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044

9/2/2013

5 Comments

 
For a young medium, video games sure do soak in the nostalgia. 

Retro games, pixel art, 8-bit sound. These are badges of honour for the long time gamer. We were there when it was all new man. Games were better then. Fresh. Exciting. Everything now is just a rehash of a rehash. No one has any new ideas. 

What I have just described is a path to hipsterville, paved with the incomplete remembrances. No one wants a carbon copy remake of that old game. No one. You might think you do. The name of your favorite game might be in transit from your brain to your tongue right this second. Just hold on to that.I like a lot of older games, especially arcade games, but they are not how you remember them. Sure a lot of them are still fun. They are fun in exactly the same way as they used to be. Games do not improve with age, but neither do they degrade. You change, they don't.

I used to think that somehow decoupling the art from the game so that it can be continually refreshed as new technology allowed, could make certain games evergreen. No need to design a new game, just make that old one look better. I could not have been more wrong. It's like thinking that printing a book on glossy paper will improve the prose. 

Pixel art and 8bit sound are valid expressive choices, just as black and white or bleach bypass is a valid choice for the cinematographer. But it is that, a choice, and it needs to be made with some consideration. Games were not better then. Nothing was. That's not to say that everything is better now. It's not. Everything is a product of its time. The only advantage we have now is that our options expand every time someone builds something new. That new thing, it didn't come out of nowhere. It is built on the legacy of every new thing that anyone ever came up with. Each thing, and each person a product of their time. 

So go ahead and make a retro game, make a game in a genre that isn't currently in vogue, even remake an old game, but do try to put something new in there. Something different that you came up with. That will give everyone who comes after you something to build on.
5 Comments
Mike
9/3/2013 10:55:49 am

This is why sequels are a better approach than remakes. In my opinion. That way, you get to mix some of the old with some of the new.
There is something to be said about the nostalgia aspect to games. I tend to focus on the experiences like going to the airport and being stoked to play Rampage or finding the games room in a crummy hotel next to the ice machine so you can play Rolling Thunder or Shinobi. Will our children ever experience the thrill of spending the afternoon in an entertainment temple (arcade) complete with neon lighting, diamond plate flooring, deafening noise,and lots of sugar? Will they ever experience the thrill of beating the D bag who jumped in and interrupted your championship run at Samurai Showdown 2? Or the shame of having your ass whupped by the cocky Asian guy's girlfriend at Street Fighter? Wading through the crowd around Mortal Kombat 2 just so you could see all the finishing moves?

Life was simpler then....

Reply
Owen
9/3/2013 11:49:54 am

Ha. Nope. Our kids will have childhood memories of their own, that they will think are super awesome, but we will scoff at as somehow not as great or authentic as our memories. We will be wrong of course, just like they will be when they think the same of their kids.

Arcades were pretty awesome though, in a really sketchy sort of way. Maybe they are better left in the past.

Reply
Mike
9/3/2013 01:05:20 pm

I used to go to one arcade where you could "Rent" NES games by the minute in a special game room straight out of "The Wizard". At the time it seemed wrong to me and I never bit. Why play a crappy NES game when for a quarter, you could play something with decent graphics?

Who are you kidding, what kid wouldn't want to hang out in an arcade?

Owen
9/3/2013 02:28:03 pm

You're right. Arcades are fucking great.

Reply
Mike
9/3/2013 03:30:06 pm

Amen!

Reply



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Owen McManus
  • Blog
  • Stories
    • Story 000
    • Story 001
    • Story 002
    • Story 004
    • Story 007 - Unfinished
    • Story 008
    • Story 010 - BattleWagon
    • Story 012
  • Images
    • Adventure Caddie concept gallery
    • Page Design Gallery
    • Older Work
  • 5FEAT Video
  • Videos
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    • Climb
    • Super Shapetoy
    • TurboGarbageTruck
    • 031 - Best Games - Enchanter
    • 033 - Shader Test
  • Contact