I’ve been going for a very specific art style for Gentrification, or rather trying to translate it from 2D static to 3D in motion, and I wanted to take a moment to explain what Corporate Memphis is and why I’m trying to mimic it.
To be quick about it, Corporate Memphis is the soulless art style that you usually see in modern tech products, and more and more coupled with any brand targeted at Millennials.
It’s the bastard child of Facebook's Alegria art style that was developed to not specifically represent anyone and ends up slightly alienating everyone. It’s full of color and movement and geared to make flat, happy, comforting scenes. Because it is so good at being friendly and comforting, it has been adopted as the public face of an enormous number of corporate entities. Since their corporations are not always the kind, friendly, warm, and fuzzy beings they try to portray themselves as it can be a little bit like a serial killer wearing a clown mask.
I started thinking about this game during the 2020 economic shake-up. My city had been trying to attract tech companies and workers for years but wasn’t overly successful before remote working became a thing. Instantly, housing prices all around the city began to skyrocket. I’d read for years about the ratcheting housing markets in San Francisco and the Bay Area also due primarily to tech companies, and I know neither the housing crisis in California nor the one in my own city is solely caused by tech bros, but it’s hard to ignore someone pouring gas on a fire especially when they’re wearing a clown mask and telling you how friendly they are.
This is why I’m trying to translate Corporate Memphis for Gentrification. The game is about a problem that they uniquely exacerbate. So, I want to wear their clown mask while explaining it. I want to use their sanitized, wiggly, overly positive paint brush to show the societal woes that they so often both cause and ignore.
Anyway, that’s my time. If you want to hear more about this game, join the Discord here or follow the Kickstarter here. If you want to read more about gentrification and money-crushing people, check out The Chaos Machine by Max Fisher, Winners Take All by Anand Giridharadas, and Fulfillment by Alec MacGillis. They’re all equal parts fascinating and depressing.
Thanks,
-Andrew
Dope!
Thanks