only known as The Scythian trying to complete her “woeful errand.” Saying any more would ruin the game, as slowly piecing together the reasons for your actions is a major part of the game.

The artwork and sound design in this game is amazing. The visuals are a beautiful mix of pixel art and smooth geometric shapes unlike anything I have seen before or since. Jim Guthrie did an amazing job on the sound design. The music is incredible, and it has such an important role that the game has EP in the title. I still listen to the soundtrack regularly, and I was listening to it while writing this blog post!

The art, sound, and gameplay all work together to create an amazing sense of atmosphere that few games have managed to pull off. At times the game is calm and reserved, and at other times it is actively trying to terrify you. It’s an emotional roller coaster from start to finish.

Minor spoilers follow, you have been warned.

read more…

Indie Game – “Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes”

by | Nov 7, 2017 |

Items needed:

  1. Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes Game
  2. Game Manual

About:

“One player is trapped in a virtual room with a ticking time bomb they must defuse. The other player are the “Experts” who must give the instruction to defuse the bomb by deciphering the information found in the bomb defusal manual. But there’s a catch: the experts can’t see the bomb, so everyone will need to talk it out–fast!” — Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes

 

How it works:

Depending on the level of difficulty the bomb might have a maximum of 12 puzzles. Each sector is a puzzle. There are three strikes for mistakes and after the third strike the bomb will explode and you lose the game.

Watch the gameplay here!

 

Why this game?

Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes evokes two mediums. Each medium is independent of the player. The bomb defuser plays the game through a VR or a computer screen while the instructor plays through a computer screen or with a hard copy of the in game manual. When we watch a bomb defusal happen in a movie, everyone claims that they can do it. This game challenges that notion.

 

Indie Game – Mount Your Friends

by | Nov 7, 2017 |

Overview

Mount Your Friends is a physics based competitive climbing game by Stegersaurus Software Inc.

This game is a lot of fun to play, but it is so much more fun to watch! I believe the character animations really define the game. The main game mode in Mount Your Friends is to “climb the goat” where you create a tower of contorted bodies atop a goat and the first person to run out of time loses. There are other game modes such as trying to throw your character the farthest distance. It it simple, fun, and packed with humor.

Trailer

Screenshots

 

Appropriation Show and Tell: Shovel Knight OST The Starlit Wilds Remix by Captain Impossible

by | Oct 19, 2017 |

The type of appropriation that I selected was taking a original game soundtrack (OST) in this case it is Shovel Knight The Starlit Wilds which here is a link to the original version:

Now my roommate Captain Impossible made this remix of it, which can only be classified as beautiful and it shows a perfect example of appropriation since it is taking a song and having fun with it and making it your own here is a link to his song:

https://soundcloud.com/impossiblewilds/starlit-wilds-captain-impossible-flip/s-yuXEV

 

Appropriation Show and Tell — Hamilton

by | Oct 10, 2017 | ,

The musical Hamilton hit the broadway world as an iconic historical revisionist masterpiece. Through its varied themes and multicultural cast, the show’s goal was to tell the story of the American Revolution through the lens of America today, both in the flawed ways we view some of these flawed people, and in how these figures were rockstars of their own kind during their lives. The show not only appropriates the story of the revolution, it directly appropriates many of the events of Alexander Hamilton’s life, directly citing his own work in two songs, Farmer Refuted (based on his work The Farmer Refuted), and The Reynolds Pamphlet (based on the book of the same name). Both of these songs take the themes of Hamilton’s writing, and the impact these writings had on his life, and translate them musically. The show also appropriates and references much of hip-hop and rap culture in specific lines. When Hamilton spells out his own name, he does it in a way reminiscent of the Notorious BIG. Hamilton almost directly quotes a Mobb Deep line, “I’m only 19 but my mind is old” simply replacing the last word with “older.” Many of these appropriations are peppered throughout the show and relate to the impact these artists and songs had on creator Lin-Manuel Miranda. The show has also taken on an almost self-appropriative nature, as there is also a book describing the creation and lyrics of the show (seen below), and an entire other album called The Hamilton Mixtape, which appropriates lines and parts of the show and recontextualizes them into a more traditional, politically-charged rap album.

Appropriation Show & Tell: GlitchxCity’s Christmas Medley 2013

by | Oct 10, 2017 | ,

Video Link:

GlitchxCity is a YouTube content creator who creates remixes of music from various Pokemon games, but occasionally makes remixes of music from other games, such as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Splatoon 2. Just the remixing of songs would be considered appropriation, but the next piece if information shows her taking it a step further. One of her more well-known music lineups would be her yearly Pokemon Christmas Medleys.  Glitch takes various Pokemon tracks and mixes them with different songs from separate movies, animes, and video games. In this medley, besides the Pokemon music (one of which is the Primal Dialga Boss Battle), there is music from Attack on Titan, The Legend of Zelda (Song of the Storms), Avatar the Last Airbender, the Pokemon 2000 movie (Lugia’s Song), and Kingdom Hearts, and this is without mentioning that this is a CHRISTMAS medley, so there are obviously different pieces of Christmas music in here (Ex. Carol of the Bells).

Appropriation Show and Tell: To Be or Not to Be

by | Oct 10, 2017 |

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_ZU-Mv9VSc

Hamlet is my favorite Shakespeare tragedy of all times, but the indecisiveness of Hamlet and countless tragic coincidences that happened in the play do make me wonder if the story would change completely if someone does something different. To Be or Not to Be, a game that appropriates Hamlet, gives me the opportunity to mess with the plot of Hamlet and see what the outcome would be. The game also makes fun of the original story by describing some decisions that were made in the play as stupid and advise the player not to choose them. In To Be or Not to Be, you can be a decisive Hamlet, a rational Ophelia, or…a dead Hamlet Sr, because the fact that he gets killed in the beginning of the story still doesn’t change. Sorry, Hamlet Sr.