There are some difficulties in bringing games to larger audiences, however. I don’t really want to have an insular conversation about, you know, ‘Here’s a new twist on a Metroidvania.’ I want to make games that are super broad and appealing and can get that sort of critical thinking happening on a wider scale.” “All kinds of people are starting to play them,” Gage notes. It’s easier to do this nowadays, thanks largely in part to mobile and social games, as more people have access to games than ever before. It’s Gage’s hope that people will take the skills they develop in video games and carry them into other places in life. And usually I try to make games that seem like they’re easy to get into, but then as you play them, hopefully they sort of push you to critically engage with them and come up with strategies and find new things.” “I really try to build games that encourage critical thought. Gage takes a similar approach to these popular games. 'The Witness' is well-known for its tough puzzles that force players to stretch their brains. “I met all of these amazing people who were making games and who had somehow heard of Unify and heard of this art game I made, Lose/Lose, and I was just so blown away that this amazing community was out there, and that they knew my work, and so I kind of have been making games ever since.” “I put it out, and people were into it, and on a lark I went to IndieCade,” Gage says. But his life changed when he discovered the Wild West that is the App Store alongside the birth of the iPhone in 2008.ĭisappointed with early versions of Tetris on the App Store, Gage opted to create his own, Unify. After graduating college with a degree in art, he put his software design experience to work creating interactive concept art. Growing up with a family of artists, Gage wasn’t allowed to own video games of his own unless he made them himself - his mother even set him up with rudimentary software that helped him create games up through high school (while Gage discreetly snuck off to friends’ houses on occasion to play their enviable game systems). Game developer Zach Gage’s art is entwined in his games, and his games ebb into his art in a seamless back and forth that has been customary for his entire life.
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