Hello and Chapter 1 of “The Art of Game Design” Response

Game design isn’t just video game design. Games are an ancient concept and by studying them we can hope to understand how and why games last for long times. There are not any direct steps on how to create a well-loved game. The only way to do that is to create a game test it, have someone else test it, fix it, test some more, fix it, and continue that until you get a game that is enjoyable. To be a game designer one must design games, it is that simple.

I am a game designer.

That simple sentence means more than you might imagine. That sentence is encouraging and motivating. That sentence describes so many details of a person. I am a game designer.

Game designing takes many skills but the main one is listening. There are various people that will need to be listened to. The audience, the team, the client, the game and the designer themselves. In order to truly understand the game, the designer will need to listen to the game.

I don’t know why I never thought about the need to listen as the most important part of game designing. It makes sense. To create something someone wants you to you need to listen to what they ask you to make. To make something enjoyable for the player, you need to listen to the audience and what they want. In order to keep the game running well, you need to listen to the game and whether or not it’s working the way you intended. For you as a designer to create something you want to and enjoy you need to listen to yourself. Listening is extremely important in game design.

“The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” Response

Although this piece is a dry read discussing the impacts of technology on the way art is made and sold, there are some ideas that were intriguing. The major key points being the concept of pieces of art having auras, reproducing had some kind of effect on the authenticity of art, and the person who wrote this wasn’t a fan of film. A few points were explained about the ability and availability to recreate art during certain points in history. One statement about how difficult it was to create art during ancient greek and roman times compared to the way it is now. Generally, the idea of comparing the concept of art with craftsmanship came up several times or it came up in my mind having read previous works on similar topics. They would discuss the difference between something created by a human/artist and the same kind of thing created by machine(s).

Authenticity was another point that came up while reading this piece. The idea that mechanical means of reproduction affect authenticity. Although I agree that reproducing/copying can undermine an artists’ authenticity it doesn’t always do that. More often than not an artist makes copies of their work, some copies to be sold but the methods of making these copies create another layer of artistic authenticity as each copy can and most likely will have different pieces. For example, a photographer who creates a beautiful photo wouldn’t sell the negative or the original raw file directly, they would save it to a computer and/or print the photo out. It is a mechanical reproduction to print through photoshop which is the most common way to print one’s photos from my experience

Even though most of this work felt to be an older white educated man complaining about technology, there were a few points made that intrigued me. One being the ideas around auras in art. The idea that reproduction through mechanical means takes away the individual auras from the work. I agree that it does take some of the uniqueness away from a piece of work but it still holds a different uniqueness that each of the reproductions/copies of the work get. It also makes it more widely available to the audience that an artist gets.

Honestly, I felt as though I was reading a well-educated man’s paper that was just complaining about the change in technology and how it has made things worse. Most of the points made were simply a misunderstanding of how things being different then they were and how that according to the author was a bad thing or easily could be a bad thing. Yes, there is a difference between acting on a stage in a play and acting on stages for a camera, the methods are altered somewhat but it is still art. Painting portraits are amazing but inconvenient and too time-consuming to create and model for when people work 40 hours a week, so photography in portrait simply allows more of an available audience to the artist.

A strong opinion about the negative/drastic effects technology has had on art is an interesting read if you want to check it out yourself click the link below.

https://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/benjamin.htm

Artist Websites I like

Artists websites are common but good artist websites are not. Some artists even have multiple websites one that’s pretty good while the other looks as if a teen made it during 2005 using their dial-up internet.

Jazza https://jazzastudios.com/

https://www.drawwithjazza.com/

An Australian artist and YouTuber named Draw with Jazza has two sites. The first site that shows up when looking up this artist is jazzastudios.com which isn’t bad for a website but isn’t great. The sites graphics and imagery have easy to see pixels and the site doesn’t appear to have been updated graphically and design wise since it was originally made. The function of the site works well, compared to the graphics, it’s easy to get to the pages you want but the newer site has a nicer visual presence without graphics that look like they were made smaller then stretched out beyond their limit. Although the second site has a bit too much vibrancy for my taste it functions just as well as the other one. The second site also shows off the artists work right on the front page, meaning it shows the meaning of the site without having the awkward introduction the first site had. The second site being drawwithjazza.com which was made with a website building website.

Tim Burton

http://timburton.com/

A very popular and known artist Tim Burton, who honestly was my main inspiration into going into art and animation back when I decided to try it out in junior high, has an interesting website. Simply enough the site is timburton.com. The site won’t load unless you allow flash which was a bit of a nuisance. Upon opening the site with flash allowed one gets to see the book of his work pop up, annoying but its his website. Promoting oneself on their own website is a necessity. This site is used as an interactive gallery where the viewer controls a little character marked with a s and wearing a cape. There is music that people can easily connect to Burton’s style, although it’s more of Danny Elfman’s style, regardless the use of a game to view the works in this internet gallery is interesting and I honestly enjoyed looking at the works showcased that way. The site does use popup windows to show the license and the news if you click on either which is interesting to see. Overall, I enjoy viewing this website.

Wim Delvoye

https://wimdelvoye.be/

An artist I didn’t hear of until recently named Wim Delvoye has another interesting take on what a website is. Similar to how Burtons’ website showcases work through an animation Delvoyes website showcases work through a video game. Wim Delvoye’s website is wimdelvoye.be. The work is separated into sections that have a building or location that is visually representing the section. The main page looks like a map of a city in a sims game but each place shows different types of work Delvoye has made. Delvoyes is a little less fluid but includes all the information about the works and has them organized well. The only thing I have seen about the website is that the “about” page where I assumed I’d get to learn more about the artist just showed me a calendar of sorts for the exhibitions the artist has had and is having. I want to look more into this artists work.

Making Art For A Living Commentary

The article Making Art for a living is written by a straight white middle class american male and his perspective on the ways to enjoy making games while also making a living off of them. Bassically he dictates there are games that are more available to a wide audience and those that are more specific towards a small niche. The concept of this makes sense; however, he even admits to not being able to prove that it works the way he states.

Although there are some good points in the article, it is specified for a specific kind of person. Every person and every game developer has different ideas and ways of working which makes the idea of a simple balance between the games that are open to a larger audience and a smaller audience, as such, the games that could make a larger amount of money easier versus the games that struggle to make an impactful amount of money difficult to determine. It is easy to say that there needs to be a balance between the games that have strong personal meaning and the games that are a little lighter but the actual action of that is not so simple. Artists block is a well known thing. Imagine knowing you need to create a well liked and enjoyed game for a large audience by a certain date or you will loose your house. Imagine trying to stay balanced in those circumstances. The idea of balance is good but simply stating the need for it and not giving any kind of insight into how to do so conteracts the statement.

It’s unclear to me why the article was written. There are statements that lead me to believe it is a simple explanation on why he does the things he does. Some portions of the article lead me to believe that the author wants to help teach others on how to be successful and happy creating the games they want to. The end seems to be a want to discuss the experiences of others. The article isn’t really and article though. It was a post on tumblr so maybe I am over analyzing it.

If you want to check out the text I have been referencing: https://blog.adamatomic.com/post/57579873388/making-art-for-a-living

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