'I want to make games for people who read Gravity's Rainbow'

[John Bailey]

The creator of videogame The Witness Jonathan Blow, has again
mentioned that Gravity's Rainbow is one of his favourite books (in an
Ask Me Anything he did the other day).

And the game itself is a major work of art. I thought I'd totaled
about 10-12 hours with the thing and then checked my stats... I've
played it for 90 hours.

90 GODDAMN HOURS.

It may appeal to Pynchon readers for a number of things:

1. It has layers that you only begin to register after 'finishing' the
game - by going back you begin to have Magic Eye effects that
completely reinvent the thing you think you were playing. Someone
asked Blow how many puzzles are in the game and he responded that
trying to complete the game by solving all of its puzzles makes no
sense: "I always like to go back to my favorite books as examples. It
is not meaningful to 100% Gravity's Rainbow or Invisible Cities. The
very idea is absurd. So I am not sure why we are so eager to apply the
idea to games, except that maybe historically games were simpler."

2. After playing for a while you begin to see patterns and puzzles in
the real world - heaps of people are remarking on this and it's both
hilarious and a bit terrifying. It literally alters your perceptions
of the world.

3. It is PACKED with references to and explicit discussion of
philosophy, art, religion, many sciences, humour, game theory and
design, etc etc. I never expected to come across Tarkovsky in a game.

4. It can get meta as all hell.

5. Despite all of this, it is a very fun and immediately accessible
work. Again, the really complex stuff only gradually enters your
awareness if you care to keep on at it.

6. I just listened to an hour-long lecture I found embedded in a
videogame. It took me hours and hours to unlock it and I just sat
there for a whole hour listening to this fascinating talk on the
secret geomatria in Bach, El Greco's dogs, Shakespearean conspiracy
theories, the psychology behind Bible Code nonsense, eclipses and the
millennia-long histories of Easter Eggs. There's another hour-long
lecture I've yet to listen to.

7. I see it as very much 'about' the same questions that have been
animating the list lately, on materialism, faith, the limits of
perception and consciousness, humanity's place in the universe, order
and chaos, and lots more.

Recommended.

