Category Archives: Original

Undertale and the Power of Empathy

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When you start crafting a story and characters, there is something so crazy important that you must always keep it in the back of your mind: there is no single force on this planet more powerful than that of empathy… Hulk knows your likely counter already: Oh yeah, Hulk? Well what about Galactus! Galactus is totally the most powerful!!!! Pssssh. How does Galactus get defeated? It’s because Alicia Masters appeals to the Silver Surfer’s sense of empathy, which causes him to join the Fantastic Four and defeat his former master! Empathy, bitches. Empathy.

Film Crit Hulk!, Screenwriting 101 by Film Crit Hulk!

As Hulk here says, empathy is the most powerful force in the universe and Toby Fox’s Undertale, my favorite game of 2015, is all about empathy.

Stories are tools made for teaching, they make us feel empathy for the protagonist, and said empathy aids us in discovering new things. Videogames, as a storytelling medium, give empathy a boost, because they put us in the protagonist’s shoes. The issue with stories is that they will always show us the protagonist’s point of view, but they will rarely present an empathetic construction of the Other. Continue reading Undertale and the Power of Empathy →

Don’t Call it Art, Don’t Call Me an Artist

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In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Dada, I thought it’d be fitting to write about the anti-art stance that distinguishes both the avant-garde art movement and  the world of videogames.

Comparing them, however, is just a trigger: one is an art movement, the other’s a medium. There are videogames with Dadaist attitudes, but the purpose of this article is to reflect on the anti-art sentiments that link games and Dada, and on developing an external reference point that will allow us to understand different perspectives within the game dev community. Continue reading Don’t Call it Art, Don’t Call Me an Artist →

Taken from http://blog.ncase.me/coming-out-simulator-2014/

Coming Out Simulator 2014

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Find the story, Granny Weatherwax always said. She believed that the world was full of story shapes. If you let them, they controlled you. But if you studied them, if you found out about them… you could use them, you could change them.

 Terry Pratchett, Witches Abroad

Coming Out Simulator 2014 (by Nicky Case) is a story within a story about the struggle of coming out to your parents. In this case, the author comes out as bisexual, but it applies to coming out as anything: atheist, trans, lefty, you name it. Continue reading Coming Out Simulator 2014 →

A Friendship in Four Colors

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Damian Sommer made A friendship ​​in four colors in 2011 for TOJam 6. The game is ostensibly designed for two players, but I didn’t have anyone at hand back when I found it. I beat the early stages controlling one character with my left hand and the other with the right, and it started to grow on me.

Luckily it’s not a competitive game. Both characters depend on each other to reach the same goal. Levels only end when both characters arrive safely to the finish line, and the death of either sends you back to the starting point. Continue reading A Friendship in Four Colors →