Scott McCloud - Understanding Comics, The Invisible Art

In this episode we attempt to verbally describe a comic book. But not just any comic book. Scott McCloud's 1993 "Understanding Comics" is a comic about comics; not necessarily how to make them, but how they "work" for readers. Your librarians Tom and Joe jump about the book in no particular order, picking apart what they personally got from the book, and highlighting areas where we think there's something interesting in there for an indie dev. TOPICS INCLUDE:> how videogames are interactive cartoons> semiotics and the psychology of images> how "gaps" and "holes" in stories create engagement> nonlinear narrative in different media> starting projects with "ideas" vs starting with craftTIMESTAMPS:00:00 intro 01:45 why this book06:15 overview11:35 indie games and cartoon aesthetics14:02 two mediums with the same status issue16:22 iconic representation and identification18:55 history and definition of comics23:02 the semiotics of comics30:12 the three types of image41:00 gamers love a ruined city44:48 time is weird in comics49:45 "closure" in media psychology52:33 non-linear moments in comics57:29 the meaning of lines and colours59:20 showing & telling / multimodality65:35 self-referentiality as a sign of a mature medium68:50 McClouds 6 Steps of Creativity73:20 finishing projects vs starting new ones68:13 what's next?OTHER REFERENCES:Juniper Dev on Little White Guys: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=banRsciq1wwIan Bogost's 2023 essay on Gone Home: https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/perpetual-adolescence-the-fullbright-companys-gone-home/"Storyteller" Comicbook-Interface Puzzle Game: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1624540/Storyteller/"Her Story" Narrative Puzzle Game https://store.steampowered.com/app/368370/Her_Story/"The Beginner's Guide" (example of a "reflexive"/self-referential game) https://store.steampowered.com/app/303210/The_Beginners_Guide/wiki page of Pierre Bourdieu's "Distinction" (sociology of taste) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distinction_(book)The original game design "MDA Theory" paper: chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://users.cs.northwestern.edu/~hunicke/MDA.pdfMcCloud's 6 Steps of Creativity explained using SoundCloud Rappers: https://rudycraiglcgr.blogspot.com/2016/08/this-for-lcgn-class-we-had-to-read.htmlDerek Yu on finishing games: https://makegames.tumblr.com/post/1136623767/finishing-a-game Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.