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Everything is Possible - Storytelling in Games
Gamespot has a thoughtful and interesting piece up entitled Everything is Possible, where they interview several game designers with a strong storytelling background. The interviewees include Chris Avellone (Planescape: Torment), Hideo Kojima (Metal Gear), Ken Levine (System Shock 2), Tim Schafer (Grim Fandango), and Ragnar Tørnquist (The Longest Journey). These gaming luminaries discuss the finer points of creating a plot in an interactive universe, and it makes for a fantastic read. From the article: "Ken Levine: I'll never forget the first story I wrote in gaming. It was for a (eventually canceled) Star Trek: Voyager game. I wrote the opening cutscene, which included this gem: THE CAMERA ZOOMS IN ON JANEWAY...WE SEE A LOOK OF TERROR IN HER EYES AS IT REFLECTS THE INCOMING MISSILE The lead programmer pretty much laughed in my face. First of all, our characters were low-resolution bitmaps, with one fixed expression on their face. Their eyes were maybe 4x4 pixels each. The camera zooming in on that wouldn't have shown a performance; they would have shown a scattered mess of random pixels."
I like story in my games, especially in such context as KoTOR :D
My UID is prime... is yours?
I must say I've never played the original Max Payne, but the sequel was "A film noir love story" told via a brilliant combination of comic style screens and realtime sequences which added an extra depth to what is otherwise a shoot-em-up. Coupled with a great graphics and bullet-time engine it's one of my most rewarding games purchases to date.
I see Video Games as potentially being the ultimate storytelling platform. It takes all previous forms of storytelling and rolls them into one, then lets you participate. This is the number one reason I am interested in creating video games. It really does have a little bit of everything, cinematic (movie) elements, music, reading, and speech. Not only do you get to see the universe, it's characters, and events... You get to be part of it! I could probably ramble on for hours like this, but I guess I'll cut myself off here.
"A truly wise man realizes he knows nothing."
Knights of the Old Republic was the probably the most recent game with an excellent story.
My personal opinion is that the story and plot makes a bigger difference on whether I buy a game or not - and it's part of the reason why I don't find FPS games that great as the depth is lacking (yes, *even* *in* *Halflife* ). Likewise, Deus Ex was hailed as revolutionary as a modern FPS style game but with lots of depth and for once a story that wasn't original but was well told. The sequel was dumbed down bullshit as usual.
The demise of the adventure game has also paralleled the rise of stupidity-sells games like the EA games and so on. Perhaps the "creativity" and "originality" we all moan about from yesteryear is not that we are just old fogey's bitching - maybe it's the the story and effort to create plot (think back to Loom, Monkey Island) is forgotten these days.
Acting stupid isn't much fun when there's someone around who knows better
This will probably be modded redundant or something, but... great article. I had already read it because it was mentioned in the KOTOR2 forums (Avellone is KOTOR2's lead designer).
The only disappointment is Schaffer, who sounds bored, seems not to like his own games or gaming in general, and seems even surprised that people care about games' stories at all.
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There were a number of impressive scenes in Half Life 2 along with a reasonable storyline and good atmospherics. I was fairly engrossed. And yeah the cliffhanger sucked. Of course, I finished Doom 3 as well. BY the end I was so freaked out by it at the end that I immediately uninstalled it. Not going back to that place - no way nuh-uh.
Heh, probably because 7 people (including me) have commented in 2 hours. Can you hear the echo?
It is the same with games. Only now are we starting to truly see games that seek to work as artistic and storytelling devices. Even now, much of them are weak and not strong in an artistic sense or in a sense of narrative. We have begun to see narrative gems like Xenosaga, FFVII, KOTOR, HL2 and others. Soon perhaps we'll see games develop a sense of aesthetic too(the way a sense of beauty is evoked. there are many different ones, they stem from a philosphy of creation) .
I personally believe that at some point games will become an artistic genre like unto cinema or even opera. With art-direction, carefully written plots, and quality music. Perhaps the way a game plays will eventually reinforce the message or story it puts forth. Won' that be interesting.
Sounds like someone had a bad hire. Toss the guy out on the street, and get someone who understands the business.
--Mike--
Mafia. It's unfortunate that the game got mis-branded as "GTA in 1930's Chicago". Yes it has a free-roaming mode and cars, but the similarities end there. The story is engaging, the characters are believable, and the backdrop to the entire thing is just drop-dead gorgeous.
Some of the most cinematic gameplay i know of is Call of Duty. It is just like a movie. I cannot describe the experience the first time you come face to face with a German MG42. The Russian campaign is absolutely amazing. I still get goosebumps when playing through that campaign.
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive." - C.S. Lewis
Why wasn't Greg Kirkpatrick or Alexander Seropian in this interview???? Anyone that has played the Marathon series knows what I mean.
I liked this story, if only because it reminds me of drunken dreams I've had....
When you look at the state of the world, how can you not become a radical, liberal anarchist?
I just have to point this game out again. It's a real master piece (ok, it's a great game). But it never got much attention because the media slammed the first Ion Storm game into the group (this being the second game didn't do it much good).
It has a classical adventurous epic story that eventually will evolve in a battle of good vs. evil (as usual ofcourse).
It has to be posted 3 or 4 times again before hitting the front page and probably wont be on the front page until one of /. buddies posts the same story with a link to thier ad infested blog.
Strange? Coincidence? I think not.
Mainstream game companies (EA anybody?) suck - apart from the great Harry Potter series that they put out every month of course ;)
I'm not so enamored with what constitutes storytelling in today's games, since it all too often means a passive, cinematic experience more or less disconnected from the interactive part of the game. All that monster-bashing, sneaking, points-collecting, etc, etc, usually only has one effect on the storytelling elements - it unlocks them once you progress far enough.
Games need to grow up and find their own language instead of just copying their parent medium, film. I'm carefully positive about the prospects for this, despite the current stagnation and problems of the game industry.
A potential Voyager plot that didn't involve time travel, genocide or nazis? If she had been writing for Enterprise, maybe it wouldn't have been cancelled!