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Post by HarneyBarnes on Dec 23, 2017 5:32:36 GMT
Current question I've been brewing up for several months: What are your guy's thoughts on the neologisms of the crops of arty games, being coined such as 'alt-games' or 'trashgames'? While I'd like to ignore quick tags, quick trendy names for things don't live in a vacuum. What does terms like 'alt-games' and 'trashgames' represent wholesale? Am I just overthinking what might be a quaint market tagging?
some quick supplementary link's i've had for a while:
[links]
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Post by softest on Dec 23, 2017 8:05:27 GMT
That's actually my main peoblem with them: they're branding / marketing.
My other issue is--I'll just quote this toot I did on Mastodon the other day:
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Post by softest on Dec 23, 2017 8:06:35 GMT
Yr link's busted btw
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Post by jacques on Dec 23, 2017 8:42:50 GMT
I've never felt the urge to label games or my games as 'altgames' or such because yeah it feels like some kind of branding and, i forgot the word but like it's a way of feeling safe or something if u use a label like that.
I think it's a bit like putting VHS effect on your game, or staying true to 8 bit gfx, looking for authenticity. a game like hotline miami does it well and isn't gimmicky imo, but some games using those kind of popular themes plays a similar role to those labels, possibly.
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Post by jacques on Dec 23, 2017 9:03:56 GMT
also I kind of dislike the word 'art' as well, its like 'altgame'. labeling something as art often sounds like its trying to be better than something else, i think, at least to people who arent involved in art at all
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Post by nl on Dec 24, 2017 1:04:43 GMT
"trashgames" just sounds so unappealing. Almost as if only people who actually look into what the word means will ever get the message.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2018 17:16:24 GMT
somebody once told me
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Post by neo_juice on Aug 21, 2018 13:47:11 GMT
These names probably aren't needed really. If a game is different than many other games, then people will find that out as they play it. Wikipedia does actually recognize art games as a thing, used as a term for games made for the purpose of expressing art, or gaining a reaction out of the player, rather than simply entertainment. The article even includes many criticisms of the term, about the term being elitist or snobbish. |
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Post by bigpancakenorton on Aug 25, 2018 8:38:02 GMT
isn't everything just marketing and branding anyways?
i think they're fair terms to use to categorize your games, if not just for the use of filtering them out from other games. canh't stand art games personally, they make me ZZZZZ...... |
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Post by lurkenstein on Oct 20, 2018 16:10:55 GMT
Altgames and trashgames are such a silly distinction in my opinion. Who would want to willingly call their game a trashgame? It feels like such a put down and a put on.
Honestly I'm more into DIY hobbyist games where the author has made all the art, music and code to cobble together an experience and not necessarily a product. This is what drew me to Sunfish and subsequently this community.
'Trashgames' were coined by @moshboy on Twitter. Moshboy has claimed they have no interest in making games but want to act as a curator instead, fine. My major issue is the gaming media has fixated on trashgames and altgames as concepts, ignoring real creators in favor of a clickbait movement that doesn't really exist.
PC Gamer gave moshboy a big write up and some might argue this helps creators but the problem is everyone knows who moshboy is and not any of the creators they curated. moshboy's best work was his blog interview series where he put the creator on the pedestal, asking seriously good questions that would inspire gamedev. Instead of focusing on the interviews, PC Gamer highlighted his trashgame thread which was a unwieldy and convoluted thread of tweets featuring screenshots and not much other substance.
Forbes gave James Earl Cox the "30 under 30" for making his looking at porn for the first time game. Such an art game huh? I can think of many others more deserving of the accolade. Hey kids, dye your hair with ManicPanic and you can be an alt gamer too! The gaming media loves him for his terracotta persona as artsy weirdo but he looks and acts so boringly normal and like he should be assistant managing a clothing store at the mall. I believe he could make a game about squeezing out turds on a hot sidewalk for the first time and win a IGF award the media is so far up his ass they think he invented art games.
In general I wish more people made bad DIY games instead of products or even 'alt games'. To me terms like this put the artist in front of the art. This tells me the art they create are nothing but attempts at vapid ego pieces.
