Slow Gaming Manifesto

[Brian Boru]

In line with the general Slow Movement, there's a Slow Gaming Manifesto. Main points:

"I want games that…"
• connect with me not as toys but as tales of common human experience.
• challenge not my skills and reflexes but my assumptions and feelings.
• encourage me to take a break and come back later.
• let me experience them at my own pace.
• give me space to grow.
• are slow.

"Pillars of a Slow Gaming studio…"
• Sustainable development
• Local inspirations
• Originality of voice
• Wholesomeness

Slightly related to our earlier discussion about Patient Gaming.

Wiki says:
"Some games that can be considered examples of "slow gaming" include: Firewatch (2016), Heaven's Vault (2019), Journey (2012), Wanderlust Travel Stories (2019), and The Longing (2020)"
I've played and recommended Firewatch, and 80 Days springs to mind as another.

Have you played any games like these in a conscious effort to 'slow'?

 

[Frag Maniac]

"Pillars of a Slow Gaming studio…"

OMG, wording it like that I have to wonder if their mission statement would be, "Release Date? Uh, you'll get it when we say you'll get it"

Seriously though, can't say I'm into the touchy feely games, because they usually involve FAR too much dialog and not enough action.

-----SLIGHT SPOILERS HERE!!!-----

Case in point, I was finishing up the tail end of the Starfield UC questline, which started getting pretty good, and even a bit spooky and horrific, with battles against tough aliens, and the learning of how they infested certain urban populations without warning.

Then they finished off the questline with an 18 minute or so quest that was nothing but two long conversations. I mean, after what I'd just been through, I was expecting an even more epic battle, and the use of the Aceles, a larger alien that is harmless to humans unless provoked, and eats the other aliens.

I'm sorry Bethesda, but that is horrible quest design. You don't dangle a big creature in front of us, that basically looks like a dinosaur version of an Afghan Hound, then instead of featuring it in the final part of the questline, have a mere dialog segment to tie things up!

-----END SPOILERS-----

Now, if Starfield were intended to play as an adventure game, I could see it. After all, I've had discussions with those whom play only adventure games when I first got into gaming, and they've been known to say things like, "I liked the Myst series better when you couldn't fall and get hurt, now they want to force puzzles on us where you have to JUMP!"

Don't get me wrong, a lot of the dialog options in Starfield are either intelligent and on point, or off the wall humor (MUCH prefer the former), but as I get deeper into these games, I tend to tire of looking at all the dialog options and just pick one near the top that is usually just in agreement with what the NPC you're talking to just said.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

In line with the general Slow Movement, there's a Slow Gaming Manifesto. Main points:

"I want games that…"
• connect with me not as toys but as tales of common human experience.
• challenge not my skills and reflexes but my assumptions and feelings.
• encourage me to take a break and come back later.
• let me experience them at my own pace.
• give me space to grow.
• are slow.

"Pillars of a Slow Gaming studio…"
• Sustainable development
• Local inspirations
• Originality of voice
• Wholesomeness

Slightly related to our earlier discussion about Patient Gaming.

Wiki says:
"Some games that can be considered examples of "slow gaming" include: Firewatch (2016), Heaven's Vault (2019), Journey (2012), Wanderlust Travel Stories (2019), and The Longing (2020)"
I've played and recommended Firewatch, and 80 Days springs to mind as another.

Have you played any games like these in a conscious effort to 'slow'?

I liked Firewatch, but came to late to Journey so it was pretty dead. The others on the list I havent touched.

From my perspective I dont really understand why a game can't both challenge skills and reflexes and at the same time assumptions, feelings, political philosophies, social norms or whatever. Not that everything has to do that.

I think sustainable development is just sensible in general. We'd get more polished better games from happier developers that way.

 

[Pifanjr]

• encourage me to take a break and come back later.
• let me experience them at my own pace.

These two items are in conflict for me. My own pace is binging a video game for as much as I possibly can. Every time I've tried a game that encourages breaks I've tried binging it anyway, which usually ended in frustration.

 

[Frag Maniac]

I dont really understand why a game can't both challenge skills and reflexes and at the same time assumptions, feelings, political philosophies, social norms or whatever. Not that everything has to do that.

