Have you guys checked out the Clive Barker interview? It seems that at least one person in the professional world is trying to make games have legitimate narration. His brief consolidated definition of story was that it changes the person experiencing the story, not that a game should include story only somehow make massive homicides somewhat more meaningful but actually to change the reader. How beautiful is that? At least there's someone out there who has the right idea. It just took someone with such a high regard in the area of writing to get them to pay attention. I sure hope the game he's helping with sells well. It could be a real step in the right direction. "All you touch and all you see is all your life will ever be --Pink Floyd Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur. Need help? Well, go FAQ yourself. Click here to see my current project. Edited by - Nazrix on 12/16/00 2:50:39 PM

How could I forget Frogger? The symbolic reference of us all "crossing the street of life" w/ the oncoming dangers of traffic was brilliant.


"All you touch and all you see is all your life will ever be --Pink Floyd
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur.
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I caught that interview, and I was going to mention something about it here since I''m a mild fan of Barker''s novels. (I''d probably be more of a fan if I had some money to buy more of his books.)

My only reservation is the whole first-person shooter aspect. It''s suicide, in my opinion. Most people who buy shooters aren''t doing it to trudge through plot, and those who do will not be satisfied with all the pointless shooting.

We''ll just have to wait and see.

Tom,
yeah, I have been a fan of Clive''s as well. I didn''t play Half Life for all that long, but most of it''s popularity was because they tried to include some story, wasn''t it? Isn''t Deus Ex fairly story based? I haven''t played it yet, so I don''t know.

It seems like the industry is supporting the inclusion of story in FPS.


"All you touch and all you see is all your life will ever be --Pink Floyd
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur.
Need help? Well, go FAQ yourself.

Click here to see my current project.

I guess it depends on your personal views. Half-life was definitely a full-blown shooter, but the inclusion of some dramatic story elements really added to the depth. This is, it provided a sense of purpose rather than the typical "I''ll just blow up everything I see" mood of the Quake series.

I haven''t played Deus Ex either, but I''d like to. I can tell you that Giants is a gold medal winner in my book. It''s basically MDK with cut scenes and a hilarious story. If I had any money, I''d go out and buy it in a second.

Anyway, back to my point...

If you can create a character with whom I''d like to sympathize (e.g., Princess Garnet of FFIX), then you''re well on your way to making a great story. Now all you have to do is throw that sympathetic character into some tragic situations, and I''ll start getting emotional about it. And that''s enough to make me want to kill things.

It''s certainly possible for Barker to achieve what he''s striving toward, but he''s doing it on thin ice. He''s got the skill, but it''ll take a lot more than that to overcome the genre. The reason I say this is because the teaser shots all showed a shooter, and nothing of an interesting plot.