![]() ![]() The various sections of the game are interspersed with short haiku-style poems, which set the tone of the adventure, even if the kind of experience that Tengami can offer the player is much more visual than narrative. There is no real story in the game: we will find ourselves in the shoes of a samurai, who will have to embark on a journey to bring the fallen flowers back to a bare sakura tree, the typical Japanese cherry tree, bringing it back to its ancient splendor and therefore, metaphorically, to life. The graphics are therefore reminiscent of the particular 2D and 3D mix of the titles of the Paper Mario series, even if the finely watercolored style inspired by ancient Japan helps to give Tengami its strong and particular personality. The game world of Tengami is in fact that of a pop-up book in which buildings, trees, mountains, bridges are nothing more than particular origami that protrude from the surface of the book. Tengami aims first of all that visual experience: we are faced with a puzzle adventure game set in medieval Japan, made with a particular graphic style. Originally released last February on iOS, the title now sees new light with a re-release on Wii U (released last November 13) and on PC (coming next November 28th). In all GAME ART is fun to look through and would probably be a great gift for the upcoming holiday season.Keep me is the first title of the British indie team Nyamyam, consisting of Ryo Agarie, Jennifer Schneidereit and Phil Tossel, three former Rare developers. The majority of the art is captured beautifully. A couple of the pictures are blurry, more the result of capturing stylized game art than the fault of the publisher. I have only minor complaints. The big blocks of text sometimes distracts from the art, the format easy to read yet bulky. My game-loving son is fascinated with how the developers design their games.Īll in all, GAME ART is fun to look through and would probably be a great gift for the upcoming holiday season for those into the genre. My anime-loving daughter in particular loves the art. I mentioned the papercraft style, but there’s also anime, realism, surrealism, comic-book style, a variety of cultures, high fantasy–there’s so much to peruse, including some seriously glorious two-page spreads. The format works really well for the medium. Like with ELEMENTS mentioned earlier, these are bite-sized glimpses that you can read in five minutes a piece, set the book down, and come back another time for the next. Each interview is personalized with their experiences, what inspires the artists/designers, and the purpose of the game. ![]() And like with most of the interviews, we learn the background of Schneidereit’s choice for the art style and her evolution. What’s unique about Tengami is its papercraft art style and the puzzles that mimic pop-up picture books. For example, the first entry is about Jennifer Schneidereit, who designed Tengami, a point-and-click adventure. Interviews with the game designers accompany the pictures. GAME ART is broken up into sections that separate styles, such as microbudget games, epic quests, fantasy worlds, the supernatural, and the surreal. If you’ve always considered games an art form of their own, then this is a book for you. When I finally got to look at it myself it’s easy to see why they love this book. I hardly got to look at it at first because my children, lovers of all things games, had stolen it and hidden it in their rooms to read at their leisure. GAME ART ( Amazon) was sent to me in September when it was released. It is this book with which I compare all other coffee table books. You could spend five minutes or five hours reading it or simply looking at the pictures. It’s beautifully photographed, the entries for each is only a few pages long, with Theodore Grey writing about the elements as though they have their own personalities. The book which has occupied the coffee table at my house for the last few years is one that’s grown to be a favorite: THE ELEMENTS ( Amazon). ![]()
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