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The Auteur Movement & You

Discussion in 'Game Design' started by AndrewGrayGames, Jul 16, 2015.

  1. AndrewGrayGames

    AndrewGrayGames

    Joined:
    Nov 19, 2009
    Posts:
    3,821
    So, I was checking my YouTube queue and found this goodie:



    While I tend to avoid taking EC as gospel, it's interesting to hear about what's happening elsewhere in the industry. And, doubly so for me, since I recently had a prototype that fizzled in the worst possible way.

    So - what do you think? In the interest of seeding discussion, I will ask a really terrible question: What's "better" - striking out and finding new ways to do things, or digging out "abandoned" genres and refining them to their pinnacle?
     
  2. GarBenjamin

    GarBenjamin

    Joined:
    Dec 26, 2013
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    7,441
    Whichever is best for you. I seem to be in the minority here in that I strive to always simplify. What is best is different for each of us. Some need to always be working on something new and better than anything ever done before. Others want to make their own twist on existing games. To greatly accelerate progress and chances of success a person needs to always do the things they are best at; the things that are easiest for them to do. And they need to do the things that excite them the most.

    Consider games like Infinminer, Dwarf Fortress and Minecraft. What those developers did was focus on making a great game and to do that they focused on only the things they were best at. Minecraft was inspired by Dwarf Fortress and Infiniminer. Each of these had the same driving force. to not let a lack of art skills stop them from making an awesome game. Probably not exactly the kind of answer you were looking for. That's just my view on it. Too many people spend way too much time on the stuff they are not good at and this is why they do not complete games despite working very hard. I don't think it matters where your inspiration comes from.

    I lean toward the refining of existing genres however I also think that can be applied to basically any genre, any game in any time period. The Auter side is different because not only is the focus on the refinement of older game genres (from what I can see) it is also being done by "legends" or "the old guard" as EC labels them. These people are not "unknowns" and quite the opposite in fact are well known. Magazines have featured interviews with them, their credits are found on popular videogame franchises (from 8-bit or early 3D at least). This helps a lot for them to get attention to their "refined games".

    You won't have that fame to support you. You do have the crowd of people who like those styles of games to support you. I am glad to see a return to older classical styles with focus more on gameplay. To me that is the appeal of Indie games. The whole point of being indie to me has always meant doing something different. Making games AAA would never touch. It's why I cannot understand the people who are Indie yet seem to be striving to make the same kind of games as AAA are doing. Doesn't make sense to me.
     
    Last edited: Jul 16, 2015
    Kiwasi and Gigiwoo like this.
  3. RockoDyne

    RockoDyne

    Joined:
    Apr 10, 2014
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    2,234
    I had interesting things to discuss, but then I started thinking about all the big names that were attached to western indie projects not that long ago and suddenly the difference don't seem that great. Tim Schafer made another adventure game after well over a decade. Elite got another installment after almost twenty years. I'm kind of inclined to think that the japanese being auteur is mostly an issue of news coming out of japan, so only big names survive.

    From what I understand, the japanese indie scene is weird (go figure). On one side you have doujinshi games, which aren't too far off from the visual novel crowd, that don't typically get much in terms of distribution. On the other are studios with enough money that they can actually build arcade cabinets, because that is somehow a totally viable market for indies.
     
  4. tedthebug

    tedthebug

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    2,570
    Arcade cabinets would be cool. Whack some indie titles into them & put them around town where people can play for $1. Build a couple (step by steps are online using flat screen tv's for screens) & put the games onto a hard disk or something inside (maybe a raspberry Pi or something cheap).

    My view is either of your options would work but striking out on something new would need some way to boost the profile so it is noticed by players that tend to mainly look for games in the refined abandoned game category because that's what they like/know/are good at. One needs a way to be noticed first & then hook the player, the other needs a way to keep them interested in the new bits without scaring them away because it is to different to what they like because you refined it to much for their liking.
     
  5. Gigiwoo

    Gigiwoo

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    Mar 16, 2011
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    2,981
    Cool vid. Thanks for sharing. I suppose, if we were looking for an Auteur movement in the US, it would be people like Jenova Chen, Jonathan Blow, and others building new stuff - which they are. Fun.

    Gigi