One of the most underrated games of the past year or so. Never has a game had more "vibe." Incredible how much it captures of skate culture and vibe being a 2-D game. Thanks for showing it some love. I enjoyed your insights.
Vibe Evangelist is such an interesting and attractive way to frame a game like Olli Olli World. I am interested to check the game out to see if I can vicariously live through it to finally experience the culture.
Skateboarding specifically is a disappointing topic for me, I was raised in an ultra-conservative household (so the culture was flatly forbidden for me to participate in) in a Twin Cities suburb (nowhere to skate anyways). However I did dream of skateboarding and paradoxically was allowed to buy one around age 14. I managed to learn to do ollies in our driveway and occasionally went riding around alone in the large parking lot at the municipal garage next door. These days my wife and I use longboards on some nearby park trails and that's probably as close to IRL skateboarding as I will get these days, our geography just doesn't really support the activity (along with most forms of fun that aren't "drive a car to a building").
Probably the closest I've had to Vibe Evangelism from video games I've played (although it's not really what the blog entry is talking about) is WiiU-era 1st party Nintendo games, where the vibe was really just Enjoying Video Games Together. Nintendoland, Smash U, Mario Kart 8, Hyrule Warriors, Mario Party, ZombieU, and Mario 3D World were staples of our social lives as early-20s newlyweds from 2013-2016, and helped us immensely in breaking away from our problematic upbringing, make real friends, and not take ourselves seriously.
Monk & Robot is an absolute vibe evangelist. Check out Becky Chambers’ other books in The Wayfarers series
The vibe Chambers espouses is commonly referred to as hopepunk. A direct response to the grimdark vibes of media entries such as Game of Thrones and Walking Dead.
I have been thinking of pieces of media recently and the vibe or message they are trying to get across. And how successful they are or are not.
I have been thinking a lot about the potential value of being intentional with our audience and the message we want them to take away. Art should have something to say.
I have asked myself who is your art a love letter to? And what do they need to hear? If your game/book was a song or poem which one would it be? That feels like a way to inject heart and vibes into it.
Love Monk & Robot because it brings up the question of what are our tools we create for if not to somehow give us an opportunity to learn more about what it is to be human in this universe.
The robot coming and asking “How can I help?” and everything that comes from it is so wild.
If Elden Ring’s vibe is grim awe, Monk & Robot’s vibe is contemplative empathy.
And I think this game and these books are vibe evangelists because Hidetaka Miyazaki (and team) and Becky Chambers have something to say about what it means to be human. And it comes through strongly in their art because of what feels like the strong intentionality of getting their point across.
One of the most underrated games of the past year or so. Never has a game had more "vibe." Incredible how much it captures of skate culture and vibe being a 2-D game. Thanks for showing it some love. I enjoyed your insights.
Vibe Evangelist is such an interesting and attractive way to frame a game like Olli Olli World. I am interested to check the game out to see if I can vicariously live through it to finally experience the culture.
Skateboarding specifically is a disappointing topic for me, I was raised in an ultra-conservative household (so the culture was flatly forbidden for me to participate in) in a Twin Cities suburb (nowhere to skate anyways). However I did dream of skateboarding and paradoxically was allowed to buy one around age 14. I managed to learn to do ollies in our driveway and occasionally went riding around alone in the large parking lot at the municipal garage next door. These days my wife and I use longboards on some nearby park trails and that's probably as close to IRL skateboarding as I will get these days, our geography just doesn't really support the activity (along with most forms of fun that aren't "drive a car to a building").
Probably the closest I've had to Vibe Evangelism from video games I've played (although it's not really what the blog entry is talking about) is WiiU-era 1st party Nintendo games, where the vibe was really just Enjoying Video Games Together. Nintendoland, Smash U, Mario Kart 8, Hyrule Warriors, Mario Party, ZombieU, and Mario 3D World were staples of our social lives as early-20s newlyweds from 2013-2016, and helped us immensely in breaking away from our problematic upbringing, make real friends, and not take ourselves seriously.
Monk & Robot is an absolute vibe evangelist. Check out Becky Chambers’ other books in The Wayfarers series
The vibe Chambers espouses is commonly referred to as hopepunk. A direct response to the grimdark vibes of media entries such as Game of Thrones and Walking Dead.
I have been thinking of pieces of media recently and the vibe or message they are trying to get across. And how successful they are or are not.
I have been thinking a lot about the potential value of being intentional with our audience and the message we want them to take away. Art should have something to say.
I have asked myself who is your art a love letter to? And what do they need to hear? If your game/book was a song or poem which one would it be? That feels like a way to inject heart and vibes into it.
Love Monk & Robot because it brings up the question of what are our tools we create for if not to somehow give us an opportunity to learn more about what it is to be human in this universe.
The robot coming and asking “How can I help?” and everything that comes from it is so wild.
If Elden Ring’s vibe is grim awe, Monk & Robot’s vibe is contemplative empathy.
And I think this game and these books are vibe evangelists because Hidetaka Miyazaki (and team) and Becky Chambers have something to say about what it means to be human. And it comes through strongly in their art because of what feels like the strong intentionality of getting their point across.