May 7, 2008
Chat notes about Video Game, Art and Digital Medium
I had a great conversation with my friend Anna Knos today on IM. She's not in the video game industry but somehow is doing some researches about games. And by sharing my thoughts on video games and art with her I learned a lot myself. In short, video game can be Art if you make it...
(JC = me)
(AK = Anna)
AK: How do you define a game?
JC: In the traditional sense, they are interactive contents considered mainly for entertainment and leisure purposes. However it is often considered the most commercially successful art form of interactive media. Whether game is going to become the new name for interactive media just like the "film" of motion pictures is still unknown.
AK: I’m wondering the difference or split (if any) between an art game and game
JC: Game is really just a medium, so anything in a medium can be art or not be art. Art is a communication between the creators and the audience, where non art can also be entertaining. However, there's no intellectual message embedded. Someone said art is for changing the world while entertainment is for leisure.
AK: Hmm. Postmodern is not to change the world.
JC: Yeah that's why I didn't completely agree with him.
AK: what is the drive in your art making?
JC: To me art is sharing understanding of life with others. Whether it's an opinion or an appreciation, artists express that message and feeling through their works.
AK: are you saying that an artist can create a game around his appreciation for the relationships formed between user and piece (game)?
JC: very likely. For example, in architecture, the artists design a building with consideration of how human interact with the building, the lighting, the shadow and so on. I'd consider that as an interactive art rather than a sculpture of concrete. In fact, if you look at a well made sports car, isn't it an appreciation of the relationship and extension between the driver and the machine?
AK: :) indeed it is
JC: However, while most people make cars, they don't necessarily put their messages in it. They are just making a car. They forget what they want to express through the metal. Therefore, the car is just a car, not an art.
AK: yes. That’s clear :)
JC: if I'm an industrial designer I might be able to design a car that expressing my feeling about peace, depression or anything. I think artists are people who have something to say and have the desire to share with others. And the medium they can use are unlimited.
AK: Do you see digital as a medium?
JC: digital is a tech term to describe that things are stored in numbers, usually 0/1. So I won't call it a medium.
AK: Yeah. But I keep seeing "the digital medium"
JC: well that means "any medium that uses 0/1 to store" which can be painting, movie, music and game, anything as long as they are stored in some kind of data format.
AK: Do you feel that there are universal structures to the game (like having a goal and levels and so on)?
JC: there are conventions, but never rules. So goals and levels are not mandatory. But it would be easier for others to understand if a game has them.
AK: what's the most abstract game you've seen?
JC: it's hard to define abstract, maybe that means the opposite of realism
AK: umm, I mean farthest from the classic game while still falling under the term Game
JC: I can't really choose the most abstract game of all time. There are too many art pieces that are considered non-game.
AK: I’m trying to get a grasp of the poles within the game medium. But I’m asking what you consider a game... I dun care about other people
JC: you can try out "passage" which is a game that I considered art. One of the most inspiring games I played in the past two years…
Posted by Jenova at 12:14 AM | Comments (1)
My interview with Gamasutra
During the GDC 2008, I had an opportunity to meet and sit down with the famous Brandon Sheffield from Gamasutra. I shared a lot of back stage stories of thatgamecompany and some of my design principles with him. It was a great time talking with him. And I liked this interview a lot. Hopefully you can find something useful from this article :)
Posted by Jenova at 12:05 AM | Comments (0)
April 7, 2008
My interview with Tale of Tales
During GDC 2008, I met the geniuses from Tale of Tales, Auriea Harvey & Michaël Samyn. I felt that we have a lot of things in common, from our works in the past to our visions for the future. It was a blast doing this interview with them. It helped me to sort out a lot of my thoughts till recently.
Read it here.
Posted by Jenova at 12:48 AM | Comments (2)
February 24, 2008
Video game needs more Mature content
At the Game Developer Conference 2008, I gave a talk at the game developer rant session. This year's rant is from the game designers. My topic is about how video game needs more mature content. Before they post the full length video, here is a video teaser from joystiq and a text coverage from gamasutra.
Posted by Jenova at 5:20 PM | Comments (3)
October 1, 2007
The long waited video of my GDC talk
Previously I've posted my game design inspiration slides for the GDC 2007 game innovation panel. However without talking while the slides going, I think it is really difficult to fully communicate what I mean. Now after nearly 7 months, CMP finally put the video online.
I'm the second presenter.
Posted by Jenova at 10:05 PM | Comments (3)
March 22, 2007
Design Game for Entertainment
This is the slides I used on GDC 2007 Game Innovation Panel. My speech's topic is about how video game started as a niche software product, now evolves into a major entertainment medium.
