Indiecade 2011: Richard Lemarchand - Beauty and Risk: Why I Love IG

[Shippoyasha]

Great speech! Uncharted series may be WAY too big a commercial product to be anything near indie gaming, but I can appreciate the artistry behind it. Even something even bigger and even more commercialized like Call of Duty games, there's an inherent artistry behind it as well.

[TWOC2689]

Went to see the same talk at Game City 6. I thought it was very refreshing.

[Instig8iveJournalism]

Somebody tell this man about Shattered Memories. That entire game was, as he enjoys putting it, "Experiential." I felt so pleased when both Shattered Memories and Uncharted 2 came out in 2009, because they felt like such perfect counterpoints to each other. Uncharted was full of action and enjoyment and straightforward fun, while Shattered Memories was, for the most part, a timidly probing stroll through the ragged leftovers of the life of a young woman. They were both so, so good.

[MsBickle76]

He hit the nail on the head... If he is so smart, Why was Uncharted 3 a bad game?

Didn't the rest of the team cared about artistic merit? Uncharted 3 was horrible!

[indiecadebossbattle]

@MsBickle76 While Uncharted 3 may not fall under the banner of "art" gaming, it is a massive achievement. When we talk about "artistic merit", are we talking about things like mood and unique mechanics? Are we talking about visuals? Are we talking about systems?

On many levels, Uncharted 3 is much, much, much more than a shallow "action" game- It's a beautifully realized world. There may be merit in more ways that a game just being "different". What do you think?

[MsBickle76]

@indiecadebossbattle I think that nothing that Naughty Dog has done and or will do in the future (shall they decide to keep making games like they do now and have done in the past) will be something that is really deep and meaningful, Fundamentally worth while and inherently "a good thing."

Their games are not something that will make my life richer or will open my mind to new ways of thinking; no matter how high the texture resolution or polygon count it will be on par with Michael bay and n

[CaravelClerihew]

@MsBickle76 ... did you even play Uncharted 3? Show me a game that as many colours and artistic direction that the Uncharted series has used because I hardly call brown on brown space marine shooting 'art', but it certainly is industry standard nowadays.

[Khanezhyray]

@MsBickle76 Wait, Uncharted 3 is a bad game? I'm confused.

[gamegloss]

@MsBickle76 Uncharted 3 succeeds at almost everything it sets out to achieve, bringing together jaw dropping graphics, art design, and animation, visceral combat, decent puzzles, unmatched voice acting, and a cleverly written story that just about keeps you interested, and threatens to break the fourth wall at times.

The way I see it, some people had a vision. They made that vision a reality for others to enjoy, and it works. If that isn´t art, what is?

[MsBickle76]

@gamegloss Uncharted 3 is a better movie that Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, but a video game it aint!

When did it try to break the fourth wall? Could you tell me that? I don't remember it doing anything of that sort... some examples please?

[MsBickle76]

@gamegloss I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to be a dick. I genuinely care to find out when in Uncharted 3 the fourth wall was broke... I don't remember anything of that sort happening or maybe I didn't get something or it just when over me. Could you tell me please? Did I miss something?

[gamegloss]

@MsBickle76 More to the point, the self-righteous, sophomoric, nauseatingly pretentious attitude that only games like Braid, Dear Esther, The path, The passage etc.. etc...( Essentially Indie games with the financial freedom the experiment with new mechanics and story telling methods ) can be art is a trend that needs to be stomped out.

This medium is still young. The youngest, in fact, and artists and games are still getting to know each other. It took cinema half a century.

[MsBickle76]

@gamegloss And yet Braid, Dear Esther, The path and passage are and will be way more important to this medium than any Uncharted could ever be...

[gamegloss]

@MsBickle76 I strongly disagree. I suspect that years from now, when the art game dispute has been settled, when the medium is widely respected, and when developers have escaped the worst of gaming´s growing pains I will look back at the games that changed everything. And I fancy that I will say find that games like Braid, COD, Dark souls, Uncharted, SOTC, MGS, Amnesia, and Bioshock, to name a few, contributed in equal measure to legitimizing games as a valid artistic medium.

[MsBickle76]

@gamegloss Kay.