It is March 2020. The whole world is fighting a silence war against Coronavirus. Most part of Earth's population is confined inside their houses. Different forms of entertainment take a special role in this moment to help people pass the time and fight boredom: streaming services, internet, pornography, books, e-books, and – of course – games.
Many people from my social circle are searching for games to play on consoles, PC and mobile media in this terrible moment. Many friends of mine are spending hours and hours in "Animal Crossing" (a big launching in this crisis times). Me? I'm searching for indie and experimental games. I'm using these times to analyze strange ludic experiments and new ways to explore gaming mechanics. The inspiration for this? Jesper Juul's last book "Handmade Pixels: Independent Video Games and the Quest for Authenticity"; a deep discussion and a deep dive into the world of independent and experimental games.
In the last ten years indie games reached a special place with a big audience inside the huge gaming industry. The category "indie gamer" appeared in the gaming ecosystem and, today, people like me are preferring the experimental and independent gaming experiences instead of big and complex AAA games. According to Juul (2019, position 101) "independent games are new video games inspired by independent cinema and independent music, creating new experiences in new settings in new ways".
Juul (2019, position 105, 114) also says that
What do I like about experimental and independent games? The strangeness that some titles can offer me. In "The artist is present" you must stay in the line to attend a performance made by Marina Abramovic; in "That dragon cancer" you follow the real story of a couple struggling with childhood cancer; in "Rainy day" you are invited to understand the felling of being depressed together with the main character.
I also like to shooting some zombies or try to reach a deep level in "Enter the GUNgeon" but I must confess that every time I play something very strange in a game interface I become happy that games are reaching a new level within the scope of message transmission.
Reference:
JUUL, Jesper. Handmade Pixels: Independent Video Games and the Quest for Authenticity. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2019. (kindle version)
Many people from my social circle are searching for games to play on consoles, PC and mobile media in this terrible moment. Many friends of mine are spending hours and hours in "Animal Crossing" (a big launching in this crisis times). Me? I'm searching for indie and experimental games. I'm using these times to analyze strange ludic experiments and new ways to explore gaming mechanics. The inspiration for this? Jesper Juul's last book "Handmade Pixels: Independent Video Games and the Quest for Authenticity"; a deep discussion and a deep dive into the world of independent and experimental games.
In the last ten years indie games reached a special place with a big audience inside the huge gaming industry. The category "indie gamer" appeared in the gaming ecosystem and, today, people like me are preferring the experimental and independent gaming experiences instead of big and complex AAA games. According to Juul (2019, position 101) "independent games are new video games inspired by independent cinema and independent music, creating new experiences in new settings in new ways".
Juul (2019, position 105, 114) also says that
"Video games fundamentally involve doing something. Not just watching something or thinking about something, but physically making something happen on a screen, or outside the screen, something for which we generally feel responsible. The difference between different games is what they make us do, how they make us do it, and how they present what we are doing. Independent and experimental games contain a fundamental newness: they are about playing in new ways, solving new problems, solving old problems for new reasons, being free to ignore something we used to have to do, or framing video games in a new way – no longer as products, but as cultural works created by people. Independent videogames look in ways we never thought a video game would look and are often made by people who did not use to make games (or whose video games had not been reconized)".
What do I like about experimental and independent games? The strangeness that some titles can offer me. In "The artist is present" you must stay in the line to attend a performance made by Marina Abramovic; in "That dragon cancer" you follow the real story of a couple struggling with childhood cancer; in "Rainy day" you are invited to understand the felling of being depressed together with the main character.
I also like to shooting some zombies or try to reach a deep level in "Enter the GUNgeon" but I must confess that every time I play something very strange in a game interface I become happy that games are reaching a new level within the scope of message transmission.
Reference:
JUUL, Jesper. Handmade Pixels: Independent Video Games and the Quest for Authenticity. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2019. (kindle version)