On Thu, Jan 28, 2016 at 1:32 PM, Perry Noid <coolwithdoc at gmail.com> wrote:
> This article has more screenshots of the game
> https://killscreen.com/articles/californium-brings-philip-k-dicks-vision-of-the-world-to-life/
>
> On Wed, Jan 27, 2016 at 6:19 PM, Perry Noid <coolwithdoc at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Also, it's a couple years old and not exactly under the radar but if you
>> like puzzle games and haven't played Fez...
>>
>> http://www.unwinnable.com/2012/06/21/gamatria-a-mystical-deconstruction-of-fez/
>> I wouldn't call that a "deconstruction" but it is a good starting point
>> and I haven't seen any other articles on this aspect of the game.
>>
>> The Witness is not being compared to GR, it's for people who *like* GR sez
>> the designer, which I take to mean that it's *not* for people who play a
>> game to find out the end of the story, or as benchmarks for their rig, or
>> because it has dinos. I think he means to say that the game is presenting a
>> challenge and a certain level of perplexity, which is becoming less of a
>> rarity these days especially in indie games. I think Valve can technically
>> be considered an indie dev also but Valve is it's own unique and curious
>> creature, and Half-Life continues to perplex. Two complex and perplexing
>> indie games I have had great fun with lately are Don't Starve and Darkest
>> Dungeon.
>>
>> And for the juicy bit...
>>
>> Now *this* is one I am looking forward to and might perhaps be a little
>> closer to Pynchonian by way of being Dickian, you actually get to play as
>> the paranoid writer!
>> http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/11/californium-the-many-surrealities-of-philip-k-dick/
>> And a video since the one in the article seems to be asking for a log in:
>> https://vimeo.com/141057075
>>
>> On Wed, Jan 27, 2016 at 2:52 PM, John Bailey <sundayjb at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Aurally too.
>>>
>>> On Thu, Jan 28, 2016 at 9:30 AM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> > Have you tried Monument Valley.  It's visually quite beautiful.
>>> >
>>> > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wC1jHHF_Wjo
>>> >
>>> > On Wed, Jan 27, 2016 at 4:11 PM, John Bailey <sundayjb at gmail.com>
>>> > wrote:
>>> >>
>>> >> "Its ambitions are intellectual and philosophical – it strives to be,
>>> >> and succeeds as, a work of serious thought..."
>>> >>
>>> >> I played a few hours yesterday and at first thought it was a whole
>>> >> heap of hype for a fairly standard puzzle game, but it's a) really
>>> >> freakin' beautiful and b) induces a very tranquil state of
>>> >> contemplation and slow thinking. Critics are saying it's pretty
>>> >> solipsistic and in this way it's the opposite of GR - it refers to
>>> >> nothing outside the parameters of the game itself, whereas GR alludes
>>> >> to everything in the world - but I'm getting the feeling that smart
>>> >> players will start to theorise about what the game might *really*
>>> >> signify.
>>> >>
>>> >> Braid was similar - I liked it but only years later appreciate its
>>> >> overall importance. That was a work that seems almost explicitly
>>> >> inspired by Gravity's Rainbow, featuring a plot that confuses a lost
>>> >> love for a nuclear device.
>>> >>
>>> >> On Thu, Jan 28, 2016 at 6:19 AM, Mark Thibodeau
>>> >> <jerkyleboeuf at gmail.com>
>>> >> wrote:
>>> >> > That's just mean.
>>> >> >
>>> >> > J
>>> >> >
>>> >> > On Wed, Jan 27, 2016 at 1:29 PM, Monte Davis
>>> >> > <montedavis49 at gmail.com>
>>> >> > wrote:
>>> >> >> Off to Steam as soon as I read it - thanks!
>>> >> >>
>>> >> >> Long ago, teaching at Dalton School in NYC, I put together an
>>> >> >> experimental
>>> >> >> course on "literature of childhood": books and stories for, about,
>>> >> >> and
>>> >> >> by
>>> >> >> children, Including of course Alice in Wonderland & TTLG.
>>> >> >>
>>> >> >> The school encouraged multimodal projects, and three of the
>>> >> >> students
>>> >> >> did an
>>> >> >> "Alice" board game with very good, painstaking artwork. It was just
>>> >> >> like
>>> >> >> Monopoly, with locations from the books instead of Atlantic City
>>> >> >> streets,
>>> >> >> and "bread" (buttered tea-party style) instead of money. So far, so
>>> >> >> moderately imaginative. What made it Carrollian was that landing on
>>> >> >> two
>>> >> >> of
>>> >> >> the squares -- or using any of several "get out of jail free"-style
>>> >> >> chance
>>> >> >> cards -- swapped players: you (Twedledum) took over the Queen of
>>> >> >> Hearts'
>>> >> >> token and its position, her bread and properties, and she got
>>> >> >> yours.
>>> >> >> All
>>> >> >> game tactics, of course, went madly meta, and half the class played
>>> >> >> it
>>> >> >> obsessively for hours on end to determine if the game could be
>>> >> >> gamed to
>>> >> >> restore any notion of "winning."
>>> >> >>
>>> >> >> I told the creators that I was awarding an A, a C, and an F, and
>>> >> >> they
>>> >> >> could
>>> >> >> roll the dice for them.
>>> >> >>
>>> >> >> On Wed, Jan 27, 2016 at 11:56 AM, Mike Weaver
>>> >> >> <mike.weaver at zen.co.uk>
>>> >> >> wrote:
>>> >> >>>
>>> >> >>>
>>> >> >>>
>>> >> >>>
>>> >> >>> http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jan/27/jonathan-blow-designer-video-games-braid-the-witness
>>> >> >>>
>>> >> >>>
>>> >> >>>
>>> >> >>>
>>> >> >>> -
>>> >> >>> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
>>> >> >>
>>> >> >>
>>> >> > -
>>> >> > Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
>>> >> -
>>> >> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?listpynchon-l
>>> >
>>> >
>>> -
>>> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?listpynchon-l
>>
>>
>
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Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l