Exploring Traditional Art and Culture in Modern Computer Games

One of the main difficulties that computer game designers face is finding engaging content for their games. In this paper, we explore the possibility of exploring tradition art and culture as a possible source of inspiration for the actual content of modern computer games. We also consider computer games as a medium for promoting culture and arts, and therefore being considered as an art form itself. To establish why computer games can be considered art, we take into account the major theories of art in terms of historical, institutional, aesthetic, representational and expressive definitions. We also present the computer games that we have developed and show how these can be used to exhibit the culture and art of a country. The first game is Tuk-tuk (auto rickshaw) based on Thailand’s popular mode of transportation. It is essentially a taxi simulation game where the player has to pick up passengers and bring them to their desired location. In the game the tradition architecture of Bangkok’s structures is shown, passengers wear Thai traditional costumes and Thai music is played in the background. The second game is "O An Quan" (game of squares), a traditional board game played with stones in Vietnam. It is similar to Malaysia’s "Congkak" and the Philippines' "Sungka".