Indie Games....Love em'

I think that Cactus has a very innovative and exploratory approach to game design. I liked how he attempts to facilitate emotional or mental stimulation of some kind through his games and I like how he has strayed away from commercialism. His position on players’ interpretation is rather interesting as well. He claims that there are parts of his games that he doesn’t think all players would understand, but he’d rather leave it open to their interpretation instead of imposing his own.

While he has some great ethics about design, he does appear to have flaws. I think his outlook on quantity over quality is a bit foolish. I don’t think quantity should be a factor when it comes to game design but more certainly should not be at the expense of quality. But if you can achieve both, which it seems like he has done for the most part, then more power to you.

I think his games quite closely reflect his approach to design. Both Mondo Medical and Mondo Agency were both intriguing in their own way. Mondo Medical really made me wonder why he decided to instruct the opposite of what you were actually supposed to do. The bleak aesthetics also brought a certain level of abstractness to the look and feel of the game - like an “out of place” feeling.

Mondo Agency had a weird story attached to it, which was creepy in a way. I questioned why he narrated/wrote the way he did - it was choppy and incomplete at parts. The intricate puzzles were rather intriguing - I constantly tried to have them represent something - such as the “mirrors” in the initial stage. I goes to show that although game-play and graphics may be simple, game design can still excel.

The other games that I played were “This is Infinity” and “Rise: Sea of Static”. I enjoyed these games a lot as well, but more for their visual effects and perceptual game-play. Upon entering the world of “This is Infinity” I could see it fit the title. I looked over the vast emptiness thinking - where do I go? I approached many of the interesting objects around the space - watching the moving M’s fly away. If fact I followed on as far as I could until it disappeared, thereupon leaving myself stranded in a black abyss. I liked how the psychedelic visuals were more than just flat, useless images. Many of them seemed to shine light on hidden aspects of the area.

“Rise: Sea of Static” was fun. It took me a few tries to figure out that I was that small person rather than the large platform that I was standing on, but once I got the hang of it I really liked it. The one thing I thought was very cool was how you had to trust the “abstractness” of the game. I found myself jumping off ledges and into unknown places, believing that some other platform would be there to break my fall.