Notgames Forum

Hello everybody,

My name is Gustav, I'm from Denmark, and I like to play and develop videogames.

I recently found this forum via a video about notgames by Erik Svedäng during No More Sweden, and I though it sounded interesting. Have been looking through some of the posts in here and I really like the mood and tone :)

I am not yet sure what I think about the notgames concept, although it's fascinating (do you consider Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery a notgame?).

A few months back I finished a folk high school education (højskole) with a game design course. During a small game jam called Exile I developed a Unity game called Suction Co-Op. It is not a notgame (hihi), but it's quite fun anyway.

(http://gustavdahl.net/wp-content/themes/snapshot/thumb.php?src=wp-content/uploads/2011/06/1f.png&w=330&h=190&zc=1&q=90)
Give it a try here: Suction Co-Op (http://gustavdahl.net/suction-co-op)

In September I will start studying Medialogy at the University of Aalborg in the hope of learning more about programming and game development :)

Welcome!

Unfortunately, I don't have an iPad so I have no opinion on SB:S&S. It looks lovely though.

There aren't many conversations here debating what specific games are or are not notgames. This isn't about dogma or definitions. It's about pushing game technology (and games as well) in directions other than pure mechanics. It's more about the art and experience. The capabilities of the tech are amazing but the offered experiences are very narrow. We'd like to see it widen.

I see. But your description fits very well with Sword & Sworcery in my opinion. Although it's a point-and-click adventure game, its focus is on the overall synaesthetic experience through the sound and visuals :)

Welcome Wikzo!

Suction Co-Op sure is difficult for not being a game! ;)

I was very much attracted to Sword & Sworcery because I was happy to see somebody do something original with pixel art (I normally hate pixel art). But I'm afraid all the sharp squares got on my nerves very fast. I could only play it zoomed out all the way. And even then, the inability to discover more detail, caused by the low resolution, frustrated me. Though I like the use of colour.

It's most definitely a game, only one that seems to feel very uncomfortable with being one. The designers try to get over this through humor. Or at least I think the text is meant to be humorous. I can't tell. Probably because I don't belong to the little clique of hip youngsters that this game was apparently made for.

So, yeah, however much I wanted to, S&S doesn't get any love from me. Sworry.


By the way, to help keep things civil around here, we request that everyone use a photo of themselves as their avatar.

Thanks :)

S&S is a somewhat hard "game" to get into at the beginning, but after a few hours I quite enjoyed it. It is very self-aware of its medium and isn't afraid of playing on famous gaming cliches. I agree that the target audience is a bit strange; it is quite literate and intellectual, but also a very artsy fartsy rock 'n roll-type of game. It's a hybrid between old school Commodore 64 era and the new Twitter generation. S&S isn't afraid of trying something new (like the rotation of the iPad and the whole moon cycle thing), yet its roots is in the adventure game genre and classic titles such as The Legend of Zelda and Punch-Out.

The best thing of the experience for me is that it's so personal. Normally I don't give much for pixelated graphics, but in S&S it amazes me how much personality and detail you can get out of small colored pixels. And not to mention the music of which the whole game is based upon (the game was initially created because an artist heard some cool retro music by Jim Guthrie and wanted to make a game using his music).

But as anything else it is a matter of taste. And maybe it also ties into the "notgames vs. art games" debate. I don't know the general consensus on this one, but I sense that S&S may be more "art game" than "notgame".

To close off I will post this link to the developer's mantra behind the game. Whether or not this is related to the notgames movement I don't know, but it is an interesting read anyway: Less Talk More Rock - Superbrothers (http://boingboing.net/features/morerock.html)

About my avatar: Ok, have changed it now :)

As an aside, please note that, notgames should not be considered a category! Notgames is the name of an idea, a challenge, a question. There are no notgames. Notgames do not exist.
Here's a little introduction (http://notgames.org/blog/2010/03/19/not-a-manifesto/) that explains things.

I thought I explained that. I guess I did a poor job of it. :P

Btw, I picked up an iPad today and first thing I downloaded was S&S. I played the first session and enjoyed it quite a lot. I don't think the humor is too difficult to grasp. I'm not hip or a youngster but it certainly appeals to me. It has the same sort of feel as the Adventure Time cartoon (which I adore). I love it so far, I'm looking forward to the second session. :)