[casual_games] slamdance competition

[Alex Amsel]

So far I've managed to stay out of this conversation but I'll chip in 
with my thoughts.

- Many you (and I) haven't played the game. Don't judge what you haven't 
played and what you don't know about. This is no better than those who 
judge many satirical or clever films or comedies. Those in the UK will 
know what I mean when I say that it's very "Daily Mail". With most of 
these things, once you investigate the matter you'll probably find it's 
much more complex than you thought.

- To say a small indie title can have nothing useful to say is 
completely wrong. Sorry Jeff, I think this is to misunderstand art 
generally, and also isn't fair to a lot of developers out there. 
Democracy and Kudos are interesting in their own right for example.

- People argue all the time about what art is. I'm a terribly typical 
"logical " person who gets annoyed at some artists getting funding for 
the most ridiculous things, however, I'm now a little more involved in 
the art scene in Sheffield due to my better half, and it's actually 
quite interesting. There's a lot of people who like to talk 
about/see/own these "wastes of time", as much as some funding still goes 
to rather silly productions. It may not be art or useful to you, but it 
is to others. Remember that many people out there see games as the 
devil's work or a waste of time and money too.

- The game is apparently not for profit, and that does make a difference 
to me. This isn't someone cashing in.

- Making a game/film/whatever about a real-life occurrence, however 
nasty, is completely acceptable to me. I'm sorry if this offends anyone 
out there, but it's part of the understanding & recovery process in some 
ways. It doesn't make what happened "ok", but it does start to take of 
the "we can't talk about it" mentality, and that's important for 
society. Even if a game is crude and horrible, this is a free society. 
Supposedly.

- As regards the festival, I can only think some pressure was brought to 
bare on them, but I guess the truth will out.

Hopefully I've not managed to offend anyone here!

Alex

Adultswim Games wrote:

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> >>I'll be honest and say 'do you **really** think that low-budget indie 

> games are anything other than a creative waste of time?'. I find it 

> hard to believe that a low-budget RPG, MMO or puzzle game could 

> provoke any serious response from anybody without 'shock value'.

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> http://www.newsgaming.com/games/index12.htm I found this little web 

> game provokes a serious response without shock value.  Just because 

> you've never seen it done doesn't mean it hasn't been done, or can't be.

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-- 

Alex Amsel
Tuna Technologies Ltd (Sheffield, UK)
Cross Platform Game Development
Tel: +44 (0)114 266 2211  Mob: +44(0)7771 524 632

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