Aside from writing philosophical blogs, I have also been known to dabble in game development: to clarify, I do this independently, as in not part of some behemoth gaming studio making games off of lucrative intellectual property.

For me, the challenge for a small indie game studio in competing with a deep-pocketed game development giant is obviously resources. I need to make everything. Sure, I can outsource a bit of it, have friends do QA, maybe someone I know can write music or do a bit of other grunt work in exchange for credit or a few percent of any hypothetical future profit. But, largely, generally, usually I’m fighting against the realities of time and available energy.

You can probably only imagine how it feels then watching something like the Playstation “State of Play” announcement^[1], to give a recent example, which I watched on YouTube the other day.  Nearly every new title a monster of lucrative nostalgia, beloved franchises, and immaculate art design.

I was simultaneously envious—that I would likely never make anything so gorgeous and polished—and also non-plussed… that not a single one of the titles I saw seemed to offer any substantial advancement on gameplay. It was all… a little samey. Reductive slashers. First-person punch ups with a slightly better graphics. Platformers with blisteringly crisp three-dee models. Nicer, sure, but better? Something that I would upgrade my rig and shell out another eighty bucks to play? Shrug.

Do better graphics make better games?

I would bluntly just say, no, of course not.  But then, what does that have to do with the humanity of technology? Well, nothing I can explain in a single short post. Stay tuned.