The Word for Art is Human - KATAVATIS by Cristina RamosView all by Cristina RamosCreator<br>Follow Cristina RamosFollowFollowing Cristina RamosFollowing<br>Add To CollectionCollection<br>Comments<br>Devlog<br>KATAVATIS

The Word for Art is Human<br>KATAVATIS » Devlog

36 days ago by Cristina RamosShare this post: Share on BlueskyShare on TwitterShare on Facebook

One of the reasons that led me to work on KATAVATIS was the need to create an escape valve. After decades working on projects for other companies, for other people, I wanted to make something more personal, both creatively and technically. I wanted to be able to make a game the way I saw fit, with the theme I wanted, with the characters I chose, without anyone judging or modifying my choices.

But why? Why am I wired like this? Why do I feel this need to express myself through making video games? Why can't I just go and do something else?

My first memory of seeing or playing a video game is hazy. I couldn't say whether it was first on a ZX Spectrum or a Nintendo NES, but what I am sure of is the collection of games that left a mark on me: Super Mario Bros, Zelda, Metroid, La Abadia del Crimen, Monkey Island, UFO: Enemy Unknown... one after another, it was like discovering a new world full of opportunities, secrets to uncover, and fascinating adventures.

When I was finally given my first computer, an Amstrad CPC 464, the first thing I typed on the keyboard after turning it on was: "I want a game like Super Mario Bros. but with X and Z..." When I pressed enter, all I got was this:

It was a letdown when I realized that making games was not as simple as asking the pleasant voice of the Enterprise computer on the holodeck. OpenAI and the like did not exist back then, so the next logical step was to pick up the Amstrad user manual and start learning to program in BASIC. Yes, back then user manuals taught you how to program, among other things.

I had never given much thought to that anecdote. But now I chuckle at the fact that what I wrote was basically what we call nowadays a "prompt" for a generative AI.

And the more I think about it, the more uneasy it makes me. What would have become of me if I had been born in this era? Would I have turned on my computer, pressed the dedicated key for summoning Copilot and asked it for a Super Mario? Would I have played that wretched copy of a game, gotten bored after five minutes, or in one afternoon, and gone back to watching Tik Toks?

Where am I going with all this? A lot has been written, and even more will be written, about current degenerative AIs. About the environmental damage they are causing, the hoarding of resources, the inflation, the more than likely bubble... and I have no intention of getting into those topics today.

What I want to talk about is art.

What is art? Are video games art? Is programming art? Is a skeet or tweet art? Is a beaver dam art? Can a biological instinct be considered art? Can an inanimate object create art? An algorithm?

It is an eternal debate, and I do not intend to resolve it here today. I can only give my opinion.

We can identify when an entity has the capacity for reasoning, not by running through a list of questions or administering an objective exam that always results in an absolute positive or negative (no such thing exists today, and I doubt it ever will), but by being guided by our instincts and... well, by our own capacity to reason.

I think the same is true of art: all human creation is art as long as it consists of the expression of the human being. That, for me, is art.

Some people will agree with my opinion, some will be diametrically opposed, and some will not have a formed opinion. Others may already have closed this devlog out of sheer boredom. It's ok.

I have written all this not with the intention of pontificating my truth, but so that you can understand me better, so that you know where I am coming from when you read what I am going to write next.

If there is something we can all agree on, it is that exposure to art provokes feelings in us, and that it has existed for as long as humanity itself.

The concept of art is controversial because art has no universally absolute or objective definition. It cannot be quantified or measured. You cannot say that one thing is "more art" than another, unless you are a snob (sorry). And the purpose of art is highly varied: there is no single motive.

Humans are social creatures. Even introverts crave social interaction, in our own way. Art is undoubtedly a form of expression, of sharing social bonds, of giving free rein to our concerns, sometimes of solving problems, inventions, creations... by humans. For humans.

For centuries, thousands of forms of art have accompanied us, and some schools have given rise to others. Restless minds cannot stop creating, imagining, searching for new ideas, adapting them, twisting them, until they become something completely different from what inspired them in the first place.

Human art is...