{"id":52,"date":"2013-03-15T16:43:48","date_gmt":"2013-03-15T16:43:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mekesbooks.com\/?p=52"},"modified":"2016-09-02T16:46:01","modified_gmt":"2016-09-02T16:46:01","slug":"i-dream-of-video-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bumbleberry.marketing\/nl\/2013\/03\/15\/i-dream-of-video-games\/","title":{"rendered":"I dream of video games"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align:justify;\">I know this site is all about writing, and video games are these things where you run and jump and blow people up, so they have no business being here, right? Well, if you think that, you\u2019d be wrong.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify;\">Video games can be hugely inspiring to writers. Sometimes it helps kill some time when you\u2019re wrestling with that block that writers get sometimes, but more importantly, they can be a great source of inspiration. If you play the right games. Maybe you\u2019ve never really played video games, and you think you\u2019re not a gamer. You don\u2019t like shooting, racing, action games\u2026 you\u2019re a writer, you like to read! Literature, that\u2019s where it\u2019s at! Games would never be able to offer an experience like that\u2026 would they?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify;\">Actually, they\u2019re more than capable of doing so. It\u2019s just about finding the right games. And I\u2019ve got two game recommendations for you here, both of them are about dreams (since the surreal world of dreams is a major source of inspiration for many writers). Also, because I believe indies should stick together, no matter what medium they create in, those two recommendations are for indie video games.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify;\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UyM4zAXhjes?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=nl-NL&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify;\">The first one is <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedreammachine.se\/\">The Dream Machine<\/a>, an <a href=\"http:\/\/www.adventuregamers.com\/articles\/view\/17547\">adventure game<\/a> by two very talented Swedish guys whom I had the great pleasure of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hardydev.com\/2011\/03\/30\/cockroach-inc-the-dream-machine-interview-with-erik-zaring-anders-gustafsson\/\">interviewing<\/a> two years ago. As you can see <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedreammachine.se\/\">on the game\u2019s site<\/a>, it features beautiful stop-motion animation with lovingly hand-crafted sets. If you don\u2019t get inspired by something like that, there must be something wrong with you. Sorry to put it so bluntly. If you\u2019re not yet convinced though, you can play the first chapter for free by clicking the Play button on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedreammachine.se\/\">the aforementioned website<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify;\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/IYt2K9EvQkc?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=nl-NL&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify;\">The second game had been sitting on my hard drive for a while now, pretty much unplayed, until I finally got into the right mood for it. And once you do, the experience is very rewarding. I\u2019m talking about <a href=\"http:\/\/landsofdream.net\/games\/the-sea-will-claim-everything\/\">The Sea Will Claim Everything<\/a>, a game that takes place in the <a href=\"http:\/\/landsofdream.net\/\">Lands of Dream<\/a>, a very extensive fictional universe created by husband\/wife team Jonas and Verena Kyratzes. It\u2019s\u00a0world building\u00a0done right (the Tolkien way), and writers can learn a lot just from that. But the game itself is also great for writers and readers alike, since it features a lot of text that you can read at your own pace, as well as an abundance of literary references and influences. It\u2019s really just like playing a book. And the good news is they\u2019re making another game just like it, called<a href=\"http:\/\/igg.me\/at\/ithaka\/x\/137932\">Ithaka of the Clouds<\/a>. They just need a bit more money to reach their goal, so<a href=\"http:\/\/igg.me\/at\/ithaka\/x\/137932\">help out if you can<\/a>, and play one or more of the other <a href=\"http:\/\/landsofdream.net\/games\/\">Lands of Dream games<\/a>as well.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify;\">So there, dear writers and readers, hopefully now you see that video games really aren\u2019t scary. They can actually become your friends once you get to know them, and help you think outside the box. (I myself have been toying with the idea of one day making a piece of <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Interactive_fiction\">interactive fiction<\/a>.) Have fun playing, and if you want to know more about gaming for writers, or you just love inspiration articles such as this one and want me to write more, do let me know, please!<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I know this site is all about writing, and video games are these things where you run and jump and blow people up, so they have no business being here, right? Well, if you think that, you\u2019d be wrong. Video games can be hugely inspiring to writers. Sometimes it helps kill some time when you\u2019re [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3124860,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","content-type":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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