Perfectly Peculiar Pixels [#15]

It is an increasingly worn out real-world-trope that ‘common sense isn’t particularly common’. Similarly, in the creative industries, there’s a case to be made that basic competence, the kind of things “you’d expect all creators involved to understand, respect and utilize” is fading out. In the age of AI, the bar for entry into the industry is already higher, because it closes a raw artistic skill gap. It will thus become increasingly important to explore the history of gaming, understand why design rules work (specially, even, if you’re intent on breaking them), and wielding said basic competence.

We’ve touched on the ‘rhythm’ of the plotline in video games, as well as the concept of streamlining the on-boarding process of players, i.e. the tutorial without explicitly calling it as such. To touch on the connection with this issue, it’s sad to see well established, veritable titans of the industry, seemingly unable to grasp these basic ideas. The history of gaming is now long enough to warrant its ‘new wave’, and at least several revivals, but it’s predicated on actually learning from the past.

I’ve often been accused of equating music, video, various kinds of art, and design, including game design, as being ‘the same job’. While reductioninst in tone, it doesn’t take away from the fact that they all share similar elements of rhythm and hierarchy. This video deals with websites specifically, a user interface in itself, and therefore sharing in the same visual principles.

The industry, by which I mean, AAA PR and their executives have been screaming for years how games are just so big, and players demand such high definition graphics that the price of games simply needs to go up. Naturally, a 19,000 people company failing to deliver a masterpiece that revolutionizes the gaming world is just a reflection of that particular woe. Imagine my surprise when a game that hits my #1 Steam Featured spot is made by (from what I can tell) three people, and is available in Early Access. Nobody will be impressed with the graphics, the sound design, or quite frankly the plot of this game, but it’s currently outperforming the above mentioned ‘masterpiece’ in player count by a factor of 20. No doubt helped by the marginally risque topic of growing your own drug empire, it’s a testiment to a small studio finding a way to enter, and thrive in the market.

I’ve made it a habit to test every Epic’s free game I suggest because, as we’ve mentioned countless times, the interaction is the key feature of video games, and watching a video doesn’t yield the complete effect. It has the kind of writing so littered with cat puns, one could only tolerate it if they’re in grade school. The animations, while heavily propped up by spinal animation, tell their story. The upgrade system, relating to your gear but also spells, is basic and handled through essentially themed shops. At 6 years old, it’s obvious it will never win a game of the year award. But if you, or someone you know is 6 years old, it’s a solid casual entryway into the genre, or gaming in general. What it is, is displaying (in fact more than) basic competence.

On This Day in Gaming History