Semiology / Semiotics (signs and how we define them)

The subject of signs and iconography is something that appears in our everyday lives to point where it gets an automatic response from us.  Whether its road-signs as we drive along dictating the speed to go; public transport and its colour co-ordinated route system; or an office building and its designation of floor space, each has its own set of parameters defined for its users.  The subject of Semiology (the study of signs) is something that has a depth beyond anything I could comprehend in this brief discussion, but I hope to give an insight in relation to my previous experience. 

To begin with, this is a subject that has been on my peripheral since the later parts of my second year at university.  I remember Extra Credits doing a Halloween episode on the subject in correlation to horror (quite appropriate in relation to the current time of the year) which perked my interest.  As I have developed my own thoughts over the years through such viewpoints as Heidegger, Lyotard, Baudrillard, etc I’ve only briefly noticed how close semiology comes into the fray.  Defining ‘place’ and ‘space’ is somewhat similar to defining items like ‘chair’, ‘door’ and ‘wall’ which brings us to the architectural context of this piece.

For this piece, I’ve looked at Roland Barthes ‘Semiology and the Urban’ and Umberto Eco’s ‘Function and Sign: The Semiotics of Architecture’ which in turn present some nice examples in game design.  Barthes is the essay I would align closer to my personal architectural theory with the discussion of how towns and cities develop over time and define their areas; such as neighbourhoods, commercial and industrial districts of varying importance.  As you may be aware, the traditional progression of a settlement is a progressive growth into villages-towns-cities depending on a number of factors like geography, economics and social growth.  As a settlement crosses one of these thresholds, there is a certain difficulty in creating new space while appeasing the issues of change.  For example, a village being developed into a small market town may feature new dwellings and more widely recognised retail outlets.  However, the current population may desire a small settlement and dislikes the look of the new developments out of this desire to stay a village.  It is at this point the architect / town planner has to be careful to consider the thoughts of each party as they create this new settlement. 
Personally, I feel a strong connection between this and the idea of particular IP’s (intellectual property) and the interpretation from different studios.  Take the Warhammer 40k IP and see the range of game genres handled by its developers (RTS, FPS, 3^rd person action, etc).  The mechanics are different but they each follow a particular aesthetic (to a lesser or greater degree) of this ‘grim dark’ future where there is a fight for survival in a somewhat brutal manner.  Another example would be the recent Devil May Cry (DMC: Devil May Cry) where a reboot change the story’s main character (Dante) from a ‘jokey’ fun-loving character into a more ‘brooding’ kinda nihilistic person, much to the disapproval of the series fans. 

Eco’s essay is more concerned with the semiology of objects and the correlation we find to create patterns in space.  One of the examples given by Eco is that of a cave and early man; as they use a hole in a mountain as shelter, over time it will be defined by the person as a place of settlement in which they dwell.  Rock formations along the edges can also be defined as walls and the opening itself is effectively a transition from dwelling to not dwelling (aka door).  As the person goes forth and explores, they may see similar rock formations with a transitional ‘hole’ which one could imagine they define as another ‘cave’.  More modern examples can be things like viewports (windows, glazing, platforms, etc) or a chair (pile of rocks, a fallen tree, a chair, a sofa, a throne, etc) but they come under the idea of how we define what something is and the connotations with it.  The range of items that can come under a single definition is somewhat infinite from a broad spectrum, but there’s an example from a game I enjoy greatly which I feel takes on this idea greatly.
Ratchet and Clank on the PS2 was a platformer which featured an anthropomorphic main character (Ratchet) and his robot sidekick (Clank).  Initially, Clank is a means to bring the call of ‘a hero’s journey’ to Ratchet, but over time Clank develops some motor actions to help the player progress the game.  These features include a helicopter / jetpack / waterjet transformation from Clank which gives us the ability to jump higher, glide, swim faster and other tertiary functions.  Clank is defined as a robot; but he features AI of a robot, customisation of a mechanical object, and the companionship of a sidekick character.  I haven’t played it, but those of you from the Nintendo console side will probably see a similar light with Banjo Kazooie and the range of involvement Kazooie has in the game. 

