Week Eigth - Squares And Dots, Realistic Dragons And Aliens

So story telling in games; is it really all that necessary, does it make the game all that much better, or is it just extra padding to make a game sound better. Mike said he’s not looking for a definitive answer, but I don’t see how you could ever have a ‘correct’ answer to this, it all depends on what kind of game and how the game is going to play out. If it’s an arcade game then it’s not really going to need a gripping story line, if any at all. If you take space invaders for example, the story line is aliens come to earth and attack, you much then defend and save the day. Enough said and done because when you’re playing the game your only concern is stopping the top shapes form hitting the bottom shapes, you don’t need to even need to know that bit of story to enjoy the game. Whereas a game such as Zelda, which is meant to be a epic rpg, it really does need a good attention-grabbing story to get you immersed into the game. I’ve played games such as Zelda before and just completely forgot about where I am because I’m that into to the story. It’s pretty similar to film really, you’ve got your films that tell an amazing story and really get you into the atmosphere and feeling of the film, and then pure action packed fun to watch films. I suppose the really good films are a mix of this where there’s a well thought out plot and characters, but also has the drama and big events.

Zelda - Ocarina Of Time!

At the end of it a lot of it comes down to opinion, some people like to just pick up a game and play without having to worry too much about what’s going on, where as there’s the opposite where you have a gripping story line and play out a sequence of events.

Story telling also involves the characters, if a concept for a character is thought up it is often the way to think up a whole back story for the character. I know for some of the previous character projects we have had I’ve just sat there thinking about there entire back story, and although it may not be completely relevant and will probable bore people, it actually helps with the creation of the character, it gives it justification and therefore a purpose for the character to be there.

Okay as usual while I’ve wrote this I’ve come to realise a few things, I now in fact think all games probable should have to some extent and story line, even if it as simple at space invaders, I think it just helps justify to the player the point of the game and why certain event s are happening, again I think it comes down to personal opinion, I personally like my games to have huge epic story lines, this will in turn mean a professional writer is needed to get the best story, but I can happily play arcade games which are just fun to play. I suppose I’m the same with films, I like epic well thought out story lines such as Star Wars, Back To The Future, but I also like fun filled films that are just damn good fun and exciting to watch, such as Die Hard (although the Die Hard’s have pretty good story lines too).

Die Hard 4.0 - Live Free Or Die Hard!

So yeah no real answer there but I think I’ve realised why this topic is very debateable, problem is I think I’m for both sides which is why this post might not read all that well.

http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20050707/chandler_01.shtml - I actually found this after I’d type this post, but it’s an interesting read, I especially like the part about older games with dots, and how when you see a cool box art of a wizard, dragon or alien, you think of these squares and dots of being realistic dragons and aliens. However a lot of it I do disagree with. I wont go into great depths as this post is long enough as it is, but the part about cut scenes and how he says he think’s they take away the gamers interactive experience, I disagree and think if anything make story telling in games more real and gets you more involved into the characters. Also there is this idea that people play game differently and especially with free roaming games where you can achieve goals in a number of different ways, but essentially games are just a series of events where the player activates trigger points to get further along in the story, and I know that’s a bad way of looking at games but when designing a game that’s how it’s looked at, I suppose as games are evolving they are trying to break away from this, but mostly games just put a cover over the trigger points to make your think that you made your own story in the game when in fact your just a puppet who’s told to press A B to get across the road.

Anyway that’s my bogging rage over, I’d like to go on more but as I’ve said before this is getting far too long now so I’ll stop, maybe come back to it one day, but for now I’ll leave you waiting for the next random dribblings.

Dungeons And Dragons!