What makes a game a game?

What makes a game a game?

Well to me, a game is an experience. It's something you can interact with and be apart of it. Given the nature of the game you can control it, manipulate it to your whim. It gives your a sense of freedom in a shell, a bubble of complexity that goes behind the game. A freedom which in the real world you cannot do.

Games create a persona - be it as the main character or a sci-fi world. You are in control so it plays upon the emotions of the player. Emotions in games can be extremely powerful because of the added virtual sense of interaction with characters and environment. The most recent example of this is with Heavy Rain, it's this balance which makes the player think instead of it being Sean's son that has been kidnapped - it's your son. That's really powerful. I remember playing Metal Gear Solid 4 for the first time and some who don't understand the underlinings of the game wouldn't have been so moved when Snake is going through the microwave chamber. The button tapped creates a sense of fatigue and the gives you a will to keep going making Snake push harder and harder as you are nearly breaking the controller with the damn tapping.

Its very rare with something such as a film can convey that emotion, maybe its the fact that its being presented with real people but the fact that most films you sit down to watch you switch off, the emotional connection is gone. There have been some instances where I have been moved by a movie but its few and far between, it's simply that films do not provide the same scope and depth as a video game can.

Games are an experience where you immerse yourself in a fantasy world where you can control it in a small or large way. Video games provide a different outlet to the creative world which should be taken more seriously.

State of the Games Industry today

The games industry is rapidly changing, gone are the days where game development studios created something by monopolising publishers. A new age of Independent game houses have arisen to combat and overthrow the throne. They may be small but grow in numbers allowing for creativity and freedom to be it's drive and ethos.

In the last couple of years we've seen a dramatic growth in every sector of the games industry. This is partially associated with the rise of social networks and casual gaming. The Nintendo Wii is a classic example of this, Nintendo tapped into the hidden reserves of the gaming industry changing from iteration to innovation. From Hardcore to Casual in a blink of the eye and now the major players in the industry want to jump in on the band wagon. Apple's iPhone is another example of this innovation with the inclusion of the App store now supporting hundreds of thousands of apps and billions of downloads.

Time to think differently someone said, what we've been doing is fine but there needs to be something extra. That something extra has given a giant leap into the new age. It's the quality of interactive controls which sparked off casual gaming.

But what about what came before? what about the hardcore? the loyal? the people there before? have the game industry abandoned them? The answer is no. There is more opportunity now to tap into the hardcore market as well as a mixture of the two. The reasoning behind this is the inclusion of the Indie games developers.

Indie games developers self publish as well as develop allowing for total creative freedom. This produces games such as Braid and Trine, two excellent examples of an Indie game. Now I wouldn't say the Braid is hardcore or casual, its in between, focusing on both sides of the coin. Realzing the potential here all of the major companies have joined in, Xbox Indie games, WiiWare, PlayStation Mini's small games having a big impact on the industry.

Social games are another big factor in the games industry allowing people to share there ideas with friends and family and also the ability of making new friends. Websites such as facebook have seen tremendous growth and holds impressive figures with the games developed for it. Little Big Planets motto is play, create, share. An on going trend.

It's an exciting time to be in the games industry at the moment, these trends: casual gaming, motion controls, social gaming, indie development. Have sparked something new and fresh these wont last forever but for now are going strength to strength.

Games are not just about the game, they are an experience. Games mean lots of things for different people but they still give you that experience and will never change. It's something which other media's cannot do.

The old gaming foundations are washing away with the new tide of industry standards. New genre's are being added all the time, new game play styles, new rules, new innovations. The industries like a steam engine. Soon it will run out of steam but for the moment keeps on getting faster and faster and doesn't stop of any of the old gaming foundations.

This article was inspired by the events of the 'State of independence' conference in york.

If you'd like to view some images from the SOI conference please go here to our Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/grimlegacy/

Happy Holidays

There's not a lot to report this week since its Easter the team has taken a week off of development so no news on the game! however we should be getting a start on the 3D game backgrounds next week.

On another note GrimLegacy productions was at the "Sate of Independence" conference on in York. It was fantastic and we had a great time there. The whole conference was on Indie games development companies which self publish their own games which is exactly what we do! We met some great people like Charles Cecil from Revolution studios, creators of Broken Sword such a classic game.

We will be attending the GameHorizon Conference on at the Sage in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne on the 29th - 30th so if anyone is going look out for us and we'd be more than welcome to talk to you.

Stay tuned in for next week, thanks guys.