Ditto, no reason games have to overload you on one or the other. There's a lot to be said for balance and having enough choices to tailor it to your preferences.

 

[ZedClampet]

Great thread.

Currently, I have my own "slow" gaming philosophy. Rather than reflexes, skills, feelings, or assumptions, I want to be challenged creatively and mathematically. I want to relax and reflect while solving engineering problems. But I consider any game to be "slow", so to speak, if it isn't trying to kill me.

But to the topic, first of all, the best story (because much of their "slow" game description seems to involve narrative), hands down, that I ever experienced in a video game wasn't in a "slow" game, but in a horror game, Soma. I've seen people call it a walking simulator, but when you are sneaking around and invariably running from monsters, I'm not sure that's a walking sim.

Of the games I played that seem to fit their definition of "slow", my favorites were:

(By the way, based on their examples, I think most of what they are calling slow are what gamers call "walking simulators" but I think puzzle games with narratives would also qualify)

What Remains of Edith Finch
Misericorde
Cradle
Tacoma
Portal (1 and 2)
Abzu
Virginia
Firewatch
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
The Talos Principle
The Stanley Parable
The Beginner's Guide

Unfortunately, this category also has two of the worst games I've ever played: Dear Esther and Everybody's Gone to the Rapture.

 

[ZedClampet]

From my perspective I dont really understand why a game can't both challenge skills and reflexes and at the same time assumptions, feelings, political philosophies, social norms or whatever. Not that everything has to do that.

They absolutely can co-exist, but in the case of someone wanting a "slow" game, they are specifically wanting to not have their skill and reflexes challenged. I currently prefer games that require no gaming skill or reflexes at all, but I've played plenty of games that do require those things that also had good narratives.

 

[ZedClampet]

Oh, I need to also mention Leaving Lyndow. It was right up there with Soma for me, except that the story sort of failed for me. It was supposed to be a story about how young people have to follow their goals and ambitions and strike off on their own, leaving their homes and families, and have an amazing life journey. What it did for me, however, was make me value family more and think that staying with the friends and family who love you is actually not such a bad idea. You can have "life" anywhere. You don't have to board a ship to find it.

 

[Frindis]

Sloth Quest on Steam

Control the true king of the jungle as you navigate treacherous vines, battle predators, scale trees and travel to the great beyond. Can you master the precise timing honed by all sloths in the jungle?

store.steampowered.com

Besides that, Abzu, Starbound, and Stardew Valley are pretty chill.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

They absolutely can co-exist, but in the case of someone wanting a "slow" game, they are specifically wanting to not have their skill and reflexes challenged. I currently prefer games that require no gaming skill or reflexes at all, but I've played plenty of games that do require those things that also had good narratives.

That's true, what I found kind of weird was the 'Pillars of a slow gaming studio' thing. Those types of games have surely been made sometimes by studios not following that ethos at all. Are they then not slow games? I think a lot of studios would benefit by being fairer to employees and looking to make original games with their own voice as they put it. They can keep the wholesomeness though, at least some of the time

I do think games are able provoke thought in more ways than just experiencing a story. There are so many types of video game and so many ways to communicate thoughts or ideas beyond a straight narrative.

 

[Zloth]

• challenge not my skills and reflexes but my assumptions and feelings.

Well, the obvious question is: what if it challenges your assumptions & feelings about your skills & reflexes? I guess that would be a hybrid??

 

[Brian Boru]

What he wants in games seem unrelated to the pillars of his studio.

He wants games to perform the functions which are much better done by books:
• connect with me not as toys but as tales of common human experience.
• challenge not my skills and reflexes but my assumptions and feelings.
• encourage me to take a break and come back later.
• let me experience them at my own pace.
• give me space to grow.

Every one of those are much better fulfilled by books. So visual novels can be a candidate, whenever the author body becomes evenly distributed among game writers. You already have comics and graphic novels adding visual elements, but again doesn't have a wide author base.

Movies and TV add the visual element to the mix, and over many decades have captured a good number of talented writers who can tell good stories in those mediums. Sadly of course, there are many more inputs to visual mediums, so we don't get the almost-pure author voice or message—but of course that's not the primary purpose of the mediums, the visual is the point.

