Art in videogame

First, I would like to thanks GG for offering me the associate status. It's truly a great reward. :)
I think the GG community gave me more than I gave it. This is really the place where "I've grew up" thanks to many people. It started on Realm Wars community project about 4 years ago, working with great people (a special thanks to Pascal Bos ;) ). Many projects later, I have now some products here on GG and more great people to work with (special thanks to Josh Williams, Tim Aste, Jeff Gran, Karen Peal and of course Nermin).
Well, enough for massive licking! Just THANKS GG ;)


Art in Videogames

Studying in an Art school is a strange experience made of enthusiasm and frustration. When I say Art, it's not only drawing/painting, it's also in the philosophical way of creating and producing. To be clear, we'll say Art like we can see in History of contemporary Art.
Let me tell you in such school videogame is not really the common practice. It's strange cause they are extremely linked together and close both in term of interactivity and sensitivity.
There is a same creative process behind a videogame or an art piece bound by our cultural echoes.
Well, my point is simply that Art and Videogames would gain a lot in being associated.

Let's see with concrete example, I don't consider myself as an artist, but I'm exploring that world:

++ In a volume class, we were offering a few themes to work with. I've chosen Architecture, fantasy and mechanism. It resulted (after a few search) in an utopic architecture.
Globally it's an architecture wich is normally impossible to create in real life.

I created a process of randomized architecture through a special invented unit: the omnixel. It's a virtual material (a brick) wich is potentially unstable and can turn into any other material. The concrete can become mirror or transparent, liquid, warm or cold, it can expand or contract.
With this unit, I'm building a known architecture (a bridge for example) and then I let them live and become unstable, it can then result in a totally useless building or something in the opposite totally new and useful.


I found this to be interesting for a videogame wich can TOTALLY take advantage of utopic architecture since we're in a virtual world. The process of randomisation exist for dungeon of course, but what about having the player evolve in such chaotic world, potentially unstable. Maybe some platforms, a path...
And what if the player could push a button to change the properties of the blocks until he/she found the right configuration he/she thinks is possible to pass?
It can be the beginning of an idea, I don't know...

++ An other example with a movie on the theme CartonMan (carton is cardboard) for the animation class. I thought about something just damn old in the end: communication. Understanding each other is still a recent problematic and it has been for centuries.
So the movie is about a man, waking up in an empty cardboard box of 4*4*2 meters. Then begins the impossible dialogue of the box and the man wich are 2 very different entities: one can talk and write, the other can only express with folded paper and paper-made objects.
The first one to communicate is the box wich understand the man is not at ease and create a little box in the middle of the room so he can sit.
Then comes the mimetism, etc...

This is closer to classic animation, but still, the philosophical side of communication, the difference between 2 entities is maybe an hint for a new kind of gameplay. Imagine what it could be to incarnate a cardboard box creating only paper volumes.
What about a game where you face several entities on a journey and you must communicate with them to access higher level/adventures. Each one with a particular way of communication.
Again it's just a track to get our wheels on.

That's it for Art and Games :)



Now, some general progress/news.

I'm working on a free PSP Adventure game. It's very pleasant sometime to be alone on a game creation, at least you manage everything :)
It's called Jip Adventures and will be done made in several episodes that the player can finish in 30min to an hour. It's using the web browser so it can potientally be running on any 2.XX PSP.
Some pictures:

Those are not real size screenshots.
A creature of the second part of the game:

The introduction is finished (gfx+code). I'm actually working on the second part :)

I have also redone my website so it fits with the project: www.djagg.com

And finally, I'm working on a PC title too, more info soon.

Wooot, plan finished! was long!! If you've read everything you're just so cool.