manifestos deserve numbers manifesto
A downloadable project
1 - a manifesto gotta have numbers.
2 - everyone likes numbers.
3 - a manifesto without numbers is a statement. or an essay . or occasionally a poem.
7 - numbers can come in any order 6 - and at any time. 6 again -
pi - these numbers do not need to be rational
3 centillion - and these numbers can be very large
80i - or even imaginary
C1F27ED - not only can numbers add colour and structure but they can be a window to understanding. therefore it's totally okay if some numbers convey more information than others and by framing each discrete idea it then makes it easier for others to look through the lens of the manifesto and see new possibilities.
- you don't have to number your manifesto if you don't want to. okaaaaaaaaaaaay. and sure video games probably have TOO MANY numbers. but imo there are not enough numbers in manifestos. cos i think they're neat. five.
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0 - a manifesto isn't about being right or definitive (they're ways to creating something that doesn't exist and help others do it too). so if you forgot an important rule then you can always add it at the end. a zeroth rule is a v good way to do this and it makes that rule in particular look like VERY IMPORTANT, oooohhhh.
0b - but too many zeroth rules are silly.
0c - unless that's the goal, which is probably the only admirable goal i can think of.
0d - besides the most admirablest goal of all of course. which is to destroy the games industry. :3 thank you.
- llaura
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my impetus for this was less about saying that manifestos aren't real unless they have numbered points (which i do like cos they give GRAVITAS and faux seriousness but isn't actually important), and more as a jumping off point to express the idea that manifestos are most powerful when they become frames for seeing things differently and guides to creating new things.
in that sense the manifesto jam is totally a manifesto itself. it says hey, here's an underexplored way to do writing and thinking and sharing that isn't constrained by traditional structures OR traditional means of distribution.
Any definition of art is doomed to be incomplete and to be always playing catch up. Once any boundaries are erected anyone can just move past them. Likewise definitions of games in this way are also always limited (and definitions of manifestos... which is why I hasten to add this post script).
Instead what is useful is if you can create definitions that while flattening an object from one/certain dimensions also better afford it to grow into interesting shapes along other dimensions. But NEVER a definition that makes growing along "unwanted" dimensions verboten.
also the manifesto jam kinda implicitly encourages people to talk about what pisses them off in games ("industry"/"medium"/space) and we should do that more.
I have trauma associated with numbers. This is why I have two numbers and some math in my username. Numbers are scary, they lead to a world of arcane theory, abstraction and dehumanization. Therefore, they must be resisted. /j
😔 numbers always reducing and quantizing.
gr8 joke density in this
<3
10\10
good numbers 👍👍