Yes, Monster Factory Is a Work of Art

I'm pretty sure I went through this entire video without once calling anyone a "boy."
All third party clips are used under Fair Use.
You can watch Monster Factory here: • Monster Factory
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Movies with Mikey on Monster Factory: • Monster Factory - Movi...
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[@kbea121]

It's official guys, Kyle said it! Monster Factory is just like art.

[@bifflechips-t5r]

Take it to the bank, boys. These are the Artmen now.

[@spaceycarchasey6656]

Kyle Kallgren says "Just like Art!"

[@lewrl1]

Toe to tip, this is an art.

[@pastilakompot6912]

"Film pioneer Steven Spielberg retires from filmmaking, gives production company Amblin Entertainment to McElroy brothers" _"They're better at art than I am," he admits._

[@RyanHollinger]

I'm so happy you made this.

[@FearlessSon]

As someone who has worked in game development, I appreciate the lengths of research you went through for the sake of an exospeak gag starting at 2:44.

[@hemangchauhan2864]

Haha, same with me too

[@Superphilipp]

I was shouting "THE TREES, IT'S THE WIND IN THE TREES" the entire first half of the video. And then you made a thing out of it. I love your work!

[@flashfire505]

Well this is two of my favourite sections of KZbin content I never expected to cross

[@Champiness]

Thomas Hoare I felt like my recommendations algorithms were sighing in relief when Kyle posted this.

[@crowleysbentley]

Agreed! It was as if KZbin could finally say "Here! This, this is what you always wanted, right?"

[@bilbobaggins9246]

I was very pleasantly surprised.

[@christianfriisjensen2055]

And indeed, it WAS what I always wanted!

[@yenee94]

Toe to tip, this is a good essay

[@inugamidalton8270]

There's definitely something to be said that video games can be considered mathematics used to make poetry. Monster Factory aims to destroy the math through the poetry, as opposed to destroying the math through the math. They do end up destroying whatever the original vision of the game was, but only by placing their own narrative ahead of the narrative that the math of the game is designed to aid. They're trying to break the game's mechanics by letting their own story clash with what the game is pushing the player to do. This existentialist absurdism of trying to use art to destroy the laws of physics makes it astounding. Also goofy boys. Goofy boys definitely help. (If this makes no sense in the morning, I blame my sleep deprivation)

[@shayneoneill1506]

Nope. Makes perfect sense to me. The McElroys, make many meat of the the author.

[@camelpimp]

I think what makes monster factory so unique in the genre of let's play is how disinterested it is in the game itself, at least, in the intended play. Most let's plays tend to be something of a replacement for playing the game itself, and even let's plays that heavily alter the game via hacking or massive glitching (such as Panzer and Kaubock's SR4 lp or Elephantgun's glitch ff6 lp) are still, primarily, about the game itself. For monster factory, the game itself is just the launching pad.

[@sigh824]

camelpimp have you seen Goldvision's gta pacifist run? I was reminded of that when I read ur comment. It's a pretty good show, it details the adventures of man trying to save up for a boat by running a legitimate and nonviolent business in a world not created to work that way

[@rjmayo]

This was a really engaging take on something so silly. Good luck listening to TAZ, the eleventh hour is my favourite arc.

[@christianfriisjensen2055]

TAZ is just so amazing and I cannot believe how astoundingly well they pulled it off.

[@silvertamagachi]

Suffering Game is mine. :)

[@sheren_b]

This reminds me of a clip I saw of Hayao Miyazaki tearing into two CGI animators who were showing him animations they made for horror monsters and Miyazaki was so livid because he didn't see them having what makes monsters so terrifying and real which is pain and suffering, which is an interesting understanding of truth of film to a genre like horror (which is an area that CGI can excel in but has never been pushed). But anyways, great work Kyle as always Also you're DW Griffith bits had me rolling lol

[@ieatatsonic]

