This prior Thursday I addressed GoodGamesWriting’s community question of a “starter kit for beginner game critics”. My focus was on the potential downside of putting specific games as examples to study, creating a sense that only certain types of games were worthy of being considered deep or artistic.

I want to specify once again that it is not my intention to suggest the goal of GoodGamesWriting was gatekeeping of any sort – be it of the taste of the would-be critic or the type of game a developer might make. However, while my advice in that essay was for would-be critics, I must acknowledge that it removes the potential necessity for instruction or guidance.

While Final Fantasy IV, Final Fantasy Tactics, and Halo: Combat Evolved all encouraged me to think of games more deeply on narrative and mechanical levels, it was still through articles on Gamasutra and usability classes in College that my approach to game design became more informed. After these classes and essays taught me to look more deeply into all software design as a whole, I began to pick up little details I would not have otherwise noted.

Same goes for my Film Arts class, in which lessons regarding cinematography, editing, and mise-en-scène taught me to look more deeply into the films I enjoyed. By that point in College I had already begun to think more deeply about the narrative themes of the films I watched and taking note of superficial visual elements, but without that class I would never have been able to pick out many of the striking visual elements of Toren or its use in tying narrative theme together with gameplay.

Of course, in that same Film Arts class were plenty of students that shoved the lessons into their pocket, using it as reference for exams and tests before allowing it to get lost in the wash. At the end of our viewing of Citizen Kane, my mind was ablaze with the revelation – or at least, belief – that the significance of “rosebud” wasn’t the sled itself. It was merely an object he used on the day he was taken from his family, igniting his eternal journey for love and acceptance on his terms. As the lights came back on in the auditorium, my excitement of this revelation was diminished by the loud exclamation of “It was just a sled?” by younger students. We were halfway through the semester and still none of them could piece together the significance. It was a class where few were capable of offering observations regarding the use of lighting and color in a scene, remaining silent when the Professor sought to pick the brains of the students.

I say this to note that hearing these lessons does not mean the audience shall receive them. Even so, it does not make the exercise worthless. Despite a classroom of maybe fifty, there were at least ten of us regularly contributing to weekly discussions. You teach an art such as this not to change the world, but to awaken the minds of the few with potential.

A comparatively simple observance, but one of my favorites. As Kane leans forward to read his Declaration of Principles for the paper, he becomes cloaked in shadow, indicating his dishonest intentions to even himself. Each of those principles would become broken.

So where do you start? That’s a good question, and not one I am equipped to answer definitively. What follows are recommendations limited by my own personal experience. I myself am still growing and figuring this all out, so it’s more a starting point to a new discussion than a declaration of proper methodology.

I did not only bring up my Film Arts class in College as a parallel. Movies are over a century old at this point, and while they are a very different kind of art there’s still a lot of similarities as visual experiences. Every Frame a Painting is an excellent resource to begin with, as it discusses and condenses many lessons I had learned in my Film Arts class – and in many cases even goes beyond. Unfortunately it will not be updating anymore as the creators of the channel have moved on, but the resources available are still of great value.

A video game equivalent is the beloved Game Maker’s Toolkit. What sets Mark Brown apart from many of YouTube’s amateur creators and critics – myself included – are the incredible resources at his disposal. Due to the polish and quality of his channel and the meteoric rise in popularity, he has been able to contact developers for interviews and discussions that have assisted in tackling certain topics of design. This gives him an authority that aspiring critics such as myself can only hope to achieve one day.

This isn’t to say other amateur creators aren’t worth a glimpse. If you want to see how a video game can craft an experience centered around an auteur’s ideas and intended themes, look no further than the analysis of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty by Matthewmatosis. It is still common to see developers treat game mechanics as a separate entity from the narrative. There are also common examples of the mechanics intentionally feeding into the story – such as in Spec Ops: The Line – with unfortunate flaws and side effects that impact the overall quality. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty is a very intentionally designed game where many of its flaws are, for better or worse, intentional decisions made by Hideo Kojima and his team to make a point.

It is also a good example that what makes a game “art” is not always going to be the most consumer friendly. In my more conceited days I wrote an essay regarding review scores, wherein I approached the topic of reviews as either criticism or consumer advice. While my dismissive attitude towards other writers was comical given my own personal lack of success – and how much more I know now than I knew then – I still stand by much of my belief at the time: an analysis is not intended as an argument for the game’s commercial quality. Consumer advice is a separate category from deep, critical readings.

That is my personal belief, though. We are all figuring this “game design” thing out, be it developers or writers. As technology evolves, so too does the medium. The rules are frequently changing even as we begin to solidify some of its verbs and vocabulary.

I’d be negligent not to also mention Extra Credits, who crosses between both mechanics, theme, and industry.

Regardless, I think those three YouTube links – Every Frame a Painting, Game Maker’s Toolkit, and Matthewmatosis’ analysis of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty – should provide a starting point of topics to cover. Every Frame a Painting will help communicate how a century-old visual medium communicates narrative and concepts through its photography: tools that are later used – intentionally or coincidentally – through games like Toren and Iconoclasts. Game Maker’s Toolkit zooms in on a wide variety of gameplay topics featuring raw mechanics, allowing players and designers a way to better understand what makes a game engaging to play. The analysis of Metal Gear Solid 2 combines the two elements together, illustrating how one can add thematic depth and meaning to the mechanics by carefully considering narrative intent.

Obviously there are a lot of gaps here. A lot of writers and developers are fans of author Ian Bogost, but I’ve never read any of his works. It is woeful to confess how under read I am considering my love of writing. Most of the books under my belt are fiction from the past half-century, rarely dating further back than the 60’s. There is still much for me to learn, and even now my reading list is more about criticism, writing, and faith than it is about games. As such, I am not in the position to recommend a book to start. Even in terms of blogs I can best recommend The Brainy Gamer, and it has been so long since I’ve read it (or it has updated) that I’d be hard-pressed to find a starting point. That’s the trick with the 101 angle of this topic. It’s easier to find stuff that is already of interest to those waist deep in uncovering the secrets of games design than it is for someone just starting out.

Regardless, those are the general topics I would begin with in terms of teaching games criticism and analysis. You first zoom in on the techniques of visual story-telling and interactive engagement, then move on to how the two can be blended together into a successful product. I feel this should provide a good foundation for any growing critic to better understand why they love the games they are playing and how to better approach what they’ve already begun to notice. After that, however, should certainly come further readings such as An Experiment in Criticism by C.S. Lewis, or the six rules of criticism by John Updike, as well as further readings into the history of Literary Criticism (a history I’m only now too late becoming acquainted with). With these tools we, as a collective community, can better approach games from a variety of critical methods and perspectives.