Game Level – PhD Student Exhibition

About

Minimalism began in the 1950s and is seen across many traditional art forms such as sculpture, painting, architecture, music, and dance. These forms, and the way Minimalism appears in them, were the main influence for the game’s design.

This research explores whether direct re-creations of the Minimalistic principles seen in these forms would allow for interesting games, as well as exploring the potential for new games which would offer a different experience from the usual genres.

These pieces are based on an original game designed by Karl Edward, and aim to incorporate the principles of Minimalism alongside the functional needs of a game. The game itself involves a simple system of controls, colours and sounds clearly communicating what’s happening, and creating a challenge which is neither unfairly difficult nor too easy.

This exhibition display reveals a colour scheme of very limited palette, no shadowing or gradients, no portrayal of the third dimension, no reference to any objects or locations in the real world, and simple geometry which is confined to straight lines and a few curves.

As for the other design factors such as sound, music, movement, and the gameplay, they cannot be conveyed in print, and therefore the game has been made available online, at the link below. (Allow a few seconds for the game to load.  Your device and browser must be able to run the Unity Webplayer.)

To play the game visit http://45.55.83.4/

Curators: Dr Mark Eyles and Denise Callender

Location: Eldon Building Ground Level (connecting area between Eldon South and Eldon East)