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Game Making Workshop for Non-Gamers

Using the manifestos that contain a new perspective on game creation, we developed our own game within the given conditions. We explored art games, microgames, and personal games as new expression media to create alternative games.

Game as a New Medium of Expression

#indiegames #artgames #altgames #personalgames #microgames #notgames

What do the alternative games appearing categorized under various names like the above hashtags represent?<Journey> by thatgamecompany and <Let’'s Play: Ancient Greek Punishment> by Pippin Barr are games that convey the alternative value of games as a new medium of expression. They do not present clear goals, rules, and rewards that are essential in existing games. The player continues to walk or roll the ball pointlessly without a goal. What will the player experience through these meaningless and repetitive play?

Personal games and art games are creating new perceptions not only of game makers, but also players. Among those who have enjoyed the existing game culture, some may argue that art games and personal games are not truly games by nature, and those who enjoy them are not true “gamers” by definition. And those who oppose the existing gamer culture, which limits the further potential of games are skeptical about the term, “gamer.” Katarina Tillman, the director of Games for Change Europe, says that she loves to play and is a game maker, but when asked if she is a "gamer," it makes her uncomfortable to answer. The editor-in-chief of Game Developer, a magazine on games, Brandon Sheffield also argued that the term, “gamer” is regressive and should be retired.

The Real Time Art Manifesto (2006)

Through a real-time art manifesto, Tale of Tales, composed of two game designers who started from NetArt, said that game technology should be used for new artistic expression and that game designers should become artists themselves.

These manifestos do not create genre games, but encourage the gameplay to contain their own meaning through small, writer-centered games.

Game Making Brainstorming

Participants had time to brainstorm as a team to experiment with the possibilities of finding new meanings and values that games can contain by using manifestos with new perspectives on game creation.

Find references from genres other than games

Playtime within 2 hours

A new way of interaction

With the above three limitations, the intention was to create an alternative game that can contain the meaning of the gameplay itself.

With limited conditions for each team, participants discussed on the topic, “how can we talk about games in a new way?” to exchange various opinions. The results created in a short period of time by gathering the opinions of four people from different fields created an opportunity to reconsider the game as a medium that can capture an alternative value with a new perspective.
Many consider we are at the beginning of a new game culture. It seems clear that we will have a growth of games and players in the future. Games that do not belong to the existing game genre and are in between categories can encourage games to be newly perceived from a different direction. Terms like art games and personal games may gradually disappear like the term, “gamer,” but for now, it will be used in various contexts for this new upcoming movement.

Youngju Kim, "New Communities of New Games", http://www.suspicious-cloud.com, 2014.

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