Game Poems: Videogame Design as Lyric Practice

by Jordan Magnuson

When I consider making a game poem, I am pressed by questions such as these: How do I make a game about the little moment of fleeting beauty and existential longing encountered on an empty soccer field on my last day of teaching at a countryside middle school? How do I make a game that captures something of what it feels like to walk through the Choeung Ek killing fields of Cambodia, and all the overwhelming emotions that are stirred up? How do I make a game about the inexplicable sacredness found in the mundane task of caring for the gravesite of a deceased loved one? How do I make a game that captures something of the crushing loneliness I’ve experienced during periods of deep depression? How do I make a game that expresses the wonder of encountering strangers in a strange land who would take me into their home and treat me like family? How do I make a game that captures a fraction of how joyful and how tired I’ve been every day since my first child was born?