oops, let's start (appropriately?) with meta:

i think it's interesting... i just noticed that in my 'On art' section i have Close Reading, and Reviews & reflections, as separate sections but they are perhaps identical - they are the very same thing, but with different levels of openness and engagement.

and different expectations! a 'close reading' as i suppose i imagine it (i don't really have experience with doing 'close readings' of anything, i just used the phrase) is looking closely at the thing and working at every detail to discover, what was meant, or what can i uncover for myself?

on the other hand a 'reflection' or certainly a 'review' of a work involves more judgement, what do i think, and is it any good?

and you can see, or i can see, that most of the r&r threads are about games, while most of the CR threads are about things that aren't.

.
knife for its scalpel
a weapon for a tool
gameplay's hand
 on gameplay's knife.

let it go i besought
put it down
.

[AB]

[AB]

it's not that hard
you know, you know
how to be a person

metric: AVERAGE 6 MINUTE PLAY TIME IS GOOD, 10 IS AMAZING
-- let it guide your choices, but don't play the metric

what do i naturally gravitate towards.
10 goals
i think of tens. 1, 3, 10 -- what a nice progression that makes.
it ends at 10.

static but interacting.
i like objects that are static, but interacting. they shouldn't move around too much, but their position should hold great meaning.

a little guy.
you should control a little guy.
nothing feels better than controlling a little guy.
being a little living pixel creature in a little living pixel world.
the world: static, but interacting. a lot of LOOTBNDT's games (mockups?) look/feel that way.

static but interacting.

what is the arbitrary beauty... you should have a goal in sight. it's achievable but distant. 1, 3, 10. you can imagine getting there, but you can also imagine not getting there. ambiguity. that ambiguity.

when you press a button something immediately happens and it's meaningful, very meaningful.

that's movement. it doesn't have to be a jump button, but it does have to be a transformative button, a pregnant button, a button full of energy. you're not afraid to press the button but you're a little afraid to press the button. you don't want to press it all of the time but you also don't mind pressing it when the mood strikes.

you should always want to press the button but there should also be a reason to control yourself. press the button, but don't give in. the button is tantalizing.

if gameplay dies and makes its way home
to where does gameplay go?
living or dead where gameplay's soul flies
to sages in valleys, to gardens and wells,
to bottomless oceans clipped blue,

Re: Paulo Coelho's
"The Archer"

recommended to me personally by Lena G

[AB]

i've run a kind of "pilot" version of DDC (bad name) with four friends
i learned
- it's easy to fall into this mode of talking about game design where... suggestions are made, and we imagine the game in our minds
- i think in general i want to get to a place of seeing where i can't help, but sometimes i do have practical advice that could solve problems (e.g. time management techniques - not that i am particularly good at time management myself! but i have knowledge)
- once i get to the place where i can't help, that's the interesting place, where i think a person is figuring things out as a peer
- at this point i want to just be there and observe and understand. these people are doing their cool stuff and they're allowing me into their private space, and it's really lovely. i think that when you're doing stuff, it's nice to just have a sounding board who is there with you - maybe it's a little overconfident of me to say, but i think i'm good at getting to this place with people, i like to be the egoless mirror

Re: D. W. Winnicott's

re: Chica Umino's
"March Comes In Like a Lion"

many times, i am working on a project and it stops dead in my heart.