Averaging Gradius

Everyone bunches up near the top to escape the enraged atomic volcanoes!

[continuing the theme of my previous post, here’s some more multiple-exposure stuff…]

Check out “Averaging Gradius“, a great project by “Mr. R. LeFeuvre” at The New Gamer. This amazing video uses multiple-exposures to compare the game playing tactics of ten people playing “Gradius”, a classic 80’s sidescrolling arcade game.

The resulting movie is a fun and fascinating comparison of the gameplay strategies of ten different gamers, showing what they do in common and what they do differently when playing a game that, true to 80’s game design conventions, ran the same way every time and which essentially had an underlying pattern throughout the game. LeVeuvre’s article has more insights into the results, too, and is a fun read.

And make sure to put on your headphones for watching “Averaging Gradius”: the audio track has as much information as the video, and is equally beautiful.