a HAIKU games manifesto

a haiku game does not have a game loop

a haiku game neither features nor contains decisions interesting or otherwise

however, a haiku game may use those and any other elements of games so long as it remains unpoisoned by their ambitions. [added june 11]

the development of a haiku game does not involve moments of discovery, except self-discovery; no prototypes or design decisions are to be made or even considered

a haiku game is made using ready at hand materials, tools, platforms, techniques, and meanings

one prepares to make a haiku game only by making haiku games.

a haiku game has as few parts as possible

a haiku game’s few parts are all simple [added june 11]

a haiku game’s complex parts are all fake. [added june 11]

a haiku game cannot be summarized.

1 comment

  1. I wrote this while walking to and from the grocery store to buy a gnarled nub of ginger. I witnessed an expensive car honking incessantly at a young man exercising his simple right of way. I witnessed some kind of verbal harassment and a young woman’s placatory dodge.

    All that time I thought mainly about how to intervene in the dangerous act of game making. This is all that I came up with.

    The haiku game has become a salve of sorts for a deep personal dissatisfaction with games as they are now. I return to it often, each time I recognize a tiredness and seek an oasis. This is an attempt to draw a map to that oasis.

    love, droqen

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