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An art game or arthouse game is a video game that is designed in such a way as to emphasize art or whose structure is intended to produce some kind of reaction in its audience. Art games typically go out of their way to have a unique, unconventional look, often standing out for aesthetic beauty or complexity in design.[1] This concept extends to the realm of modified ("modded") gaming when modifications have been made to existing non-art-games to produce graphic results intended to be viewed as an artistic display, as opposed to modifications intended to change game play scenarios or for storytelling. Modified games created for artistic purposes are sometimes referred to as "video game art."
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Art game versus game art
As video games became increasingly common as a form of media throughout the 2000s[2][3], video games that deemphasized the game portion of the medium (such as serious games, non-games and art games) saw a rise in production. The contemporaneity of improvements in graphic capabilities with the increases in art game releases has led to some confusion regarding the difference between games with artistic imagery and art games. This difference has been described by Justin McElroy of Joystiq as "the same [as that] between a sculpture and a building. Though a building/game can be aesthetically pleasing, an art game/sculpture is using its very structure to produce some kind of reaction."[1] This same comparison has been used by Jenova Chen [4] in an interview discussing art games and the prominence of non-games to the artistic gamer community.
Examples
Examples of games in the art game genre include:
- Moondust[5] (1983, C64) - a video game created by Jaron Lanier that is generally considered the first art game. It has been used in numerous museums as an art installation.
- Invaders! [6] (2002, PC) - a political art game making reference to the September 11 attacks.
- Samorost[7] (2003, PC) - a video game that employs organic and wooden materials in its presentation
- Super Columbine Massacre RPG![8] (2005, PC) - a video game exploring the Columbine High School massacre whose exclusion from Slamdance '07 led to a partial boycott of the event for anti-censorship reasons by numerous high-profile indie developers.[9]
- Electroplankton[10] (2005, Nintendo DS) - A free-form music game considered to be the first art game for the Nintendo DS.
- Virtual Jihadi[11] (2008, PC) - a political art-piece created by artist Wafaa Bilal
- Aether[12] (2008, PC) - a video game that employs a unique visual style and atmosphere
- Braid[1] (2008, Xbox 360, PC) - a video game that enables the player to "rewind" the plot multiple times
- The Graveyard[13] (2008, PC) - A simple but highly artistically detailed game about an old woman visiting a graveyard.
- Gravitybone[14] (2008, PC) - a cinematic spy game featuring cubical characters. Winner of the GameTunnel Best Arthouse Game 2008 award.
- Passage (2008, PC) - a meditation on death created by independent art game creator, Jason Rohrer.[15]
- Seven Minutes[citation needed] (2008, PC) - Platformer as nihilist philosophy.
- Pathologic[citation needed] - a video game by the Ice-Pick Lodge studio, that explores the survival of healers in a dying city
- Tension[citation needed] - survival-adventure video game, also developed by the Ice-Pick Lodge studio, depicting surreal world of Void. Every action in the game (except simple moving) is done via drawing.
See also
- Machinima, the use of games for storytelling.
- Video game art
References
- ^ a b c Play, Pushing. Video Game Blogs. Format Magazine. 5 November 2008.
- ^ Wasteland, Matthew. Opinion: Tell Me What Art Is, and I’ll Tell You What Games Are. Game Set Watch. 27 September 2008.
- ^ The Art of Play. Accessed 15 November 2008.
- ^ Chen, Jenova. Chat notes about Video Game, Art and Digital Medium. Jenova's Blog. 7 May 2008.
- ^ Pease, Emma. CSLI Calendar Of Public Events. Stanford Center for the Study of Language and Information. 14 May 1997.
- ^ Remo, Chris. Creator Of Space Invaders-Based 9/11 Art Piece Pulls Exhibit. Gamasutra. 25 August 2008.
- ^ Ploug, Kristine. Art Games - An Introduction. Artificial.dk. 1 December 2005.
- ^ Rohrer, Jason C. Review: Super Columbine Massacre RPG!. Arthouse Games. 1 January 2007.
- ^ More Details & Reaction Emerge on Slamdance Festival & Super Columbine Game GamePolitics. 6 January 2007.
- ^ Pichlmair, Martin. Electroplankton revisited: A Meta-Review. Eludamos. Vol. 1, Issue 1. 2007
- ^ Whiting, Mark. NY Game Exhibit Shut Down Amidst Controversy. 1UP News. 13 March 2008.
- ^ McElroy, Justin. The Joystiq Free Game Club: Aether. Joystiq . 8 September 2008.
- ^ Siegel, Scott Jon. Check out indie art game 'The Graveyard'. Joystiq. 4 April 2008.
- ^ Scarpelli, Michael. 2008 Special Awards - Best Arthouse Game - Gravitybone. GameTunnel. 28 December 2008.
- ^ Thomsen, Michael. Independent View: Passage's Jason Rohrer. IGN. 21 May 2008.
External links
- Artificial.dk Collection of Recommended Art Games
- Games Are Art Website
- 56Kmodern: Explorations on the intersection of games and art
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