By Joel Smart (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: November 28, 2012
I love video games. I’ve also become a bit jaded over the years, due mostly to the sequel-churning, market-research-led corporate machine that pushes the industry onward. So, when I heard about the LA Game Space—which would make exploring the creative potential of gaming its sole purpose—it reminded me why I love video games so much.
LA Game Space is still a Kickstarter project looking for donations until December 7, but if it hits its $250,000 goal, directors Daniel Rehn and Adam Robezzoli believe it will revolutionize the way we understand games.
It would advance both the way indie developers make games and the way we theorize (and apply theories) about games. The non-profit centre would also lead to a massive increase in open-source game research – making data and videos available for free online.
“Our goal is to free residents [creators living at the centre] from limitations [in] commercial game development,” Rehn and Robezzoli explain on their Kickstarter video. The end result would include “highly experimental game projects” and “unlikely collaborations between artists.”
There are really three main aspects of the LA Game Space that should get people the most excited: (1) free, live-streamed speaker series and workshops (2) residencies that offer exhibition space and feedback for those staying on the property, and (3) game research labs that track gameplay data from pulse rate to eye movement – and made available around the globe.
For Pendleton Ward, the creator of Adventure Time—a Cartoon Network show infused with gaming references and widely-adored for its creative storylines—LA Game Space is really important. “It’s a place for video games to flourish like flowers, you guys,” he poetically muses in an animated video that has since gone viral.
“It would invite game makers to come and stay for a few months and make games and experiment with game making,” Ward adds. “But, it would also it would also have awesome game developers come in and talk about their theories on games and it would all be recorded and viewable online like TEDTalks – for games!”
David Surman—researcher, teacher and co-founder of Pachinko Pictures—explains in a YouTube video that he feels the space would be a powerful force for independent game makers to “exhibit and show their work” in a way that would expand their audience. He also believes that the space would lead to better games. “When you . . . provide some of those essential funds for LA Game Space,” he clarifies, “you’re creating a resource that will produce interesting, exciting games for years to come.”
If the possibilities for radical developments in game innovation aren’t enough to pique your interest, the Kickstarter is also offering some awesome rewards. Particularly, a donation of $15 will get you newly-created games from important, established developers – including Keita Takahashi who created Katamari Damaci (that game where you roll up the world). Bennett Foddy, creator of QWOP (a hilarious free game online worth looking up if you want a laugh), is teaming up with Pendleton Ward for one of the 30 games as well. Ben Esposito, creator of Unfinished Swan, is also making a game for the pack.
Ultimately, what LA Game Space would really offer is a chance for games to go further – to become something more than they are now. It could open the door for a legitimate alternative to the over-commercialized, increasingly-stale game industry that we’ve come to rely on as gamers. If you too love video games, you should want it as well.
