Help Tempy write an Essay - Stuff that reinforces story in games
-
Yeah, that's a good one. Had forgotten about that.legaldinho wrote:1) strangers wrath's second act is mirrored by a nearly wholesale gameplay shake up.
Spec Ops the Line is also worth another mention. It can be a neat idea for a game to force you into actions that you find questionable and then effectively blame you for it. -
legaldinho wrote:Unless you are a joyless, soulless hater of half life 2.
I feel like you might have had someone in mind when you typed this. Can't think who. -
Ok, I asked B to give some examples (I hardly remember anything if it's games, movies or music), this is what he came up with:
Journey: player speed is reduced during latter part of game
Limbo: tree shapes and mechanical leg foreshadow giant spider appearance
MGS (1?): Menu screens stop working and game 'reboots'
Journey: Player walks up to hill with 'gravestones', rtelling you about the players who've gone before you
ICO saving your game can only happen when both characters are on the couch
MGS: smoking takes away health, but improves aiming stability
Zelda 3: First venture in the dark world turns you into helpless rabbit 'by accident', emphasizing how dangerous this world really is
Shadow of the Colossus: The very mechanic of slaying the giants puts an emotional burden on the player -
MGS - Snake shoots on the release of a button, not when it's pressed.
Mirror's Edge - freedom (of movement) vs oppression.
Sleeping Dogs - The scoring system that rewards cop-like and triad-like behaviour reflects his split loyalties.
Spec Ops : The Line - maybe a bit outside what you're after but the story and gameplay are in opposition. It's basically not giving you any in-game choice calling you a cunt for doing what you do.
CoJ Gunslinger - narration feeds directly into the game, it's also kinda about myth, just like..
Dark Souls - everything, and I mean everything, serves a virtually unspoken story."..the pseudo-Left new style.." -
This is all mostly reinforcing ideas that I already had - which is good - but shows how limited the implementations of these ideas have been, which explains why there's fuck all academic written about the idea, as it's a fairly nebulous and slippery concept to hash out.
-
There are only a few people that are onto the idea. Most stories in games are a thread to hand a few setpieces on. They've got less in common with the mechanics than album covers have with the music."..the pseudo-Left new style.."
-
Clover studios understand how to convey story and strengthen character through gameplay mechanics. Two examples being viewtiful joe and okami.
In both games the appearance of your character as well as your abilities are affected when you run out of special powers, and the visual flourish when your powers are refreshed reinforces the notion that you're playing as a superhero or a god. -
Can't believe I missed out Brothers. For as much as pressing X to pay respects in CoD was wildly of the mark,in Brothers allowed the gameplay to strike an emotional punch that a cut-scene alone would have lacked.Spoiler: -
Metal gear 2 would be a good example no?
Lots in that game including the playing of hero of previous games solid snake thru the tanker chapter, then completely switching character and having snake be seen as the enemy (turns out its solidus) but also as the npc who helps you out from time to time.
The last of us also does something simular were you play as sarah at the start before being in a car crash and switching to joel who then carries sarah all the way to the most emotional scene in gaming (proboubly and more effecting if you have children yourself of the female variety)
The last of us also does a lot of relationship building with ellie after that.
She shoots a guy who nearly drowns you, they then argue about wether she should be armed multiple times, till joel tells her to cover him with a found rifle.
Theres loads of little moments like this throught the game. (her sharing the joke magazine with jada pinket smith a like character is another example, or her taking the toy robot his brother doesn't allow him to wich she later gives him and also places at his grave side if you go there.) -
Marathon: Durandal is real good for finding a diagetic explanation for pretty much all its game conceits. -
Show networks- die
- @CustomCosy
- Xbox
- Skerret
- PSN
- Skerret
- Steam
- Skerret
- Wii
- get tae
Send messageonzo u no nothin bout gamzSkerret's posting is ok to trip balls to and read just to experience the ambience but don't expect any content.
