For those of you who have played my games and found them totally unacceptable, don’t miss this article (originally a developer rant at IGF 2010, now available online via boingboing offworld):
Indie Developer Superbrothers (AKA Craig Adams) advances a theory that games are a primarily audiovisual medium which should not contain copious amounts of dialogue, narration or descriptive text.
This is basically the polar opposite of my own design aesthetic, but the article is certainly an interesting read. I have yet to play any of Adams’ games so I can not comment on the author’s skills as a designer, but judging from the screenshots I’ve seen of his upcoming iPhone game Sword and Sorcery EP Superbrothers is a massively talented illustrator.
Adams ideals are kinetic and poetic, embodied best in the classic action adventure game Out of this World. Aesthetically the appeal of Eric Chahi’s cinematic platformer is undeniable, but can any one reading this say that they found the trial and error mechanics particularly appealing?