Over the course of its 60-year history, the video game has explored countless directions. It has forged its own vocabulary (gameplay, playtests, balancing…), given rise to a multitude of genres, and ventured into sports arenas, battlefields and fantasy worlds. Yet despite this diversity, they most often remain rooted in the realm of the imagination. They offer ‘power fantasies’ that promise players the chance to become stronger, to overcome obstacles and, for the duration of a game, to enter a world where regaining control of events finally seems possible.
‘Games of reality’ modestly set out to challenge this perspective. Based on the principle that there is no subject that cannot become the subject of a game, they explore the relationships between play and reality, between fiction and simulation, and between documentary and ‘fun’.
In this talk, Florent Maurin presents the five projects developed by The Pixel Hunt, ranging from ‘Enterre-moi, mon amour’ (Bury Me, My Love), which tells the story of a young Syrian woman’s exile, to ‘Ithaca’, a road-trip-style role-playing game dedicated to climate resistance. He discusses his design methodology, analyses the studio’s creative processes and examines how the public responds to these unidentified playful creations.