However, entertainment is the emotional food for human beings. When you are sad, you need some thing to make you feel better. When you are too stressed, you want to see some thing to calm you down. It is all about the feelings its audience experienced rather than a product which is very much about features and functions. When people comment about main stream entertainment like movies and literatures, they talk about how it feels. When people talk about products and software, they talk about the technical features. It's also very interesting to see people describe certain product as an entertainment and experience. For example, ipod and bmw.
As a main stream medium, video games are often treated like products and designed around features such as "40 hours gameplay, MMORPG, FPS, WWII" I think it is time, we, the game enthusiasts, to review and design games as an entertainment medium rather than software products, to care more about how our audience feel rather than how long they can play.
Posted by Jenova at 3:16 PM | Comments (5)
January 28, 2007
One word inspiration
A year ago, I ranted about the importance of evoking new kind of emotional experiences to push the artistic quality of video game forward. But since I've been working on Flow theory, I didn't spend enough time to evolve the idea of these emotions beyond just "new". Now I'm back with a new inspiration.
I encountered a word multiple times recently. I heard it through Tetsuya Mizuguchi's interview when he talks about his game design and "Synestesia". I saw it on my friend's blog describing her emotional experience affected by the television. And the word used by them is "Catharsis".
To many of you this is not a new word. But it opened an entire new world for me when I tried to figure out what the hell does this word mean from Wikipedia. I'll share some quote about this word here:
The definition of this word really covers what an artistic media with high quality contains no matter if it's a film or a game.
"Catharsis, the term in drama refers to a sudden emotional breakdown or climax that constitutes overwhelming feelings of great pity, sorrow, laughter or any extreme change in emotion that results in the renewal, restoration and revitalization for living."
Although most people related Catharsis strictly to tragedy. I think it applies to most extreme emotions and explains why people need entertainment very well.
"Using the term 'Catharsis' as a form of emotional cleansing was first written about by the Greek philosopher Aristotle in his work Poetics. It refers to the sensation, or literary effect, that would ideally overcome an audience upon finishing watching a tragedy. 'In real life, men are sometimes too much addicted to pity or fear, sometimes too little; tragedy brings them back to a virtuous and happy mean.'"
Another interesting argument here about whether a new art form (video games or poetry) makes people dangerous or the opposite.
"Any translator attempting to interpret Aristotle meaning of the term should take into account that Poetics is largely a response to Plato's claim that poetry encourages men to be hysterical and uncontrolled. In response to Plato, Aristotle maintains that poetry makes them less, not more, emotional, by giving a periodic and healthy outlet to their feelings."
As a temporary conclusion, purley saying new emotion for video games is too vague to follow and master. As we dive in and explore the open area of video game designs, not only do we explore new emotional experiences, we also have to leverage them into the level of Catharsis to achieve strong emotional impact to the gamer. And usually the moment you experience Catharsis in a video game is the most memorable sequence of it. I wonder if you experienced them. If so, please share it here :)
Posted by Jenova at 12:50 PM | Comments (6)
January 26, 2007
Thoughts on video games for adults
I haven't written down any game design related thoughts for a while. So here's my compensation.
I believe many of you have been excited and tried to show-off your Wii or DS to the parents and non-gamer friends. And probably a large portion of you did that with a tiny hope from the bottom of your heart that they will start appreciate and enjoy video games just like you did since Wii and DS are so accessible.
Well, I was one of you guys who wished everybody in the world enjoy and appreciate games. But the result from my Wii holiday test is not that positive. While most non-gamers picked up the Wii sports easily and told me "It's fun." None of them actually played more than 30 minutes before they go back to read books, cooking or watch TV. Without me turning on the Wii, none of them would actually play because of their own will.
Notice I'm talking about adults from 25 to 60. I'm sure younger generation loves Wii. The fact is that most people form stable values after they become adults and it gets harder to change as the age accumulates. These values cover the choice of entertainment. My grandpa loves playing chess and reading newspaper to kill his time, while my mom tends to watch TV all day long. To them, these are the entertainment they picked up when they were young and used through their entire life. A simple Wii game won't change the places and priorities of what they want as entertainment.
Today I am finally old enough to look at what I have enjoyed since I was a kid, video games, from an adult perspective. Old school arcade games we played countless hours when we were kids, such as Mario, Contra and Pac man, somehow, seem so difficult, frustrating and pointless today. Can you remember how many parents were actually playing video games with their kids back in the 90s? If I was the parent, I won't play a game where it resets every three times I die. Obviously, it has something to do with all the good games I played as I grew up. But as adults, we tend to expect something more. The success of Brain Age and Dance Dance Revolution really addressed what I mean with that extra meaning. "Game is for kids, but this is designed to keep my brain young. Why not give it a try?"
