Interactive Entertainment

5-26-09

To whomever you are, thanks for stopping by. I've posted art at the bottom, so if you don't want to read my ramblings you can scroll down :)


Recently I have been trolling some articles (thanks to "googlereader") about a game called "Six Days in Fallujah". I suppose it IS MY FAULT for prompting the good folks over at google to alert me anytime the name "Tamte" was mentioned online, however...I didn't expect to get so many emails. "Peter Tamte" (coincidentally a relative of mine) and his team over at Destineer/Avalanche set out to make a documentary-style video game based on the battle of Fallujah in the Iraq war.

It's a sensitive subject, and I do have some thoughts about it, but I think G4-TV's Adam Sessler has summed it up well, and his video is here--->

Fun Vs Art-"Six Days in Fallujah"

(if that interests you at all, I recommend you check it out)

My brain churned, bubbled, and ultimately sputtered to a halt. Then after a few weeks I had a conversation that brought back to life what I really wanted to talk about, AND SO....to my point.

"the ability to say no"

I'm often upset by how little thought is put into the bigger picture, mostly pertaining to large scale art projects in the entertainment industry, be it games/film/comics/commercials etc. At a certain point the budget of an idea passes the 10million mark, and the project starts to function less like a creative force and more like an oil tanker. It also seems that this is the stage where the "why" question becomes discouraged or tabooed. I am not discouraging large studios as a production model, I have seen them be effective, but I think that at this stage more than ever it is important to have the exact right people in exactly the right positions. It's easy to get caught up in daily tasks as an artist, or a designer or a programmer, but why is the initial drive lost? How does this happen? Like seriously, somebody fill me in?! Is it the art director's job or producer's job to keep everyone oriented in the same direction? Who's job is it to keep an eye on what made the idea good in the first place?

Maybe my frustration is born out of ignorance, and the answer will come at some later stage in my life I dunno. But it's been eating away at my artistic conscience. Doesn't everybody want to fight for interesting and new things? Instinctually my first thought was "put me in charge! I would do it right". Which I realized immediately after wasn't the truth at all. Then my brain spun full circle...

"If I was in that position, could I really see the bigger picture?"

Would I be able to say "no" if someone offered me a job that I didn't feel qualified for if the creative freedom and the pay was substantially better than the job I had? Would I be able to say "no" I was asked to work at a company I lusted after, into a position I didn't? If the right idea gets the right circumstances it moves mountains. Who's lives/ideas would I be messing with if I stepped into a role I wasn't ready for and floundered about attempting competency. Would I rise to the challenge? I have had the opportunity to work under some incredibly skilled art directors, but I've also seen good projects go under due to poor circumstances. But what really gets me in the gut, as an indicator of the dominating point of view is seeing the idea that drove "Six Days in Fallujah" die.


Now, the "dragon-riding post apocalyptic magic ultra-grenade" games will always hold a special place in my heart, and I don't want them to disappear. I'm advocating a change in focus, and critical thinking on a larger scale. I mean shit, I love using the latest technology to sit around drinking beer talking smack to kids in Europe. As illustrated in this painting of my Austin buddys and I playing "Halo" and drinking beer.

"pwning noobs"

...I don't have a doubt that what I am looking for is out there, I just didn't expect to have to look so hard to find it.

-Tamte