Devs talk about how to make games art

Every year for the past three years a handful of game developers gather in Texas for Project Horseshoe, an invite only conference where the devs sit around discussing the biggest problems facing the industry and how to topple them like Boom Blox. This year the group took on the cause of how to make games art and came out with a Designer’s Manifesto.

The manifesto isn’t arguing that games aren’t art yet, but that they aren’t perceived as art yet and that lead designers aren’t given the credit they deserve as artists. After noting the general issue the manifesto turns to the subject of how things become art, noting that painting wasn’t considered a fine art until after about a century of PR relations which Michelangelo (the painter, not the Ninja Turtle) spearheaded. Thus the idea is that over time games could become seen as a fine art. However, we live in the “now,” so the devs want to accelerate this whole thing.

They identify three major problems that have to be solved in order for game designers and games to get credit where credit is due and then give their own solutions to the problemS. It’s far to long to reiterate all of it here, but, to summarize, the three major issues are the general public’s perception of gaming, the leadership in gaming not being able to design creatively within the soul sucking confines of the modern gaming industry and, of course, the most ultimate evil of all, money. Their solutions for these problems range from insightful (broaden the middle circle of game criticism and writing) to obvious (mo’ money, less problems).Their final big solution is for a new, major conference that is open to the public and shows off games as art, not as an industry like E3 does.

It’s a solid read, if a bit long by internet standards. It’s the weekend though, what else are you going to do? Play videogames?