When I started this blog it was with the intention of becoming a games designer. I wanted to show that I thought about games, took them seriously and understood the reasons for the decisions taken in their construction. It was started at a strange time for me, as I had only recently moved to London and felt somewhat ambivalent about gaming in general. Put simply, I felt compelled to play games but didn't really enjoy them, hence the title.
I don't think the blog has been an unqualified success, in the sense that it didn't lead directly to good designs of my own. My writing is better, but not good: my designs improved, but still inchoate. What has changed is the strength of my opinions about games in general.
Broadly, gaming is moving into the mainstream. On one side a series of simple and accessible games, often using specific and novel peripherals, has broken new ground and made gamers of us all. It turns out the ever-evolving joypad was holding us back all along. On the other, the traditional gaming industry and press is focussed ever tighter upon a small section of games, themes and mechanics. An endless stream of space marines, grim futures and prattling weaponry has dominated the schedules.
I am bored of all this, and yet the door for creative designs and ideas is wider than ever. Xbox Marketplace, PSN Store and WiiWare; iPhone App Store and Android Market; Flash aggregate sites like Kongregate and Newgrounds; services such as Steam and sites like Manifesto games. The opportunities for indie developers are tremendous. Concepts such as artgames and the slowly-germinating concept of a "Not Fun" game offer promise of progress. The nature of discourse has moved from the purely theoretical and post-modern to the practical and applicable. Many people are taking games seriously, in a way not seen before.
I am a different person from two years ago. I will be starting a new blog soon, with a tighter focus on music, games and the areas where these two forms intersect. I'm excited again. Nobody else is really covering it, except in a vague "Oh the indie folks love that jazz but it doesn't matter": read the Destructoid review of Groov for a perfect example. We can do better than this.
There will be a few more posts from here, but I'll let you all know when the new blog goes live. In the meantime, thanks if you ever read this, or commented.
About Me
- Gareth
- London, United Kingdom
- I have been playing games, making music and messing with computers since I was knee-high to the proverbial. I have also been observed running, taking photos and producing coins from behind children's ears.
2 comments:
sad to hear, briggo, on several levels (pun accidental). i can't help but agree with you. level design, innovative features, graphics, storylines and just about every aspect of gaming have taken huge bounds forwards but not without sacrifice.
there used to be a kind of "nosa costra" with gaming, now everybody thinks they're in. difficulty settings are disgustingly low - recharging health bars, wtf? i want to plonk blame on the mainstream gamer but that wouldn't be entirely fair.
i could go on but i'd just get angry. suffice to say, i'm still playing my ps1 and ps2 games, snes and nes roms and i don't care.
Not the end kreeb, just the end of the beginning.
I've no problem with most of the advancements in mainstream game design - just the homogenisation of the end product. There is more potential in gaming than a series of carefully tuned fairground attractions. Fortunately, there's more room for this stuff to be seen than ever.
Hopefully you'll like the new blog when it lands.
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