Being 13 is tough. Your mom won’t get you. Your body is changing in strange ways you don’t understand. School means running a gauntlet between a cruel bully and a bewildering math class. And to tighten it all, you don’t have an elbow.
That last part may not be so relevant to the general reader, but it is Teen’s exact predicament, with T. Teen’s arm being the protagonist of a new indie game, with his charming and strangeness. This makes even the simplest daily tasks complicated.
His life in the seaside town is covered in surreality, like the sandwich shop run by Giraffe along with her own theme song, and the fact that if he spins fast enough, teens can fly, but these novelties remain in the background. The game is to play the teen’s daily activities with an incredible mechanical granularity. Pick up a toothbrush. Turn on tap. Squeeze the toothpaste. Left brush. Right brush. A button with a gargle, the other spits.
Keita Takahashi’s ‘Katamari Damacy Reroll’ © MonkeyCraft Co/Bandai Namco
It is a deep eccentric concept in video games. This probably wouldn’t be Greenlight if its creator Takahashi wasn’t one of the game’s most beloved auers. The latest video games are often made by over 1000 teams, so it is rare to see fingerprints of a single creator in a release. This is why gamers are so attached to some of the distinctive auers they have.
Takahashi’s qualification was established in the 2004 game, Katamari Damasy. There, he plays a petite prince who destroys the galaxy with a drunken Bender and asks his son to rebuild it. The tool to do this is an incredibly sticky ball you roll and pick up the object so it gets bigger and bigger. First, they collect ants and draw pins, then draw cows, buildings and mountains. When big enough, your ball will become a new star in the sky.
When the most popular game was a macho shooter, Katamari Damasy is refreshing, indicating that the game doesn’t have to be about violence or resource extraction, but it can be kind and creative in the toilet. The absurd tale of endless accumulation provided a consumerist critique, but its stunning electro-jazz funk soundtrack remains a touchstone for 20 years of gaming music. The game was one of the first choices by MoMA in New York in its 2012 game collection. Takahashi’s next game may not have been that successful, but it was built on his unique vision.
Outerwear like this was more common in the days when games were made by small teams. In the 1980s, Miyamoto-based series, such as Nintendo’s Super Mario, Donkey Kong, and Zelda, created gameplay for pioneering character-driven narratives with an emphasis on exploration. Sid Meier has become synonymous with complex strategic systems with games like Pirates! The railway tycoon and his name still adorn the boxes of his flagship civilization series (he left the active development long ago). Will Wright had a great influence on simulations like SimCity, Sims, Spore, and defended games about winning and experiments and sandbox gameplay.
These developers are now elder politicians – respected, but are no longer at the heart of the evolution of the medium. Meanwhile, most of today’s blockbusters lack a unique, creative voice stamp. Call of Duty and Assassin’s Creed give the impression that these series were designed by the committee, perhaps because they are too advantageous to allow for risk. There are studios where the game has a distinctive identity – Remedy and Naughty Dog excel role-playing titles high-concept action games with powerful stories, Bioware and CD Projekt Red Excel, while Paradox Interactive and Creative Assembly are known for their strategy. But while these companies may have a figure, they don’t have auteurs.
Kojima Hideo’s “The Death Randing 2: On the Beach” ©Kojima Productions
In Japan there is another paradigm that still gives visionary developers space. Most famous is Kojima Hideo, a solid reputation in Metal Gear, bringing cinematic ambitions to exploring surveillance, war and alienation. The second article in his highly bizarre death stranding series is scheduled to be released in late June. Another major player is Miyazaki Hidetaka. That studio has created names with complex bosses, sophisticated systems and a bit of handheld games, and released hits like Dark Souls and Elden Ring. The Art House choice is Fumitoueda, with its profound game ICO and muted characters, minimalist plots, spares and shadows of the Colossus trade in ghostly landscapes.
The big Japanese Oar manages to place signatures on games created by large teams, but the closest equivalent in the West is seen in the indie scene. These include the puzzle master Jonathan Blow, who created the blades and witnesses. Lucas Pope asks for his fantastic game paper, and OBRA DINN’s return is addressing politics and murder through papers. and Davy Reden, who brings personal and postmodern narrative sensibility to Stanley’s parable, a beginner’s guide, Wonderstop.
Auteurs also serves as mouthpieces for the often tightly closed industry, but there is often tension between such creators and the commercial orders of large studios. After working with Konami for nearly 30 years, Kojima left under intense circumstances to start his own studio. To Takahashi of T, he left Katamari Damassy’s publisher Namco when he was disappointed with the commercialization of his concept. He has been struggling with fundraising ever since.
The cast of “To a T” includes Giraffe, who runs the shop ©Uvula LLC/Annapurna Interactive
It took Takahashi six years to reach T with 12 teams. His personality can be spilled milk on the floor, create directors during dialogue scenes, play camera angles, and play camera angles, from catchy theme songs on Bookend Play to game mechanics that exist solely with toy presence. But beneath the surface there is something deeper than whims. t is about self-acceptance. He eats using a long spoon that is specially adapted, so you’re with your teens. You feel him as he walks down the street, his extended arms accidentally stab people. The clumsiness of gameplay forces people to share teenage restrictions, creating rare and tactile empathy.
Whether it’s a disorder, mental illness, adolescence, or simply for a differential, it’s definitely healthy and original. Like its quirky protagonist, it is unique to t. Otel’s works like Takahashi are a reminder that games can be more than systems and spectacles. They could be very personal expressions that push the medium into a strange new place.
