[-empyre-] The Playsthetics of Experimental Digital Games: Week 2

[Lynn Hughes]

Hey everyone,


Couldn’t get to this yesterday so I am just going to take the liberty of running into the weekend.


If I can pick up on the game jam thread: you¹re absolutely right, Emma, game jams generate sketches of very mixed qualities and levels. Sketches seems like a good word.


At Concordia we¹ve also been (perhaps overdoing?) the game jams. I think I mentioned that I attended the Pixelles public presentation a couple of weeks ago and came away feeling quite elated  -and also not quite sure why I felt elated. Some of the, often frankly odd, game ideas did strike me as really refreshing. And the place was jam packed which was wonderful.


The dilemma seems to be that beginnings and community feel really good and then there¹s a big gap -with the Depth Jam kind

of thing way, way at the other end. I think our summer incubators are an attempt to look for the middle. We have been trying different approaches every year in an attempt to dig around the idea of alternative or interesting games with different shovels and from different angles.


This year the approach is to avoid accepting game projects and teams that are already set and accept individuals instead. We have been scouting for individuals using game jams before the application date and then the first four weeks of the program will consist of four week-long game jams. After that the participants will decide which of the jam games look the most promising and concentrate for the last six weeks on those.



BTW, I still like the word experimental because of the way it connects beyond games –both in the direction of science and in the other towards visual arts and cinema etc. Expressive seems to be the favored word at the moment and, for someone who comes from art (and way back from painting) it’s also a word with shades of a compromised past. As is “avant garde” (ouch!) which some people are using now. So these words seem strategic and, as the target(s) shift a little all the time, it makes sense to me to keep modifying them or changing them up. Use them in pairs? Let’s try a bit of promiscuity.


Thanks for a great week everyone (Sandra I am looking forward to meeting you in person sometime.)

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