"I'm jealous of sucking major dick!"~ Kernowgaz -
I'm going to be unhelpful and say how interestieng the basic jumpman mechanic of Mario has evolved, because that's just what he does - jump on stuff, so they need to find new ways to adapt that to teh tech and make it fun. Nobody questions why he's so perversely happy to murder things in this way because that would be a mental thing to wonder. Bloody art students.
-
Enslaved.
Monkey's slave headset not only explains why he is tied to helping some muggy bird but also explains why he can see hud items, mines etc.
Am I doing it right? -
The sword in Transistor?I am a FREE. I am not MAN. A NUMBER. -
Games are rubbish at this. ICO's juxto of desolation and beauty made it, not Yorda.
‘What's she doing now, stupid woman?! Oi! Come and climb this ladder.’ - A Female Player
Its ending - because yes, player control - is probably the only thing that I'd call 'moving' in the whole of gaming. Intentionally so, at least. But it is a lovely game. -
I've said it years ago but it bears repeating here. But needing to hold the button to hold her hand reinforces that connection throughout the whole game
It's no coincidence that they put that button on a shoulder, it's to most closely replicate the action of gripping a hand, you are to all intents and purposes gripping the controller in a similar fashion
We all find ourselves gripping it a bit tighter at tense moments or combat segments, this is what helps create that bond between you the player and Yorda the character and makes you identify with Ico more"I spent years thinking Yorke was legit Downs-ish disabled and could only achieve lucidity through song" - Mr B -
Re: recent software you could go bananas with Undertale or Papers Please.
They're getting better at this shit, the makers of videogames. Usually the smaller ones. -
ooh Ooh!
On God of War 3 where you are in first person view holding some bloke's head. Then you press in both thumbsticks to press your thumbs into his eyes.
Same game, at the end of a tough battle against Zeus the game allows you to punch his face in repeatedly, infinitely.
Both things directly hook the player into the vicious brutality of the game. -
Sounds like the essay ticket.
-
Now your talking, starting to get into the only letter I ever sent the magazine, they did not send me a gameboy out whatever the prize was back then
in 2011 I wrote:Following a conversation about left and right handedness, the age old debate about user customisable controls came up. I was surprised at how many people thought it a good idea, do wanted to redress the balance.
Fully customisable control mapping? No way, bad idea. The developer decides how you interact with their vision. If a dev wants to let you change things around them fine. Vs fighters a good example where allowing full mapping works, but in many games it can encourage game breaking behaviour, either through busting immersion or allowing exploits. As much as one may claim to be an "honourable" gamer, the temptation to use save states when emulating is strong
We can quite rightly berate developers for implementing clunky or unwieldy controls, and along with other gameplay factors let that inform your buying decision. But giving the user the freedom to do the wrong thing is just as bad as doing it themselves. We blame Bethesda for buggy missions, never the player for doing things in the wrong order
If a expect developers to predict what the player will do and accommodate even the strangest actions and motivations, then we can't tie their hands by removing one of the biggest tools they have. The pad is the most direct communication between dev and player, don't let the player dictate that conversation
C Beard
Haha, they actually left the C Beard in as my sign off when they printed it"I spent years thinking Yorke was legit Downs-ish disabled and could only achieve lucidity through song" - Mr B -
I remember disagreeing with it. -
I don't think any of these examples help tempy, they're all things that reinforce the story that's already being told, they don't tell a story that isn't otherwise being drilled into you conventionally.
Maybe I'm wrong. -
An ese essay, ese?
-
Reinforcement in VR is presumably going to have to change somewhat. If you're gouging out eyes then that's what you're doing, vis on vis. Maybe not gouging out eyes will be the reinforcement.
-
Reinforce it by having the player travel for untold length across a barren yet beutifull place with only the light of the sword to guide them in the vague direction, making the feeling of empty loneliness more strong with every step of there horse companion, not knowing if there actions for what they feel guilty off are goi gro have the desired effect of awaking there loved one from there eternal slumber.
Im drunk 10p. Sorry.
S.o.t.c.
Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Categories
- All Discussions2,715
- Games1,879
- Off topic836