MLMarkland
Arcane
MLMarkland, I'm curious about something that may be difficult to "get at".
Having just watched the film - and forgive me if this is obvious - I feel a major theme is the arbitrary, uncaring nature of the world. Things aren't always random - there are some things you can count on - but even the reliable things are irrational, e.g. Kilgore's invulnerability (and Willard's intuition of it), Roach's unerring instincts. As the film goes on, any sense of security Willard has erodes to nothing. Certainly, although he continues to pursue his mission with authority, there is almost no sense of power or control even at the beginning and by the end there is absolutely none. It never occurs to him to try to sneak into Kurtz's stronghold, or fight his way in. He submits immediately, unquestioningly, inevitably - as so, later, does Kurtz himself. At no time is there a sense of anyone imposing their will on the situation (with the awful exception, at the beginning, of LTC Kilgore). This is the opposite of a story of empowerment.
It strikes me that this disempowerment, so essential to the core of the film's horror, is outright antithetical to the nature of a video game. In a game, the player begins unsure of himself, not certain how the systems work, having to figure out (for example) enemy vision cones during stealth sections, which character stats are important for which actions, even how to get the most out of scripted dialogues, and so forth. As the player plays the game more, he feels more in control. Even as the levels add more enemies and bigger challenges, the player gets more comfortable and more confident that he can manipulate its systems to produce the desired results. This may be particularly true in an RPG as character growth gives the player more tools and abilities to control the situation. Things become less arbitrary as the player learns the game, and a good game then tests the player on what he's learned, granting a sense of accomplishment and closure.
Has the team considered this contradiction? Is it possible for a game to maintain the (in my opinion) central theme of helplessness from the film? If so, is it a good idea to make a game that takes away power from the player and risk being a "bad game"? On the other hand, if the player is given the power to impose his will, and tell the story how he likes, is the game then true to what makes the film so powerful?
This is a great analysis.
I believe focusing on the concepts that drive successful horror games is the answer.
When I first had the opportunity to speak with the Coppolas about this project just about everyone had pitched "Vietname war shooter."
Our team came in and said, "Hey we think it only works as a horror game and we just worked on Aliens so we've got some ideas."
There are design tropes of horror games that help with what you are talking about.
If anyone remembers how terrifying certain sounds can be in say Resident Evil ? with the chainsaw guys for example.
In a horror game it's the partial restriction of player agency that actually creates a lot of the tension.
Whether it's because you can only run for so long, or so far, or turn to aim at a natural speed, or your skills and gear make you more vulnerable to enemies even if they make you more dangerous attacking.
The restrictions we carefully apply to your ability to react to situations will have just as much impact on the gameplay being true to the movie as just about anything -- and that's one of the fundamental challenges of horror gameplay: the correct application of this idea in a non-frustrating manner.
The moment-to-moment gameplay is the more challenging part to make true to the experiences of Captain Willard -- but also you don't have to do it just like Willard did. You can carve your own path and be more active (and experience how the world and characters respond to that and discover how good a tactic that is).
With the narrative gameplay, we feel very confident in this area. These are some of the same themes we've worked with before (particularly on the Aliens RPG but also other games). I think there this sense of the war and modernity's true impact on the psyche is a huge part of the story in the game and your interactions with the characters through dialogue.