Going Against The Grain - Revision history

Checker at 18:53, 21 August 2019

2019-08-21T18:53:56Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:53, 21 August 2019
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	According to Scott McCloud, comics went through a very similar phase when color printing first appeared, and it basically screwed them for 50 years.		According to Scott McCloud, comics went through a very similar phase when color printing first appeared, and it basically screwed them for 50 years.

	<center>[[Image:mccloud-color.jpg]]</center>		<center>[[Image:mccloud-color.jpg]]<br/>
			<div style="width:70%; text-align:justify; line-height:1em;"><small>''To counteract the dulling effects of newsprint and to stand out from the competition, costumed heroes were clad in '''bright, primary colors''' and fought in a '''bright primary world!'''''</small></div></center>

	===Are we doomed?===		===Are we doomed?===

Checker at 08:29, 16 May 2013

2013-05-16T08:29:05Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 08:29, 16 May 2013
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	* Rod Humble briefly mentions the concept of a grain to the form, or at least a grain for the process of developing games, in his page for his game [http://www.rodvik.com/rodgames/ The Marriage]. He talks about going with the grain during the game's development, but the game is about how it feels to be married, which is very far away from my Spacewar example above and is the direction in which I think we need to go, which I find interesting.		* Rod Humble briefly mentions the concept of a grain to the form, or at least a grain for the process of developing games, in his page for his game [http://www.rodvik.com/rodgames/ The Marriage]. He talks about going with the grain during the game's development, but the game is about how it feels to be married, which is very far away from my Spacewar example above and is the direction in which I think we need to go, which I find interesting.

	* Michael Brough talks about the grain of games from a development and artistic expression standpoint in his post [http://mightyvision.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/do-something-to-videogames.html "do something to videogames"].		* Michael Brough talks about the grain of games from a development and artistic expression standpoint in his post [http://mightyvision.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/do-something-to-videogames.html "do something to videogames"]. Here's the video of the lecture where he talks more about his thoughts on this, titled [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYXInr3N5UQ Going With The Grain].

	* [http://vectorpoem.com/ JP LeBreton] sent me this delightful link, [http://ludusnovus.net/2011/08/15/why-so-few-violent-games/ Why So Few Violent Games?] It's a great read, a perfect piece of satire, and it actually calls into question a bunch of the assumptions about the grain of our form I've made here. A must read!		* [http://vectorpoem.com/ JP LeBreton] sent me this delightful link, [http://ludusnovus.net/2011/08/15/why-so-few-violent-games/ Why So Few Violent Games?] It's a great read, a perfect piece of satire, and it actually calls into question a bunch of the assumptions about the grain of our form I've made here. A must read!

Checker at 20:38, 14 May 2013

2013-05-14T20:38:46Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:38, 14 May 2013
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	* Michael Brough talks about the grain of games from a development and artistic expression standpoint in his post [http://mightyvision.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/do-something-to-videogames.html "do something to videogames"].		* Michael Brough talks about the grain of games from a development and artistic expression standpoint in his post [http://mightyvision.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/do-something-to-videogames.html "do something to videogames"].

	* [http://vectorpoem.com/ JP LeBreton] sent me this delightful link, [http://ludusnovus.net/2011/08/15/why-so-few-violent-games/ Why So Few Violent Games?]		* [http://vectorpoem.com/ JP LeBreton] sent me this delightful link, [http://ludusnovus.net/2011/08/15/why-so-few-violent-games/ Why So Few Violent Games?] It's a great read, a perfect piece of satire, and it actually calls into question a bunch of the assumptions about the grain of our form I've made here. A must read!

	<references/>		<references/>

Checker at 20:37, 14 May 2013

2013-05-14T20:37:45Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:37, 14 May 2013
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	* Michael Brough talks about the grain of games from a development and artistic expression standpoint in his post [http://mightyvision.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/do-something-to-videogames.html "do something to videogames"].		* Michael Brough talks about the grain of games from a development and artistic expression standpoint in his post [http://mightyvision.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/do-something-to-videogames.html "do something to videogames"].

			* [http://vectorpoem.com/ JP LeBreton] sent me this delightful link, [http://ludusnovus.net/2011/08/15/why-so-few-violent-games/ Why So Few Violent Games?]

	<references/>		<references/>

Checker at 22:18, 12 May 2013

2013-05-12T22:18:44Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:18, 12 May 2013
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	* Rod Humble briefly mentions the concept of a grain to the form, or at least a grain for the process of developing games, in his page for his game [http://www.rodvik.com/rodgames/ The Marriage]. He talks about going with the grain during the game's development, but the game is about how it feels to be married, which is very far away from my Spacewar example above and is the direction in which I think we need to go, which I find interesting.		* Rod Humble briefly mentions the concept of a grain to the form, or at least a grain for the process of developing games, in his page for his game [http://www.rodvik.com/rodgames/ The Marriage]. He talks about going with the grain during the game's development, but the game is about how it feels to be married, which is very far away from my Spacewar example above and is the direction in which I think we need to go, which I find interesting.

			* Michael Brough talks about the grain of games from a development and artistic expression standpoint in his post [http://mightyvision.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/do-something-to-videogames.html "do something to videogames"].

