Gameplay Journal Entry #5: Mitchell Dreifuerst
When describing a video game glitch, I would generally refer to such experiences as a general break from the flow of how certain mechanics and systems within games are intended to operate. They can be implemented or shown through perhaps infinite possibilities, such as the textures of NPCs not being applied properly or floor textures not receiving proper colliders that allow easy falling through the levels themselves, but most glitches almost always result in the stripping of immersion for a player’s experience. Rosa Menkman’s interpretation of glitches, however, seem to have a more positive view of these game-breakers as necessary tools to show the inner defects of a games system, stating “A negative feeling makes place for an intimate, personal experience of a machine (or program), a system exhibiting its formations, inner workings and flaws”¹. I thoroughly agree with her explanation as glitches do not have to be seen wholly as dreadful bugs, for glitches can form new forms in how games can be approached, perceived, and learned upon for future titles. One title in particular learned its lessons the hard way and the way a certain game company would handle glitches.
Releasing during Thanksgiving week of 2015, a certain game named Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric, developed by Big Red Button, was converted into the laughingstock of the gaming industry, becoming infamous for its difficult controls and camera issues, poorly written story, and characters, and of course, its numerous game-breaking glitches. One glitch in particular I am focusing on here, which is shown thoroughly in the Game Grumps breakdown of Sonic Boom included here², are when player characters briefly and suddenly disappear and reappear in the game levels as shown at 4:58, 6:39, 9:43, and 10:18. You see character randomly appearing in random appearing unnecessarily such as the duplicate Sonic at 6:39 and Amy in the ground at 9:43, completely breaking the pacing and flow of how the player would perceive it with lightning-fast Glitch Art. It shows that the developers, in their haste, did not consider how to properly hide these asset placements away from the finished build and allowed concentration to break from the story by having the fanbase focus solely on these glitches instead of the game. So, while these glitches can be used to properly convene the means of watching and learning from these mistakes as per Menkman’s definition, glitches like these still broke apart a wall within the game’s reality that remain with players to this day.
Sources:
-¹Menkman, Rosa, Citing Source: “Glitch Studies Manifesto”, Video Vortex Reader II: Moving Images beyond YouTube, 2011, Pg. 341
- ²Walkthrough Footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihgztNsc1l8&t=647s