Comments on: Gravitation as an Artistic Game http://gbgames.com/blog/2008/03/gravitation-as-an-artistic-game/ An Indie Game Developer's somewhat interesting thoughts Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:27:01 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Ryan Wiancko http://gbgames.com/blog/2008/03/gravitation-as-an-artistic-game/comment-page-1/#comment-57940 Ryan Wiancko Thu, 07 May 2009 06:13:21 +0000 http://gbgames.com/blog/2008/03/gravitation-as-an-artistic-game/#comment-57940 Another thing could be that when you are depressed the world closes in around you, you can't see any future, you can't see any way out of your depression you are trapped in a claustrophobic box of darkness. I found passage affected me more and made me think. The first game I walked all around the level, exploring for something until I found treasure. I kept on looking for more treasure as it seemed the only important thing there. I aged and found more treasure but the interesting thing is that no matter how much treasure I found my score didn't change, the treasure and wealth I was accumulating meant nothing. I eventually died alone and lost. The second game I walked straight and found my wife, we ventured together and it was interesting that being married limited my freedom in the game, I couldn't go the places I had gone the first game. We adventured out and collected maybe 1 or 2 boxes but that is it. I noticed that with my wife my character lived much longer, at least age wise. We got old together and then eventually she died. My old slow man walked a little further, found one last treasure and then for some reason I had a desire to go back and see the grave of my wife(which was blurring almost away completely as I moved away from it but not totally where I couldn't go back and find it), I walked back slow and aging and coincidentally, or maybe due to a game mechanic, my character died right next to the grave of his wife. It was beautiful and I felt moved in a way very few games have moved me. The other thing I love about that is that as you are young the road ahead is blurry while you are at the far left of the screen, symbolizing the dizzying possibilities of the unknown future as you look ahead to what awaits you. As you age your character moves more and more to the right completely disallowing you from looking ahead, representing an aging's persons fear of what lies ahead and not wanting to look too closely at it, while my characters past on the left of the screen became more blurred as he spent more and more time looking back at the memories of his life. Truly truly a masterful piece of work that game was.. Again, it certainly moved me. Glad I listened to A life well wasted today. :) Another thing could be that when you are depressed the world closes in around you, you can’t see any future, you can’t see any way out of your depression you are trapped in a claustrophobic box of darkness.

I found passage affected me more and made me think. The first game I walked all around the level, exploring for something until I found treasure. I kept on looking for more treasure as it seemed the only important thing there. I aged and found more treasure but the interesting thing is that no matter how much treasure I found my score didn’t change, the treasure and wealth I was accumulating meant nothing. I eventually died alone and lost.

The second game I walked straight and found my wife, we ventured together and it was interesting that being married limited my freedom in the game, I couldn’t go the places I had gone the first game. We adventured out and collected maybe 1 or 2 boxes but that is it. I noticed that with my wife my character lived much longer, at least age wise. We got old together and then eventually she died. My old slow man walked a little further, found one last treasure and then for some reason I had a desire to go back and see the grave of my wife(which was blurring almost away completely as I moved away from it but not totally where I couldn’t go back and find it), I walked back slow and aging and coincidentally, or maybe due to a game mechanic, my character died right next to the grave of his wife. It was beautiful and I felt moved in a way very few games have moved me.

The other thing I love about that is that as you are young the road ahead is blurry while you are at the far left of the screen, symbolizing the dizzying possibilities of the unknown future as you look ahead to what awaits you. As you age your character moves more and more to the right completely disallowing you from looking ahead, representing an aging’s persons fear of what lies ahead and not wanting to look too closely at it, while my characters past on the left of the screen became more blurred as he spent more and more time looking back at the memories of his life.

Truly truly a masterful piece of work that game was.. Again, it certainly moved me. Glad I listened to A life well wasted today. :)

]]> By: &nbsp 2009 IGF Finalists Announced » GBGames - Thoughts on Indie Game Development http://gbgames.com/blog/2008/03/gravitation-as-an-artistic-game/comment-page-1/#comment-57669 &nbsp 2009 IGF Finalists Announced » GBGames - Thoughts on Indie Game Development Thu, 08 Jan 2009 08:00:37 +0000 http://gbgames.com/blog/2008/03/gravitation-as-an-artistic-game/#comment-57669 [...] It’s good to see Jason Rohrer’s name among the finalists, and it is appropriate that his entry is nominated for the Innovation Award. Rohrer was the developer of Gravitation, an artistic game. [...] [...] It’s good to see Jason Rohrer’s name among the finalists, and it is appropriate that his entry is nominated for the Innovation Award. Rohrer was the developer of Gravitation, an artistic game. [...]

]]> By: SteelGolem http://gbgames.com/blog/2008/03/gravitation-as-an-artistic-game/comment-page-1/#comment-55961 SteelGolem Sun, 09 Mar 2008 18:23:24 +0000 http://gbgames.com/blog/2008/03/gravitation-as-an-artistic-game/#comment-55961 @ Gravitation i think the ball is a represtation of some common interest or project with the kid, and as long as you're back often enough to bounce it back and forth, (s)he'll stick around and keep throwing it to you to bounce back. if you take off for too long the kid will leave it behind when (s)he takes off to make her(his) own life somewhere else. if you're around to bounce it around, the kid will stick around and bounce it around until your time is up. @ Gravitation
i think the ball is a represtation of some common interest or project with the kid, and as long as you’re back often enough to bounce it back and forth, (s)he’ll stick around and keep throwing it to you to bounce back. if you take off for too long the kid will leave it behind when (s)he takes off to make her(his) own life somewhere else. if you’re around to bounce it around, the kid will stick around and bounce it around until your time is up.

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