The thing that I enjoy probably the most about Monster Factory - and pretty much what I find great about most of the McElroy Bros' works, is that they're EXTREMELY genre-savvy. Many of the jokes they make or the personalities they give the characters rely on the viewer's familiarity of tropes (such as Garret the golf alien being similar to an 80s movie like ET, or a joke Griffin makes at the start of the PGA episode about switching places with the golf avatar and getting trapped in the game, like a sci-fi thriller or something). In the end, it almost feels like the monsters they make and the way they play them are almost parodies of characters and stories that don't necessarily exist, creating short films with sort-of character arcs and everything. The characters even tend to have continuity with themself, as in if the brothers establish a "fact" about one, they tend not to forget it and sometimes incorporate it into the role-playing. All of this also helps make every episode memorable, as instead of saying "I wanna watch the one with the superhero game," most fans would say "I wanna watch the knife dad episode!" Sorry for rambling. I rewrote this like 4 times and still couldn't get it in a good form.

[@haphazardlark1502]

Sloppy form to talk about a cool thing seems extremely appropriate for monster-factory-as-art discussion, but I’ll admit I’m biased because I can never edit a comment into neat, concise form when it counts. But in defense of my argument even in light of my biases, *points at Truck Shepard*

[@FearlessSon]

Watching this made me flash back to my days working in QA on games. This kind of thing happens all the time during product development. Those bugs, the margins, those are the things the QA department is mandated to "map", exploring, drawing the maps, and re-exploring and redrawing the map as the borders are constantly shifting, being pushed out and occasionally, retracting. The most egregious of what is discovered there will never be seen by the public, the boarders pushed out so far that a player will have to go to drastic lengths to reach it (such as the use of console commands in the Monster Factory clips above.) But they were still there, still found, still documented, and consigned to the editing room floor. The documentation of these magnificent glitches will often still be preserved, as attachments to their defect tracking catalog entries, or as captures saved on some network drive in a studio. If you are really lucky, a studio may even have a super-cut of the most entertaining and visually spectacular bugs. They rarely share that with the public, but they do share it internally as a way of raising morale and getting everyone to chuckle at how far what they have built together has come.

[@BrandonJudy]

hey man, that's pretty cool

[@massecurr]

I think you absolutely nailed the appeal of Monster Factory, because while a great narrative and fun gameplay have brought me great joy and literally thousands upon thousands of hours of enjoyment their are few things that bring me greater joy than watching a game tear itself apart. Its funny, entertaining, and at points, beautiful even if at the bare core of it all is just 1 and 0s freaking the hell out.

[@DwRockett]

Love the rant about Griffith saying the "wrong quote." Perfect length and completely well spoken

[@CatGravityWell]

Best sentences ever: “The boy-mayor of Second Life’s re-election campaign wouldn’t be any funnier if I knew why he looked different when he went into a sex club.” EDIT: His summation of The Final Pam might be better, though.

[@dannykopp1992]

I was literally in the middle of watching Monster Factory: Just Like Art when I got the notification

[@jordang7479]

I need to get into the McElroy's stuff I consistently hear good things about them and they sound right up my ally but I just never went and looked at/listened to their stuff. That changes today. Thanks Kyle!!😃

[@iheartjackieyes]

Jordan Green You will not regret. I quite like Shmanners and Sawbones if you want podcast recs of theirs.

[@AlexanderHarris]

I highly recommend these My Brother My Brother and Me episodes: Episode 126: Blast My Cache Episode 224: Pubic Snakes Episode 259: Birthday Surprise Hole 259 is probably my personal favorite, but it's also the episode where they decide to drop their normal format entirely and just talk with each other so starting on that one might lead to false expectations for the show. I also recommend watching KZbin clips of their stuff, like: MBMBAM Anger 2 MBMBAM Potato Soup For The Spirit MBMBAM Torsey, the Torso Horse! MBMBAM The Garfield Monstrosity MBMBAM Travis Starts a Mango Cult

[@IHaveBeenGuyDude]

Remember to please love Truck

[@basilmemories]

please do, he has only one blinkmouth

[@FunkyM217]

Everyone loves Truck! But are we talking about the same Truck?

[@silvertamagachi]

I thought his name was Trock? Am I misremembering?

[@societycrumbles]

A special boy with a special face. I love my son.

