Fern Griffiths

For the part of the second semester, I will be working on creating an experimental game for GAM704 Experimental Game Design.  Having been given the brief for this module I decided to research what experimental means and further explore avant-garde which was introduced in our first lecture.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines experimental in the following ways:

1. “(of a new invention or product) based on untested ideas or techniques and not yet established or finalized.
2. “(of art or an artistic technique) involving a radically new and innovative style.”
   (Oxford English Dictionary)

In terms of Game Design the Experimental Game Playworkshop, which takes place every year at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, says that “experimental games take interesting approaches to interactivity that haven’t been tried before” (2021).

An example of a studio that does this is Thatgamecompany. Founded in 2006, Thatgamecompany makes games that are meaningful and impact players in a different way than traditional games, using emotions as a starting point for their game design.  Their games are all about making the player feel, their process of designing games involves asking the question “I want to feel” rather than “I want to win” (Graft 2013).    When discussing their process of experimental game design, Studio Manager Sunni Pavlovic said that “experimenting means failing and you’ll be failing a lot in the process” (Graft 2013).  When making Journey (2012), Thatgamecompany failed more times than they succeeded in the development process, with the game being shipped well after the intended date, requiring two extensions from Sony, and at the cost of bankrupting the company (Taormina 2013).

But Journey managed to do something that other games could, it connected players without the traditional online interactions.  Player’s aren’t able to communicate in traditional ways, there is no text or understandable language. Instead, players can only communicate using a series of emotive sounds and controlling their robed character (fig. 1.).

Another way of approaching experimental game design is to approach it from an artistic perspective, as the avant-garde.  Avant-garde, meaning “advanced guard” or vanguard, meaning “fore-guard”, is a French term originating from the military.  Outside of the military, it refers to a person or work that is experimental, radical or unorthodox with respect to art, culture or society (Tate n.d).

Avant-garde art applies to work that is innovative and introduces or explores new forms or subject matter (Tate n.d).  The term first appeared in reference to art in the 19th Century and is most often credited to Henri de Saint-Simon, an influential thinker and one of the forerunners of socialism.  Henri was a strong believer in the social power of art writing in 1825:

“We artists will serve you as an avant-garde, the power of the arts is most immediate: when we want to spread new ideas we inscribe them on marble or canvas. What a magnificent destiny for the arts is that of exercising a positive power over society, a true priestly function and of marching in the van of all the intellectual faculties!” (Tate n.d).

Avant-garde as an art form though isn’t thought to have begun until the 1950s with the realism of Gustave Courbet, who was also strongly influenced by early socialist ideas.  After Realism came the successive movements of modern art; including Cubism, Futurism and Surrealism.  Though the term Avant-garde was originally used to describe innovative approaches to art-making in the 19th and early 20th century the term has become synonymous with the modern and is applicable to all art that pushes the boundaries of ideas and creativity and is used to describe any art that is radical and reflects originality of vision (Tate n.d).

Many games have taken inspiration from the avant-garde art movement to create games that themselves can be considered avant-garde.  Ustwo Games, a studio based in Shoreditch, London, took inspiration from surrealist artist M.C. Escher resulting in Monument Valley (2014) a surreal mobile puzzle game where you play as Ida, a princess on a journey to find forgiveness through a world of impossible architecture (Ustwo. n.d.)(fig. 2.).  

  

Experimental games can take on many different forms, some like Monument Valley (2014) experiment with the art style, others like Journey (2012) experiment with mechanics.  Experimentation in games can happen in all areas, from gameplay and mechanics to aesthetics, and technology to narrative and subject matter, and even sound.

“The best ideas will not come from other games. The best ideas will come from areas that have nothing to do with games. They will come from other areas, art forms, and sciences like sociology, agriculture, philosophy, zoology, or psychology. The more you find inspirational sources that come from areas beyond the spectrum of your intended medium, the more your unique your creations will feel to others.”
Lorne Lanning (2019: 83)

References:

EXPERIMENTAL GAMEPLAY WORKSHOP. 2021. “Experimental Gameplay Workshop – Call for Proposals 2022 !!!!!.” Experimental gameplay [online]. Available at: http://www.experimental-gameplay.org [Accessed 24th January 2022]

GRAFT, Kris. 2013. “Embracing experimental game design at Thatgamecompany.” Game Developer [online]. Available at: https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/embracing-experimental-game-design-at-thatgamecompany [Accessed 24th January 2022]

LANNING, Lorne. 2008. “Designer Perspective: Lorne Lanning”. in  Tracy FULLERTON(ed.). Game Design Workshop:  A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games. 2nd edn. New York: CRC Press

OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY. n.d. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

TAORMINA, Anthony. 2013. “’Journey’ Bankrupted Developer Thatgamecompany” Gamerant [online]. Available at: https://gamerant.com/journey-bankrupt-thatgamecompany [Accessed 24th January 2022]

TATE. n.d. “Avant-garde” Tate [online]. Available at: http://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/a/avant-garde [Accessed 24th January 2022]

USTWO. n.d. “Monument Valley Mobile Games” Ustwo [online]. Available at: https://www.ustwo.com/work/monument-valley-mobile-games/ [Accessed 24th January 2022]

Games:

Journey. 2012. Thatgamecompany, Sony Interactive Entertainment.

Monument Valley. 2014. Ustwo Games, Ustwo Games.

Figures:

Figure 1: Journey. 2012. Thatgamecompany, Sony Interactive Entertainment.

Figure 2: Monument Valley. 2014. Ustwo Games, Ustwo Games.