This guy is quite prolific. I remember his name from years ago, when I was hunting for games to install on Debian; looks like he has ~14 packages to his name, but evidently that's far from all of...
This guy is quite prolific. I remember his name from years ago, when I was hunting for games to install on Debian; looks like he has ~14 packages to his name, but evidently that's far from all of them:
In 2021 he created a total 139 games, which is one hell of a lockdown project.
Indeed. Sounds like he's invested time into his tools to be able to crank these out:
The goal of Crisp Game Lib is to enable the creation of innovative games within a three-hour timeframe.
So I presume most of these games aren't that deep in terms of content. That said, I presume he's learned something about game design in the process. Makes me want to try one of his games now.
It's interesting that you attach the term deep to the amount of content. For me, deep would refer to gameplay. So, to respond to your presumption in two ways: the games are definitely deep in...
It's interesting that you attach the term deep to the amount of content. For me, deep would refer to gameplay. So, to respond to your presumption in two ways: the games are definitely deep in terms of gameplay and mechanics, but perhaps not in terms of content. It depends what you're looking for.
These recent browser games of his are more like old arcade games where you have one game mechanic and one scenario with a number of different stages or patterns. The depth comes from how the mechanic changes and introduces new strategies to the player as they spend time with the game and improve their way of playing. The gameplay evolves along with the player's ability.
Kenta Cho has been making games since the 1980s, and I consider him one of the greatest living game designers. Particularly because he is still actively practicing and developing whilst many others from the golden age have retired. It takes a huge amount of skill to distill game design to such simplicity. You could think of it as the haiku of game development.
"Perfection is achieved,
not when there is nothing more to add,
but when there is nothing left to take away."
— Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
From my point of view, "content" is just an axis along which you can measure. A haiku can be deep, but in a different way than The Little Prince is. And neither one is the "correct" deep! They're...
From my point of view, "content" is just an axis along which you can measure. A haiku can be deep, but in a different way than The Little Prince is. And neither one is the "correct" deep! They're just different dimensions.
When you hear "indie game", you might think of something like Cave Story, and if that's what you expect Kenta Cho's games to be, you might be disappointed. What he writes seems to be more of a "poetry of games" — your haiku metaphor is an apt one.
Different dimensions, agreed. So if one is deep should the other not be wide, or high, or some such different term? Maybe. I'm not sure anybody would hear "indie game" and expect of one type of...
Different dimensions, agreed. So if one is deep should the other not be wide, or high, or some such different term? Maybe.
I'm not sure anybody would hear "indie game" and expect of one type of game, story, or genre. There's so much diversity in indie games, just like the is in the broader video game industry.
To poke a bit more on the "content" word. His games seem to come from the game & watch style where you have very limited mechanics and the gameplay consists on mastering them and going on...
To poke a bit more on the "content" word. His games seem to come from the game & watch style where you have very limited mechanics and the gameplay consists on mastering them and going on endurance runs for points. These, along bullethells (which he seems to like a lot) are "in the zone" kind of games where you develop a sort of meditative trance when you play long enough/well enough.
I had a number of g&w style games as a kid and I loved them but they required me to be bored with nothing better to do to actually give them the time they needed to master them. I have a hard time giving these games more that a couple tries, even if I really enjoy that couple attempts. The prospect of unbound time limit kind of kill them for me.
In the interview he does note being influenced by Game & Watch games in his early days. And I agree those games do not cut it today. But Kenta Cho's recent games are not like that. His command of...
In the interview he does note being influenced by Game & Watch games in his early days. And I agree those games do not cut it today. But Kenta Cho's recent games are not like that.
His command of the difficulty curve is much more modern than Game & Watch. Consider his games Paku Paku, Invincible Man, etc - you can't really play them for more than a few minutes, no matter how good you are, because he scales the gameplay to make sure of it.
So, because there is a well-considered upper limit to time and difficulty, the exploration space becomes the ability for the player to understand and execute technique, refine their play style, and develop their skill.
At the end of the day, his recent games are arcade-style high-score chasers, which aren't for everybody, but theres no doubt they have far more content, or depth, or whatever your metric is, than Game & Watch. He talks about this in the second half of the interview.
This guy is quite prolific. I remember his name from years ago, when I was hunting for games to install on Debian; looks like he has ~14 packages to his name, but evidently that's far from all of them:
Indeed. Sounds like he's invested time into his tools to be able to crank these out:
So I presume most of these games aren't that deep in terms of content. That said, I presume he's learned something about game design in the process. Makes me want to try one of his games now.
It's interesting that you attach the term deep to the amount of content. For me, deep would refer to gameplay. So, to respond to your presumption in two ways: the games are definitely deep in terms of gameplay and mechanics, but perhaps not in terms of content. It depends what you're looking for.
These recent browser games of his are more like old arcade games where you have one game mechanic and one scenario with a number of different stages or patterns. The depth comes from how the mechanic changes and introduces new strategies to the player as they spend time with the game and improve their way of playing. The gameplay evolves along with the player's ability.
Kenta Cho has been making games since the 1980s, and I consider him one of the greatest living game designers. Particularly because he is still actively practicing and developing whilst many others from the golden age have retired. It takes a huge amount of skill to distill game design to such simplicity. You could think of it as the haiku of game development.
From my point of view, "content" is just an axis along which you can measure. A haiku can be deep, but in a different way than The Little Prince is. And neither one is the "correct" deep! They're just different dimensions.
When you hear "indie game", you might think of something like Cave Story, and if that's what you expect Kenta Cho's games to be, you might be disappointed. What he writes seems to be more of a "poetry of games" — your haiku metaphor is an apt one.
Different dimensions, agreed. So if one is deep should the other not be wide, or high, or some such different term? Maybe.
I'm not sure anybody would hear "indie game" and expect of one type of game, story, or genre. There's so much diversity in indie games, just like the is in the broader video game industry.
Pedantry corner
It's indeed rom Saint-Exupéry, but not from the Little Prince. It's from Terres des Hommes instead (Wind, Sand and Stars in English).
Thanks! I'll have to rewire a 20 year old mistake in my brain.
To poke a bit more on the "content" word. His games seem to come from the game & watch style where you have very limited mechanics and the gameplay consists on mastering them and going on endurance runs for points. These, along bullethells (which he seems to like a lot) are "in the zone" kind of games where you develop a sort of meditative trance when you play long enough/well enough.
I had a number of g&w style games as a kid and I loved them but they required me to be bored with nothing better to do to actually give them the time they needed to master them. I have a hard time giving these games more that a couple tries, even if I really enjoy that couple attempts. The prospect of unbound time limit kind of kill them for me.
In the interview he does note being influenced by Game & Watch games in his early days. And I agree those games do not cut it today. But Kenta Cho's recent games are not like that.
His command of the difficulty curve is much more modern than Game & Watch. Consider his games Paku Paku, Invincible Man, etc - you can't really play them for more than a few minutes, no matter how good you are, because he scales the gameplay to make sure of it.
So, because there is a well-considered upper limit to time and difficulty, the exploration space becomes the ability for the player to understand and execute technique, refine their play style, and develop their skill.
At the end of the day, his recent games are arcade-style high-score chasers, which aren't for everybody, but theres no doubt they have far more content, or depth, or whatever your metric is, than Game & Watch. He talks about this in the second half of the interview.
Really enjoyed this, thanks for sharing! I wasn't familiar with his work before. Very cool how prolific he is!