MetaFilter posts tagged with interactive and games

Every scene must turn...

Pastabagel — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 12:46:05 -0800

The Wager: "I'll bet you that video games will never become a significant form of cultural discourse the way that novels and film have. I'll bet you that fifty years from now they'll be just as mature and well-respected as comic books are today," posits game designer Steve Gaynor. Responses and rebuttals. Aristotle wrote, "most important of all is the structure of the incidents. For Tragedy is an imitation, not of men, but of an action and of life, and life consists in action, and its end is a mode of action, not a quality. Now character determines men's qualities, but it is by their actions that they are happy or the reverse." Literature and cinema have attempted to follow these ancient rules of story since their inception, and in the industry's infancy, some games embraced a form of second person narrative in which the player was acknowledged as the central character. But as the industry has matured, the focus has shifted to storyless worlds or tournament games whose open-endedness was precisely their selling point. (However, see also Portal (spoiler!)and System Shock 2) Does the interactive medium of video games inhibit the "structuring of incidents" requisite to form a cohesive narrative? Is the open-endedness in games precisely that which prevents their evolution into a culturally relevant artform? Or is the art-form "too new", the application of those time-honored rules to video games still being worked out?

A little Sunday Relaxation with puzzlemaster Scott Kim

taz — Sun, 20 Jun 2004 02:41:10 -0800

Just My Type. Sharpen your eye for letterforms by matching each close-up snapshot with the letter it came from, or test your eye for color with Color Me RGB, a couple of the interesting braincandy games from Scott Kim. (Also see his gallery of Inversions; I love "Figure", and the clickable tessellating alphabet.)

Fable - a gothic tale of good and evil

madamjujujive — Sun, 03 Aug 2003 08:42:29 -0800

Fable ...There once was a boy with a mind of his own. Alone in a dangerous world, his destiny, the paths of good and evil... Built like a children's book with tabs that you toggle, choose your path in this gothic tale. The site is a beautifully designed promo for the upcoming xbox game release, but worth a visit for the illustrations and execution alone. (caveats: flash site that opens in a pop-up window, contains sound.)

Make a pillow dance to the lovely music.

taz — Fri, 11 Jul 2003 07:56:15 -0800

So very silly: Make a pillow dance to the lovely music.

Whodunnit?

Fenriss — Fri, 31 Jan 2003 06:51:04 -0800

Frivolous Fun for Friday (although not quite lighthearted…) As an avid Gorey fan, I couldn't pass up posting these interactive murder mysteries. Shockwave required.

tweebiscuit — Thu, 02 Aug 2001 10:10:33 -0800

If you're a fan of Interactive Fiction then you'll certainly be familiar with Andrew Plotkin the author of some of the best works in the genre, including Spider in Web and So Far. Only Macintosh users, however, will remember his phenomenol early-90s puzzle game, System's Twilight, "An Abstract Fairytale." I recently played it again, and am astounded that such an early piece of work contains such a fully realized fantasy world (literally, it's abstract) and such goddamn hard puzzles. Download it and experience some gaming history, and a damn good time.