Joystiq

Pippin Barr's philosophy of developing 'curious' games

Jessica Conditt — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 17:15:00 EST

Pippin Barr's doctoral thesis is titled Video Game Values: Play as Human-Computer Interaction, submitted in 2008 to the Victoria University of Wellington as the final stage of his degree, Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science. In the thesis, Barr highlights the act of playing a computer program rather than simply using one, with case studies in Civilization 3, Fable, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Half-Life 2, and The Sims 2.

Schoolwork completed, Barr spends his time teaching at the University of Malta's Institute of Digital Games, and developing small, profound games with an experimental edge. Barr's projects are simple, thoughtful and play with the boundaries of what a "game" can be:

The Artist is Present is a game about waiting in line at New York's Museum of Modern Art, complete with real-life museum closing times and hours of standing, doing-nothing excitement. Let's Play: Ancient Greek Punishment is a series of short games about Greek myths - short because they're all unwinnable, with death as a constant outcome looming behind each stark, pixelated scene. Barr's most recent project, the Mumble Indie Bungle, features six games based on popular indie titles as if your grandmother misheard them at the last family dinner, such as World of Glue, Carp Life and Gurney. They're short, minimalistic and frustrating, but they're definitely not all supposed to be "boring," Barr tells me.

"I want to make games that controvert the standard rules - I spent quite a bit of time on that in my early games - well, maybe all my games," he says. "Games that you can't win, games where you just have to wait for a long time, games where you win but it's not satisfying, games where you're not very important in the world of the game, and so forth. These games can be boring if you're not prepared to embrace a different perspective on things - but if you are prepared to do so, I think they can be quite interesting experiences."

Surprisingly, Barr has never been called a hipster.

Continue reading Pippin Barr's philosophy of developing 'curious' games

Pippin Barr's philosophy of developing 'curious' games originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 11 Apr 2013 17:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Walden the video game is funded by the NEA, is hypocritical

Jessica Conditt — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 17:30:00 EST

If your high school English teacher had assigned you to play the game Walden instead of reading Thoreau's writings on living deliberately with nature, Spark Notes may not have evolved into such a booming industry. USC's plan to put abridged study guides out of business, a video game based on Thoreau's Walden, has just received $40,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts (which is like Kickstarter but older, more official and possibly not as lucrative).

USC has been crafting Walden for roughly two years, and this funding may be the final step to its completion, lead game designer and USC associate professor Tracy Fullerton told TIME. "Having this support will allow the time we need to really bring the world of Walden to life," Fullterton said. "We anticipate a rich simulation of the woods, filled with the kind of detail that Thoreau so carefully noted in his writings."

Hang on. Thoreau's point with Walden was to note the intrinsic benefits of separation from technology in modern society, to slow down and live as one with nature as part of a larger, living world. Putting this experience inside of a video game, running on people's computers in an air-conditioned office, cafe or mother's basement misses the point entirely. However, it may offer a fine lesson in hypocrisy.

"Of course everyone should spend time in nature, but not all of us are able to set aside our lives for the time it would take to conduct an experiment like Thoreau's," Fullerton said. "The game is not a replacement for direct experience, just as the book is not."

Fair enough. Perhaps if you want to stop Thoreau rolling in his grave, play Walden on a tablet in the middle of the forest without an immediate charging station. Or plant some beans or something.

Walden the video game is funded by the NEA, is hypocritical originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 30 Apr 2012 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Official site for Jon Blow's 'The Witness' launches, reveals concept art

Griffin McElroy — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 13:00:00 EST

The official site for Jonathan Blow's "philosophical, and quiet" next project, The Witness, recently underwent a massive update. While the archaic poetry certainly got our conjecture wheels a-spinning, the renovated site promises more concrete info through continuous updates while the game is developed.

The blog's first post reveals a cadre of concept art for the game, as crafted by designer Eric Urquhart. It looks appropriately pretty and mysterious -- what's behind the door? What's with that force field? Who is the sculptor? Is it all just one big allegory for the atomic bomb? (Whoa, sorry -- we got our J. Blow games mixed up.)

Official site for Jon Blow's 'The Witness' launches, reveals concept art originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 28 Feb 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Natal to be 'a union' of Microsoft and Rare's philosophies

Griffin McElroy — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 17:30:00 EST

Despite having released a number of games on the platform, Rare's Xbox 360 franchises haven't had the fan following of your War Gears and your Halos -- the developer's design director, George Andreas, chalks this up to the fact that the "hardware is aimed at a different demographic, and so we've always battled against that." That is fairly true -- the hardcore Xbox 360 audience has little patience for anthropomorphic piñatas or bird-backpacked bears. However, Andreas has hope for the future -- a future which will see the introduction of Microsoft's full-body controller, Project Natal.

Andreas has stated Rare's interest in the new technology before, but in a recent interview with VideoGamer.com, he further explained the studio's excitement -- "it's a union of the two philosophies of the different companies, I guess," he said. Sounds like Rare's sticking to its family-friendly roots -- we suppose that rules out the possibility of Rare's secret Natal project being Gun Murder 3: The Legend of the Lost Shoot-Blaster.

