Thirith on 2/11/2010 at 11:05
I've heard so much about this and am definitely very curious about the final version. Has any engine been used as often (and arguably as successfully) for interesting and artsy mods as Source? (I enjoyed the Radiator mod as well.)
SubJeff on 2/11/2010 at 12:35
I don't think so Thirith, and I think it's to do with the way it looks, no? Half-Life 2 already had an "artsy" look to it imho, what with the whole Eastern Europe Dystopia style to it. It was one of the things I loved about the game - that drive along the cliffs was... delightfully bleak, and the juxtaposition of the style and then the Combine tech was a winner for me.
Check out Tedium, another HL2 mod. There is some architecture in it that is so simple but yet so stunning, and I don't see it working in anything else other than Source. In fact the architect should move on from Tedium and give us a bigger epic. I'd play it just to see what they can create.
Thirith on 2/11/2010 at 12:46
I'll definitely check out Tedium, thanks. I'll also want to have a look at Korsakovia at some point.
This will sound pretentious, and perhaps it is, but I get the impression that there's some interesting 'interactive virtual theatre' coming out of the modding scene. Arguably some of these mods aren't really games (unless we come up with a useful definition of 'game' that covers these too), but they remind me of the sort of theatre where you explore a theatrical space offering different smaller stages, finding different mini-plays.
Half-Life 2 already had some of this in the way it stages its narrative sequences (what would be cut-scenes in other games) with Gordon Freeman the audience rather than the protagonist.
SubJeff on 2/11/2010 at 13:43
It's not pretentious, it's spot on and I'm liking this trend. Who can say there is no art in games when we get stuff like this? Many games, I find (and always have), give me this kind of experience passively anyway. That is to say it may not have been the intention of the designers to give me this experience but it's there anyway.
Thief gave it to me bigtime and I know that it was partly the intention with some of the little set-ups that were left around, but equally there were moments I'd just pause and look around because the atmosphere or design at that point was a defined "thing" in and of itself.
I had many similar experiences in Planetside just watching other people playing from afar sometimes. Some of the easter eggs in games are just those mini plays but it really depends how they are executed. A bit of nod and wink graffiti is one thing, but stuff like the dancing zombies in Thief 2 are another level altogether.
ZylonBane on 2/11/2010 at 15:06
Quote Posted by Subjective Effect
It's not pretentious, it's spot on and I'm liking this trend. Who can say there is no art in
game engines when we get stuff like this?
Fixed. Whatever Dear Esther is, it's categorically not a
game.
june gloom on 2/11/2010 at 15:14
So what is it then?
(I'm not disagreeing with you, by the way, and I probably hate the original more than you.)
Tonamel on 2/11/2010 at 16:44
It's basically Source-engine IF, when you get down to it.
june gloom on 2/11/2010 at 16:48
Minus the interactive.
van HellSing on 2/11/2010 at 17:49
I'd say it's a kind of art installation.
SubJeff on 2/11/2010 at 18:29
I initially agreed with you ZB, but then I thought about it.
I was going to say that Dear Esther is an interactive story but then there are plenty of games that are interactive stories, there are just varying levels of interaction. The only interaction required in Dear Esther is moving around because that is what triggers the sound cues and the other stuff that happens. It's still interaction though so it's still, technically, a game - even if it only fits the definition loosely. Kind of how you fit the definition of human, I suppose.
