Surrealism in Video Games

[100goats]

I just want to talk about surrealness in video games in general.

In brief, Surreal = against logic or rules.

What can make a video game surreal?

What are good examples of surrealness in video games?

I haven't really seen many newer video games after the 1990s be very surreal. I miss that.

[Deckhead]

I guess it depends on what "against logic or rules" means.

For example, would a game in which you're a mental patient trying to kill themself, but you're being stopped by doctors and nurses, be surreal?

[100goats]

I would say that is surreal.

I was thinking of surreal referring to defying laws of physics or generally something that goes against how we experience the reality we live in.

I guess what is surreal can be much more broad in its definition.

A better question would be what can make a video game very surreal?

A good example would be Super Mario Bros. 3 since most of the world and its contents goes against our normal reality.

The sun has a face, is angry, and tries to attack Mario as opposed to just providing heat and keeping planets in orbit.

Mario can jump very high and bounce off of living things mid-air as if those living things were a trampoline on the ground.

Mario can gain a physical super power by wearing a costume which is the opposite of people in power wearing a uniform to signify their power.

[Deckhead]

I think then it's pretty easy to make a game "surreal" by doing a couple of little things like that. The real trick would be making it surreal in more than just its visuals or story, making it surreal in it's game-play. You could change laws of physics etc as much as you want, but if the surrealism in the game doesn't affect the game-play enough, and I think specifically the mechanics, then I think you'd be missing a bit draw-card of the medium.

For example, would Portal be considered surreal? It definitely bends the laws of physics quite a bit; and the key is that it's involved directly in the mechanics of the game.

There's another game I've seen recently in which taking photos adds elements to the game world... which looks like it fits the surreal element really really well. I think the difficulty in that will be making that mechanic useful in a game context; I'm assuming puzzles would be the goal of that game.



One really cool idea that I've not seen explored a lot is using non-euclidean type/kind of geometry etc. For example, an archway in a field filled with boxes. When you look through the arch, you see the other side, but everything is bigger. When you go through the archway, you're in the same field, but everything is bigger. When you look back through the arch, it's the smaller version again.

You can go back and forth through the arch, and it's 100% the same area/world, but everything is larger or smaller. Both sides of the archway you can see through, but everything is bigger when you look through, or go through, the arch. This again could lead to some really interesting puzzles; pulling it off is another thing.

[100goats]

Yes, Portal would be considered surreal.

That is a great example of a game mechanic being surreal!

I like your idea of the world changing size depending on the arch and player. It reminds me of Super Mario 64 world where Mario can get become huge depending on the pipe he goes through.

I'm curious to see an experimental video game with its mechanics, visuals, audio designed to be surreal.

I haven't heard audio be manipulated in a surreal way yet in video games. For example, a game can use 3d audio to make a noise-making enemy nearby sound as if it is very far and an enemy far away sound as if it is nearby.

[Deckhead]

Is PaRapper The Rapper a surreal game? Some of the audio in that had very unexpected beats and overall cadence to the music to really put the player off. But yeah, surreal audio seems very very hard.

How about a game in which making noise keeps the enemies away? If it's too quiet, they come for you. Sort of the opposite of what you would expect?

[100goats]

I would say that PaRapper The Rapper is a surreal video game since music can be considered a logical pattern and unexpected beats breaks the logic of it.

That sounds like a very interesting game with huge potential. It would be the opposite of the movie "A Quiet Place".

A game mechanic for it might be managing resources to keep making noise such as your health and energy from power source.

The enemies can have some noise-cancelling headphones that the player needs to remove with a weapon and combat skills.

[Deckhead]

I'm seeing a pattern here I think. A lot of the surreal elements you can add basically use normal game mechanics but in a different way.

For example, let's say physics in my new hypothetical game worked like a wave. If I kick a ball, it goes fast, then slows down, then goes fast, then slow etc. Sort of like the speed of physics is pulsing.

All characters are unaffected by this.

That sounds surreal. But, let's say it an FPS. You are still going to shoot the bad guys. You're still going to perform those little Half-life like physics puzzles, just they are a bit different now.

Do you see what I mean? There isn't really any new mechanics. It's all just window dressing.

Same with the enemies that come close when you're not making noise. The mechanics of you making noise haven't changed.

I think this is the real challenge. It seems relatively easy to come up with surreal elements. But making surreal mechanics or gameplay is what really turns it into a surreal game.

That camera one I think does it right. Surreal and it's the core of the gameplay, it's pretty much the sole mechanic.

I think the non-euclidean idea has probably already been done. I will try and find an example because I'm curious to know if A game has been successfully made from it.

[100goats]

I think this is the real challenge. It seems relatively easy to come up with surreal elements. But making surreal mechanics or gameplay is what really turns it into a surreal game.

That camera one I think does it right. Surreal and it's the core of the gameplay, it's pretty much the sole mechanic.

I agree. I can't wait to see how improving technology starts to enable this sort of surreal gameplay.

[Deckhead]

Here's an example with some gameplay: