No it's just I've had this idea of having two seperate stories for an online game for a while now.

One with a story mode that follows the main characters and another that's all about your place in the world, the aftermath of their events.

It's not going to be any less well written and you can play both modes whenever but I just don't want a story driven game, because you don't get all of the perspectives and all of the freedom.

I don't know, maybe I'm just making work for myself.

Quote: Original post by Cpt Mothballs
Personally, I think you should think more and generalise less.

[lol]

Sun, you're not making any sense.

When you have a series of something that has different stories, there is some theme that links them together. When you watch the Outer Limits every week, you get a different story, but they all follow the basic rules and expectations of sci-fi and horror stories.

When you write a horror story that breaks all the rules of horror stories, you outsmart yourself, and write a bad horror story.

Quote: Original post by Cpt Mothballs
No it's just I've had this idea of having two separate stories for an online game for a while now.

One with a story mode that follows the main characters and another that's all about your place in the world, the aftermath of their events.

It's not going to be any less well written and you can play both modes whenever but I just don't want a story driven game, because you don't get all of the perspectives and all of the freedom.

I don't know, maybe I'm just making work for myself.

Oh, that's an interesting set-up, just did not occur to me at all when I read your earlier posts. Might be clearer if you called the 'you' character the main character and the others the 'hero group' or something. Hmm... I honestly have no idea how I'd present a story like that, interesting problem. Is the hero group's story in the past relative to the you character, or are they concurrent? If they were in the past you could treat the hero section more like visions, but if they were concurrent then have one of the heroes be related somehow to the you character - brothers where one went off to adventure and one stayed home to mind the farm, or the two members of a couple where one is an adventurer and one a civilian/merchant/whatever...

Quote: Original post by Daaark

Quote: Original post by Cpt Mothballs
Personally, I think you should think more and generalise less.

[lol]

Sun, you're not making any sense.

When you have a series of something that has different stories, there is some theme that links them together. When you watch the Outer Limits every week, you get a different story, but they all follow the basic rules and expectations of sci-fi and horror stories.

When you write a horror story that breaks all the rules of horror stories, you outsmart yourself, and write a bad horror story.

No one is talking about a series of different stories. These are parallel story-paths through the same game, where each player is expected to play only one or two. The setting is what they would have in common. So yes, they would all be fantasy, or all be post-apocalyptic or whatever, but one might be a romance and one might be about becoming a crime lord and one might be about solving a mystery; the main characters could be variously young, old, male, female, human, non-human, cheerful, sad, angry, cocky.

Quote: Original post by sunandshadow
No one is talking about a series of different stories.These are parallel story-paths through the same game, where each player is expected to play only one or two. The setting is what they would have in common. So yes, they would all be fantasy, or all be post-apocalyptic or whatever, but one might be a romance and one might be about becoming a crime lord and one might be about solving a mystery; the main characters could be variously young, old, male, female, human, non-human, cheerful, sad, angry, cocky.

I know a game like that..

I think Persona 4 is probably closer to what he described.

Quote: Original post by sunandshadow
I'm asking a pretty simple question: you personally as a player, what kind of game story do you dream of living?

I'll take a bite!

My favorite game of all time is Square's Xenogears (1998 for PS1). It's the only RPG I played more than once. I've played it through five times despite the fact that it has no replay value as the plot is linear. I'm not quite sure why I like it so much. Perhaps it's the complexity and mystic of the story. Perhaps it was how the game explored themes from philosophers such as Nietzsche and Jung. Combine that with nations at war, religion as a tool by the government to manipulate the masses, class/race division, reincarnation, the origin of life, genetic engineering, colonization, homage to 2001: A Space Odyssey, cannibalism, humans existing for the sole purpose of becoming the "flesh" of god, betrayal, heavy references to Judeo-Christian philosophy and biblical figures/events, romance transcending physical death, a lead with disassociate identity disorder (and constantly being talked about by everyone in power as if he was the messiah), and a villain who was hell bent on destroying the world so humans wouldn't have to suffer has a change of heart when seeing the love between Fei (the lead) and Elly, and you have a complex, thought provoking story, that leaves a strong resonance that lingers for days after putting down your controller.

Top it all off with big freaking robots that fight each other and you have the best game of all time! Plus some of the bit characters, like Hammer, and the Sea Captain, were very memorable.

I want to play more games like that. But when you look at the story in whole, it's still the stereotypical mysterious young man who is the 'one' who saves the world from impending destruction. Ten years later, I still don't know for sure why that story stands out to me. It can't be nostalgia because I started playing video/computer game a decade before that, with dozens of NES/SNES RPG's under my belt before it (plus Final Fantasy 7 on the PS1). Maybe it was the presentation. Or maybe it was just the simple fact that no game before it or even after it (that I know of) had that much "depth" to it via themes about human existence and religion.

I personally believe such a story of such massive scope would be impracticable, if not impossible, to do with interactive fiction. But perhaps a more scaled down version could be done, assuming you can successfully carry a unifying theme across the generated events of the game world.

Games for writers... I think that that is the aspect we are all forgetting.

Personally, I do not want a plot that makes me happy, I don't want characters that are likable, and I do not want things to turn out well. If I can find a game, or general piece of fiction, with well written characters that I hate, who don't do what they should, who are acting for their reasons instead of anybody else, then I will be sold.

The main thing that I see from the perspective of a writer, is too much pandering towards the 'average' anyone. Thus, what I would see as a 'game for writers' is one that does no pandering whatsoever. The 'average' person would throw down their controller if they won a game, simply to watch their character lose, but that is almost the point, isn't it? If you are able to create strong emotions within the gamer, whatever those emotions may be, by using strong characters and negative events, don't give the 'average' gamer a second thought. If you are making a game for writers, make it a game for writers.

Everybody can appreciate good storytelling. That only writers can appreciate a well told story is a load of bunk.

True, most people can appreciate a good tale, just as most people can appreciate a good hamburger. But things are different from the other side.

To continue the cooking example, if I decide to eat out, I make sure to find food that I cannot make myself. Once I find such said food, chances are, I will then try to make it. Once I succeed, my understanding of this food will be better, and thus when I eat it, my experience will be different.

The point is, insiders have a different palette. Whether it be cooking, writing, painting, construction, extreme yodeling, or any other creative form. Thus, if your goal is to target these insiders, you would have to aim with their palette in mind.