tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post7470115996399580855..comments2023-05-20T12:08:52.031+02:00Comments on In The Games Of Madness: Thoughts On Inside and Playable StoriesFrictional Gameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00278352641328669040noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-3279563097975411292016-07-22T10:17:09.427+02:002016-07-22T10:17:09.427+02:00Great article
I am not sure about downvoting shoot...Great article<br />I am not sure about downvoting shooting for narrative purposes.<br />I mean if the narrative designer has only shooting and linear level - then it's too dificult to make emergent narrative.<br />Good bad example for me - is Bioshock Infinite. They sunk with that boring shooting.<br />But... if shooting - is one of strategies for solving some "puzzles", then you can get much more experience.<br />For example good old Commandos or Thief. Sneak or fight.<br />System Shock 2 also had some proper mixture of those possibilites.<br />Or for example 4x-strategies. Besides battles theres is plenty of ways to get you to your purpose.<br />And both in steals-actions or TBS - combat ways not the easiest one (in some hard levels certainly :)<br />So, please don't give up shooting-mechanincs. It's a great challenge for level / narrative designer. But it can work and get gameplay more emergent.redmassacrehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04047574139657669342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-18111511603156787842016-07-22T08:15:04.815+02:002016-07-22T08:15:04.815+02:00Awesome article! Some game developers pay good mon...Awesome article! Some game developers pay good money for breakdowns like this on their games ;)<br />As was somewhat-mentioned above, I think the intro of the game not forming any real narrative or strong goals for the player/character get kind of glossed over when you are playing, then when you get to the <br />(SORT OF SPOILERS)<br />"part" with the "thing" that you pull the mind-control wires off of, you realize that... maybe you weren't controlling the boy at all? As a player, you simply ran towards this thing the whole time, risking your life, without ANY motivation to do so. You most likely didn't even question this as a player, until you stop and realize that you played into the "mind-control" theme and lead the boy into the "thing" at the end without showing any real free-will.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02807998766077401569noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-72524947390778829202016-07-20T21:07:47.423+02:002016-07-20T21:07:47.423+02:00Someone here played THE CAT LADY and the new DOWNF...Someone here played THE CAT LADY and the new DOWNFALL? Recently I finished THE VANISHING OF ETHAN CARTER and it was great, a little masterpiece, but it is not such sort of game you definitely must play. I think the same about THE WITCHER 3, which has an awesome world-design, but it doesn't really have a powerful vision like GOTHIC and it's more created for a modern group of players. You simply can't compare a DJANGO UNCHAINED with a legendary classic THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY.<br /><br />I think games should go a step backwards. Look at the old fantastic SILENT HILL series, the NEED FOR SPEED series and how they got ruined after allthe years. It's impossible that a big publisher would release such a game nowadays. Instead to make an organic and believable design they think a game must have tons of tutorials, info messages and tell the player what he has to do. The most important aspect for the immersion is that a game feels like something substancial, like something that really could exist and not just like a "video-game" created for fun.Googolplexnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-13996362902515978692016-07-20T20:40:22.833+02:002016-07-20T20:40:22.833+02:00> The crucial part is that the player doesn'...> The crucial part is that the player doesn't feel like they are pushed along a trail, the idea is that the player should feel as if they came up with it all on their own. They should feel as if they chose to act in a specific way themselves, even though it was exactly what the designer intended.<br /><br />This is *exactly* what I thought when I was playing SOMA!killyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06896473142672097499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-74634507657879391732016-07-20T20:22:35.201+02:002016-07-20T20:22:35.201+02:00Yeah I did see it. But I am wary of secret endings...Yeah I did see it. But I am wary of secret endings somehow being able to mend a "faulty" setup. (Note that Inside is not bad at this, just I felt it slightly lacking). For instance, just because you are doing an amnesia story that doesn't mean you can start it without providing any sort of motivation. Instead you can make it work in some other manner, like having a false or fragmented motivation at the start. For a game it is even more important as I as a player need to know what sort of person I am supposed by be inhabiting and why I am supposed to be doing all of this. Thomashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02945983378935089787noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-2748241071486264432016-07-20T15:45:45.512+02:002016-07-20T15:45:45.512+02:00Did you see the alternate ending? after retrieving...Did you see the alternate ending? after retrieving all the collectibles? I think it gives more clarity to the story as a whole and a 'motive.' It's also an interesting comment on 'gaming,' similar to what Bioshock did.mikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06436238982263660149noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-13492279896912572832016-07-19T20:54:06.439+02:002016-07-19T20:54:06.439+02:00I think FG are the masters of horror and they shou...I think FG are the masters of horror and they should continue this way. I hate first-person RPGs. For a horror/adventure game it's nice for the immersion, but a RPG must be third-person and fully translated. They need very good voice talents for all languages. I don't believe FG have enough experience to create a RPG. But they could get a lot inspirations from Gothic.<br /><br />Nevertheless I wish they would focus on the horror genre and I like their own engine. Cry and Unreal are just graphic bombs, but not for interactions/physics etc.Googolplexnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-32242857783639943182016-07-19T20:09:45.551+02:002016-07-19T20:09:45.551+02:00Would you like to make some other genres of games ...Would you like to make some other genres of games (like RPG) with your own unique approach ?<br /><br />Have you consider making some projects in Unreal engine 4 or Cryengine ?<br /><br />You've said in latest conference that SOMA was time constrained and budget constrained. Have you consider to crowdfund your project? <br />Best regardsDanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12211123128180124505noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-70346471367690682182016-07-19T15:41:32.552+02:002016-07-19T15:41:32.552+02:00Very informative article, Thomas!
Inside and Unrav...Very informative article, Thomas!<br />Inside and Unravel are on my list.<br /><br />When you like excellent narratives you should play the Gothic series. Rock Paper Shotgun wrote an article:<br /><br />https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2016/07/07/gothic-retrospective/<br /><br /><br />It's an old game and unfortunately there are some issues on modern systems, but here is a bundle of great fixes for the best experience:<br />http://www15.zippyshare.com/v/PrqitcC0/file.html<br /><br />password is: gothicGoogolplexnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-58429197713918781612016-07-18T23:00:03.983+02:002016-07-18T23:00:03.983+02:00Really interesting input. I did feel that Inside w...Really interesting input. I did feel that Inside was more than a "simple puzzler", but I couldn't really put my finger on why.<br /><br />Great stuff, as always!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15573429565006444982noreply@blogger.com