next »

[Alevice]

So I heard Porrasturvat (aka Stair Dismount) was about portraying the current state of economy. Basicailly, the player tries to recreate our current scenario, where the white guy represents the western world, and the more it breaks and collapse, the better the rendering of the current affairs. The score shows how many millions of dollars are being lost.

Sumotori Dreams was actually about the extrem competitive nature of men. It mimics how all of us try to succeed each other, when most of us can barely hold ourselves (represented by the lack of balance the characters have) and how we are destined to fall.

[sergiocornaga]

Might as well say this one, even if I don't believe it to be very good.

Multiwinia, as a sequel to Darwinia, represents an almost universal shift in the aims and subject matter of games, particularly the regression (IMHO) of methods in which the player is able to interact with the game. Some essential components of the original Darwinia are exploration, discovery and creation (also key features of many early games, particularly those of the early 3D era) while the basis of  Multiwinia's gameplay is pure violence for the sake of violence (as found in most mainstream commercial games of today such as the murder simulators known as first-person shooters).

The original objective of Darwinia, one of rescue and reconstruction, is replaced with meaningless killing. This analogy for the history of games is described perfectly on the Multiwinia website: "As the years wore on however the Darwinians became ever more aggressive". Just replace "Darwinians" with "video games" and all becomes clear.

Multiwinia could be trying to convey a sense of loss of values that were important to games, but it's debatable whether it succeeds in doing this: the message is somewhat subverted by Multiwinia actually being fun.

Have I totally messed up my analysis by ignoring the ethnic cleansing of the virii in Darwinia?

[Valter]

*Note: Bit spoily about La Mulana in this post*

I was offended by the pagan views shown in La Mulana! Upon learning of the God held within the halls of La Mulana, Lemeza is hell-bent on destroying it! He ignores the feelings of the peaceful tribal men who helped him on his journey the entire way and destroys the being that had brought him into existence! He is given a fitting fate afterward, condemned to wander the cruel domain of Hell Temple. Take that, Blasphemer!

Of course, it's all part of a larger allegory of the white man imposing his-self on the tribal world, but I like to start small.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

I think games can revolve around important ideas without the author even intending them.

For instance, I don't think NetHack intentionally set out to show the nature of death better than any other game, but its choice to delete your saved game when you die portrays it pretty well. Uplink did the same thing, it heightened the feeling that a mistake is a mistake and you can't just roll back to an old save to fix it; actions have permanent consequences.

Whether it's intentional or not doesn't matter much, it's more of a curiosity whether something was intentional, the important thing is what the users get out of it.

[Edmund]

id have to agree with rinkuhero

personally i view all (small team) game design as art, even if the designers didn't intend it, a subconsence aspect of the designer(s) personality, views and life is transposed into his work. The amount of this that comes through is all about how honest the designer is with his feelings when designing, but i strongly believe that all games made by 1-2 people will undoubtedly reflect the feelings of the designers involved. I also believe that the more honest the designer is with his own feelings, the better the game will turn out.

this same idea is also reflected in game art, where the artist will draw himself into the characters hes designing, usually unintentionally. Look up some pics of your fav. indie artist then check out their character design, you will see a very clear similarity between them.

its one of the things i love about indie games so much.

-Edmund

[Alevice]

You damn racist bastard, you shouldn't be speaking about this stuff! We all know Gish portrayed the vandalic and slimy nature of the black men in the western! Off with you!

[Smithy]

Haha this hilarious because its exactly what I felt like all my English teachers used to do with the classic novels and plays.

My ninth grade english teacher was like that.

We read a book called 'the little house on mango street.' It was a compilation of vignettes that told the story of a girl who wanted to live in a little house in mango street. One of the vignettes was about a kid named Darius who looked at the sky, pointed at a cloud, and said "that's god."

My english teacher adamantly explained to us that the kid was actually behind-the-scenes a raging alcoholic, and when he said the cloud in the sky was god, it was a symbol for 'sky vodka.'







Also, didn't someone here post an article once about the portals in portal symbolizing vaginas and feminism and such?

[GregWS]

Those crazy English teachers/profs is one of the reasons I created this thread.  I think after all that stupid reading into everything I started to get a kick out of it.

[Valter]

You just have to read into the right things. It's boring to relate things to alcoholism and racism. It's far more exciting, in my opinion, to look into the bodies of government supported by various pieces of literature. Oddly enough, everything seems to advocate communism.

[Fifth]

Has anyone cited this piece from a while ago about Majora's Mask?

It's a thorough and interesting read, and really adds another layer of creepy depth to an already hauntingly dark Zelda game.


...and I guess it's not exactly an "indie" game.  Ah, well.

[GregWS]

Well, I know I put "indie" in thread title, but I think I'll remove it to upon this up a little; there's some hilarious things to read into other games too.  Like all the blatant drug references in Mario.

Could a mod please move this to General, because once I open it up it won't belong here anymore.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

Tons more at http://www.somethingawful.com/d/photoshop-phriday/video-game-skills.php?page=1

[Valter]

Yeah, I saw all that. Not their best, in my opinion, but still pretty good.