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halftheisland's review
2.0
An interesting read, but not one I can particularly recommend/ I guess the best summary is that this is an interesting attempt to approach the field in a new way but that ultimately an attempt is all it manages. The book felt much more autobiographical than psychogeographical at times, and was sorely lacking in meat.
It was nice enough as a series of short vignettes about various indie game creators and their connection to various places, while simultaneously failing to dig out any real information or insight about that relationship. Poetic and sweet, and very much on the verge of having something really interesting to say without ever quite reaching that goal.
For those with an interest in the field of game design, this is a wonderful contrast to the more technical or historical books (anyone interested in that side should check out Derek Yu's "Spelunky", Alex Wiltshire's "Britsoft: An Oral History", or Jon Peterson's "Playing at the World"), and I'd love to see more of this kind of approach to the field. Understanding the people, the artistic influences, the very real relationship between place and artistic approach to design, is an important and useful way to broaden our understanding of, for want of a better phrase, how games get made.
I will be keeping a close eye out for future work by the author, because I really think there's something there, and I'm fascinated by the approach if nothing else.
As a final note, I believe this started as a series of videos which (full disclosure) I haven't found time to watch. More information on this project (and others) can be found at http://www.hannahnicklin.com/portfolio-items/a-psychogeography-of-games/
It was nice enough as a series of short vignettes about various indie game creators and their connection to various places, while simultaneously failing to dig out any real information or insight about that relationship. Poetic and sweet, and very much on the verge of having something really interesting to say without ever quite reaching that goal.
For those with an interest in the field of game design, this is a wonderful contrast to the more technical or historical books (anyone interested in that side should check out Derek Yu's "Spelunky", Alex Wiltshire's "Britsoft: An Oral History", or Jon Peterson's "Playing at the World"), and I'd love to see more of this kind of approach to the field. Understanding the people, the artistic influences, the very real relationship between place and artistic approach to design, is an important and useful way to broaden our understanding of, for want of a better phrase, how games get made.
I will be keeping a close eye out for future work by the author, because I really think there's something there, and I'm fascinated by the approach if nothing else.
As a final note, I believe this started as a series of videos which (full disclosure) I haven't found time to watch. More information on this project (and others) can be found at http://www.hannahnicklin.com/portfolio-items/a-psychogeography-of-games/