On The Untapped Potential Of Abstract Videogames

Posted by simoniker on Tuesday December 23, 2003 @07:02PM from the monsieur-minter's-holiday dept.

Thanks to the IGDA for their 'Ivory Tower' column discussing why abstract graphics and gameplay are often unfairly ignored when making today's videogames. The writer notes that: "Quite a few classic board games are fairly abstract in design, including Chess, Go, Scrabble, Checkers, and so on... it's what's at the core of the game that matters." He goes on to argue that "the figuring out of a game can be made as interesting as any puzzle the appears within the game itself", and references newer titles such as Rez and Frequency as carrying on the abstract aesthetic pioneered by games like Tempest and I, Robot.

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another 'tranquility' plug by presearch · 2003-12-24 03:53 · Score: 5, Interesting

You want abstract video game fun?
I've got your abstract video right here, pal.

Download tranquility from www.tqworld.com and give it a try.

As an experiment, I've made a single, free, slashdot communal account so you can see what the
game does beyond the demo levels.

login: slashdot
pass: tryit

With several people hitting the same account, the server might gripe about some things,
but let's give it a try and see what happens.