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General Discussion / Re: What makes a good plot
« on: June 10, 2010, 01:44:16 am »
Personally I think what Gil is talking about is a little to generic for my taste. Not to say it isn't a good approach or hasn't been done well.
But to contrast it I recall a game where you wake up in a morgue, to the surprise of those around you, (Can't recall what the game was called though) needles to say that was a pretty dramatic and memorable way to start a game. It also leaves a lot of questions, why where you in the morgue, did someone try and kill you? Why the hell weren't you still dead? In another game you had to begin by hiding a dead body, also leaving the player with a lot of questions that can be uncovered as the game progresses. Why am I hiding this body, did I kill this person? Why would I want to kill this person? Why don't I know anything up until this point? I think it's not a bad approach. Think of the way Lost was structured, they used this formula over and over (I would argue too much) so that there was always a question the viewer was left wanting answered.
I'm no expert on plots, but I don't suggest looking at the triple A games for clever story structure. They are very generic and tend to all follow the same kinds of formuala. That said finding a good plot to follow in an interactive game is fairly difficult.
I also have to say I usually feel a little insulted by the way triple A games go about forshadowing and such, it's usually so obvious what's about to happen. This being combined with interactivity is just frustrating; think how many times you have said to yourself, "Oh man, I know that guy's about to batray me, why the hell wont the game let me do anything about it." In a movie or book it just makes you feel like the character is a dumb ass, in a game it forces you to be that dumb ass.
But to contrast it I recall a game where you wake up in a morgue, to the surprise of those around you, (Can't recall what the game was called though) needles to say that was a pretty dramatic and memorable way to start a game. It also leaves a lot of questions, why where you in the morgue, did someone try and kill you? Why the hell weren't you still dead? In another game you had to begin by hiding a dead body, also leaving the player with a lot of questions that can be uncovered as the game progresses. Why am I hiding this body, did I kill this person? Why would I want to kill this person? Why don't I know anything up until this point? I think it's not a bad approach. Think of the way Lost was structured, they used this formula over and over (I would argue too much) so that there was always a question the viewer was left wanting answered.
I'm no expert on plots, but I don't suggest looking at the triple A games for clever story structure. They are very generic and tend to all follow the same kinds of formuala. That said finding a good plot to follow in an interactive game is fairly difficult.
I also have to say I usually feel a little insulted by the way triple A games go about forshadowing and such, it's usually so obvious what's about to happen. This being combined with interactivity is just frustrating; think how many times you have said to yourself, "Oh man, I know that guy's about to batray me, why the hell wont the game let me do anything about it." In a movie or book it just makes you feel like the character is a dumb ass, in a game it forces you to be that dumb ass.