Hi Frank,
Regarding casual or not: I agree with you to dismiss this definition in our heads. An artist shall be free of any constraints. This is a good approach. But the world outside, the game magazines and web reporters still will put it into a drawer and categorize as they learned it.
Your world is indeed small, if it only extends to game magazines and web reporters. None of these groups actually counts as a consumer.
We really should not care what "Dorky, live in mom and dads basement, web game reviewers", think. Yes, I have an opinion on this....
There are some wonderful games being sold at the iPhone store, most of which would be classifed as casual by some game blogging asshole. Funny, I have yet to see the word casual used much if at all in regards to iPhone games...
To me I think Guitar Hero is a casual game, it could easily be done by a small team and small budget. Nobody refers to Guitar Hero as a casual game. That's because marketing can convince lap dog gamers, that its more than a casual game....
Go forth, build with your tools, make some kick ass games, sell them everywhere. Create, thats all that matters....
There was a saying, a while back, popular with us "Punk Rock" guys, it said, "F**K Art, Let's Dance". That's when Punk rock was under a simular assualt from the media, and trying to categorize it as something. It's music, dumb ass, all music is art, all games are art. It's that simple....
Ken