To summarise, the subject of signs and semiology is a vast subject which bleeds into our everyday lives on both a conscious and sub-conscious manner.  Taking time to consider these factors gives us the potential to view games in a new depth when we corroborate it with exterior schools of thought.  I would highly recommend reading further into the subject with people like Young (psychology) or the examples I’ve presented in this post. 

I hope you’ve found this piece interesting. 

References

*Barthes, R. Semiology and the Urban
*Eco, U. Function and Sign: The Semiotics of Architecture
*Ratchet and Clank.(2002). Insomniac Games
*Banjo Kazooie. (1998). Rare

Gothic Architecture and Gaming: A Duality of Sorts

Over the past couple weeks; I’ve been putting together a talk on architecture for an event next month.  Although the subject matter is primary on history, it’s got me thinking about certain eras and how they fit into popular culture and gaming.  Today, in a roundabout way, we discuss the matter of Gothic and its duality within theory and design.  (I’ll admit thou, I’m not too clued up on these cultures so the writing may seem sporadic….)

Generally speaking, when you mention the term ‘Gothic’ it conjures thoughts of the darkness; unworldly mythical beings which revolve around imposing architecture with a sense of ritualistic actions.  Looking into the pop-culture of ‘Gothic’ one can see many influences from the Victorian age in regards to fashion and mentality.  Vampires are regarded as a manifestation of sexual uncertainty for the more elaborate acts (although some Victorian historians would imply the opposite) and their dress sense involves similar connotations.  Gothic architecture corroborates this view because of the way it’s presented.  The grand structures of places like Notre Dame give an imposing feeling; with its sheer height, mass and aesthetics correlating with acts of ritual. 

That being said, when looking at Gothic from an architectural point of view, there is a very different impression given to its design.  Gothic architecture is one of pious sentiments; use of light and colour in their interiors; and the omnipresence of a higher being within its surroundings.  Compared with earlier eras of medieval and classic design, Gothic looked to play a bit more with softer edges on larger, airy rooms making it more welcome.  Even something like gargoyles (or grotesques depending on singular or plural) are aesthetic pieces to make the facades more interesting; similar to the ‘storyboard’ statuettes on some cathedrals like Exeter.  Of course, the popular culture connotations didn't come until much later (architecture focused on the 1200-1500s roughly and pop culture more towards 17-1800s+) but it’s interesting to see the duality of the term and how it’s used in gaming. 

In my own experience of playing games, it’s the horror genre (and games that use horror elements) that generally show up Gothic.  The Devil May Cry series (particularly the first game) features large, imposing, cathedral-like structures which are usually traversed physically or visually alongside fighting demons from the evil depths.  Although a lot of the game is relativity dark, there are points where light is used to different effects.  Here are two examples that I feel are relevant:

• ·       The cathedral-like structure where you fight Phantom (lava-spider boss) initially features a lot of light radiating from the ceiling and windows.  However, as the game goes on and you visit this place later, it is much darker; with a more monstrous being awaiting you called Nightmare.  One could say that this is due to the time-span of the game going from day to night, but I feel that it takes on the idea of Gothic in a nice way in both sides of the spectrum.
• ·       The meet with Mundas in the underworld features a large room with a large amount of light beaming into the interior, making the room somewhat bright.  This is contrasted by the darkness and demons of the previous area that saw the player go through.  Although this shows the ideas behind Gothic architecture, I believe that it’s kind of a troupe to have a grand, contrasted setting for the antagonists’ arena. 
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Thinking beyond this example, there are games that follow one or the other ideology when it comes to Gothic architecture, but it’s an interesting concept to view.  Religious / ritual sites are common examples of architecture in the early – mid eras of civilizations.  When looking at a game that has these sorts of structures, take a moment to see how the piece uses light and the size of its interior and maybe it’ll be influenced by the origins of Gothic architecture.  If you don’t get much out of this post, I hope you find the idea of the duality of Gothic a little bit interesting…