Games don't need a shred of story to be hugely successful and/or become classics, eg chess and multiplayer. Their primary purpose—ie their USP beyond books, visual media, music, sculpture etc—is player agency. Putting the player in charge of events, to a greater or lesser degree.

You can add visuals to chess of course, and a story to many games, and that will appeal to the gamer segment which likes those. But don't make a slow gaming manifesto which cries out for books!

"Release Date? Uh, you'll get it when we say you'll get it"

Hah, that was my first thought too, amazed it didn't appear in the pillars.

The pillars are almost meaningless in my view. I have a friend who followed those and similar principles—she designed and sold Celtic artworks and artifacts. The local farmers where I grew up worked in similar veins.

Fine principles for business or life, if you're so inclined, but nothing specific for gaming studios—founders will already follow such, or not.

Her Story is another game worth a mention.

 

[Pifanjr]

I feel like this should just be called "games that promote introspection of the player". All the bullet points are just common elements of what you'd expect to see in such a game, though they don't have to be there. I think Spec Ops: The Line for example could fit the category as well.

 

[ZedClampet]

That's true, what I found kind of weird was the 'Pillars of a slow gaming studio' thing. Those types of games have surely been made sometimes by studios not following that ethos at all. Are they then not slow games? I think a lot of studios would benefit by being fairer to employees and looking to make original games with their own voice as they put it. They can keep the wholesomeness though, at least some of the time

I do think games are able provoke thought in more ways than just experiencing a story. There are so many types of video game and so many ways to communicate thoughts or ideas beyond a straight narrative.

I keep thinking of more slow games. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons was absolutely fantastic. Neither it nor Virginia had any dialogue at all, but they both told great stories.

Slow gaming isn't really much of a thing. The guy wrote it down in 2018, and we're just hearing about it 5 years later. I read gaming news all the time, interviews, etc. and I've never heard anyone mention it before. I think it's more of a concept than a reality. The whole movement seems to be comprised of two blog posts.

 

[Frag Maniac]

I think Spec Ops: The Line for example could fit the category as well.

That's one of my fave games, and a great example of how a game can have heavy emotional content, while still being a good shooter, and even make the player question their moral judgment.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

I keep thinking of more slow games. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons was absolutely fantastic. Neither it nor Virginia had any dialogue at all, but they both told great stories.

I forgot Brothers

Spoiler

had that moment towards the end where you've been using two hands on the keyboard the whole game to solve the puzzles and one of the brothers dies and you can only use one. A game mechanic simulating part of how the loss of someone close from your everyday life feels. Like you're physically missing a part of yourself and have to learn to function differently afterwards, it was so clever.

Other story telling mediums cant evoke empathy in that way, because they aren't physically interactive.

Just adding that doesnt mean that other mediums dont have their own unique properties that arent conveyed as well or at all in others.

 

[lilyjullet]

I'm all about the leisurely gaming atmosphere. I played a gem called Firewatch; the narrative and atmospheric tempo were spot on. Also, I tried 80 Days, and the way it unfolds at its own pace is pure delight.

The idea of interacting with a game as a story about human experience rather than merely a way to pass the time? Sign me up. Slow gaming is like pausing the craziness of life and getting into something worthwhile. It's more than just reflexes; it's about confronting your beliefs and feelings. Also, what about the 'take a break and come back later' vibe? Genius.

It's refreshing to see the Slow Gaming Manifesto emphasize sustainable development and local inspiration. Every gaming studio should strive for originality and wholesomeness. I'm all for games that aren't just trying to get to the conclusion but instead want to give you an experience - an immersive, deliberate trip.

So, slow gamers, are there any other hidden treasures in this genre you've discovered? Let's trade recommendations and keep the relaxing gaming atmosphere going.

 

[Brian Boru]

Related thread, perhaps:

Do you have a favorite casual-type game you can just fire up whenever to relax?

Casual game would be described as: 1) Playable in short sessions 2) Simple controls 3) Simple, easy to understand gameplay Although I'm sure there are plenty of people who would argue it isn't a casual game, I use Super Mega Baseball for this. I'm not looking to debate whether SMB really is a...

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