Metro said:
Now granted I didn't watch the video but I have a feeling what they're talking about for the future is arguably less interactive where you just push a couple of buttons every so often and have the game guide you through a CGI-like movie for the duration.
Okay, now that I've actually watched the video I posted, here are some snippets. To me it doesn't look like they're talking about the UO kind of interactive storytelling, but judge for yourself.
(It's a rough transcript, not exact quotes. If there are any mistakes here, blame my bad English.)
The premise is, interactive storytelling has
"become something of a long-lost art in the last couple of decades. But suddenly a new chapter is being written - videogame makers are rediscovering the power of prose. Let's examine where the virtual storytelling's tale began."
Richard Garriott, "Founder: Origin and Portalarium":
"At the very beginning it didn't exist. Ultima 4 was one of the first true attempts at in-depth storytelling in games, where the gameplay was not only about leveling-up and beating the next monster, but also about an in-depth interaction with the story. That carried on into other fantasy RPGs."
Bob Bates, "Co-Founder, Legend Ent.":
"There was a moment when gaming changed my life." [That was the moment when he first played Zork.] "Imagination and writing could meet in gameplay."
Corey May, "Writer, Assassin's Creed II":
"King's Quest I -- I fell in love and became a rabid Sierra fanboy. ... The mechanics were fairly simple, and so the story was kind of "elevated"."
Jane Jensen, "Creator, Gabriel Knight":
"Back in the day PCs were much slower and rarer, so it was kind of "nerds" who had them in their homes. It kind of got subsumed by the action crowd when PCs became fast enough. So [those nerds] remained out there like hungry baby birds asking for things and I gave them that. Now we see that within the casual gaming space there's a new demographic growing."
Being a nerd is good for you, apparently.
Corey May:
"In the early 90s there was an increasing interest in graphics. And so you had many games that were focused on creating things from visual perspective, but not as interested in interesting characters or interesting stories. There wasn't as much recognition at the time that context was important. ... A lot of the japanese RPGs ... they kind of opened the door for a lot of the 3rd person games, the action-adventures that became the next wave."
So jRPGs and graphics whores are indeed to blame, huh?
Charles Cecil, "Co-Founder, Revolution":
"What happened when Playstation came out was 3D, and the publishers were obsessed with 3D. ... And in many ways the publishers were out of touch with the audience."
3D is teh evil. :twisted:
Richard Garriott:
"Three or four years ago a number of the Action RPGs with the heavy story thing began to show up again, in many ways in a much more sophisticated ways than the way I invented it in the middle Ultimas. But still rarely with the elegance of a book or a movie. I don’t think we’ve yet mastered the techniques of true interactive storytelling. And I mean that not just in dialogue, not just in cutscenes, but really in the entire experience unfolding and how you emotionally become engaged in what's going on."
I'm pretty sure Lord British means Fallot 3 and *gasp* Oblivion here.
And OMG, "emotionally engaged".
Corey May:
"I'll start with everyone's favourite, Uncharted 2, and what they did apart from the brilliant writing and interaction in general -- they've managed to merge gameplay and narrative. So it's not that often that you stop just to watch a cutscene; a lot of times you're participating in playing as the story is being told.
Bioshock has some really good things. They made the environment, the city of Rupture a character. ... We can continue to play through the game and hear the story being told. ... Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age: building relationships with interesting personalities."
"In the era of HD, isn't it strange to see the resurgence of storytelling?"
Bob Bates:
"Stories are how we as humans explain the world. You know, when we see a sequence of events happen, even if those events are not interconnected we will invent connections that just make sense out of what happens. It's not surprising that the storytelling is back. I don't know if it ever left, it's just that we're not very good at it still.
Yeah, more games like Heavy Rain, and we're good.
Jane Jensen:
"It's like comic books or rap ... it's an art form of the people. ... I think interactivity can be as profound and entertaining an experience as any that we have, including film and books. It doesn't have to be about being childish ... it can also be profound and meaningful."
Like in ... where?
Surely you don't mean "Grey Matter" when you say "profound", right?
Steve Meretzky, "Game Designer":
"In movies and other visual media the storytelling rule is don't tell, show. In a game, the rule is, don't show, play. Tell the story through playing."
Yeah, "play" as in "gameplay", not as in "cutscenes", goddammit.
Corey May:
"There's room for all kinds of narrative experience. I don't think they all have to be AAA big budget titles. For example, Braid ..."
Yeah, Braid sure is better than Assassin's Creed II, Mr. May.
Bob Bates:
"We still haven't resolved some of the fundamental issues of storytelling -- the issue of giving the player agency, which is a fancy way of saying, letting the player do what he wants to do vs. having the player do what the character he's playing for example might do. Say, if you're playing a kind and gentle person and that's the nature of the character, and then you give the player the choice to kill a kitten, where does that leave you as the storyteller? You're saying, "This is a kind and gentle person who kills kittens." And that can be difficult."
A king and gentle person who kills kittens? Well, that's not a problem: just be sure to spare a few coins to the local beggar, and your karma is back to normal in no time.
Well, I dunno, but it's Lord British, yay!
