Official Off-Topic Thread

[Helm]

http://boingboing.net/features/morerock.html

check this out bengoshia. About superbrothers swords and sorcery game being 'light' or empty.

[EyeCraft]

http://boingboing.net/features/morerock.html

check this out bengoshia. About superbrothers swords and sorcery game being 'light' or empty.

Interesting read. I disagree with the argument, though.

It just seems like their argument is way too extreme. "There's too much heartless analysis going on, so lets remove ALL analysis". It's not the analysis that's the problem, it's the heartlessness. It's not the process that's wrong, it's the people who are performing the process (committees, etc).

Analysis is good. It's very healthy for the construction of a system. A game is interactive, so it must involve some system. I doubt the method they propose is useful for anything but the most trivial of interactivity structures.

In other words, yes, feel, but also think. Don't expunge either for the monopoly of the other.

[bengo]

http://boingboing.net/features/morerock.html

check this out bengoshia. About superbrothers swords and sorcery game being 'light' or empty.

More like not my cup of tea, don't care for hipster art games that think they're deep and all I do is watch David Lynch films and listen to post-rock music, ironic eh? Hey if you're into that crap go for it brother, but I'm gonna stick to Ico Team, Naughty Dog, Treasure, Platinum Games, Grasshopper, Kojima Productions, etc. Also whats with this article? BAWWW TALKING IN GAMES/CUTSCENES IS SO EVIL IT NEEDS TO ALL BE HOW I WANT IT TO BE OR ELSE ITS DUMB. Thats why Uncharted 2 and MGS3 do it so successfully right? How can it HURT the experience? Sure sometimes it can but if done correctly it does not. Well so much for being open-minded, he sure seems fairly ignorant, acting as if there needs to be one way to do things, using another man's words to twist into his own poorly thought-out opinion.

Besides whats this rant have to do with the actual game? John K rants all day about animation but is a poor animator himself, I dislike most of his opinions too, funny how that works. Look I'll just be blunt, I have absolutely zero interest in the game, honestly nothing really appeals to me, which is saying a lot because apparently this guy likes a lot of games I like, including Another World, which I would say is a fairly "artsy" game, but even then that game looked far more interesting than this guy's stuff, probably because its a more thought-out and better art direction along with more interesting characters, etc. If other people enjoy it thats cool with me but as for me, I see not much point in it, look different doesn't make it better, it just makes it stick out more and not always in a good way either.

NOTE: I get his point and for the most part I agree with it, his train of thought can be used to make a good game, where my problem lies is where he CLOSES OFF a lot of different methods.

NOTE (AGAIN): I guess I got a few of his points but not the whole picture, but I guess he means anything that disrupts the mood of the game = bad, which can equal cutscenes among other things. He's trying to say that if you think too much into the idea, you lose the original meaning, but I still think you can keep talking the talk and get a better experience.

[alkaline]

More like not my cup of tea, don't care for hipster art games that think they're deep and all I do is watch David Lynch films and listen to post-rock music, ironic eh?

Sorry, but it feels like you read some opinion on the internet about hipsters, which...somehow you equate to games with art-like quality, and then decided to latch on to it. Why is listening to post-rock...ironic?

BAWWW TALKING IN GAMES/CUTSCENES IS SO EVIL IT NEEDS TO ALL BE HOW I WANT IT TO BE OR ELSE ITS DUMB. Thats why Uncharted 2 and MGS3 do it so successfully right? How can it HURT the experience? Sure sometimes it can but if done correctly it does not. Well so much for being open-minded, he sure seems fairly ignorant, acting as if there needs to be one way to do things, using another man's words to twist into his own poorly thought-out opinion.

No. He is not saying all games forever should drop the traditional cutscene narrative type. He is just putting it out there; why rely on it so heavily when in fact it may obfuscate the overall experience that you might be going for? Some games take this route by default, and by sticking to convention, effectively stifle any sort of creative vision for the game. If anything he's being more open-minded and not ignorant, and he is right in that sense, I think. However, yes, more talk and less rock is still relevant in video games. For example, Mass Effect series.

If other people enjoy it thats cool with me but as for me, I see not much point in it, look different doesn't make it better, it just makes it stick out more and not always in a good way either.

It sounds to me like you dislike what the game aims for mainly because you think they're just trying to be nonconformist. Does taking a non-traditional path automatically associate with all style-filler and no substance? Why does attempting this break a video game in any way? Because games can't pull inspiration from art? I understand that it's not your cup of tea, but you say there's no point to it...that's just silly. It's like "okay here are these explicit well-defined boundaries for video games, art, movies and let's not cross them or mix them in any way" This sort of knee-jerk reaction to "different" ideas seems like a regressive opinion that rejects innovation more often than not.

[Atnas]

I love that article. It's totally the TTGL way to make video games!

[Varish]

John K rants all day about animation but is a poor animator himself,

Okay, now you're just a troll.

[Helm]

John K rants all day about animation but is a poor animator himself,

Okay, now you're just a troll.

Seriously, I disagree with John K a healthy amount of time but, what? Are you sure he's a poor animator?

See bengoshia I don't begrudge you having opinions contrary to mine on anything (it happens with everyone I meet) but it's really suspect when you throw stuff like that out, it makes me think you either didn't give it much thought or you're just aiming for a reaction or both.

[bengo]

John K is a sub-par animator at best, see Richard Williams, Walt Stanchfield, any oldschool Disney animator really. I guess you got me Helm, the bold, quick statements are me trying to get off the subject, because we're not gonna get anywhere anyway. His opinions are very narrow-minded, he's basically saying only one way to do things is right, as if talking about the idea and trying to expand on it with different elements besides gameplay is a bad thing, which isn't always the case. You know what Mass Effect would be without any "talk"? Gears of War RPG Edition, so looks like it helps the game instead of hurting it. Also this game isn't innovative, this is just a mediocre iphone app that will be forgotten in a year from now, honestly explain to me whats so revolutionary about it. Even if its different, that doesn't make it necessarily good. I'm betting all my opinions will be thrown to the side because of how I've worded them, but whatever, kinda the idea, I just want to be done with this topic, my bad to ever state my feelings on the game in the first place.

[huZba]

http://boingboing.net/features/morerock.html

check this out bengoshia. About superbrothers swords and sorcery game being 'light' or empty.

I was a bit "meh" before, but upon reading this I see he's all about the things I've been trying to study about videogames, their native language.
I don't see how he's saying everything else is evil? More like check out how beautiful a game can be if explored further than the boundaries of slightly related media.

[Atnas]

I don't think someone suggesting 1 3 2 in a world full of 1 2 3 is very narrow minded, ben. But hey! if it is, we need more narrow minded people because then we can have a world with 321 and 231 also. Seriously, a single article saying, "why don't we look at game creation a bit differently than how a lot of people are doing" is getting a ridiculous amount of gut-hurt replies, as if it were a new mandate.