video essay

SHAPE UP!: Ironic Communication and Its Limits

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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

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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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The Haunted PS1 Aesthetic and Medium-Specific Noise

Ian Bryce Jones3 Comments

Ian here—

I’m making some plans for some all-new series of videos to start premiering in 2023. But since it’s been such a long gap, I wanted to make sure I posted at least one thing to YouTube in 2022, and Halloween gave me a nice external deadline.

The low-poly aesthetic in horror has been one I’ve been interested in for awhile, all the way back since Back in 1995 was released in 2016. 2022 was the year I devoted to finally diving into a scene that’s become quite deep and diverse in recent years, to coincide with the horror class I taught in the spring quarter, and am teaching again right at this moment.

Script below the jump.

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You Don’t Have to Do This: A Last of Us Retrospective, Part 2

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Ian here—

It’s back to The Last of Us—this time, Part II. I’m trying my best to finish one entry in this series once every three weeks, even in the midst of my current teaching schedule. So far, so good! Script below the jump.

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A Last of Us Retrospective, Part 1

Ian Bryce JonesLeave a comment

Ian here—

Well, I’ve inaugurated a new video series, and I’ve done so smack dab in the middle of an academic quarter. Perhaps inadvisedly! We’ll see if I can keep up a regular schedule for this series, which dives deep into the storytelling techniques of the Last of Us franchise.

Script below the jump.

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Rule of Rose and the Tidiness of Unreality

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Ian here—

Whoops! I made sure to give myself enough time to finish this video by Halloween … but then I neglected to post the announcement here! Happy belated Halloween, everyone.

I really relished the opportunity to talk about Rule of Rose, one of my favorite odd little games that I’ve never written about in any fashion before. Unfortunately copies of the game have become real collector’s items over the years, and it’s sad to praise a piece of media that so few will have access to. But hey, I also write about experimental film, so I know the feeling.

Script below the jump.

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Return of the Obra Dinn Commentary and Critique

Ian Bryce Jones6 Comments

The slow march of my video series on detective games continues with this, its fifth entry. For awhile I was afraid there was no reason to do this one, as I wouldn’t be able to top my students’ posts and videos on this game after I taught it last spring. In the end, I went with sheer length as my own particular angle.

Script below the jump.

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“We Had a List of Rules”: An Analysis of HER STORY

Ian Bryce Jones2 Comments

A fourth entry in my video series on detective games. It’s not real surprise that this game would end up in this series: I’ve taught it twice now (including in one class this term), I’ve written about teaching it, I named it one of the games of the decade, and right before the term launched I published a full transcript of it. What I didn’t expect was for it to be quite this long—definitely among the longer analyses of a single game I’ve done, in any format.

Script below the jump.

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