Cloud has humbly accepted his noble post as mascot.
After watching five seasons of Avatar: The Last Airbender in just a few weeks (yes, I am aware that there are only three seasons), it is difficult to wrap my mind around writing this article. Not because my head is spinning from so much TV – although it is – but because the show’s inspiring convictions about inner strength has left me at a loss for words. Video games? I love those things, but I start to worry that if I do not reflect properly on the show I will forget its wisdom.
However, the grinding machine of Lusipurr.com never stops, no matter how much one might wish it. Plus, I think there is some old saying about being careful about wishes. Just think, a world without Lusipurr might be quiet, but also gone would be the drive and power and majesty of this ever-sturdy corner of the internet. A haven for lost souls like ours. An unforgiving haven, maybe, but still a haven.
Anyway, I decided to let “new” be the word for this Phase and I decided to let Cloud be the mascot. He might not feel new, but sometimes one has to look to the past to figure out how to move forward.
More Cultivated Opinion
2013 was a year of quiet reflection for me. Except replace “quiet” with “turbulent” and “reflection” with “metaphorical gut-punching”. But life often gives at the same time it takes, even if it does not appear that way at first, and after feeling like I got chewed up and spat out by the year, it is suddenly easier to notice what I have gained as I take a second to brush myself off.
What my incredibly obnoxious ramblings are trying to say is that game design philosophy is something that I have become not only very interested in, but something I feel I am capable of learning worlds about. It turns out that being a life-long gamer requires an entirely different skillset than being a game developer. Let us be clear, I know nothing about game design, but now I feel like I know the ways in which I know nothing about it, so I can start properly learning. And that is incredibly exciting to me. The era of internet debate feels like it has made us defensive and arrogant, abandoning the joy of learning through thoughtful conversation and rigorous study.
Indie games represent creative freedom.
I am sick of ever thinking I am right. I have strong convictions about what comprises good game design, and how despite the wealthy catalogue of classics, we are just now entering the first age of maturation in the art form. We have had great thinkers in every discipline, but I feel like if we survive the next fifty years, it will be gaming that births the next greatest art philosophers. I just want to soak it all in. I want to hear about games as experience. About gaming as a way to discover ourselves in the midst of having fun and being entertained.
How disrespectful is it to our medium that any of us believe we have answers about it? This is an era of discovery! We are the mocked and abandoned who understood gaming when others judged. Gaming showed us a way out. A place where we could explore without being told we were not allowed. Just because we have been playing for years or even decades is no reason to believe that gaming has nothing more to show us. It is an incredibly powerful art form and I want to talk about it until the day I die, still knowing that – even with all my questions and collecting of ideas and analyzing and deconstructing and enjoying – I could spend many more lifetimes doing the same thing.
Bravely Demover
I figured I deserved my worst ever headline after all that garble-dee-gook. The point is that I fully completed the Bravely Default demo and now I have to wait for the full version and my anticipation is the very definition of a first world problem. Oh well, in the meantime, I suppose I should work on the game.
Oh Right…
Lusipurr’s Fountain of Perpetual Disappointment was on official unannounced hiatus, and while I shamefully kept quiet about the time off, I am very proud to announce its return. I feel more equipped to make the game than ever before, but I am working on the essential first piece that will allow everything else to fall into place. I am searching for an art director in Toronto who is up to the job. And the job requires a lot. This search will not be easy, but it is integral to the successful and timely completion of the project. I will keep the fine LusiReaders up to date.
Final Thoughts
What else to say? This must have been something of an irritating article to read, but my committment to you all is honesty, dear LusiCocks. And right now I am honestly feeling over-earnest, so that is what you are all getting. What are you all feeling? Pretend that I am your therapist and the comments section is a very comfy couch.
