what do you think of a game where no matter what you do, something happens. like you are attacked or someone is kidnapped at some point. is it always frustrating or correct if done properly? sara. http://www.amiganr1.com

Thats like SeaDogs
the pirates game

it depends on what type of game it is... in many genres this is called "storyline"...

You mean like the door shocks you and the toilet paper always breaks off as half a square, you step in a water leak in the kitchen (the second time there's a live wire in it), trip down the stairs, etc.

Hmm.. you could increase your skills as you go... Bob goes to work by riding down the armrail, hopping through the coat rack and out the window...



Edited by - Waverider on March 1, 2002 4:51:00 PM

He may have even been refering to an unavoidable event in the game... something that is necessary for the plot to continue therefore you are unable to avert it. That is horribly linear.

Dave Mark
Intrinsic Algorithm Development
"Reducing the world to mathematical equations!"

It depends. I mean, games with storylines are STORIES. And every story has a plot. And every plot is a series of events that happen. The events that happen are what make or break the story. I don't know if giving the player many options necesarrily helps story. How good would the FFVII plot be if Aeris didn't die? Even if some things have to happen, they can be cool. And I think if Square then made it possible for you to avoid letting Aeris die and split the story into the one where she died and the one where she didn't, they'd have to do twice as much story design. And since they're on a development schedule, they can't just keep working on the story. I mean, if they spent all that time writing two stories, when would they have time to make Knights of the Round look so sweet?

Edited by - THE Omega on March 1, 2002 5:05:19 PM

yes, i mean things like that. i think that in story driven games it is ok to do it sometimes.

you have free non linear areas to do things and then you reach a point where something happens that drives the story forward.
no matter what you do the guy will always kidnapp the princess.

then you move in the next "sphere" as i call them and continue playing.

http://www.amiganr1.com

quote: Original post by THE Omega
I mean, if they spent all that time writing two stories, when would they have time to make Knights of the Round look so sweet?

Isn''t story more important than graphics?



---------------------------------
"It''s groin-grabbingly transcendent!" - Mr. Gamble, my teacher, speaking of his C++ AP class

isnt gameplay more important than story?

http://www.amiganr1.com

quote: Original post by THE Omega
I mean, games with storylines are STORIES. And every story has a plot. And every plot is a series of events that happen. The events that happen are what make or break the story....

This was the basis of a number of fairly detailed threads on the concept of "narrative interpolation", where the game doesn''t have any fixed "story" per se, but instead connects story "nodes" and user actions to form a coherent storyline - sorta like Bezier curves.

The problem is that highly developed narratives are not inherently interactive, and vice versa. To advance the level of interaction with plot and process, the traditional "sequential narrative" paradigm has to be abandoned.

quote: I mean, if they spent all that time writing two stories, when would they have time to make Knights of the Round look so sweet?

Actually, if they did it right they''d have more time and more dynamic stories.

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Thanks to Kylotan for the idea!