Game Masters: From Miyamoto to Molyneux, Gaming’s Greatest Minds Under One Roof

When it comes to paying credit to and demystifying games culture, Melbourne’s ACMI (Australian Centre for the Moving Image) has repeatedly put on world-class, even world-leading, gaming exhibitions. Aussies might recall the outstanding ‘Game On’ Exhibition in 2008 – itself one of the largest and most accomplished collections of vintage games hardware, rare and previously unreleased designs from the last 50 years (or more) of electronic entertainment.

In 2012, running from June to October, Game Masters goes one bold step further, celebrating master game designers as being on par with the greatest minds the arts – screen, stage, canvas or otherwise - have produced. This is all about getting personal with some of games development’s finest.

Seated in the large auditorium, we’re welcomed by the ACMI’s Head of Exhibitions, Conrad Bodman. ABC TV’s Good Game hosts, Stephanie Bendixsen and Steven O’Donnell keep the dialogue moving as key guests, Warren Spector (of Deus Ex and Epic Mickey fame), Rob Murray (Flight Control and SpyMouse) and Tim Schafer (Monkey Island and Brutal Legend), field questions. The mood is warm and relaxed. Spector, utterly casual and affable, raises a knowing eyebrow to his travelling partner, Tim Schafer, when proclaimed as ‘true auteurs’ by Bodman.

Whether you label them auteurs or not, these guys have crafted some killer experiences.

Bodman’s love of games culture – and unending desire for it to achieve the cultural recognition it deserves – led him to curate the original Game On exhibition. He misspeaks initially, saying Game Masters came together in two weeks before laughing, “Two weeks? Two years’ work! Gosh—I wish it had been two weeks!” When we’re finally led downstairs to the exhibition space, we understand why it took so long – and where that exasperated laugh came from: Game Masters is grand, intricately constructed and intimately detailed. In other words, a beautiful, worthwhile headache to curate.

Everything is a celebration of fun and artistry; turning the first corner, we’re greeted with walls lined with some of arcade gaming’s earliest machines – beautifully illustrated Tempest and Space Invaders, early Pac-Man machines and more. The neon lights, rainbow decals and fun-house distorted mirrors take us back to the 1980s-heyday of arcade gaming. “We sourced these machines from all over the United States and U.K. – from warehouses, bars, private collections – you name it,” Bodman explained earlier.

From the early mega-hits to SEGA's assault on the arcades, Game Masters has got it covered.

Continuing the stroll through gaming history, a privately donated collection of dozens and dozens of controllers and consoles are encased in plastic – spanning a gorgeous timeline of everything from ZX Spectrum controllers to Nintendo Virtual Boy headsets. The sheer array of hardware presents a drool-producing, face-slap-reminder of just how far we’ve come – and how many designers, engineers and artists we have to thank.

Drool-inducing, indeed.

Chief amongst them – and given the first major call-out, is Nintendo – a display of Zelda titles through the ages up to New Super Mario Bros. Wii on a gigantic display at the end. From here, zigzagging down the length of the hundreds of metres of floor space, are shrines to our most beloved game design deities.

Nintendo - one of the greatest innovators the industry has ever seen.

Every game and maker is treated with respect – and given ample space to showcase their work. Yuji Naka and Sonic Team have their Sonic games running; Hideo Kojima’s Metal Gears through the ages line another wall. Blizzard has its PC wunderkind on hand, while Fumito Ueda’s masterful ICO and Shadow of the Colossus are also playable – even accompanied by a reel of footage from The Last Guardian, teasing us with wonders to come. Still dozens of other fully playable games from major names are dotted around the hall.

SEGA - such a force to be reckoned with during Yu Suzuki and Yuji Naka's reign.

When we eventually reach Tim Schafer’s wall, adorned with original artwork from LucasArts-era Grim Fandango and Double-Fine-era Psychonauts, things become more intimate. Framed simply, and all too easy to miss, is Schafer’s original job application to LucasFilm Games – which would go on to become LucasArts, publishers of some of Schafer’s most notable gaming contributions: Monkey Island and Day of the Tentacle. Both of those games, as well as the sublime Grim Fandango, are playable.

Tim Schafer, you're adorkable!

Art for Psychonauts, one of Schafer's finest.

Warren Spector’s gaming contributions, like Schafer’s, span decades. With more than 22 games under his belt across just about any genre you can think of, it might surprise you (or not, actually) that he also dabbles in authoring comic books and novels. One of his earlier books is framed alongside design documents for Deus Ex and stunning concept art for Epic Mickey. It’s another intimate glimpse into the mind of a master craftsman.

Warren Spector... is there anything he can't do?

Read it to me while I drift off to sleep, Warren.

Eventually, after meandering around sets of LCD screens featuring looping interviews with these and other developers, we wander to the back of the space. Past the Dance Central floor and prototype Rock Band guitars, Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s Child of Eden is given a private, darkened room where you can dip your toes in his synesthesiac visions in 3D.

You got served. And so forth.

From modernist musical shooters, we move forward in time yet again to a whole wing devoted to the rise of indie gaming and iOS games. It’s here that Australian gaming mastermind Rob Murray, CEO of Firemint and creator of Flight Control, the Real Racing series and Spymouse, takes the spotlight.

Perhaps more than either Schafer or Spector, it is Murray’s contribution to portable gaming that is shaping the next decade of games development. His staggering successes join a new era of independent developers – Halfbrick’s Fruit Ninja, Marcus Persson’s Minecraft, Jakub Dvorsky’s Samarost II and Machinarium – in breaking through to the coveted mainstream.

It’s in the so-called ‘The Indies’ wing, the final area of the exhibition, that many journos ultimately settle. iPads are scattered around, showcasing Rob Murray’s trio of breakaway iOS hits, alongside PC screens and consoles running versions of Fez, Parappa the Rapper, Thatgamecompany’s flOw, Flower and Journey. The brighter lighting, blooming from gorgeous LED clouds above our heads, raises the mood considerably. The future is bright – and beyond the exhibition’s Old Guard, it’s these new faces that deserve just as much acclaim.

So many of modern gaming's most innovative designers represented in one room.

What really resonates is just how well researched and broad Game Masters is. Everything is laid bare for you to see – and most of it is entirely playable. It’s the sort of world-class showcase of career curios and mainstream hits that will satisfy hardened gamers with depth and please casual attendees - who perhaps only dig out their PS3s for a bit of SingStar or Rock Band – and that’s okay too. To that end, Game Masters succeeds in carefully bridging that audience gap and, at once, validating the powerful artistry of game design.

You can find out more about the exhibition here.



Source : ign[dot]com