Raph Koster made a point in his book, some punk Brazilians made it into a playable game. It´s Tetris meets Torture. The idea was, gameplay and content can be totally divorced, such that a classic puzzle game, loved by many millions, could be made into a metaphor for torture most foul. A clever idea, but only when played does the point come home.
Does this mean that the gap between system and theme is total? Nah. It just means there´s frightening untapped potential for phantasm, for the other side of flow, where the system starts to manipulate your mind instead of your mind manipulating the system. Tetris has great flow, and with the right skin, a sort of haunting effect as well.
Torture as a taboo subject, to me, is pretty banal, and the reality of it is always worse than the digital version. Nothing should be off limits, not because freedom of speech is a right, (see the last ten minutes of It´s Bad For Ya by George Carlin for more on that subject) but because it takes so many questions off the table that have potentially useful answers. Same goes for rape, since we´re in uncomfortable territory already. Here´s what I mean, forget about how you could re-skin established game designs to be about pederasty or whatever, think about how you could design new abstract systems in a way that would lend themselves well to new kinds of meaningful experience. The themes lent to by these new designs, borne by a generation of designers who see the matrix, aided by specimens like this, can vary from the horrible to the sublime. That´s irrelevant. It´s the system.
How about that scream when you score a Tetris!?
What would Jesus pwn
This is the flip side of a conversation I had recently with someone about the appeal of games like GTA. I enjoy games like that, and a friend asked if it was the gameplay mechanics or the story, art and concept. I replied that it was probably some combination. Which got us to talking/thinking about a game with the exact same mechanics as GTA, but with art and story tied morally good behaviors. That is, instead of stealing someone's car, perhaps I take something *bad* away from them (illness, guilt, loneliness, poverty, etc.) Instead of beating up or killing people, I use the same keys, in the same ways, but heal and or help them. How would the experience differ?
Spore does an OK job of giving you those two options, as you can "win" by being social with other organisms and tribes -- entertaining them -- or wiping them out. Very similar mechanics, too: I choose an action and apply it to a rival creature or tribe. If I'm in carnivore mode, the action is violent. Same key press for an herbivore activates a social activity, providing pleasure rather than death.
My son and I have both found that playing the "nice" version of Spore is more fun for us. Why? Because we kill stuff in every other frippin' game. It's a nice change of pace to dance, play music and convert rival dudes through the force of art and love.
It's interesting on what a
It's interesting on what a simple inversion of aesthetics does for a game. By adding the torturer protagonist(?) and switching the iconic "Tetris" music with the foreboding track, it changes how you approach the game. Do you continue to play the game and kill the innocents, or do you sacrifice your score to bring about the uprising ending? How relevant is your score in this instance, at any rate?
Tetris is one of my all-time favorite games, but I just couldn't bring myself to play this for that long.
We are the punks
Hey, there.
Is nice to see our game featured here. Yes, I am one of the brazilian punks in charge of the game, with the Loodo blog.
First of all, your blog is one of our best references. So it was a very good surprise to see our Calabouço Tetrico (Tetric Pit, in a fast translation) here. Thanks a lot, for the blog and the feature.
But I have to desagree with about about the premises of this games. We made it to illustrate a post about concret and abstract games, and how can you make a game that everyone likes to play - as tetris - in something that many people will be uncorfotable, by just changing the art of a game.
But, I do have to agree that new gameplay experiences are much more important than making new astetics experiences.
Again, thanks a lot for the excellent blog and references. Sorry only registering now, for this comment, but I'll try to make ourselves a little more present.
Sorry for any mispelling, too.
Welcome Luudos
South America 4 EVA!