While Nintendo is doing great at engaging people from different age to play games, they become more and more like Disney. Mario has become the new Mickey Mouse. However, being Disney also means there are many things you can't do, a lot of rules that you can't break, and many desires you can’t satisfy.
I'm fine watching Disney movies with kids and playing Wii with them. But for myself, I want something with more depth and artistic spirit in it, something that kids can't really understand but adults will reach enlightenment with. While we have the "Disney", the "Action Heros" and "ESPN" for the younger gamers, I want to play the "Oscar" winners, I want to be moved and inspired.
I can rarely find a game that worth my time playing these days. Not that I don't love games any more, games designed and made intellectually attractive to the grown up gamers are simply hard to find. Gamers have grown up, what about the games?
ps: the image is only for eyeball catching...
Posted by Jenova at 4:48 PM | Comments (5)
January 8, 2007
What comes after usability?
Kathy Sierra from Creating Passion Users Blog posted a nice article about userbility and Flow. She also linked my theis site, that's how I find the article :)
I especially like the diagrams she used in the article.
Click here to see the full article.
Posted by Jenova at 11:51 PM | Comments (2)
January 2, 2007
Impression of Xbox360 Blockbusters
I was not born in US, so am I not a football fan.
But now as I think of footballer-like character as a cultural preference, it's amazing how it worked out very obviously in north american games.
It's interesting that football appears in movies too. But football theme is never the mainstream in Hollywood, it appears to teenagers not necessarily adults. So what will be the mainstream for video games in the future when more adults are involved?
Posted by Jenova at 11:27 AM | Comments (0)
December 28, 2006
Deeper Emotions Keep Gamers Playing
I am very pleasant to see someone bring up this topic again. However in the article, they didn't really spend words to explain how and why. Neither did they mentioned the Flow theory or the diminishment of repeating emotions across similar genres.
Posted by Jenova at 1:27 PM | Comments (0)
November 29, 2006
"Flow in Games" in Italian & Chinese
I always wish the methodology covered in my MFA thesis can be shared by many gamers and game designers, and eventually increase the overall quality of our game designs and game reviews. And I'm very happy to announce that "Flow in Games" have been voluntarily translated into two other languages.
* Italian version Special thanks to Emanuele Colucci
* Chinese version Special thanks to Tommo from Indie-G.com
Posted by Jenova at 12:12 AM | Comments (1)
November 9, 2006
"Flow in Games" lecture at UC Riverside
Even though it is a little program in an art museum, I am very honored to be invited by "Digital Wizards" at UCR/California Museum of Photography. I am going to give a lecture about my graduation thesis there on Tuesday night 7pm to 9pm, Nov 21st.
I am also going to take this opportunity to show a small side project I have been working on as an extension of my thesis research. Whether you are interested in flOw and its design philosophy or just curious what I have been doing besides working at Maxis, it will be a good time to chat and discuss.
Here's the link to their website:
http://www.cmp.ucr.edu/
Posted by Jenova at 3:39 PM | Comments (1)
May 30, 2006
Bruce Lee & Game Design
First of all, I am not a Bruce Lee fan. And I have only seen one of his movies. I got intrigued by him through a lost video interview of him and his philosophy about martial arts. As a game designer, I'm with his philosophy. Here's a link to that part of the conversation.
You might not get what I mean after watching through once. And you might think me being cocky to talk about video game design as an art. But to me, game design is about art. It is about designers' self-expression. It is all about the experiences they want to create and share with the others. In martial arts, you feel an artist's soul through his punch. In games, you experience their soul from playing.
If you've heard my GDC talk about emotion and genre, you probably would know that I'm an anti-genre game designer. Today's video games are made around existing genres. And genres are defined by the same core gameplay experiences shared by a number of games. You have to have some sort of level up to call it an RPG. You have to an army to control in order to make it an RTS.
"Styles tend to not only separate men — because they have their own doctrines and then the doctrine became the gospel truth that you cannot change. But if you do not have a style, if you just say: Well, here I am as a human being, how can I express myself totally and completely? Now, that way you won't create a style, because style is a crystallization. That way, it's a process of continuing growth." - Bruce Lee
To a businessman, style and genre means a successful model he can use and make money out of it again and again with very small risks. It is a safe zone and an excuse of being lazy to explore the wild. To an artist, following certain style and genre is a good way to learn. The true masters always create their own later. When everybody starts under an existing genre or style, the growth of our industry yields. Just think about today's Hollywood movies.
If you want to truely express yourself, you need to be flexible. Design games without too much concern on existing genres. Think about what you really want, and your knowledge gathered through your life will speak for you. Be the Bruce Lee of video game design, this world needs you...
