On the day of January 3, 1971 an article by Pier Paolo Pasolini appeared entitled football “is” a language with his poets and prosers. “Football game is a ‘signs’ system; That is, it is a language, albeit non -verbal »wrote ppp. It is a language of which the minimum unit is not the phoneme but the “Podema”, that is “a man who uses his feet to kick a ball”.
The Podemi combine through passages and shots to form the “football words” that are further combined to form “a speech, regulated by real syntactic standards”, the game.
Born within the courses of the Game Center of New York University just as a project on the game of football as a language, indeed even as a universal language, the video game devout Over the years it has become much more. Tale of the popular football culture, Autoftion, documentary on the Ecuador of the early 2000s and meditation on the act of remembering. In 2001 the National Men’s Men’s Football team was surprisingly in a position to be able to qualify for the first time at the subsequent FIFA World Championship, the one that would have been held in 2002 in South Korea and Japan. Ecuador, already one of the poorest countries of Latin America, from the late 90s crossed a serious economic and political crisis. The aggressive neoliberal policies of President Sixto Durán-Ballén and his deputy Alberto Dahik and an economy strongly linked to oil and agricultural products had made the country vulnerable to the financial crises that had affected Asia, Russia and Brazil in previous years and the difficult climatic conditions related to the phenomenon of El Niño of 1997-1998.
The collapse of the banking system, the inflation and devaluation of the local currency, the Sucre led in 2000 to the adoption of the dollar as a national currency. In the same year there was a coup attempt. It is the ecuador of misery and small desperate crime staged in the film Rats, mice, thief (1999), The work that made Ecuadorian cinema arrive at the Venice International Film Festival and which was directed by Sebastián Cordero and produced by Isabel Dávalos. That is, from the father and mother of Julián Cordero, writer and game designer of Despelote (the film is visible for free online, in high resolution and subtitles in English, on the Vimeo channel of Sebastián Cordero). The possible qualification for the World Cup then became a dream of revenge for the Ecuador, told in despelote literally through the eyes of a child. While the screens of houses and shops in the capital Quito show the games with which the Ecuador would then actually qualify for the World Cup, the protagonist takes advantage of any possible opportunity for freedom to play football.
It is a game as “game” is the small space between the elements of a mechanism, and here the mechanism is the adult world with its rules and times, and also with its professional or semi-professional football, so different from this unregulated and clumsy football. A kick of children who pass a elusive ball in the school courtyard at the interval and on the street while waiting for the parents engaged in their affairs. A kick of children who break down bottles and then use them instead of the ball when it is confiscated by an annoyed adult. We play football even when we are at home, thanks to video games, in a tribute to Kick Off by Dino Dini. The main character is a partially remembered and partly reconstructed and invented version of Cordero Child, and the audiovisual system of the video game underlines this dimension of recovery of a memory not only individual but collective. Characters and details are designed by the artist Sebastián Valbuena with clear black lines, without colors, and move in two -color settings made from photos and three -dimensional scans. The dialogues we hear were improvised by Ecuadorian people, including Cordero’s parents, to reconstruct possible conversations of the time.
And, towards the end, devout It also looks towards himself, and tells his process and the physical spaces that he has transformed and reworked into virtual spaces to explore through the language of football.
devout of Cordero, Valbuena and Panic is available for Windows, Console PlayStation and Xbox Series S and X.
Key Themes and Insights from devout
To better understand the multifaceted nature of devout,here’s a table summarizing key elements:
| Aspect | Description | Importance |
| :———————— | :———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— | :———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— |
| Pasolini’s Football as Language | The game draws on Pasolini’s concept of football as a non-verbal language,wiht players (podemi) forming “words” and “speech” through their actions. | Provides a philosophical framework for understanding football as a form of interaction and cultural expression. |
| ecuadorian Context | Set against the backdrop of Ecuador’s economic and political turmoil in the late 90s and early 2000s, coinciding with the national team’s surprising World Cup qualification. | highlights the unifying power of football during times of hardship and national crisis. It explores how football becomes a symbol of hope and resilience for a nation. |
| Childhood Perspective | The game uses the eyes of a child to narrate the experience, blending personal memories with collective history. The children in the film use various objects as a ball to show resourcefulness and love for the game. | Emphasizes the innocence and joy of the sport, contrasting it with the complexities of the adult world. |
| Video Game as Medium | devout leverages the video game format to reconstruct memories and explore the physical spaces that have been transformed into virtual spaces, paying tribute to Kick Off. A tribute to Kick by Dino Dini. | Demonstrates the potential of video games as a medium for storytelling, exploring themes of memory, identity, and cultural heritage. This explores the rich history of football video games, much like the “ultimate sports video games” mentioned in the Operation Sports forum [[1]]. |
| Visual Style | distinctive two-color settings and clear black lines, evoking a sense of nostalgia and capturing the essence of the time. | The visual style enhances the emotional impact of the game, connecting the player to the memories and experiences depicted. |
| Collaborative Effort | Developed by Cordero, Valbuena, and Panic, with improvised dialogues from Ecuadorian people to reconstruct the time. | Showcases the importance of collaboration and community in creating works of art that are both personal and universally relatable.|
FAQ on devout
Here’s a frequently asked questions section to explore devout :
Q: What is devout about?
A: devout is a video game that uses football as a central theme to explore memory, culture, and identity, inspired by Pier Paolo Pasolini’s view of football as a language. the game focuses on the Ecuadorian context, the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification, and the emotional connection to the sport.
Q: What platform can gameplay take place on?
A: The video game is available to play on Windows, PlayStation, and Xbox Series S and X.
Q: Who developed devout?
A: devout was developed by Cordero, Valbuena, and Panic, with contributions from the Cordero family and other Ecuadorian citizens in the game.
Q: What inspired the game’s unique visual style?
A: The game features a distinctive two-color palette and clear, precise lines, aiming to evoke a sense of nostalgia and reflect the personal and collective memories depicted in the story.
Q: How does devout relate to the broader realm of video games?
A: The game illustrates the potential of the video game format as a rich medium for storytelling and art expression, comparable to other sports video games. The game explores the role of sports video games in connecting fans, as is demonstrated in the Operation Sports forums [[1]].
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