Tag: ed key

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Proteus: Artifact Edition brings the game’s pastoral landscapes into your home

At first glance, there would seem to be nothing more tangible than a landscape. An arrangement of physical objects, spread out before you, traversable, understandable, concrete in every sense. Yet when you start to think of a specific landscape, things start to cloud. What is a landscape if not the play of light on a hillside, the gathering of clouds on a horizon, the mood of the image as seen through your eyes, in your time, with your colors? All of these things are transient, unfixed, perhaps impossible to repeat. A landscape as a formation might be concrete, but a…
Forest of Sleep
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Turning Narrative Into A Play Space With Forest Of Sleep

Proteus creator Ed Key and artist Nicolai Troshinsky of Twisted Tree Games have only talked abstractly about their upcoming experimental narrative game Forest of Sleep before. But now, a few months after its initial announcement, the pair have cut into the specifics of what they mean when citing “emergent associations” and “cinematic language.” Speaking to Gamasutra, Key revealed the process behind his effort to use procedural generation to create stories that had both drama and pacing, using only hand-made art pieces and wordless animated scenes. Crucial to this aim is the choice of influence found in late-20th century Eastern European illustration…
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Forest of Sleep is like a Russian storybook come to life, by creator of Proteus

Described as an “experimental storytelling/adventure game inspired by Russian fairytales,” Forest of Sleep is a collaboration by Proteus creator Ed Key, artist Nicolai Troshinsky, and a few others. A few glimpses of its storybook-style art hit Twitter last week, but now there’s a new website revealing more information about the game’s unique take on adventure games. dynamically improvised short stories  Besides its art, the big thing about Forest of Sleep is the way it combines story elements to produce what its creators describe as “dynamically improvised short stories.” Since the team at Twisted Tree Games are still speaking about it…
Article

How the magic sounds of Proteus are making their way into the real world

Ever since the Walkman, ordinary people have had the ability to soundtrack their lives. You can play familiar music to reinforce or change your mood, music that either fits the tone and speed of your situation or is purposefully set against it. Earbud listeners can seek solace in this private musical headspace, an environment of their own making. Now imagine this, what if your personal soundtrack could change dynamically? What if technology existed that took into account weather, time of day, and your exact location and activity? When you breach the threshold of your door, one song crossfades into another.…
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Ed Key of Proteus searches for the meaning of games and chases Brian Eno

Ever since Aristotle, the debates over how to classify things have been endless. Are house cats “useful” or “tame”? Is Makemake a planet? Are crappers sculptures? Is noise music? Are games where you walk around and explore a pastoral setting while interacting with an ethereal soundscape really games? We talked with Ed Key, one of the two creators of Proteus, a game that fits the latter description, which released this week and has caused some highly vocal people to question if this qualifies as a game.  – – – How would you describe Proteus? I do call it a game.…