Comments on: Ugly Games are Finished Games http://infovore.org/archives/2009/03/25/ugly-games-are-finished-games/ a weblog by Tom Armitage Mon, 06 Feb 2012 22:42:35 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Gregory Weir http://infovore.org/archives/2009/03/25/ugly-games-are-finished-games/comment-page-1/#comment-142338 Gregory Weir Thu, 26 Mar 2009 14:22:49 +0000 http://infovore.org/?p=2555#comment-142338 There's another aspect to the retro graphics, too. Blocky pixel art gives a certain feel and dredges up certain emotions. Don't Look Back is a reinterpretation of the myth of Orpheus. Retro games with blocky pixels are the foundational myths of the video gaming medium. By using simple, blocky art and a limited color palette, Cavanagh evokes a feeling of primitiveness and simplicity. And because the graphics are less representational, it encourages the player to imbue them with her own details and meaning. And, yeah, blocky pixel art is much easier to make look good. There’s another aspect to the retro graphics, too. Blocky pixel art gives a certain feel and dredges up certain emotions. Don’t Look Back is a reinterpretation of the myth of Orpheus. Retro games with blocky pixels are the foundational myths of the video gaming medium. By using simple, blocky art and a limited color palette, Cavanagh evokes a feeling of primitiveness and simplicity. And because the graphics are less representational, it encourages the player to imbue them with her own details and meaning.

And, yeah, blocky pixel art is much easier to make look good.

]]> By: James http://infovore.org/archives/2009/03/25/ugly-games-are-finished-games/comment-page-1/#comment-142318 James Thu, 26 Mar 2009 10:52:38 +0000 http://infovore.org/?p=2555#comment-142318 Slightly off-topic, but I just played through <a href="http://www.kongregate.com/games/TerryCavanagh/dont-look-back" rel="nofollow">Don't Look Back</a> and I think there's another component to the "indie" game , typified also by that little 8bit work/life balance game. I'm not sure of the word but it's somewhere between humour, nostalgia (not specifically for 8bit games, because I never played 8bit games, but a more general yearning), shoegazing, minimalism. It's the indie aesthetic of indie music and low-budget movies: not the way they're made, but the spirit and emotions they embody: loners, rejection, melancholy, small moments of happiness rather than big glowy showiness. Or something. Does that make sense? Shoegazing games, that's what I'm going to call them. Slightly off-topic, but I just played through Don’t Look Back and I think there’s another component to the “indie” game , typified also by that little 8bit work/life balance game. I’m not sure of the word but it’s somewhere between humour, nostalgia (not specifically for 8bit games, because I never played 8bit games, but a more general yearning), shoegazing, minimalism. It’s the indie aesthetic of indie music and low-budget movies: not the way they’re made, but the spirit and emotions they embody: loners, rejection, melancholy, small moments of happiness rather than big glowy showiness. Or something. Does that make sense?

Shoegazing games, that’s what I’m going to call them.

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