Shape Up!

SHAPE UP!: Ironic Communication and Its Limits

Ian Bryce JonesLeave a comment

Ian here—

This is the second episode of my Shape Up! series of video essays about form, structure, and pacing in games. This time my primary focus is on Else Heart.Break(), which is one of the most ambitious games I’ve ever played, but also has what is probably the worst opening act of any game I’ve ever played. Bit of a meandering structure to this one, as I spend the first twelve minutes finding common ground with my dad’s frustrations playing games, and also dive into the varieties of irony games can use when conveying instructions to players—and the dangers of using it sloppily.

Full script below the jump.

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SHAPE UP!: Possibility Space

Ian Bryce JonesLeave a comment

Ian here—

Here is the first real episode of my new Shape Up! series of video essays about form, structure, and pacing in games. My central case study is Skeleton Business’ 2019 game Vignettes, although before I get there I spend a whole lot of time placing it in the context of what Joel Goodwin has termed “secret box games” or “himitsu-bako games.” This has been a topic I’ve written quite a few blog posts on. For years, I wanted to coalesce some of those disparate ideas and game appreciations into a video essay, but I never found the proper way to do that until I inaugurated this series.

Script below the jump.

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Introducing: SHAPE UP!

Ian Bryce JonesLeave a comment

Ian here—

Almost a year ago I offhandedly mentioned that I was planning all-new series of videos for 2023. The start date is later than I had anticipated, but I’ll still be sneaking a few in by the end of the year.

It is my pleasure to introduce Shape Up!, a new series of video essays about form, structure, and pacing in games. It is the fruit of a whole lot of academic work I’ve done in the past year, including two different courses I taught about shape and form in art (narrative and otherwise).

Episode one is uploading as I type this. In the meantime, as we wait, the script to this introductory video is below the jump.

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