[@stjaernor]

I've seen the McElroy brothers discussed and loved on Twitter and Tumblr and never quite understood what's going on (TAZ? Monster Factory?? MBMBAMthankyouma'am???) even when it's been friends talking about it, which I suppose doesn't reflect super well on me but oh well. Anyways, as with pretty much all of your content, I really enjoyed this and whenever you talk about animation and cgi and pixels/photo realism it's super cool for me as an animation nerd, and basically I think I'm gonna get into the McElroys now? Thanks Kyle!

[@Maradrafts]

"MBMBAMthankyouma'am???" I just needed to acknowledge this pun and the joy it brought me. Thank you, dear Sir / Ma'am / other! As someone who's also veeery recently fallen down the McElroy rabbit hole (moreso through The Adventure Zone than anything else), I wish you good luck in all your ventures.

[@thecheesieCaketin]

A month later, im curious how your mcelroy content consuming is going. What shows do you watch/listen to now if any? and how do you like it?

[@stjaernor]

ktgcake honestly, i haven’t really watched anything of theirs, because i’m writing my dissertation this year and it’s eaten up all my time - but considering it’s nearly the holidays and my dissertation itself is on youtube, i’ll have time soon hopefully

[@rebeccatrishel]

stjaernor Did you understand that the "ice cold water" bottle guys were the Let's Players?

[@yenee94]

@@stjaernor DID YOU GET INTO THEM YET????

[@scifikoala]

The Mcelroys' ability to improv their way through any medium baffles and delights me

[@absinthespoons]

I'm a huge fan of Brows Held High, Movies with Mikey and the McElroys, so I have a new favourite tiny subgenre of videos: videos where movie critics talk excitedly about McElroy content. Also have fun with TAZ! So great, and only ever gets better as you go.

[@silvertamagachi]

Right? All I need is for Rooster Teeth and Crazy Ex Girlfriend to somehow get involved and we'll have hit all my nerd bingos and I will literally die.

[@mysticferret15]

i've always loved kyle's "making smart jokes for not smart audiences" style, but i also really love the more personal direction he's taken his recent videos with as well. plus it just tickles me that i can sense what sort of nerdy things he likes because of my own nerdy tastes, like with jokes or references or even comparisons. but mostly i just wanted to say, that this video is just like bart. (and i hope the mcelroys see it)

[@witabif]

holy shit i thought this was a polygon video??? when i saw this was you kyle my jaw fucking dropped

[@leekalba]

I decided to rewatch this because I just started listening to Adventure Zone, and only three episodes in, now I get it.

[@ryangourami7179]

As a long time fan of both Kyle and the Mcelroys this video was such a strange and unexpected delight! I would have loved to have seen him comment on their "just like art" series of Monster Factory, but maybe that would have been too on the nose. This video also works as just a hilarious monster factory quote mashup haha, so thanks for that. (btw the "D.W. Griffith director, racist" slide had me laughing for a solid minute. I struggle with how to talk about people who were interesting in some ways and terrible in others and that was so perfectly done.)

[@FyreFox666]

I would put forth though, that the problem here is that unlike Glitchart are which is a recreation of glitches or that program which was made to be unexpected art instillation. That the McElroy's art is breaking things that weren't mean to be broken and then pretending that you didn't break it.

[@KKenzieVideo]

Incredible look at some beloved beloved KZbin. If I remember correctly you had suggested making something about some of Griffins other work on Polygon but were hesitant because his other work partner turned out to be a garbage man, I'm super glad this happened instead. Fabulous take on it. (You are in for such a treat with The Adventure Zone)

[@Kirbita22]

holy SHIT, there was gonna be a fuckin bhh CAR BOYS EPISODE??? GOD DAMN IT NICK "GARBAGE" ROBINSON YOU PIECE OF SHIT HOW MANY MORE THINGS WILL YOU RUIN

[@grahamcracking5056]

"DW Griffith: cinematic pioneer and politic racist" 😂

[@scrunglenut6222]

Made my fuckin YEAR. I've been following your work since wwwaayyy back on tgwtg, adore all of it, and this is just like putting a little extra dollop of your favorite flavor of icecream over an already BALLER sundae.

