Analysis:

To analyze is to organize thoughts about a work, whether a game or a piece of art. In the conversation between the artist and the audience, analysis is a natural byproduct of being an audience. In perceiving art, a person physically senses a juxtaposition of elements impressed in media and then processes it psychologically. The audience keeps track of the powerful aspects of the art, those aspects appealing to a sense of beauty, goodness, truth, and the particular emotions.  Then, the audience may analyze and communicate their analysis. The audience may simply describe their experience or go as far to use experience as the basis for a more detailed and reflective criticism.

Importantly, the work of analysis can be–and ought to be–fun. Interacting with other people and their works is great in itself and is the basis of a healthy civilization. When one engages with art of the past, they gain insight into the humanity of bygone ages. We hope to assist in those analytical efforts that make life richer. As such, we wish to precisely define the basic elements of works of art and games to give a general framework of analysis.

Analysis to Creation:

One can get the sense that making art or games is difficult when one experiences a masterpiece. However, one does not have to be an excellent performer for the public’s gratitude to be an artist. One can write a silly poem, a short parody, or a song for a friend. Indeed, friends often invent little games to play together. In fact, one may have done these things already and have not realized that one is a great artist for an adoring audience. Art and games are a dimension of shared human experience, and one can easily introduce these things to enrich their relationships, just as we’ve always spoken and sung to one another through the ages.

We hope to show that the same general framework that one would use for analysis is also useful for making a work of art. An artist can use a tool that describes the objective features of art to compose a set of features into a new work. Where the audience connects the objective to the subjective in analysis, in the act of creation the artist connects subjective to the objective. In creating art, an artist can aim for some sort of experience–no matter how simple–and seek to uncover some collection of elements that satisfies his expectations. In either case, clear definitions and models will serve as the medium between the physical world and the desire to express oneself and evaluate the expression of others.