Game on

Already known throughout the gaming industry for his avant-garde and experimental approach to video games, David Cage and his French video game development studio, Quantic Dream, have stirred up a fair bit of controversy with their work.

“Indigo Prophecy,” “Heavy Rain” and “Beyond: Two Souls” embody Cage’s vision for “interactive drama,” or games that play more like interactive movies.

At the PlayStation Meeting on Feb. 20, Cage’s section of the keynote was focused on how the new hardware of the PlayStation 4 would help video-game developers convey emotions that hitherto have been impossible in video games.

Of particular contention was a slide that showed the increasing polygon count characters in his games experienced.

Polygon count is an indicator of how accurately a shape can be molded in a computer-generated world.

Indigo Prophecy’s characters contained 1,500 polygons, while the lead character in “Beyond: Two Souls” contained 30,000, for example.

From there, Cage’s subsequent tech demo was of an old man’s head, of which he spoke at length about how he would be able to evoke emotions like never before in gaming audiences.

Many have lampooned his speech, boiling it down to “polygons equal emotions.”

But a more nuanced view is necessary to understand what Cage is saying.

Polygons are a tool to capture more subtle expressions in an actor within computer-generated images. For Cage they are essential.

His style of game is one that combines the production techniques and conventions of cinema with player choice.

In that context, conveying subtle emotions is critical to having a game like “Beyond: Two Souls” accurately convey Ellen Page’s performance.

While the game itself received a mixed reaction, critics were unanimous in praising Page’s acting.

That being said, these critics do have a major point when decrying the near-obsession with technology and polygon count that Cage’s philosophy embodies.

Other games have brought extremely emotional experiences to the table independently of the Quantic Dream school of thought.

“Last of Us” wove a compelling and provocative character drama within the framework of a traditional video game.

Even further removed is “Journey.”

The game used minimalistic game play, superb art direction and beautiful music to achieve what some would call a near-religious experience.

Cage believes technology allows him to achieve what was never possible on previous hardware, and this is indeed true of every game developer.

Take a look at 2001’s Grand Theft Auto III, which allowed for a three-dimensional open world game for a series that was previously impossible due to hardware limitations.

In that sense, Cage has decided that higher polygon counts are essential to his games and his philosophy of gaming, allowing him to advance the medium further by his estimation.

That’s what he means, rather than the idea that more polygons mean more emotion.

­— mjsu@indiana.edu