[@uhhhmaeve]

DID NOT GOLF FAILED TO GOLF

[@sycastells1212]

The beautiful kings' game we call jolf

[@RG-lo3wf]

Honestly at this point i'm convinced you can convince me ANYTHING is deep and profound, and i'm honestly kinda appreciative of that ngl. Your video on Blue really opened my eyes

[@TheFlameingBurito]

ELEVENTH HOUR IS THE BEST ARC YOU'RE IN FOR A TREAT

[@marcguillemette2399]

Kyle, I just came across your channel today and I truly felt educated and entertained. VERY WELL DONE!!

[@v.m.9198]

Great, now I need to binge monster factory again >3> PIZZA CRIME IS ETERNAL

[@RastafarianPilgrim]

I think dogs should vote?

[@gregwessendorf]

The McElroy bros have been putting out fun, silly but meaningful content from the beginning. It's nice to see people are starting to find them and see them for the good, good boys they are.

[@Charuchii]

I really do like this episode, not only because I just really like the McElroy's, but because as an art history student we have been discussing the medium specific elements of different forms of art. Mostly we haven't delved very deep into It, just sticking to painting, sculpture and a bit of photography and film, but for some reason there hasn't really been talk about how film as a medium changed and as you said, cgi it also has it's own medium specific properties. Can't say I really thought about it myself a whole lot (my main interests lay elsewhere), but it's still an interesting topic, it recalls Greenberg's theory on art. Tho i do wonder, regarding the turning the grass off thing if that isn't a property of gaming itself and not a thing cgi can do. I mean, you can easily break into a game if you know what to do and change the coding around, that's what Griffin shows time after time in monster factory. Cgi in combination with videogames allows itself to do those sorts of goofs. But you can't open a dvd of King Kong, put it in your computer and replace King Kong with Shrek (which is something I kind of want now?). But does that mean film is taking the specific properties of cgi, or are these properties more inherent with games than with film? If paint is one of the medium specific properties of painting, it is so because it's always there in every painting, no paint without painting. If a painting is done, it's still made with paint. If being malleable, letting the programming do what it wants with the coding is supposed to be medium specific, then why isn't it still there once the imagery gets put on DVD?

[@grahamkristensen9301]

Hi, I'm every bassist ever.

[@Champiness]

Who's ready to golf, idiots

[@MaineJuen]

Thank you! I've been a fan of the brothers McElroy since 2014 with their podcast "My Brother My Brother and Me" and over the years I've become hooked on so many of their projects. Monster Factory is, by far, my favourite one of theirs that's present on youtube. Several of their podcasts still rank higher for me but Monster Factory is the show that has me in stitches every time an episode drops!

[@Mooseplatoon]

I did not expect this in the slightest but I am so happy that it happened. I just finished watching Monster Factory from start to finish a few days ago.

[@TerLoki]

See, this is why I love your channel so much. Your videos are witty, insightful, and are probably one of the only places you'll ever find connections made between things like French cinema and Let's Plays, or Shakespeare and MST3K. It's glorious.

[@5evilpackmen]

All praise the final Pam!

[@TheMightyPika]

This video introduced me and my wife to Monster Factory and our lives are brighter now.. Thank you.

[@haphazardlark1502]

The ending line of this essay still makes me so fucking happy. I mean the whole thing does, but my life would be complete if I ever saw the phrase “how many meat can we make him” really work its way into the vernacular for art theory stuff.

[@cfontana3890]

I love when you pick an unexpected topic for a video! This was really good. And, thanks for introducing me to Monster Factory - I needed a new silly channel in my life

[@DanielAvelan]

The let's play being a documentary on the videogame and the player is definitely the biggest draw in LPs for me, and it's why the Super Best Friends Play channel is my favorite LP channel. Highly recommend their Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 4 LPs that are basically 8 hours (each) of trivia, lore discussion and speedrun tech. Also, Low Spec Gamer, in which a guy makes the newest games run on the lowest graphical settings possible. It's a blast to see triple A games being turned into 90's gifs.