	<references/>		<references/>

Checker at 09:57, 26 May 2007

2007-05-26T09:57:57Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 09:57, 26 May 2007
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	* Chris Crawford mentions going with the grain when developing games when it comes to making technical design decisions in [http://www.vancouver.wsu.edu/fac/peabody/game-book/Chapter4.html Chapter 4 of The Art of Computer Game Design]. He uses hexgrids versus rectgrids for wargames as an example.		* Chris Crawford mentions going with the grain when developing games when it comes to making technical design decisions in [http://www.vancouver.wsu.edu/fac/peabody/game-book/Chapter4.html Chapter 4 of The Art of Computer Game Design]. He uses hexgrids versus rectgrids for wargames as an example.

	* Rod Humble briefly mentions the concept of a grain to the form, or at least a grain for the process of developing games, in his page for his game [http://www.rodvik.com/rodgames/ The Marriage]. ~~Interestingly, he~~ talks about going with the grain, but ~~his~~ game is about how it feels to be married, which is very far away from my Spacewar example above, which I find interesting.		* Rod Humble briefly mentions the concept of a grain to the form, or at least a grain for the process of developing games, in his page for his game [http://www.rodvik.com/rodgames/ The Marriage]. He talks about going with the grain during the game's development, but the game is about how it feels to be married, which is very far away from my Spacewar example above and is the direction in which I think we need to go, which I find interesting.

	<references/>		<references/>

Checker at 09:35, 26 May 2007

2007-05-26T09:35:00Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 09:35, 26 May 2007
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	So, for the time being, we have a very tough row to hoe. We need to consciously take the hard route and go against the grain if we're going to make games that matter.		So, for the time being, we have a very tough row to hoe. We need to consciously take the hard route and go against the grain if we're going to make games that matter.
	<center>[[Image:sims2.jpg\|300px]] [[Image:ico-hands.jpg\|289px]]</center>		<center>[[Image:sims2.jpg\|300px]] [[Image:ico-hands.jpg\|289px]]</center>

			===Related===

			* Chris Crawford mentions going with the grain when developing games when it comes to making technical design decisions in [http://www.vancouver.wsu.edu/fac/peabody/game-book/Chapter4.html Chapter 4 of The Art of Computer Game Design]. He uses hexgrids versus rectgrids for wargames as an example.

			* Rod Humble briefly mentions the concept of a grain to the form, or at least a grain for the process of developing games, in his page for his game [http://www.rodvik.com/rodgames/ The Marriage]. Interestingly, he talks about going with the grain, but his game is about how it feels to be married, which is very far away from my Spacewar example above, which I find interesting.

	<references/>		<references/>

Checker at 11:01, 18 May 2007

2007-05-18T11:01:20Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:01, 18 May 2007
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	<blockquote>		<blockquote>
	Again, an easy answer: it's probably something with tons of special effects about spaceships and aliens and explosions, happening on distant planets. You need to hire Industrial Light and Magic to make this movie, and they're expensive.		Again, an easy answer: it's probably something with tons of special effects about spaceships and aliens and explosions, happening on distant planets. You need to hire Industrial Light and Magic to make this movie, and they're expensive.
			<br><br>
	<center>[[Image:Battle of Endor.jpg]]</center>		<center>[[Image:Battle of Endor.jpg]]</center>
	</blockquote>		</blockquote>
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	If you buy this argument, it was basically inevitable that film would become an important art and entertainment form: it is ''relatively'' easy to make movies that matter to people.		If you buy this argument, it was basically inevitable that film would become an important art and entertainment form: it is ''relatively'' easy to make movies that matter to people.

	By contrast, the exact opposite is true of games. It's quite easy with games to appeal to the tried and true [[Power Fantasy\|power fantasy]], frustration, and exploration, but getting people to experience deeper emotions via interactivity (as opposed to cut scenes) is just incredibly hard, and we don't really know how to do it right now. Worse yet, people don't work on it as much as they should because it is actually difficult ''to work on''. In other words, not only do we have the challenges that all art forms face of making something truly meaningful, but just making something that ''could be'' meaningful is hard in our form. The very act of making it is more painful, because our grain keeps pushing us back towards putting a gun at the bottom of the screen and a score at the top.		By contrast, the exact opposite is true of games. It's quite easy with games to appeal to the tried and true [[Power Fantasy\|power fantasy]], frustration, and exploration, but getting people to experience deeper emotions via interactivity (as opposed to merely in cut scenes) is just incredibly hard, and we don't really know how to do it right now. Worse yet, people don't work on it as much as they should because it is actually difficult ''to work on''. In other words, not only do we have the challenges that all art forms face of making something truly meaningful, but just making something that ''could be'' meaningful is hard in our form. The very act of making it is more painful, because our grain keeps pushing us back towards putting a gun at the bottom of the screen and a score at the top.

	According to Scott McCloud, comics went through a very similar phase when color printing first appeared, and it basically screwed them for 50 years.		According to Scott McCloud, comics went through a very similar phase when color printing first appeared, and it basically screwed them for 50 years.

