The PAX East storytime keynote is always a staple for me at PAX. This was the first year I didn’t really have much background on the speaker or his games. I’d heard of Jonathan Blow, but I’ve never actually played any of his games, mostly because I’d heard they’re pretty difficult. Blow’s most well known game is 2008’s Braid, which is a time manipulation puzzle platformer that received much critical acclaim. He was also featured in Indie Game: The Movie. What I didn’t really know till I heard him speak and did some research online is that he’s been very outspoken in the press and at conferences for games to take responsibility to help people learn to think and understand system. Basically to help science instead of just mere entertainment or ways to make money. He’s been critical of games hand holding and having tutorial levels and is a strong proponent of letting players learn the rules of a game themselves through trial and error. No cheats, no hints, it's up to the player to figure it out themselves.
Photo from the keynote
The previous story time keynotes I’ve covered typically followed a pattern of the speaker taking us on a trip down memory lane through their career in the industry and how they came to be where they are today. Blow decided to do a bit of a different spin and instead focused on playing some games live in the panel and explained why they interested him and were examples of really great design.
The first game he played was 1000 Spikes, an early XBox live title by indie dev 8bit Fanatics. He pointed out how their title screen was an homage to Super Mario Bros. Although instead of just 3 lives, you have 1000; and then kind of go through the though process of something along the lines of: Sweet! 1000 lives! Wait crap am I going to need 1000? He described the genre as “maso-core” as clearly you have to hate yourself a little to want to play this game…
Slides from the keynote
This was definitely a game I’d personally write off as too hard and never try myself. It even felt difficult and stressful just to watch! But as he explained how he was learning from dying it caused me to think a bit differently about it. He referred to it as “transcendent realization within one level” and described it as a high density of experience in a single level. Kind of a series of moments of challenging yourself and eventually persevering to rewarding aha moments. I could see what he meant as he played through and could experiment with thinking in that different mindset. Ultimately though I think this particular game would still just be too freakin hard and not fun for me because it also needs precise timing of jumps and I’d still rage quit.
A childhood favorite!
The next game up for him to play was Miegakure. This is a soon to be released indie “4-D” platformer that kinda hurts my brain to even think about. Levels have dimensions you can switch between with different perspectives to manipulate objects to solve puzzles and complete the level. He had a great quote about how the world isn’t really changing, you’re just seeing it from a different understanding and perspective.
A level in Miegakure
As he was talking about Miegakure reminded me a lot of the book Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin Abbot Abbot,which I read recently. I gave myself a pat on the back when the next slide in his talk gave the book a shout out! The game was stunningly beautiful and watching him play through made a lot of sense but I would definitely be staring at those puzzles for hours before I had my aha moment. It at least makes me feel better that Randall Munroe of XKCD has the same issue…
Throughout Blow’s talk there was a thread about language without words and he’d point out how you could even make jokes just using just 3-D spaces. He took the audience through an interesting thought process of how writing a story based game can be a lot more difficult than writing a story since any kind of bug in the software can take you out of the experience, and how the medium setups up different constraints to work in. But then at the same time it's rewarding because games let you experience other senses and learning in the way just reading isn’t always able to. Being someone who loves story games but avoids anything that involves needing to think in more than 2 dimensions it gave me pause to maybe give some different type of games another try.
The next title he played was Starseed Pilgrim. This one hurt my brain so much I repressed the memory and had trouble coming up with the name when I went to write this. It's kind of world building and exploring game that he tried not spoil too much so players can have their own a-ha moment of what the point really is. He again stressed the learning cycle of having a question and exploring the system, learning and testing your hypothesis. But also acknowledged that some people will find it exciting while others find it extremely frustrating. I’m definitely still in the frustrating camp but his perspective and enthusiasm really do make me want to give these kinds of games another try.
Starseed Pilgrim
He also spoke of how more AAA games like Counter Strike can take players through learning processes. He spoke of the balance between the extreme frustration of failing as noob but then the great reward of learning and succeeding on your own merit and understanding. He had a good quote I didn’t catch verbatim but something along the lines of learning from pattern recognition and perseverance how to try again in a lateral way.
I have not yet learned..
He talked a lot about how “puzzly” games can often feel frustrating and the player may feel personally “judged” by the game and lash out on the difficulty and criticize the game. But he also stressed taking a step back in a different mindset and thinking about: is it really that bad to be stuck for a while but keep trying and ultimately succeed? He posed the thought perhaps it's a temporary cultural artifact of our times that people shy away from failing and trying again. I personally lament the lack of critical thinking and not verifying sources when posting things on the internet and this seemed like an interesting extension of that. Maybe games can help with learning and teaching critical thinking skills. He also mentioned with more data analytics maybe games can help collect the raw data towards the science of understanding how people think, and helping them learn better.
In doing some research for this article I came across an interview he did with Gamasutra back in 2010 where he elaborated a little more on learning in games and responsibility in the industry.
So there's a learning process that happens, and that can be a very positive thing. And I think to a large extent, that's what games are actually about, is learning. So then the question is if games are about learning, if every game teaches people something, then if I make any particular game, what is that game teaching people?
He spoke of wanting the industry to take more responsibility in teaching and creativity instead of just making games for fun or profit. He has had some choice words about games like Farmville that put monetization and guilt above gameplay and design in the article as well.
He looks Canadian to me...
The last game he showed was called Stephen’s Sausage Roll which he said is one of his all time favorites. Again it's a world without tutorials where the player has to learn and understand the rules themselves. It's a puzzle game with pixelated graphics where you need to be able to cook sausages perfect on each side as you move them around obstacles to grills. Which does not sound puzzly or intellectual at all and yet somehow becomes that way as he showed a few levels.
Title screen from Steven’s Sausage Roll
Overall it was a great thought provoking keynote. I still have some fear and hesitation that all these spatial relation and maso-chore games aren’t for me but his enthusiasm and explanation made me want to give them another chance. Learning to think different and overcome challenges seems like a good life skill gamers can tout to haters that say video games are a waste of time!
Anyone at 2old2play played any of these titles or Blow’s games Braid or The Witness? Would love to hear your thoughts on them!
