[ A. Sometimes a game is well polished, technically beautiful, and totally unmemorable and flat. Sometimes dropped even before finishing. Why is that? What's going on?

  B. It could be lack of mystery. The opposite of mysterious might be 'predictable.' Mystery is not only factual, it is also a vibe, something that as a player I can perhaps choose to cultivate. There may be something divine in the unanswered question. ]

Section "An Endless Search"

Quote from: 27:38. . . Clearly, for many of us, the feeling of inhabiting a riddle is more gratifying than actually solving it. Is it going too far to suggest that it's an almost spiritual feeling? . . .

-In Search of Mystery

QuoteDivine truths, . . . insofar as there are any, must be changeable and never completed. . . because they are revealed only by the current mood.

-All Things Shining, p153

Some very meaningful parallel here.

Quote from: 29:04. . . the feeling of standing on the edge that separates the known and the unknown, of reaching for something meaningful and transcendent that remains just outside our grasp. . . .

-In Search of Mystery

QuoteThe thought of not really knowing what's on the other side of the ocean but going out there anyway on a shitty boat is reasonably incredible

I am sad how certain I am that No Man's Sky will never give me this feeling.
[screenshot of video titled "No Man's Sky - EXPLORE Trailer | PS4", displaying quote "Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore." // André Gide]

I'm not trying to be super down on No Man's Sky, but I severely doubt its design is at all about 'the courage to lose sight of the shore'.

Most exploration game are less about the trepidation of uncharted territory and more about rewarding you for just kinda poking around.

Anyway, what I'm saying is I fucking love the trepidation of entering uncharted territory, please make more games for me

twitter thread

Quote from: 29:20We, video gamers, are strangely compelled to continue dispelling the mist even at the same time as part of us hopes we'll never succeed. Is it the answers we're seeking, or is it the mystery itself?

-In Search of Mystery

(previously discussed: players who intentionally don't look things up, in order to preserve a feeling)

Connects so strongly to 'well-played game' stuff. I don't want to get all loopy about what play means, what play is, etc. But there is some relevant literature that's interesting. A desire for something... and the willingness to put some strange effort into achieving this 'something'... hmm. Look, it's not as simple as playing along; it's making something. Creating, cultivating a feeling. This is art.

All the world's a stage (40)

Storm clouds advance on a winding river (5)

A space station besieged by memories (17)

All things of grace and beauty (4)

The one that began it all (1)

~ backlink gmtk's 'what makes a game feel mysterious?': i said, "kat did it first!" -- it's cool to see mark brown following ;)