I frequently am overwhelmed by the possibilities of the world. In any one day, in any one place, there are so many things which could be done that I just end up doing nothing. Right here, I could be starting a blog about anything, writing anything, but I just don’t know what to do. What I have decided this will all be about is capturing ideas. Through every day I envision more exciting things than I have ever actually created in my life. Most of these images, ideas, and half-formed stories are soon forgotten. In most cases, this is probably a good thing, it would take quiet an ego to think all my idle musings were small nuggets of genius, but there are some that stay with me, some that have a slight power over me. I hope I will be able to capture some of these rogue dreams that plague me here in some concrete form for examination. First, I hope laying out my ideas for the perusal of others will help weed out the weaker ones and help me develop the stronger. Secondly, I simply need practice communicating my thoughts outside of my head. The power of the mind is such that in a few minutes I can see and experience things which would take years and thousands or millions of dollars to create for others. Even single images, single ideas I have, often seem impossible for me to show to others. This is something I have to overcome. Why? It is hard for me to say directly. There are a few products, creations, whatever you want to call them, which have had a great impact on me. These creations come to me uncalled for throughout the normal course of life and I am amazed at little bits of them. At some time I hope to explore more specifics here, but for the moment I provide you with this example because it is easy to embed in this post.
In every scene of that video I see a small little story, an image in someone’s mind and I just love it so much. I don’t even know what Yelena Yemchuk and Billy Corgan were thinking when they created each scene, other than a few shots of the band, but around each I have been able to create a whole world that captivates me. What I have decided to do is create something that has that gives someone else this feeling. Ultimately, this blog, and I hope my course of life, will be about reaching that goal.
So far I have not even mentioned games at all, but really this has all been about them and their impact on me. There are forms of other media which make me want to burst with awe, as evidenced by the video above, but by far games have entranced me the most. Well, to be more precise, the potential of games as a path to interactive works. Art has had the potential to be interactive forever. Elements of theatre are interactive; installation art can be interactive. These forms are all limited by physical constrains in time, energy, space, and basic Newtonian physics. An author or a painter is not limited by these things, but also creates a static work. The reader or viewer cannot interact with the work in any way but consumption. With the technology that powers games today we could create works in an environment with all the freedom of painting, but with the ability for the user to enter and explore the world created. There are many challenges, both technical and artistic, which must be overcome before we have fully established interactive digital art as a valid form of expression. Think back on the video above, specifically to the image of the girl kissing but looking away, where the camera pans out to show her limp hand hanging down. There is a story there, I do not know what, but if we could pan around them as they are frozen in time, zoom in so close we can enter into each characters thoughts, looking at a maze of connected ideas within their heads, perhaps we could discover why she feels as she does. What if initially their heads were filled with memories that did not form a full vision of how they came to that moment, and the player was to enter their thoughts, relive experiences, and draw the connections for themselves and the apathetic girl. Connecting the thoughts into one logical whole could be the game. What if the way the player interpreted the memories, and in turn made connections, changed the ending revelation the girl would have, thus creating their own take on the narrative with the narrative itself. What if this were some multi-user social networking system where users created memories and connections as a group, forming this girls life? Perhaps this last one as gone too far, but I hope by now I have at least shown there is something to be excited about here. This wasn’t meant to turn into an exploration of thought as a game mechanic, but it is just how I see things. Again, the possibilities of the world are overwhelming.
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