"Don't get set into one form, adapt it and build your own, and let it grow, be like water. Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless — like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend." - Bruce Lee
Posted by Jenova at 1:53 AM | Comments (2)
May 14, 2006
Wii & PS3 Controllers' Biggest Pitfall
In this year's E3, both Nintendo & Sony featured the motion sensor feature in their controllers. Sony's air combat game Warhawk and most Wii games intentionally avoid the traditional button pressing and heavily rely on the motion sensor. However, lots of people who tried it described them as a cheap-feeling experience.
PROBLEM
I tried both flying game in Nintendo and Sony's booth. Compared with the experiences I had playing Warhawk with traditional PS2 controller and my own Cloud game with mouse. My brain prefers the new controller because it is a new type of control mechanics, but my body prefers the later. Why? Because there is no physical feedback to my hands at all during the use of motion sensor on Wii or PS3 controller. My body feels no joy when using the controller.
PHYSICAL FEEDBACK
The reason people call a joystick "Joystick" is because moving the stick itself is a joyful experience. Applying forces and feeling the physical feedback from spring is very responsive and rewarding. It is very easy to feel empty and cheap when a controller doesn't give you feedback. Imagine after you push down the button, it doesn't bounce back. Imagine if you turn the wheel in your car and it doesn't return to its original position while driving. Imagine if you make a left turn in your car, your body doesn't feel the centrifugal effect. It's what we call cheap or incomplete experience.
POSSIBLE DESIGN SOLUTION
Since applying a real gyroscope is battery and cost expensive. I'm thinking about using rumble and sound from the controller to create physical feedback. If you turn your airplane very hardly, the controller should vibrate to give you an illusion of using force. If you use a controller and cut through the air, that controller should make the "Phong Phong..." sound. However, PS3 controller now has neither rumble pack nor speaker. I hope before they launch, both Nintendo and Sony should really look at this issue and offer more possibilities for Game Designer to reward player through waving their controllers
Posted by Jenova at 11:25 AM | Comments (10)
April 21, 2006
Beat Matching but Casual
During this year's Experimental Gameplay Workshop, Nick Fortugno from Gamelab presented their challenging project Downbeat, a casual game combines RTS with beat matching mechanics. Nick mentioned that it is quite a challenge to design a beat matching game (which was mainly for hardcore gamers) to be easy to pick up by the casual gamers.
Downbeat successfully solved the problem. It changed the basic gamplay from the very hard "click in time" to the easy to pick up "move direction before it's too late". Interestingly while Downbeat is still not released yet. Japanese game designers have already put out a flash game that is surprisingly close.
Without any graphics candy, this game is surprisingly pleasing. The synchronization between body, eyes and ears is always a very addicting experience.
Posted by Jenova at 6:20 PM | Comments (2)
March 27, 2006
Video game as Dream Machines
Having seen Will's speak for more than 7 times, I am amazed by his brilliance. Every time he spoke, I could always find inspirations from him.
In this issue of Wired magazine. Will Wright explains how games are unleashing the human imagination.
http://wired.com/wired/archive/14.04/wright.html
Posted by Jenova at 9:42 PM | Comments (0)
January 6, 2006
If video game is a Media
After days and nights thinking, I suddenly realized what is missing in our current video game industry.
Media is defined as a medium to realize communications. If you see video game as a media, it has to have two components:
One is the interactive system which is the thing to realize communication, it is designed to serve specific needs, for example, generating fun experience. Then the other part is the content that system will communicate, it is the specific need, the specific message, the specific experience game designers want to communicate to the players.
Sadly when I tried to dig the messages from today's games, most games don't have a message or have a very shallow message. And most game system is not even designed based on the message, instead, they are all the believer of "fun, cool, and addicting" which makes most games feel the same today, though they have different skins.
If you ignore the importance of the message, just want to focus on an addictive interactive system, please check out Vegas. Slaughter machine is not a media. Why are there millions of people look down at video games? What kind of messages have we been making in the past twenty years?
Beyond fun, addicting, cool, think about messages like love, evoking, humanity, nature and Zen. If a video game is made to communicate Zen, then staying still and not touching the controller will be the right action a player should do. Will any blockbuster game designer today design a game that player will have to stay in meditation for 3 min? Probably not. Will that be a great experience? I'll say very likely YES!
Fortunately, we have seen games that tried to deliver deep messages here and there in the recent five years. For example, as the creator of Katamari Damacy claimed, he made that game with the intention to communicate "Love". And people loved the game and learned to love more in "We love Katamari"...
In my opinion, the new era is coming, the Citizen Kane of video game as a true media is near, the future of this media is bright and shining...
What do you think?
Posted by Jenova at 2:17 AM | Comments (6)
August 30, 2005
CTIN 555a Assignment 6min Thesis Walk Through
Posted by Jenova at 5:30 PM | Comments (0)