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It's too different...

DarkMage139 · 2000-09-07T23:00:34

I'm sure all of you (at least the sane ones ) agree that the thing that separates games from other forms of entertainment is interactivity. You can watch a movie, but you can't change the storyline. You can read a book, but you can't do anything about it (unless it's one of those "Choose Your Own Adventure" types). So if it's so different from other mediums, how are you going to write up a story for it? Obviously the linear storyline (which even FF7 suffers from) isn't going to be so great. My solution? A few years ago, when I was into writing short stories, I was always to lazy to write a document showing how the story would progress. So I thought "What if I just start having things happen and let the story evolve as each character came to certain points. Then I'll think of a solution to the character's problems." I never actually tried that in a short story, as in the end I just moved on to game development (or actually, Teach Yourself C in 24 hours ). So in short, what I'm proposing is that we set different events and NPCs all over the place, with their own goals and ambitions. The player will have to move on in the world, and find out for himself what's going on. He can change the story by his actions, sort of like an MMORPG with NPCs instead of players (NPCs are people too! ). This may not work for all types of genres (Tetris and SimCity), but it certainly would work for RPGs... and RTS (what if StarCraft did it this way?). Comments anyone? Is this a great idea or is it just another fit of insanity brought on by reading Landfish posts ()? If you think of a better way of writing up stories, then post them! - DarkMage139 ++++++++++++++++ "Shut up and give me the freakin code" -unknown "Ask and you will be shot" -snes16bit "Not again!" -SHilbert (upon being assimilated) "Nazrix is cool." - Nazrix "You've only seen the beginning" -The Dark Lord of RPGs Edited by - DarkMage139 on 9/6/00 1:48:12 PM

Game Design and Theory Game Design

Started by DarkMage139 September 06, 2000 01:45 PM

21 comments, last by DarkMage139 23 years, 10 months ago

Nazrix

307

September 07, 2000 02:47 PM

quote: Original post by Selkrank
Of course, this would be hard to do and require huge amounts of writing, but that''s what Landfish wants, isn''t it?

-Jussi

Yeah, you''d think that Landfish would like that, but he''s not too crazy about it. Although, his argument (I think) is basically that you can''t have a cohesive story if there''s a bunch of relatively unrelated events.

Personally, if he is right, and doing something like this would sacrifice a cohesive story, then that''s okay with me. I think if you realize the limits of the method you''re using for the design and account for it, you can make it work. If you make a completely linear story, that''s okay, but you must realize that you''re leaving out the interactivity side. If you''re okay w/ that, then go for it. It works both ways.

It''s funny, when I propsed this, Landfish ripped me apart, but he''s not saying anything much this time

j/k...I rather enjoyed being ripped apart...it was quite beneficial.

"NPC's are people too!" --dwarfsoft

"`Nazrix is cool.' --Nazrix" --Darkmage

Need help? Well, go FAQ yourself. "Just don't look at the hole." -- Unspoken_Magi

Landfish

288

September 07, 2000 03:03 PM

It''s a very fine line we tread, between story and game. Where does interactivity stop helping and start hurting?

Go read my new thread. I''m sick of all these arguements.

======"The unexamined life is not worth living."-Socrates"Question everything. Especially Landfish."-Matt

Paul Cunningham

122

September 07, 2000 11:00 PM

I''m just waiting for DarkMage139 to return

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