Abstract worlds
For this assignment we were assigned to play one of the two abstract games; Kairo (Pc demo) or Memory of a Broken Dimension and come up with some greater understanding of the world. Kairo is a game that really takes cubism to the interactive world successfully. If we look at this game through an abstract lens, the game doesn't really tick all the boxes in the sense of intangibility or the non physical. But how does this game help us in understanding the newer genre of games that have picked up the interest of media recently? A game cannot simply be called abstract, through adding random objects in a scene and left to the interpretations of the player to make out their own meaning, the objects have to have some sort of context and symbolism to have real meaning behind that in-tangible aesthetic. This game does have some design choices that resemble Cubism (abstract art) by breaking down the level design and almost going back to its grey box format. We can also tell that this was intentional as these blocks are also textured. I'm not sure what this really resembles in terms of the games narrative or purpose but this does make being able to understand the themes a little easier. If we just look at the games name, I would think that this game was based in Cairo, seeing that the names are very similar and this is where some of sarcophagi are being held. The reason being that I bring up the sarcophagi is that the first level has a tomb like structure with thrones. Usually I would associate such structures with that of Egypt and how they buried their "royal dead". As you proceed through the levels, you stumble across what resembles silhouettes of monolithic monuments. Not only do these structures resemble some monuments of Egypt, but they also have the same texture as sand stone. Even though these traits don't resemble the actual structure or themes directly, it leaves enough room that it could be interpreted a whole other way. Claude Monet created a series of pictures that he calls the Haystacks Series, where he created numerous drawings of haystacks. But not everyone agreed that they were haystacks and some couldn't see them at all. An opinion that really intrigued me was "That it was a haystack the catalogue informed me. I could not recognise it. This non-recognition was painful to me. I considered that the painter had no right to paint indistinctly. I dully felt that the object of the painting was missing". He goes on to state that the sensation of confusion and surprise was the purpose of the painting. It was the sense of realisation that the painter was going for. If we take this mentality to the game, I don't think the game has that same grip on me like the Haystacks series did on another person, but it did make me feel I was in another place completely. |
World design theory (WDT)DevelopersThe goal of this blog is to relate current and past attempts at world design to further improve our understanding. Archives
October 2017
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