I'm sure the people I'm ragging on are fine individuals but I do wish the gaming media wouldn't be so lazy and instead talk more about humble creators instead relying on empty hype cycles.
For example take Jayenki, the game a week guy who has a way better story than anyone I've whinged about but where is his Forbes article? The guy had a brain tumor removed and still manages to crank out a game a week. He does all the art, code, music, etc. He is what indie gaming was all about but you rarely hear about him in the gaming media. This is the sort of overcoming obstacles story the media loves but isn't as well known.
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Post by beanstalk on Oct 21, 2018 0:37:19 GMT
Altgames and trashgames are such a silly distinction in my opinion. Who would want to willingly call their game a trashgame? It feels like such a put down and a put on. Honestly I'm more into DIY hobbyist games where the author has made all the art, music and code to cobble together an experience and not necessarily a product. This is what drew me to Sunfish and subsequently this community. 'Trashgames' were coined by @moshboy on Twitter. Moshboy has claimed they have no interest in making games but want to act as a curator instead, fine. My major issue is the gaming media has fixated on trashgames and altgames as concepts, ignoring real creators in favor of a clickbait movement that doesn't really exist. PC Gamer gave moshboy a big write up and some might argue this helps creators but the problem is everyone knows who moshboy is and not any of the creators they curated. moshboy's best work was his blog interview series where he put the creator on the pedestal, asking seriously good questions that would inspire gamedev. Instead of focusing on the interviews, PC Gamer highlighted his trashgame thread which was a unwieldy and convoluted thread of tweets featuring screenshots and not much other substance. Forbes gave James Earl Cox the "30 under 30" for making his looking at porn for the first time game. Such an art game huh? I can think of many others more deserving of the accolade. Hey kids, dye your hair with ManicPanic and you can be an alt gamer too! The gaming media loves him for his terracotta persona as artsy weirdo but he looks and acts so boringly normal and like he should be assistant managing a clothing store at the mall. I believe he could make a game about squeezing out turds on a hot sidewalk for the first time and win a IGF award the media is so far up his ass they think he invented art games. In general I wish more people made bad DIY games instead of products or even 'alt games'. To me terms like this put the artist in front of the art. This tells me the art they create are nothing but attempts at vapid ego pieces. I'm sure the people I'm ragging on are fine individuals but I do wish the gaming media wouldn't be so lazy and instead talk more about humble creators instead relying on empty hype cycles. For example take Jayenki, the game a week guy who has a way better story than anyone I've whinged about but where is his Forbes article? The guy had a brain tumor removed and still manages to crank out a game a week. He does all the art, code, music, etc. He is what indie gaming was all about but you rarely hear about him in the gaming media. This is the sort of overcoming obstacles story the media loves but isn't as well known. Who cares, to be perfectly fair. |
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Post by Jinxtengu on Oct 25, 2018 7:26:57 GMT
ahhh I don't really want to get involved in these politics. Im sure everyone has their reasons for doing whatever and wearing manic panic. I don't really have anything to complain about either, I just wish I could make new games faster. Personally I wouldn't call my games trash because I try to make them as good as possible, though I assume that the “trash” label is intended as a term of indeerment stealing from the cinema movement, and filmmakers like john waters and such. Still I wouldn’t call my games “trash”, because they usually don’t fit the aesthetic or philosophy that defines “trash” cinema, which I am entirely open to by the way. I have made games which I would call “trash” such as “Simon says die” and a few others, which I don’t intend to ever release. If people are gonna have the gumption to call certain games “trash” the games should be positively transgressive. So i think it comes down to the richter belmont scale of trasgressiveness here, wether or not that label is applicable. Obviosly thats knindof subjective but then also it’s not. The only game stuff iv’e seen that would really fit that label is stuff like the badder hacks games (mainly donner party) and some of Jombs rom hacks, some of that is quality trash though most of it falls short. Anyway what was my point? I think everyone should go to trasharama film festival!!! www.trasharama.com/. Plug plug. |
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