#single press
#single press
by Amr (@siegarettes)
[TRANSCRIPT BELOW]
Vaporwave often celebrates the commercial aesthetic–the highly polished corporate art, turned kitsch by time and changing tastes. It’s both a reclamation of, and a celebration of, art as a capitalist tool.
Celestial Hacker Girl Jessica draws from the other side of vaporwave’s turn of the century obsession. It’s sincere and positive, almost naive, in the way the early internet felt. It evokes feeling of a space constructed by young people with newfound access to the world and new tools to express themselves. It’s like something you’d make with a trial of Jasc Paintshop Pro and some basic modelling software–using every available brush and filter to create the most maximalist expression of an emotion.
And it’s brilliant.
Single Press is a series of short writings on small games.
Good atmosphere is like a bath, or meditation. It’s a space where I can leave myself, slowly taking it in over prolonged periods of time. At its best, a piece ebbs and flows, cresting like a wave and building a small narrative. Shape of the World is one of these standout pieces. It sits alongside games like Proteus, or Future Unfolding, that make an compelling argument for the walking sim, and the subtle power of simply existing in a space.
by Amr (@siegarettes)
Around 2008 the indie game movement was coming into its own, and as a teenager I was deeply fascinated by it, and that experimental period of art games flourishing within it. One of the earliest games I can remember affecting me back then was I Fell in Love With the Majesty of Colors. Developed as part of TIGSource’s Commonplace Compo game jam, Majesty of Colors is a small branching narrative game about a Lovecraftian monster waking up to the world around it. And now it’s been remastered, taken from the abandoned Flash platform and brought to modern PCs and mobile devices.
By Omar (@siegarettes)
Single Press is a series of short writings on small games. It is made possible through the support of our Patreon.
In some ways, technology has become invisible to us. In our tech centric world, where computers and digital devices have become ubiquitous, we’ve stopped thinking about the devices that we operate on an everyday basis. Instead these machines have become interfaces to the world, connections with people, and pockets of personal expression. But when we leave them behind, what kind of personal detritus do we leave with them? What’s in your old family computer, those discarded thumb drives? What’s in the phone that you just lost?
by Marie (@rlpte)
Single Press is a series of short writings on small games. It is made possible through the support of our Patreon.
Content warning for discussions of suicide below:
My first time through Glitchhikers, I felt at peace. Driving down the road, having abstract conversations about existence with other worldly beings, it was comfortable. The game told me the destination didn’t matter and asked why the reason did. The eerie landscape, haunting music, and strange creatures all felt like a night curled under blankets talking about life with friends. It was a combination of my favorite things. They were just real people distilled down into existentialist conversations. So I had to share it.
by Marie (@rlpte)
Single Press is a series of short writings on small games.
What makes one person to matter to another? And how would you express that? What words would you use? What picture would you paint? Direction tries to paint it’s own picture through a series of increasingly surreal, loosely connected vignettes, arching towards a broader question: how can we represent the things that defy words?
by Omar(@siegarettes)
Single Press is a series of short writings on small games.
Two minutes. That’s all that it takes to play through Slam City Oracles. But that’s also all it needs to make its point.
by Dante (@videodante)
Single Press is a series of short writings on small games.
I could probably count the games where you play as a mother on one hand. There aren’t many, and for this alone, Little Party should be valued. But more than that, it takes a great deal of care in crafting a small, low-poly world that feels comfortable and warm. The house that the game centers on is quickly adjusted to and feels lived-in. Cramped but cozy.
Games often fetishize routine, but do it shallowly. Routine is used to justify movement, to make movement important, to progress the storyline or get you to the next level faster. There is a sanctity in small movements, in little things. This is where Little Party lives. In the routines, the small things crafted lovingly, the stories that we tell between giggles at sleepovers.