Show Notes
In this episode we attempt to verbally describe a comic book. But not just any comic book. Scott McCloud's 1993 "Understanding Comics" is a comic about comics; not necessarily how to make them, but how they "work" for readers. Your librarians Tom and Joe jump about the book in no particular order, picking apart what they personally got from the book, and highlighting areas where we think there's something interesting in there for an indie dev.
TOPICS INCLUDE: > how videogames are interactive cartoons > semiotics and the psychology of images > how "gaps" and "holes" in stories create engagement > nonlinear narrative in different media > starting projects with "ideas" vs starting with craft
TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 intro 01:45 why this book 06:15 overview 11:35 indie games and cartoon aesthetics 14:02 two mediums with the same status issue 16:22 iconic representation and identification 18:55 history and definition of comics 23:02 the semiotics of comics 30:12 the three types of image 41:00 gamers love a ruined city 44:48 time is weird in comics 49:45 "closure" in media psychology 52:33 non-linear moments in comics 57:29 the meaning of lines and colours 59:20 showing & telling / multimodality 65:35 self-referentiality as a sign of a mature medium 68:50 McClouds 6 Steps of Creativity 73:20 finishing projects vs starting new ones 68:13 what's next?
OTHER REFERENCES: Juniper Dev on Little White Guys: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=banRsciq1ww Ian Bogost's 2023 essay on Gone Home: https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/perpetual-adolescence-the-fullbright-companys-gone-home/ "Storyteller" Comicbook-Interface Puzzle Game: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1624540/Storyteller/ "Her Story" Narrative Puzzle Game https://store.steampowered.com/app/368370/Her_Story/ "The Beginner's Guide" (example of a "reflexive"/self-referential game) https://store.steampowered.com/app/303210/The_Beginners_Guide/ wiki page of Pierre Bourdieu's "Distinction" (sociology of taste) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distinction_(book) The original game design "MDA Theory" paper: chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://users.cs.northwestern.edu/~hunicke/MDA.pdf McCloud's 6 Steps of Creativity explained using SoundCloud Rappers: https://rudycraiglcgr.blogspot.com/2016/08/this-for-lcgn-class-we-had-to-read.html Derek Yu on finishing games: https://makegames.tumblr.com/post/1136623767/finishing-a-game
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More from The Game Developers' Library
Buy Books But Not From Bezos: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/indiegameclinic IGC Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/indiegameclinic
In this episode, Tom and Joe read and respond to Rise of the Videogame Zinesters: How Freaks, Normals, Amateurs, Artists, Dreamers, Drop-outs, Queers, Housewives Are Taking Back an Art Form.
In this episode we read Rimworld creator Tynan Sylvester's design textbook.
Other Sources Discussed Failing to Fail: The Spiderweb Software Way: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stxVBJem3Rs&t=2794s Radical Candor: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radical_Candor Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In this episode we discuss Jason Schreier's journalistic account of the creation of a bunch of different games, ranging from huge AAA games like DragonAge: Inquisition, to smaller indie ones like Shovel Knight and Stardew Valley.