Checker at 10:59, 18 May 2007

2007-05-18T10:59:09Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 10:59, 18 May 2007
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	</blockquote>		</blockquote>

	===~~Cutting~~ Against The Grain===		===Going Against The Grain===

	If you buy this argument, it was basically inevitable that film would become an important art and entertainment form: it is ''relatively'' easy to make movies that matter to people.		If you buy this argument, it was basically inevitable that film would become an important art and entertainment form: it is ''relatively'' easy to make movies that matter to people.

Checker: New page: NOTOC I think art forms have a ''grain'', much like a piece of wood. Going with this grain when making works in the form is easy, and going against the grain is hard. Unfortunately f...

2007-05-18T10:58:41Z

New page: __NOTOC__ I think art forms have a ''grain'', much like a piece of wood. Going with this grain when making works in the form is easy, and going against the grain is hard. Unfortunately f...

New page

__NOTOC__
I think art forms have a ''grain'', much like a piece of wood. Going with this grain when making works in the form is easy, and going against the grain is hard.

Unfortunately for those of us who want games to earn a place in the pantheon of important and emotionally compelling art and entertainment forms—alongside film, literature, music, and visual art—I think the grain of games and interactivity is in some sense running the ''wrong way''; it leads us away from this goal.

What do I mean?

===Film===

'''What's the easiest film to make?'''
<blockquote>
It's pretty obvious when you think about it: you stick a camera in a room, and you or your friends sit down in front of it. And you talk to each other or the camera.

<center>
[[Image:youtube-engaged.png]]<br>[[Image:termsend.jpg]]
</center>

The most important characteristic of the resulting footage is that it's about people, and because you are not a beautiful and unique snowflake, it most likely covers issues about which everybody else who might watch it can relate and empathize. It's drama, or maybe comedy, and it probably speaks to the human condition (poorly, if you believe [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon's_law Sturgeon's Law], but no matter).
</blockquote>

'''What's the hardest film to make?'''
<blockquote>
Again, an easy answer: it's probably something with tons of special effects about spaceships and aliens and explosions, happening on distant planets. You need to hire Industrial Light and Magic to make this movie, and they're expensive.
<center>[[Image:Battle of Endor.jpg]]</center>
</blockquote>

===Games===

'''What's the easiest game to make?'''
<blockquote>
This answer too is obvious: you draw two triangles on the screen and let the player move one of them around, and then if the player pushes a button, you draw a dot that comes out of the front of his triangle. If the player's dot touches the other triangle, that triangle disappears and the player wins.
<center>[[Image:spacewar-crop.png|350px]]</center>
</blockquote>

'''What's the hardest game to make?'''
<blockquote>
A game where the core interactivity is about a bunch of normal people sitting in a room talking about emotionally deep things is incredibly difficult to make at all<ref>See Andrew Stern's [http://grandtextauto.gatech.edu/2005/08/09/a-few-facade-post-release-comments Post Release Comments] about [http://www.interactivestory.net Façade].</ref>, and currently completely impossible to make in such a way that the interactivity is deeply emotionally compelling, in my opinion<ref>I think Façade was a noble failure. It is really truly great that they tried, but I don't think it succeeded in being emotionally compelling. I'll write about it in detail at some point</ref>.
<center>[[Image:facade.jpg]]</center>
</blockquote>

===Cutting Against The Grain===

If you buy this argument, it was basically inevitable that film would become an important art and entertainment form: it is ''relatively'' easy to make movies that matter to people.

By contrast, the exact opposite is true of games. It's quite easy with games to appeal to the tried and true [[Power Fantasy|power fantasy]], frustration, and exploration, but getting people to experience deeper emotions via interactivity (as opposed to cut scenes) is just incredibly hard, and we don't really know how to do it right now. Worse yet, people don't work on it as much as they should because it is actually difficult ''to work on''. In other words, not only do we have the challenges that all art forms face of making something truly meaningful, but just making something that ''could be'' meaningful is hard in our form. The very act of making it is more painful, because our grain keeps pushing us back towards putting a gun at the bottom of the screen and a score at the top.

According to Scott McCloud, comics went through a very similar phase when color printing first appeared, and it basically screwed them for 50 years.

<center>[[Image:mccloud-color.jpg]]</center>

===Are we doomed?===

Whether all this means we're doomed to fail at getting into the aforementioned pantheon depends a lot on what we as developers do every day. Some people hope that "middleware" will save the day, by abstracting away all the difficult stuff, and basically changing the direction of the grain. I think that's possible in the very long run, but for the next 10 to 20 years we need to be discovering the building blocks of interactivity that will let us communicate with players on an emotional level. There will of course be some bits of the problem that can be wrapped and lifted up to a higher level, like some rendering and physics, but the core algorithms of the game will need to be custom to explore this new ground, because those algorithms ''are'' the interactivity and the gameplay, as I will write about in another article.

So, for the time being, we have a very tough row to hoe. We need to consciously take the hard route and go against the grain if we're going to make games that matter.
<center>[[Image:sims2.jpg|300px]] [[Image:ico-hands.jpg|289px]]</center>

<references/>

[[Category:Opinions]]
[[Category:Design]]