Interview MCA on Storytelling

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Tags: Chris Avellone; Obsidian Entertainment

<p>Chris Avellone talks about storytelling <a href="http://memoryisfiction.com/2011/07/13/chris-avellone-interview/" target="_blank">over at Memory is Fiction</a>.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>2.</strong><strong> How do you feel about the present state of storytelling in video games, both in terms of narrative maturity as well as how effectively writers and developers use the mediums&rsquo; unique properties?</strong></p>
<p><strong><br /></strong></p>
<p>I&rsquo;m increasingly happy with it. I feel that narrative design is a respected element in games today, and the voice cast and scripts coming out of games is beginning to rival those coming out of major Hollywood studios. It&rsquo;s been a fascinating thing to watch over the past 10 years, and I believe KOTOR1 lead the charge by having one of the first fully voice-acted role-playing games, so kudos to BioWare for making that happen.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Also, this is something that we strive for at Obsidian, but part of our narrative pre-production process is outlining the game&rsquo;s themes in advance and examining how those themes matter to the player. As an example, when we approached the Fallout: New Vegas DLCs (notably, Dead Money), one of our themes was clearly player greed and what it takes to combat human nature to achieve cooperation, even if it&rsquo;s against your will (the bomb collars). The main antagonist&rsquo;s frustrations in Dead Money are against human nature and what he needed to do to subvert human nature to reach his goals&hellip; it&rsquo;s fair to say that when he&rsquo;s venting at the player during the DLC, he&rsquo;s speaking with my perspective.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Spotted at: <a href="http://www.rpgwatch.com/#17685">RPGWatch</a></p>

 

[Radisshu]

 

[deus101]

I!

FUCKING!

HATE!

IT!




He's was being incredibly reasonable in his last oral emmisions then he starts go*DERP*


CONTENT! NOT EPICS! IN RPGS!!!

 

[curry]

I told you guys he's overrated.

 

[JaySn]

They want to believe, Curry.

Let them believe.

 

[Baron]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOC-hDULX1c

 

[Jools]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTfWOhDGifY

 

[Mastermind]

I’m increasingly happy with it. I feel that narrative design is a respected element in games today, and the voice cast and scripts coming out of games is beginning to rival those coming out of major Hollywood studios. It’s been a fascinating thing to watch over the past 10 years, and I believe KOTOR1 lead the charge by having one of the first fully voice-acted role-playing games, so kudos to BioWare for making that happen.

You people have no idea how much I'm enjoying this.

 

[racofer]

MCEMPEROR HAS BEEN CORRUPTED BY THE WARP DEMONS!

 

[JaySn]

If only the inspiration didn't come from the dregs of summer action movies.

Considering KOTOR was a console game, I'd think it hard to call it "one of the first fully voice acted" . . .

 

[DragoFireheart]

Everyone one of you bitching about what he said is a fucking retard.

 

[Kortalh]

If only the inspiration didn't come from the dregs of summer action movies.

Considering KOTOR was a console game, I'd think it hard to call it "one of the first fully voice acted" . . .

Yeah, I find it difficult to believe he never played any of the talky Adventure games of the 90s.

I mean, the talky version of Loom came out in what, 1991? And I'm sure there were other ones earlier -- though perhaps with not as great of voice acting.

I'm not sure Kotor's release 12 years later qualifies it to be "one of the first".

 

[torpid]

Well, storyfaggotry has always been linked to the decline. When RPGs become defined more by their ancillary elements like story and writing rather than actual RPG mechanics, you can do away with the RPG parts and as long as you have a slightly more involved story with some dialogue options and some customization, you still get to call it an RPG. That's the route Bioware took once they realized that their story formula could dispense with RPG gameplay, and it's worked out fine for them: make crappy action games, coat them in a story and a few choices and hey presto! An RPG. It's like McDonalds sandwiches: crap meat and bread assemblages which get their only taste from the very sweet sauces added to them.

 

[deus101]

Everyone one of you bitching about what he said is a fucking retard.

Everytime a dev goes on about storytelling its bad news.

That means Story > Gameplay.

Yes...THATS EXACTLY WHAT IT MEANS!

IO interactive confirmed that theory.

 

[Black_Willow]

 

[Mister Arkham]

Well, whatever else is said, I at least like his perspective on Dead Money. It didn't particularly occur to me when playing it, but Elijah was basically a crummy GM trying to forcibly railroad a group of unruly powergamers through his "awesome" heist plot. The good thing that comes out of a session like that, though, is that your average group of gamers will hate the idea of being forced to do the GM's bidding so much that they'll actively try to subvert the him and accidentally start doing some real roleplaying.

 

[Volourn]

MCA = KOTOR fanboy

 

[Mrowak]

I’m increasingly happy with it. I feel that narrative design is a respected element in games today, and the voice cast and scripts coming out of games is beginning to rival those coming out of major Hollywood studios. It’s been a fascinating thing to watch over the past 10 years, and I believe KOTOR1 lead the charge by having one of the first fully voice-acted role-playing games, so kudos to BioWare for making that happen.

You people have no idea how much I'm enjoying this.

You are too easy to please. If you get amused so much by such trivial, simple things it serves to prove you to you live a really sad, miserable and simplistic life.

On topic, so MCA is about to join Peter Molyneux and others? Such a great shame. But then again, after Alpha Protocol and Dungeon Sige 3 we saw it coming.

 

[JaySn]

Everytime a dev goes on about storytelling its bad news.

That means Story > Gameplay.

Yes...THATS EXACTLY WHAT IT MEANS!

IO interactive confirmed that theory.

I don't remember many action movies praised for the story, though. Perhaps a better way to look at it is that the focus on 'story' is an excuse to put less effort into the final work.

I don't understand why this seems to be the case, though. If anything, story and narrative elements should complement gameplay mechanics, not over-shadow or make them obsolete.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Everyone one of you bitching about what he said is a fucking retard.

This. What did you turds expect?

"YOU WANT AN EXAMPLE OF GOOD STORYTELLING? MY OWN WORK IS AN EXAMPLE OF GOOD STORYTELLING, I TELLS YA. ALSO, MY DICK IS HUGE"

 

[IronicNeurotic]

What is everyone raging about here?

He's just saying that narrative in games has gained more importance across the board and the storytelling (telling is the important word here. Meaning its not just text anymore).


That doesn't invalidate his other comments at all.


Codex derpness at its fullest.

 

[Xor]

You can't attribute everything MCA says that you disagree with as a dodge. I think he's being sincere here.

 

[JaySn]

You can't attribute everything MCA says that you disagree with as a dodge. I think he's being sincere here.

Deity preserve us . . . someone's taken his marbles away.

 

[Johannes]

While I really don't agree that the casting and scripts in games are any match for decent movies, I don't see what the fuss is about.

 

[J_C]

I don't see anything in that interview that should make anyone rage. You are all retards. But I'm a storyfag, so maybe I'm missing the point.