1. What does the term avant garde mean?

Literally the term means ‘advanced guard’ or ‘Vanguard’.  These terms were used to define the group or individual leading a movement. This could mean any movement for example you could be a vanguard of fashion as equally as you could be a vanguard of medical research. ‘Avant garde’ however has generally been used when referring to the artistic movement of the mid to late 1800s mainly to describe something innovative and unique within the art form. In the broadest sense possible I would say Avant garde means to be at the forefront of something regardless of what that something may be.

Fig 1 (n.d.), English oxford living dictionary

Fig 2 (n.d.), Collins French-English dictionary

Reference

Procter A. (2017) Design_101

Fig 1: (n.d.), English oxford living dictionary, Oxford university press, available at: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/avant-garde

Fig 2: (n.d.), Collins French-English dictionary, HarperCollins Publishers, Available at: https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/french-english/avant-garde

2.Is it still possible to be truly ‘avant garde’? And if so provide game examples.

I think it is very possible to be truly ‘avant garde’ following the definition of it being “New and experimental ideas and methods in art, music, or literature.” (n.d.), English oxford living dictionary. In the games industry there are always developers experimenting with new and more powerful technology. An example of this is Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and Middle-earth: shadow of war both by Monolith Productions. Both games use a system developed by Monolith known as the ‘Nemesis system’.  Simply put it creates unique characters based on a random selection from various lists. The system fits perfectly into the definition of being “new and experimental” and therefore I would consider it to be ‘avant garde’

Reference

(n.d.), English oxford living dictionary, Oxford university press, available at: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/avant-garde

(2017), Nemesis system, IGN, available at:

http://uk.ign.com/wikis/shadow-of-war/Nemesis_System