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Game design / Re: Adventure Games Design Research Project - Need Opinions - Thanks ;)
« on: July 16, 2009, 11:11:16 PM »
My opinion is based in two completely subjective points:
a) the key factor for quality in art is complexity;
b) adventure games are best and more complex than any other games.
For me, this comes from a debate much older than videogames. The better art is the one that has more information, because it enriches the intelligence of the (in this case) gamers. It makes the gamer a better, more smart and sensitive person. In Literature, for example: no book can change your life, but a guy who reads a lot of (good) books in his life will end up being smarter and his perception of art will be more profound. This happens with Literature, Music, Drama and every form of art you can imagine, of course, even videogames.
The problem begins when the best works of art come to be so complex they require much more complexity from the audience. So, some big beautiful book is so complex most people (who didn't read much in their lives) think it's boring. Some movie is really touching and wonderful, but most people don't understand it. And there is where art divides itself in popular and intellectual.
This doesn't applies to every masterpiece. There are good books which are complex and easy to entertain all kinds of people. There are spectacular movies and games and songs acclaimed by almost every person who saw/played/heard them. But the hollowest works keep getting the attention of not-so-interested-in-art people. Action movies keep getting worst and they're still succeeding. Games with bad storylines and bad dialogues and bad characters keep selling.
As the game industry wants to expand to all ages, it needs less mind-challenging products. People tend to put their money where they can be entertained without the effort of thinking too much.
I don't want to sound too elitist, that's just my opinion.
a) the key factor for quality in art is complexity;
b) adventure games are best and more complex than any other games.
For me, this comes from a debate much older than videogames. The better art is the one that has more information, because it enriches the intelligence of the (in this case) gamers. It makes the gamer a better, more smart and sensitive person. In Literature, for example: no book can change your life, but a guy who reads a lot of (good) books in his life will end up being smarter and his perception of art will be more profound. This happens with Literature, Music, Drama and every form of art you can imagine, of course, even videogames.
The problem begins when the best works of art come to be so complex they require much more complexity from the audience. So, some big beautiful book is so complex most people (who didn't read much in their lives) think it's boring. Some movie is really touching and wonderful, but most people don't understand it. And there is where art divides itself in popular and intellectual.
This doesn't applies to every masterpiece. There are good books which are complex and easy to entertain all kinds of people. There are spectacular movies and games and songs acclaimed by almost every person who saw/played/heard them. But the hollowest works keep getting the attention of not-so-interested-in-art people. Action movies keep getting worst and they're still succeeding. Games with bad storylines and bad dialogues and bad characters keep selling.
As the game industry wants to expand to all ages, it needs less mind-challenging products. People tend to put their money where they can be entertained without the effort of thinking too much.
I don't want to sound too elitist, that's just my opinion.