The Art of Video Games at GDC 2010
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Transcript of The Art of Video Games at GDC 2010
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A Day at the MuseumHow the Smithsonian is embracing games
Chris Melissinos, Past Pixels, LLCGeorgina Bath Goodlander, Smithsonian American Art Museum
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Background
• Former Chief Evangelist and Chief Gaming Officer, host of JavaOne - Sun Microsystems
• Led client and server game technology development 10+ years
• Founder of Past Pixels, LLC
• Husband & father (raising gamers)
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and I’m a geekCustom arcade
Pong arcadeAtari 2600Intellivision
ColecovisionAtari 5200Atari LynxGame GearGameBoy
GameBoy Advance
NeoGeoTurboGrafx-16Sega Genesis
Sega 32XSega Saturn
Sega DreamcastPlaystation
Playstation 2Playstation 3
XBox
GameBoy SPNESSNES
Nintendo 64GameCube
WiiNintendo DS
Nintendo DS LiteNintendo DSi
Vectrex
XBox360Sony PSP
3DOAtari JaguarJaguar CD
TurboGrafx CDWonderswan Color
NeoGeo Pocket ColorPole Position Cabinet
VirtualBoy
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My First Computer• 5K (3583 bytes)
• MOS 6502 @ 1MHz
• 22 x 23 text,176 x 184 @ 16 colors
• Learned assembly at 10, first full game by 12
• “Wasting my time”
Firefox Icon - 64KB(~18x larger)
Defender - 8K cart(8x smaller)
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So, how did this all start?
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Seeking the Museum
• GDC 2005 - Mike Mika
• Almost passed out
• Insurance?
• This needs to be in a museum...
• Spent several years pinging the walls
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Smithsonian 2.0• January 2009 - 20 technologists at the museum
• Everyone talked about blogging, podcasts and Twitter...except one
• If you want to reach new generations of patrons, you need to meet them where they live - connect, excite, ignite, spark imagination
• EVERYONE is playing games - how do we recognize this, examine this, hold the medium up for observation?
• Georgina asked about game stuff - “I know someone”
• Meetings...meetings...concepts...meetings...
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IDEA! - The Art of Video Games
• Create an exhibition that examines the evolution of video games as an artistic medium over time
• Demonstrate how social dialog, cultural shift and technology impact the medium
• Establish the medium as worthy of examination, critique and study as an art form
• Bring further validation and preservation to an industry we all care about and has given us so much!
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Answer some questions
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Why Video Games?• Games are part of every culture
throughout recorded history - video games are an extension of this
• Have become a mainstream medium for entertainment, expression and education
• Followed the same trajectory as other forms of media
• Large expanse of artistic range, messaging and focus
• Extraordinary opportunity to capture the medium - most of the pioneers are still with us
“Can a Computer Make You Cry?”
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Does it have a Message?
Missile Command
Do artists suffer for their art?
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Does it Reflect Society?
Computer Space(space race)
Space Invaders(shortened 100-Yen coin supply)
Donkey Kong(complete narrative)
Contra(“Action” film era)
Our exaggerated mirror
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Is it Expressive?Exploration through different artistic lenses
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Authority of the Author?
• One of the biggest arguments against games as art is that the player has CHOICE which effects the OUTCOME
• Games with a wholly formed narrative always have the same outcome, regardless of lateral movement by the player
• In comparison to ANY OTHER form of media, video games are the MOST expressive; inviting exploration and discovery while still providing a messaging arc
• What other form of art allows this? Aside from “Choose Your Own Adventure” books?!?!
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What is the BIGGEST difference in the acceptance of books, paintings, music, and movies
as works of importancevs.
video games?
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TIME
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Enough of the how and why
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Exhibition goals
• Present the evolution of the art form across generations of technology
• Reveal “echos” of design that persist generation to generation
• Elevate the opportunity that video games represent as an artistic medium
• Observe the intertwined relationship between games, technology and society over the past 40 years
• Demonstrate the influence of popular culture, technology, social issues on the designers and artists
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The Big Idea“Core” Exhibition
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“Core” Exhibition
target combat adventure maze
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“Core” Exhibition
show their evolution over time
. . . . . .
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Example
• Green bar?• Black background?• UFO?
• On the moon• Informs the void• Bird like = familiar
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“Core” Breadth
• Atari VCS • TurboGrafx-16 • Saturn • GameCube
• Intellivision • Genesis • Playstation • XBox
• Colecovision • SNES • N64 • Wii
• NES • Atari Jaguar • Dreamcast • XBox 360
• Master System • 3DO • PS2 • PS3
not inclusive of all systems, but keeps the narrative
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Supplement
• First video game machine - can’t have the dialog without the “Brown Box”
• Personal computers
• Specific genre examinations: FPS, RTS, Text Adventures, RPG, etc.
• Coin-op: Pong, Space Invaders, Robotron 2084, Ms. Pac-Man, etc.
• Computer music: Wave generators, chiptune, CD, orchestral, etc.
• Games as art, serious games, etc.
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Reflection of Society
• NOT Chris’s Picks over 40 years
• Advisory board being assembled to review and offer insight
• All materials will be posted to a public site for voting by the public
• This is about offering participation and vested interest
• Final reveal at launch :)
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Possible Additions• Developer and artist panels during the launch week
• Photo sessions and developer challenges
• Video Games Live!
• Movie night! - Screen movies over the course of the week that speak to the culture, about the industry, etc.
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Information
• The Art of Video Games Exhibition at the Smithsonian American Art Museum
• MARCH 2012 - SEPTEMBER 2012
• www.pastpixels.com - developer blog, details, shoutback, etc.
• http://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/archive/2012/games/
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Our Opportunity!
• To elevate the stage that video games occupy
• Demonstrate the diverse and rich history of the video games industry
• Explain how the medium is the most expressive in terms of the possibility space that video games operate in
• We have grown; We are permanent
• We are worthy of the critical eye, of social dialog, of telling our stories, of invoking emotion, of being the storytelling medium of future generations
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MUCH MORE TO COME!
Thank You!