Author: Michael
GDC Presentation Slides
These are the 100 slides that we used for our 4 minute presentation at the Indie Game Makers Rant during the Game Developers Conference.
(ToT) Independent Rant Slides from Tale of Tales on Vimeo.
Text of our rant after the cut.
Continue reading “GDC Presentation Slides”
Some more reviews of The Path
Here’s some more reviews of The Path. We remain impressed by how well our experiment is received. Hopefully this encourages more developers to take the path less traveled.
It’s definitely different from anything else you’re likely to play; it might not be a game many people will like, but it is something to be respected and admired.
Michael Thompson in Ars Technica
The Path is a hugely significant work in terms of what a video game can be beyond the realms of throwaway entertainment and is potentially a seminal moment in video games.
Iain McCafferty in Videogamer.com
This game is completely subjective, like a puzzle of a starry sky made out of perfectly square pieces.
Kristen Spencer on Count Gameula
So, I’ve read a TON of theories behind the meaning of the game in general. I don’t agree with any of them, and at the same time, I agree with all of them. I don’t think there is one right or wrong way to look at The Path, and I really love that.
The horror. A good innovation and a different way of playing that definitely leave a mark. Do not miss it or become “Zombie”.
The Path’s style of horror isn’t the overt kind where a zombie suddenly crashes through a window. It’s a feeling that lurks at the back of your brain, bubbling up during periods of intense personal change. It’s the terror of encountering the unknown; the fear of the revelations a new experience might produce as well as how it might afterward manifest itself in your thoughts and world.
It feels like being the only person laughing in a cinema – except the film you’re watching is Schindler’s List.
GDC impression: indie games have levelled up
It’s been 6 or 7 years that Auriea and I have been attending one Game Developers Conference or other, first in London and the last few years in San Francisco. Over all those years, speakers have complained about the same thing: games are juvenile, games are only for teenage boys, games are sexist, games are not artistic, etc. The continuous frustration of a medium that wants to be (regarded as) something more and other than it is.
In the first GDCs we attended, this made us hopeful. Because we felt we had a solution to these problems. But as we continued to fail to find a connection with the commercial games industry, we lost that hope. We learned that, although the industry complains about these issues continuously, it had zero intention to change anything.
Last year’s GDC was the year when independent games suddenly seemed to be the new thing, the most exciting area in the industry, where at the very least, people were making games for the love of it. This year, the excitement was still there. And the complaints were still there. But they were expressed in the most vehement and passionate manner ever. Heather Chaplin’s raging rant about how game developers are stunted and sexist juveniles brought a tear to my eye. But the main point of her talk was that we should stop making excuses about the medium’s young age, and start working on solutions for the problems.
And this is where independent games come in. As opposed to the desperation that accompanied the complaints over the previous years, this year everybody’s hopes were directed towards independent games. So much so that Clint Hocking even warned AAA game developers that if they didn’t change their ways, they would be rendered irrelevant by indie games. And I guess the AAA took note. We have entertained both Hideo Kojima and Fumito Ueda at our little booth in the Independent Games Festival this year. Warren Spector came by several times but we sadly missed the opportunity to talk to him. I have spotted Will Wright circling the indie floor. And who knows who that guy was with the funny name on his badge but looking so much like Cliffy B…
Anyway. Andy Schatz was pleading for unity between indie games and AAA games during the IGF awards ceremony. But it seems like AAA games will benefit more from this relationship than we will. Last year’s plaything has turned into this year’s hope for the future of the medium. Now I’m really curious about what will happen next year!
Because it’s not just that indie games have always been around and suddenly became fashionable. It is also important to note that the quality and diversity of independent games has increased tremendously over the past few years. So rather than sitting on our mini-laurels, I hope we continue on this path and make games that push the medium into territories that it always hoped to reach (or falsely claimed it had).
Last day of the GDC
It’s been a strange week. Wish we could have reported on it some more. But we were so busy.
If you are in San Francisco, swing by The Graveyard booth at the IGF pavilion in the GDC expo. I think we might be giving away some posters…
The Path available from Gamersgate now!
Gamersgate is now offering both The Path and The Graveyard for digital download.
It’s like a Tale of Tales infection is spreading across the games industry!… 😉
The Path is available on Metaboli too now
In the United Kindom, France, Germany and Italy.
Were we wrong about the games industry being conservative?
Play Tale of Tales in Buenos Aires and Amsterdam
Game on! Art in a game is an exhibition in Objeto A in Buenes Aires that features works by Daniel Benmergui, Rod Humble, Jason Rohrer, thatgamecompany and yours truly. The Endless Forest, The Graveyard and The Path can be played in the gallery until Saturday April 4th.
And tomorrow, there’s an “afternoon about artistic gaming” at the Victorian Circus festival in De Brakke Grond in Amsterdam, featuring Submarine, Angelo Vermeulen, Crew and Tale of Tales. They’re showing The Graveyard and The Path under the expert guidance of The Path tester Yhancik.
First reviews of The Path
To tell the truth, we are little bit -but happily- surprised by the amount and depth of attention that The Path is receiving. Once again, we may have underestimated the videogame audience. Or underestimated how ready the games industry really is for something new, for a different approach to gaming and game design.
There’s of course the expected violent eruptions of hatred here and there. Each of our projects has received them. The Path is no exception. But there’s very few of these.
It’s heart warming to hear how deeply people are moved by our story and how encouraging they are of our unconventional design style (and forgiving of its technical shortcomings 😉 ). Here’s a first batch of reviews. But many more will surely follow as dozens of journalists are currently playing the game and writing reviews.
The Path has a unique and stunning visual style that comes across as more of an artistic rather than a technical accomplishment; a style that flaunts the creative talents of the designers more than the advanced computational abilities of the graphics engine.
A game where you’re never quite sure what’s going on, but always conjuring up another fascinating theory. A game without a story, but with an abundance of meaning. A work of art. An interactive poem.
I kind of don’t like the game.
This is not a criticism. If anything, it’s the highest compliment I could pay it.
John Walker at Rock, Paper, Shotgun
The Path isn’t much of a game. But whatever it is, it’s one hell of one of those.
Tom Chick on Fidgit, the Sci-Fi Channel games blog
In the end, The Path is a little bit like getting punched in the nose by a centaur. It’s momentarily painful, but you get to spend the next few days trying to figure out precisely what the hell just happened to you.
It is almost easier to think of The Path as an experience, rather than a game. An unsettling, otherworldly adventure, which players scour for hidden meanings and analyze outcomes.
The game isn’t focused on violence. Rather, it’s an introverted, slow-paced game with a story that hooks you. The player has a lot of freedom to explore the game world, without a directed path, despite the name.
Dean Takahashi in The New York Times
Perhaps the single most stunning thing about The Path is how well it melds each component of itself together, creating a single entity and providing equal importance for each part of its self.
There’s also a rather in-depth interview on Core Gamers where we talk about all sorts of things, not just The Path.