[@thinkpink113]

A Kyle Kallgren video about the McElroys? I am complete.

[@sydneynordhagen7891]

What a cool video! I feel like I learned a lot when you talked about old film and different lenses/theories. My favorite riff on monster factory quotables is saying "I do this" every time I'm even slightly proud of something I've done.

[@Stukov16]

This is the defining essay of our generation.

[@Lishadra]

Ohh so this is why I like Vinny's corruption streams so much, it's hilarious and almost an art form.

[@dianisea-hh4uf]

im so mad at the ending that clip is both my ringtone and my alarm

[@paulmitchum8658]

Sure, but should dogs be allowed to vote? See also: Chris Landreth's 'Ryan'

[@Mrinsecure]

I don't know, but I do know Knife Dad is part wolf, part mech, part rabbit, part fox, part sunglasses, part dragon, part dad, all dad, all knives.

[@CzechAvailabilitie]

Only dogs that own property.

[@UDontTakeMeSeriously]

DONT HAVE COW

[@Kaioshin94]

YoSeriousLee EAT PANT

[@naranara1690]

POSSESS BOVINE DO NOT

[@danesorensen1775]

Well well, a sequel to Immortal Ad Vitam. I have no answers, but I'm enjoying hearing you ask the questions.

[@WikiAndi172]

Oh my god. Thank you Kyle for introducing this to me. I only knew them from the adventure zone. And this is just....yeeeeeessss

[@sensibleGamer]

Holy Shit! I only just recently discovered the Mcelroy brothers through Adventure Zone and MBMBaM. I had no idea this existed and that I NEEEEEEDED this in my life!

[@zacheymczachface]

How did I not know this was a thing?! I love the adventure zone and my brother my brother and me! Heck I started my love of podcasts with sawbones! Yet I somehow missed a blend of my love of lets plays with my love of podcasters. Thanks so much for sharing, time to binge!

[@Kodocha7]

Wow! Of all the things you could talk about I never would've expected monster factory to be one of them! I love monster factory so much!

[@MatthewCasagrande]

I find it interesting that this was uploaded now, as we've been talking about pretty much every example you listed in my film theory class...

[@geneirai]

one of my favorite youtubers talking about one of my favorite youtube series? yes please!

[@SilentChelsea]

the adventure zone is SO GOOD and my introduction to the brothers mcelroy. this is a really insightful introspection and i'm definitely going to give their monster factory series a try!

[@padraickeane5922]

I've been watching your work for a while now, and I've only recently started watching the Brothers McElroy's, so this feels like a well timed overlap. Good video, Kyle!

[@TheLucanorian]

I've seen a few of their videos, but now thanks to you I'm now binge watching 'em at work.

[@alfaecotangoromeo]

This is so meta. We are watching a guy watch another guy playing games.

[@writerspen010]

This web show looks hilarioussssss xDD I've never been into gaming, so idk if I'd ever get into actually watching this show, but I am SO HAPPY you at least introduced me to this xDD

[@hl-river8580]

This was a delight to watch. Also I’m glad you’re getting into The Adventure Zone!

[@TJSchongar]

I found you a week ago. I've binged all your videos twice. I am so happy there is this new video now :)

[@AdamOfNebb]

I just re-discovered your channel years after abandoning TGWTG.com, and this is the video you post to welcome me back to your content. Oh baby I'm gonna like it here.

[@TheAMVStudent]

Dude I JUST got into Monster Factory and started Adventure Zone literally last night this is too perfect.

[@chloezaffran3552]

So now I am, of course, binge-watching Monster Factory (praise and thanks to you, Ô awesome being of knowledge in meme, cinema and viddy games, Kyle Kallgreen). And I sent a video of theirs to a friend, who immediately asked: didnt you say you wanted to stop watching dumb vids? To which I retorted: WHEN HAVE I EVER SAID/MEANT THAT and sent her your video as follow-up evidence that it is not in fact dumb, but art

[@lishuss]

This was glorious and you are in for a wonderful treat with TAZ. Happy listening.

