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Forums - Gaming - What's the true art of video games? Video games as art vs art disguised as a game.

JoeTheBro on 11 August 2014
McGilliguts said:
I don't know if designing gameplay mechanics per se could be called an art. It's more of a technical discipline that although it does require creativity, doesn't allow for a depth of personal expression - it's more like engineering i would say.


Not at all.

Programing the mechanics is more like engineering, but designing them certainly isn't.

 

Take that from a guy who was an engineer and then became a dev.



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daredevil.shark on 11 August 2014

Okami and journey.



McGilliguts on 11 August 2014
JoeTheBro said:
McGilliguts said:
I don't know if designing gameplay mechanics per se could be called an art. It's more of a technical discipline that although it does require creativity, doesn't allow for a depth of personal expression - it's more like engineering i would say.


Not at all.

Programing the mechanics is more like engineering, but designing them certainly isn't.

 

Take that from a guy who was an engineer and then became a dev.

Maybe Engineering was the wrong word. Can you give me an example of game design that might be considered art? And That is independent of the quality of visuals, story, and music. If you think game design is an art, that is.



Experimental42 on 11 August 2014

I view game play design as a form of architecture, which itself is a form of art.



vkaraujo on 11 August 2014
McGilliguts said:
JoeTheBro said:
McGilliguts said:
I don't know if designing gameplay mechanics per se could be called an art. It's more of a technical discipline that although it does require creativity, doesn't allow for a depth of personal expression - it's more like engineering i would say.


Not at all.

Programing the mechanics is more like engineering, but designing them certainly isn't.

 

Take that from a guy who was an engineer and then became a dev.

Maybe Engineering was the wrong word. Can you give me an example of game design that might be considered art? And That is independent of the quality of visuals, story, and music. If you think game design is an art, that is.

Portal / Portal 2

Mirror's Edge

 

(Just trying, i don't even know where i stand on this atm)

Also, Experimental42 got a point, about architecture



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DevilRising on 11 August 2014

I don't mind a game trying to be artistically pretty or stylish or whatever.

But ultimately, games do not "NEED" to be "art". They just need to be fun to play.



fighter on 11 August 2014

video games are not art



software can be art, interactive software can be art,

but if software is a game, meaning it has RULES, it can't be art




Experimental42 on 11 August 2014
DevilRising said:
I don't mind a game trying to be artistically pretty or stylish or whatever.

But ultimately, games do not "NEED" to be "art". They just need to be fun to play.


Well I'm waging a semantics battle it seems. To me the art of video games is the art of game play design, as game play is what seperates it from just animation or just music, bringing those elements together into something completely different. A measure of good game play would be how much fun it is to play, so you could say the art of video games is creating fun.



Twilord on 11 August 2014
McGilliguts said:
JoeTheBro said:
McGilliguts said:
I don't know if designing gameplay mechanics per se could be called an art. It's more of a technical discipline that although it does require creativity, doesn't allow for a depth of personal expression - it's more like engineering i would say.


Not at all.

Programing the mechanics is more like engineering, but designing them certainly isn't.

 

Take that from a guy who was an engineer and then became a dev.

Maybe Engineering was the wrong word. Can you give me an example of game design that might be considered art? And That is independent of the quality of visuals, story, and music. If you think game design is an art, that is.

 

Defining art is tricky but I've settled on the definition of art as that which communicates concepts via emotionally evocative techniques.

 

Level design can very easily communicate a sense of being overwhelmed, intrigued, desperate, relieved, or anxiety. We have whole tropes dedicated to these, and most players are immensely conditioned. If I give you a room filled with power-restoring items you'll almost certainly become anxious.



McGilliguts on 11 August 2014
Experimental42 said:
I view game play design as a form of architecture, which itself is a form of art.


I agree that level / environment design can be considered architecture, but that is a visual/spatial art and not unique to games.

If you mean that gameplay mechanics is a form of architecture, then I think that is a different meaning of the word architecture, one that doesn't necessarily imply art, eg systems architecture