>>23647
>The ones that see big success (like LISA, Undertale, Dustforce) offer something out of the norm, because the devs made what they wanted to make. So chasing trends and pandering is ass-backwards.
And this is where the concept of artistic integrity becomes somewhat problematic, as in my own definition I combine it with artistic merit, though this certainly isn't the common usage. The games that become big successes to do so by successfully adapting ideas to more palatable formats, and by offering something out of the norm, but not by the construction of novel ideas. Each of the listed titles offer nothing new to the world of games, but something new to the world of commercial games (specifically, a strong execution). This is, of course, not a negative trait by any means, a good execution being absolutely vital to the success of any product.
But, it's vital to the success of a product. If we're discussing it's role as art, then execution plays a role (mostly in dispersal), but not a very strong one. More importantly, it'd be the building up on previous ideas, which none of these games really do. And by selling their works (LISA/Undertale) under closed source, protectively licensed and only under DRM (Steam), they limit the ability of anyone else to build on their work. As for Dustforce, it's under creative commons, but without access to any of the source, this only really refers to the aesthetic elements ie music / art style. Otherwise, the entire work has to be reconstructed if anyone wished to extend the game
Which is why I would argue the artistic goal is clearly neglected, as they actively sought systems that worked against further development (except by their own hand ... a limited monopolization).
And in comparing to other artistic mediums, one must keep in mind that the digital (in particular, video games, movies [kind of] and software) is really the only realm where the "source" is not fully disclosed by the nature of its medium. With music, literature, architecture, artwork, photography, etc, the source code is functionally the product (though architecture can make the claim that the source is in the blueprint, the blueprint can be reconstructed in most of its entirety based off the product, except when its intentionally obscured. Importantly, architecture generally also provides the blueprint openly).
And thus, other mediums tend to produce by extending the work of their predecessors. Video games, however, have retrogressed. Where before, one could do so (note id games & extensions, modding communities (a merger between product and extensibility), rogue & descendants, IF games & descendants), this is no longer the case.
To build upon the work of Dustforce, one must rebuild Dustforce. From the lens of further construction, this is utterly nonsensical. From the lens of profit, this is entirely ideal.