[@Account_Not_Applicable]

i was just watching a compilation video of (almost) every time the men say "boy" in this series and i just love it. Too many beautiful boys. Just perfect timing to put this video out i must say.

[@MaskedManta]

What is this, a crossover episode?

[@ingonyama70]

An official crossover between Kyle and the McElroys would probably result in a death. They're so disparate that to bring their worlds into collision with each other would result in one swallowing the other, Melancholia-style. Their channels are best loving one another from afar.

[@CastlesComments]

I got into monster factory from the one clip of just like bart that you had in some vid a while back, so thanks kyle!

[@MoonSpiritChannel]

Careful Kyle. Now you're making some of us wanting you to analyze Let's Players now.

[@rubylucas9179]

I enjoy your video essay style of work, better than all of your movie review style. Your voice does better lending credence to abstract theories than cycling through various screams, and you sound happier, my sister agrees with me. Though she also, like me, loved your earlier videos for their finding meaning in the grotesque and absurd, but now? You sound happier, like your enjoy your mental exercises and we like that.

[@hihi123hiful]

Great video! But if I had any complaints, it's that you can see where you edited out Car Boys after the stuff with nick. Certain lines that are more applicable to car boys than monster factory. It sucks that one of griffn's best works is so tied to a creep.

[@beesus1412]

as someone who has never seen carboys, the video still applies to monster factory just fine

[@governor_explosion]

Ditto CoolGames Inc. Some really good goofs in there that it’s now uncomfortable to listen to. Kyle musing on the beauty of unpredictability reminds me of Hirohiko Araki musing in his “Manga in Theory and In Practice” book about how he likes working traditionally, because it lets him work around mistakes instead of just cleaning them up with a computer. His work is so clean I can’t really see many mistakes, but I get the intent of what he’s saying.

[@Esmoxe]

What happened or how can I search what happened about this? I searched Nick Carboys and didn't find the controversy as easy as I thought.

[@ryangourami7179]

"Nick Robinson Polygon" may get you more hits. Basically he was being creepy to, and potentially sexually harassing women on twitter (and beyond). Not everything was made public for the privacy of the women involved but he was fired from Polygon and Griffin cut ties with him as far as I'm aware. Griffin and Nick did a lot of cool stuff together, Carboys and Awesome Games Inc(podcast) being the main ones. Part of me still really loves the stuff they did together, but it's kind of uncomfortable to watch now, the innocent joy has been sucked out. And it's important not to let someone off the hook just because you like their "art" or media content. It sucks it this turned out to be happening, though I'm glad it all came into the light.

[@rebeccatrishel]

Gabriel Katapano Honestly, I always thought of Nick as mostly the straight man who was there to let Griffin be funny. Griffin's collaborations with Justin are better, IMO, because he actually offers an interesting perspective on things.

[@thegeekclub8810]

The sheer amount of generic seeming stuff that these guys have made that has been elevated to art is amazing. One of the biggest fandoms I've seen as of late is of their DND SESSIONS. These guys are amazing.

[@Mrshappyhippo75]

Oh my God Kyle you just became a million times more awesome on top of the millions of awesomeness you already have.

[@crazystorm1659]

“Come right in, dude, the waters’ fine”

[@asia246222]

This video should take off, it's amazing! Thanks so much for posting. :)

[@Hawkfire360]

You put insightful media analysis and monster factory's bizarre nature into a video and explained everything. I think I'm allowed to die now?

[@ShootingStarNeo]

Now you've got me thinking about the artistic qualities lent by MGS3's original PS2 graphics as opposed to the high-def pachinko renderings, a la Hbomberguy's analysis of the similar qualities of VHS tapes. Also the emergent qualities of the Adventure Zone and how I got attached to a silly DND campaign where one of the main characters is an elf named after Mexican food. The taco elf made me feel things. Davenport.

[@hemangchauhan2864]

I'm glad you touch on games from time-to-time. Please do more of those. Like Hotline Miami :P

[@TheTygre]

I distinctly recall you talking in your Immortal video about the next artistic step of digital visual media being material that could ONLY be made digitally. The deconstruction of images through digital art the same way traditional art began to experiment with itself after the invention of photography. I guess it just never occurred to me that that way would be through video games!

