droqen's forum-shaped notebook

On art => Primordial soup => Topic started by: droqen on September 20, 2021, 04:58:07 PM

Title: thecatamites' text as texture
Post by: droqen on September 20, 2021, 04:58:07 PM
"Nobody reads the text in videogames!" said thecatamites (find talk/timestamp) link (http://newforum.droqen.com/index.php?topic=12.0)

text as texture.

I want plausible deniability, accidental reading, nonlinear exposure to writing, permission to miss and ignore details. text that goes by too quickly to be caught (enter the void credits sequence).
Title: Re: thecatamites' text as texture
Post by: droqen on September 20, 2021, 05:01:49 PM
This is reading play. "What do i end up reading? what will i miss? what can i miss?"

This is writing play too. i don't know what pieces someone will read... i think writing is always like that, actually. you never know what phrase will snag any reader's attention. Reading is not a straight line, it's a jagged line with hills and valleys of attention and repetition.

am i the only one who goes back to a sentence i liked to reread it, or skips a word or sentence i think i might not understand if it's not particularly interesting or necessary?
Title: Re: thecatamites' text as texture
Post by: droqen on September 20, 2021, 06:05:30 PM
No-one can read videogame text anyway; it's not actually text, it's like a texture. (http://newforum.droqen.com/index.php?topic=12.0)
Title: Re: thecatamites' text as texture
Post by: droqen on September 20, 2021, 06:37:29 PM
JohnLee Cooper's
And Other Stories (https://ergman.itch.io/and-other-stories)

* I find it stressful when I see a lot of text and assume I have to read it all. And Other Stories is the singular game that made me feel the most free to miss things; if something can break through that level of stress then I feel way better. I love the feeling.
Title: Re: thecatamites' text as texture
Post by: droqen on September 20, 2021, 09:37:11 PM
This is all to say: of course I really truly want to make more games that exercise text as texture. Starseed Pilgrim does it. I think a lot of the text in YRKKEY'S PARADISE is a little too 'locky', although a lot of it is quite easy and unnecessary and incidental-skippable (my favourites are the NPCs in 2-1 who speak to you while you're using them to solve a little climbing puzzle). The text in HANDMADEDEATHLABYRINTH issue 0 is straight up too locky.
Title: Re: thecatamites' text as texture
Post by: droqen on September 21, 2021, 12:22:13 PM
(https://i.ibb.co/yBJqL5x/3558-DB12-6873-42-C8-BA19-72-EA8-E318-B4-E.jpg)

In MMORPGs, text and reading is one window of many. Chatting with friends happens alongside the action, not in its own game-locking mode. Dark Souls has a similar feeling: the game isn't waiting for me to finish reading; it's up to me to find a time to read when it's comfortable for me.

Hmm.

I could characterize this as "indifference" but I'd rather not.