See that picture? You're probably wondering why I posted it, right? Why would I bother making my headline photo nothing more than a collection of static?
I'm posting it because it's a goddamn screenshot. The above photo was taken from Lost in the Static, an indie game which is entirely built around the idea of obfuscation. It was highlighted in the "Experimental Gameplay Sessions" lecture today alongside several other games which, regardless of how fun or good they are, attempted risky and unusual and balls-out experimental things.
The entire two-hour lecture was basically just a big list of games everyone should check out for their experimental qualities, so hit the jump to get that list along with a very, very short descriptions of what made them so experimental.
The highlighted games were broken up into four categories: Replay, Obfuscation, Games Made By Rod Humble Titled "Stars Over Half Moon Bay," User Generated/Controlled Levels, and Two Levels at Once. The categories should be pretty self-explanatory, and if they aren't then that's a good thing: though the entire lecture consisted of the speakers playing these games while explaining their experimental aspects you should really play these games without any primer rather than listening to someone explain them and rob them of all their intrigue.
Replay
cursor*10
Timebot
Braid
The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom
Obfuscation
Lost in the Static
Transparentor
Space Giraffe
La La Land
Games Made By Rod Humble Titled "Stars Over Half Moon Bay"
Stars Over Half Moon Bay
User-Generated Content
Line Golfer
Desktop Tower Defense
The Kingdom of Dewdith the Witch
Crayon Physics Deluxe
Audiosurf
Two Levels at Once
Yin Yang
Shift
Shadow
Though Braid, Winterbottom, Half Moon Bay, Crayon Physics Deluxe and Shadow aren't playable for the general public yet (and I couldn't find a link to The Kingdom of Dewdith the Witch -- perhaps I wrote it down incorrectly), all the rest of the games are really, truly worth finding and trying out if only for how they experiment with game design.
Contest:
9:46 PM on 02.21.2008
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I see a wo............... ew gross dude.
no, its a sailboat!
i've actually played "lost in the static" before and it sucked. it was a sort of interesting idea, but it wasn't any fun and it gave me a headache.
Relevance of this experiment? dunno.
Other games in the list are pretty nice though and more relevant to game design. This one just has the shock factor.
It reminds me of that game Passage. There's so little interaction, it borders on the definition of a game. I understand pushing the boundaries is the idea, and finding the limits of gameplay ... but if something is so far outside the realm of the term "game", it really shouldn't be categorized as such.