Natal to be 'a union' of Microsoft and Rare's philosophies originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 25 Aug 2009 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Blow confirms a few details about next project

Griffin McElroy — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 13:00:00 EST

Following the pseudo-reveal of Jonathan Blow's next "philosophical, and quiet" puzzle-exploration title, we contacted the cerebral developer to see what details we could discern about the project. He responded, and explained that he got the idea for the game a few months before the launch of Braid, but developed some trepidation about tackling "a more-expensive, harder-to-make 3D game." During those doubt-filled days, he worked on the prototype projects (such as the 2D RPG) we heard about.

A few weeks ago, he began "working on the game in earnest," and is now hiring 3D artists to help realize his vision. He assumes it will be another downloadable title, but isn't sure -- it's not set to drop for two years if his team stays on schedule, and who knows what platforms will be around then? Blow said we should hear more concrete details about the title as his team begins to produce some concept art and in-game visuals. We'd suggest keeping an eye on his blog 'til then.

Blow confirms a few details about next project originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 18 Jul 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Blow's next project to be quiet, philosophical 'puzzle-exploration game'

Griffin McElroy — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:54:00 EST

With stories claiming Braid creator Jonathan Blow was working on a handful of small titles from a variety of different genres (including a 2D RPG!), we can't help but feel a bit disappointed that his next project has been confirmed to be a "puzzle-exploration game that is philosophical, and quiet, and is being made for reasons other than crass profit motive." Way to think outside of the box, Jon. (Oh, who are we kidding. It's going to be amazing.)

This story comes to us by way of a pair of now hiring ads (for 3D artists, if you're interested) Blow posted on his on blog, looking for help on the aforementioned project, which he later confirmed to gaming news blog EndSights to be his next release. From what we can glean from the ads, the game will have a two-year development cycle, will place "a heavy emphasis on the way things look," and will feature a plot which will make non-philosophy majors feel very, very confused.

We've contacted Blow to see if we can get any more details about the project.

[Thanks, Art.]

Blow's next project to be quiet, philosophical 'puzzle-exploration game' originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

PS3 Fanboy philosophizes on Trophy collecting

Griffin McElroy — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 18:30:00 EST

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360

Kylie Prymus, PS3 Fanboy's resident Rene Descartes, recently polished up his Trophy collection with wax philosophical. In one of his most insightful columns to date, Prymus turns his keen analytical eye onto the recently added PS3 Trophy system, examining how the highly enviable awards (and the fairly similar Xbox 360 Achievements) are affecting the way we play and purchase modern video games. Do easily unlocked Trophies and Achievements influence the sales success of mediocre titles? Are we playing our games differently, focusing on tedious tasks in a seemingly endless carrot chase? Do large Gamerscores and impressive Trophy collections make us more popular with the opposite sex?

We don't need no stinking philosophers to find the answer to that last one -- of course they do. For everything else though, check out Prymus' article -- we guarantee it'll be the brainiest game-related essay you'll read all day.

PS3 Fanboy philosophizes on Trophy collecting originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 24 Aug 2008 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Commence chin stroking: New book mixes Zelda and Philosophy

Chris Greenhough — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 22:11:00 EST

Filed under: Fan stuff

Zelda fan Luke Cuddy was so inspired by his favorite franchise that he went one step further than scribbling down some fan-fiction: he actually compiled a book on Zelda, tied it in with his knowledge of pop philosophy, and found a publisher for it.

Okay, so it's probably not going to be Sartre or anything, but if you do purchase this when it releases on November 28th, you'll be able to ponder such musings as:

How does the gamer experience the game?
Does Link have a will, or do gamers project their wills onto him?
How does time function?
Can Hyrule be seen as an ideal society?
Can the game be enjoyable without winning?

Deeeeep, man. And it goes without saying that there's also the perennial gamer/pseud's favorite: is Zelda art?

Gallery: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

[Via Go Nintendo]

Commence chin stroking: New book mixes Zelda and Philosophy originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 14 Aug 2008 22:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Echochrome: The PSP's philosophical answer to Brain Age

Griffin McElroy — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sony PSP, Puzzle

For most of our younger readers, school's no longer in session in observation of the midsummer months -- though we're certain that our studious readers won't allow their minds become dull as rusty butter knives during their valuable vacation time. That's why we turn your attention to a fascinating article written by PS3 Fanboy's newest columnist, Ph.D candidate and gaming enthusiast Kylie Prymus, who examines the effect that the Escher-esque Echochrome can have on our perception of our own three-dimensional world.

Prymus posits that Echochrome's unique, manipulatable 2D perspective is not only jarring when compared to the robust 3D engines we've become accustomed to seeing in most games, but it also points out the "frailty of our own perceptual apparatus", which is fundamentally two-dimensional. Those who still possess unblown minds might want to give the article a read -- if only to give you some Hawking-quality discussion material with which to impress your gaming cohorts.

Echochrome: The PSP's philosophical answer to Brain Age originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 29 Jun 2008 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments