I think back to games like “Baldur’s Gate II” and “Planescape: Torment” as the epitome of gaming narratives. The lack of photorealistic graphics and voice acting allowed developers to create non-linear experiences with literary exposition and protagonists born entirely out of the imagination of the player.
“Age of Decadence,” an intriguing offering from the small and independent staff at Iron Tower Studio, promises to be an RPG in that traditional sense.
“Age of Decadence” is turn-based and isometric with a well-developed character creation system and an emphasis on player-driven plot. The game immediately brings to mind classics like “Temple of Elemental Evil” and the “Baldur’s Gate” series, and is set in a post-apocalyptic fantasy world torn apart by magic.The game boasts around 100 total quests, including no MMORPG-like delivery or hitlist missions, and over 20 large areas.
“Overall, dialogues and choices are the main aspect of the game and the main attraction,” said lead designer and writer Vince D. Weller in an interview at Gnome’s Lair.
“We have seven different endings and only two involve mortal combat,” Weller continued. “You’ll be able to talk your way in and out of trouble, make allies and enemies (there are no default good and bad guys), and handle quests in non-combat ways using dialogues and text adventure elements.”
Continue reading ‘PREVIEW: ‘Age of Decadence’ Harkens Back to RPG Classics’
Two panels discussed the importance and state of storytelling in video games at this week’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. The first covered the place of story in the developing medium of games, and the second looked at examples of good storytelling in games.
The Future of Story in Game Design
A panel Thursday discussed the future of story in video game development, reported Gamasutra. Deborah Todd led the panel, which included Denis Dyack of Silicon Knights and Saber 3D’s Matthew Karch, as well as Tim Willits from iD Software and Matt Costello from Polar Productions.
“I think story should serve the gameplay, and not the other way,” said Karch. “In the shooter genre, which I’m in, I don’t think anyone really cares about the story. I don’t think in some genres it’s especially important.” Karch’s team recently released “Timeshift.”
“In 5 to 10 years I don’t think there’s going to be a shooter genre. It’s going to be more literary,” argued Dyack. “A shooter would just be ‘action’.”
Dyack said story will become the dominant element in game design. “Games are the eighth art form: the glue is interactivity, and that aspect is something that makes our industry unique and there’s a huge misconception at this industry is that gameplay is everything. These people are going to be mistaken,” he said. “And as this industry matures content and story, as it did in the 30s and 40s with cinema, will become dominant.”
Continue reading ‘GDC: Panels Discuss Story in Game Design’
Gamasutra has a feature on 20 of the best open world games, an unquestionably popular genre with games like the Elder Scrolls and Grand Theft Auto series in its ranks and one with an important approach to story.
Too often does story have a tacked-on feel in these games. In the Metroid and Castlevania games, you fight and explore your way to the boss, be it an alien or vampire. Most fantasy-themed game pit you against some evil overlord, hellspawned or otherwise, and his army of minions. The most ridiculous example of ridiculous plot comes from Blaster Master, in which your frog escapes and you have to find it. This isn’t the rule with open games, but there are few exceptions.
Open world games truly are one of the best places to exercise storylines. Not only can a good story serve as a loose guide through an otherwise daunting world (such as in the Baldur’s Gate series), but a good non-linear story gives background and depth to an otherwise large, liberated and tragically one-dimensional world.
Finding such a title is unfortunately rare, and the games are usually riddled with cliches. Grand Theft Auto’s tales come straight out of gangster flicks. The Gamasutra article mentions terms like “darkness” and “corruption,” “lathered liberally” over games like Metroid Prime 2 and 3.
It’s possible that this is inevitable. Open world games today, especially ones with the scope of Oblivion, require large teams and larger sums of cash, and exploring an unconventional world is a risky move. It’s interesting to compare the originality of setting in Morrowind–with its mushroom towns, terraced stone cities, tribal natives, and strange gods–to the more generic Medieval-fantasy one of Oblivion.
At this year’s Austin Game Developers Conference, Matt Costello of Polar Productions addressed the need for story and gameplay to work in concert, Gamasutra reports. Costello used his experience writing for Doom 3 and the upcoming games Rage and Pirates of the Caribbean 3 to show how the plot can shape the game.
“Add the parameters from the beginning of the session — something at stake, something dangerous,” said Costello. “It changes the tenor. It can be a dangerous and exciting puzzle. Think of an interaction that fits that world, and then think of storytelling parameters from story and books and movies.”
Pressure from the plot is an influential aspect of almost any game, whether you’re pushed into rushing forward to save the princess or stop the villain. Even in simple shooting games, shooting alien invaders becomes that much more pressing when mankind’s survival is at stake.
The plot in these situations adds something to the gameplay, making it a necessary and pointed goal rather than an arbitrary task to be methodically completed. Far too often are they developed separately and one becomes an excuse for the other.
Interestingly, Costello said that player interaction in games is only an illusion: “If you think you’ve impacted things, you’ve impacted things. The illusion of interactivity is what you want to deliver.”
Gamers regularly make choices when playing a game. But what if those decisions were truly important? What if they changed the future of the plot?
An article in the most recent issue of The Escapist looks at how games in multi-media franchises treat “canon” — the official position on plot and characters which is necessary to ensure continuity in series like Star Wars that span films, shows, books, graphic novels and games. That is, you delivered 100 pizzas in the Spider-Man game, but is that the Sam Raimi-approved number of pizzas delivered by Spider-Man?
This may seem like the realm of nerds and Star Trek enthusiasts, but the changing relationship between canon and video game tie-ins raises an interesting question: What if the player’s actions and choices tangible repercussions in movies, games, and books to follow? What if the player could influence a franchise in a way that readers and film and television audiences cannot?
Chris Dahlen’s Escapist article, titled “The Open Source Canon,” looks specifically at The Matrix Online, a tie-in to the Matrix films with an interesting catch. Troy Hewitt, a writer and community event manager for the game, said in 2005, “Our intention is that players who play a really big role, or make a key decision, become part of the Matrix canon, and they become part of the story.”
In other words, The Matrix Online’s player-driven events and their conclusions are part of the official canon. This includes everything from small quests to major plot events given to the community to play out. In 2005, one of these events resulted in the official death of Morpheus, demonstrating the magnitude of the story decisions players are allowed to make.
Continue reading ‘Protagonist or Pawn: Canon in Video Game Tie-Ins’