Jeu de Semaine, no. 6
Sissy's Magical Ponycorn Adventure
When we consider the graphic-adventure genre, we must concede that its fundamental vulnerability as a form lies in the incompleteness of emulation as a technique. The challenges comprising any particular oeuvre demand that the player bring to the simulacrum his own wordly understanding of the game-world's combinatorical semantics. No experimental framework-no opportunity for iterative construction of predictive models of the play environment-is offered. Play-patterns devolve into exhaustive search, in the form of either hunting for pixels or of capricious and arbitrary combination of objects.
At once, Sissy's Magical Ponycorn Adventure (hereafter, SMPA) both deconstructs and subverts these clichéd dynamics, by questioning the necessity of challenge as an aesthetic objective. Other than an audio sample of the designer's own heart-wrenchingly portrayed screams, no reproach for failure is forthcoming. One feels free to click, free to fully inhabit the semigenarian narrative calculus of the designer's own mind. Ponycorns go in jars! Evil lemons are outdone by coconuts! Who knew? The play aesthetics of sensation and discovery are prominent.
When the last click is done, the final montage offers us more than denouement. It reminds us of the form's true strengths. Ultimately, the interaction exists to inscribe a magic circle around our celebration of the creator's authorial voice.
This reviewer has no doubt that SMPA will take its rightful place alongside Axe Cop in the annals of bigenerational collaborative media. We eagerly await the return of the evil lemon.
When we consider the graphic-adventure genre, we must concede that its fundamental vulnerability as a form lies in the incompleteness of emulation as a technique. The challenges comprising any particular oeuvre demand that the player bring to the simulacrum his own wordly understanding of the game-world's combinatorical semantics. No experimental framework-no opportunity for iterative construction of predictive models of the play environment-is offered. Play-patterns devolve into exhaustive search, in the form of either hunting for pixels or of capricious and arbitrary combination of objects.
At once, Sissy's Magical Ponycorn Adventure (hereafter, SMPA) both deconstructs and subverts these clichéd dynamics, by questioning the necessity of challenge as an aesthetic objective. Other than an audio sample of the designer's own heart-wrenchingly portrayed screams, no reproach for failure is forthcoming. One feels free to click, free to fully inhabit the semigenarian narrative calculus of the designer's own mind. Ponycorns go in jars! Evil lemons are outdone by coconuts! Who knew? The play aesthetics of sensation and discovery are prominent.
When the last click is done, the final montage offers us more than denouement. It reminds us of the form's true strengths. Ultimately, the interaction exists to inscribe a magic circle around our celebration of the creator's authorial voice.
This reviewer has no doubt that SMPA will take its rightful place alongside Axe Cop in the annals of bigenerational collaborative media. We eagerly await the return of the evil lemon.