Confusing Conclusion

Artist Statement: Making a game with "Absolutely" No Story

TL:DR? Author's Intent vs interpretation of work.

           Oh boy what can I even say about this game that doesn’t already seem extremely obvious?

            I Despised making it. I originally wanted to do something even remotely interesting that evoked a similar feeling to Tossing Time. But no. I was told that the original idea had too much story in it.

            Said original idea? Throwing a laptop and then nothing happens. That’s it. but no. That had story behind it somehow. Even though I’m sitting here debating whether or not intent matters in the idea of a game having no story. If the author intended there to be no story, then does someone interpolating a story out of it therefore mean. There is in fact a story?

            Difficult questions that I would have loved to tackle. But obviously. Didn’t have the energy or time to do. I would have honestly loved to explore a prompt to something the effect of “Make a game that evokes no emotions.” Or something like that. Since that is the thing that I believe is one hundred percent consistent across everything I’ve made.

            The only Story in Tossing Time was the story behind it’s creation. Does that mean that Tossing Time has a story? Well, if that’s the case then it’s literally impossible to make a game with no story since every single creation has the story of how or why it was made behind it. even if that’s not obvious in its presentation. The story behind the making of The Emperor’s New Grove is fascinating by the way and doesn’t bleed into the story the movie tells whatsoever. (Highly recommend searching that out. Absolutely scathing what Disney has been doing to it’s employees for decades now and how literally nothing has changed.)

            The point I’m trying to make is…stories are objective. Something can have absolutely no meaning behind it other than it’s author/creator simply wanted to make something and that’s the end of it. All of a sudden, someone interpolates a story out of the work. Does that now mean that the work has a story behind it?

            I couldn’t even make a meta game that evoke themes of the Stanley Parable since no shit. There’s a story there.

            This is the most I’ve ever felt creatively stifled in my entire life and it’s quite possibly one of the worst experiences I’ve had in recent years. This is genuinely the worst game I’ve ever made regardless of what stance you take to examine it from. I hate it. I want to burn it at the stake and yet…I’ll still be leaving it up on my page regardless of those facts.

            Essentially you told me to make a game that centered purely on mechanics. I wasn’t going to do that because the last time I did that it failed and turned out more or less as a “extension” of a better game as you put it. I know there are games without “stories” but goddamnit some of the best games are ones with compelling narratives and even the ones without tend to have sprinkles of narrative in order to justify what the player is doing. COD as shitty as it is. Still has a story that tells the player why they’re shooting the bad guys.

            I’ve learned through this experience that while a story isn’t needed to make a good game, and it certainly doesn’t need to be the focal point of production. Even a tiny amount of story can help a game since even just that can help engage the player. By bringing them into the world just that tiny amount, it can hook them in, give them something to latch on to as a reason why they’re there and doing the thing.

            Fuck even games that don’t have a story on the surface still have stories. Common examples I found online were: Minecraft, Terraria, A little to the left, and Balatro.

            Minecraft and Terraria are just straight up false, these games have minimal story that isn’t explicitly told to the player, doesn’t need to be heard or even understood to play. But it still exists in context clues and visual storytelling through things like the ruins structures all over the world. Terraria I’ll admit I’ve not played personally but I know damn well it has NPCs that talk to you and help guide your quest with bosses that only unlock after beating others…etc.

            A little to the left? Balatro? Haven’t played them personally again (sorry)…and…okay fine they don’t have stories. But with Balatro you can say a shitton of stuff about how it’s a scathing critique of gamble culture and how rotted our culture has become. Something about the human desire and dopamine release of watching numbers climb higher. See? I just interpolated a story out of the game. Does that now mean there’s a story?

            I genuinely have nothing on A Little to The Left so ha. I guess this was a bit...silly to go on for so long. Ultimately this game should serve as a starter. To discuss author's intent vs interpolated meaning.