Interactive Poems.

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I’m thinking a lot of games that have really inspired me in my life

Many of them are RPGs and action adventure stories, but some of the more salient and memorable ones were point & click adventures made by tiny independent developers.

I miss the feeling of digital experiences feeling like these unique, strangely magical, hand-crafted toys…The interactions, the art, even the code with its sometimes janky outcomes somehow felt more… handmade & mysterious… as if they came out of some unkown woodworker’s cabin in the woods

I think a lot of it has to do with embracing limitations - with experiences being built by a few folks figuring out how to make art out of code, rather than by them being polished, perfectly engineered shiny things.

Machinarium by Amanita Design - a timeless gem.

Games like Machinarium, by Amanita Design are experiences I keep going back to - even as I age. They’re just teeming with love and attention to craftsmanship in all the right places - it really feels like the focus is on the storytelling, the puzzles, the hand drawn assets.

Poetic and intimate, kind of like looking into someone’s private sketchbook and watching it come alive - that’s the kind of experience I want from interactive media.

As game development has become more “mainstream” and commercial game engines like Unity and Unreal more available, I do feel some of that sensibility is harder to find. In my journey with developing games, I have found that it is actually hard to retain focus on the raw artistry, and it’s always tempting to look to new technologies, focusing on technical achievements and new features.

Very quickly, the tools and technology begin to overshadow the art, rather than enabling what could feel like subtle magic.

That’s precisely why I love these kinds of experiences…they feel like interactive poems or storybooks - just saying it with less, yet reaching so deep into the imagination.

I aspire to make things of that nature.