[@limbeckk8632]

As always, extremely pretentious but very interesting, keeps me thinking after I'm done watching. You do good stuff bro, you've really excelled since the channel awesome days.

[@jonathans5498]

Also Car Boys. Which becomes positively haunting at times.

[@theoneandonlymichaelmccormick]

Toe to tip, this is an art.

[@thomasgarretson5837]

I woukd give up my right arm and soul to see you do an episode on Dungeons and Dragons.

[@gentlerat]

Coming to this after Sins, Cinema. I’m down for more analysis of internet specific genres from you.

[@Elusive_Reclusive]

Never stop making videos about video games. Never ☺️. Also, thanks, i’mma gunna go dive headfirst into monster factory now.

[@genericgorilla]

oh OH I've been meaning to get into making procedural and generative music. This speaks to me in so many levels, Kyle. Like, I feel personally pandered to. Thanks!

[@haphazardlark1502]

This is three years old and you may not still be interested in this, may have already seen this channel and liked it or not liked it, but on the tiiiiny off chance you’ll see this comment, check out the recommendation, and end up being as delighted as I was when I stumbled into it: the channel MycoLoco hooks like... electrode sensor doodads onto various minerals and/or fungi and has them basically play a synthesizer? There are some explanation videos, it’s over my head, but it seems to my uneducated eye like a really elaborate soundboard, but instead of a musician presssing buttons to combine all the sounds into neat digital music, it’s just whatever signals happen when you attach some sensors to a rock or a mushroom. TLDR MycoLoco is kind of like listening to a potato battery play a launchpad EDIT: fuck me I wrote all that and THEN realized you said you wanted to get into MAKING procedurally generated music. I missed the word “making” the first time around. I’m only leaving this embarrassing, too-long reply to a years-old comment up because worst case, I embarrass myself on the internet who cares, best case, you get a grin out of some weird shit you hadn’t stumbled across before

[@lukel1127]

Fuck me this video is great. Thank you for putting into words the magic of Monster Factory. I'm a film student (that just finished writing about Man with a Movie Camera, love the inclusion) and an avid game fan, and I think film and video games have a lot to learn from each other. Monster Factory and Car Boys are incredible cases of improvisational narrative that simply wouldn't work in any other form.

[@badlydrawnavocado2569]

Kyle talks about let's plays? I won't lie. I nerdgasmed.

[@crudlucasconsigliere4084]

Monster factory reminds me of OneyPlays foray into GTA5 with mods. I will never forget Motifa....

[@ninaavins4887]

I would *kill* for a video essay dissecting all the ideas behind "This looks racist for a race that does not exist".

[@EL-jq1sq]

I KNEW IIIIIT! I hope the guy with the raptor meme icon is as happy as I am! Because I am SO happy!

[@hiothezebra]

Dwarf Fortress is pretty ace for emergent narratives, often arising because of bugs.

[@eclipsedbadger]

Yay, a new video! Waking up made sense

[@lemeres2478]

The reason why film theory is decades behind videogame dialogues in discussing computer generated works is likely because of the constraints of the genre- film is made by a person who presents a completed product. Even if there are flaws (the dust on the lens), it is still a completed product- it cannot be altered very readily once it leaves the creator's hands. It doesn't have the ability to respond to the audience in real time. However, games are about a creator who makes a third party- the game code- that handles the creation on the spot based upon rules set by the creator. The code can handle (or awkwardly fail to handle) changes in real time, as the player continues to play the game. As such, the game is created to varying degrees as the player interacts with it, which leads to emergent narratives. The player can create a twisted face that grows even more twisted as it suffers the triggered changes of a new area- changes designed by the original creator that assumed a more constrained behavior (example- any facial animation done by any monster factory character). Additionally, the player can directly alter the third party to create new rules for the world (pizza dark souls, spawning a billion can sons), or simply create a starting point that is outside of the rules set by the creator (the mass effect face, any time they put the camera inside the character to see the half a ping pong eyes).