You know what's weirder then crying over fictional characters in a movie. Crying over a fictional universe in a game. I got to spend most of my holidays playing Life is Strange. A wonderful interactive fiction game (think Telltale games) that lets you control a 18 year old going to High School and the drama that follows...oh and you can travel through time.
It is amazing to see a game that can not only be fun; maybe not all the time but tries to tell an amazing story well keeping a person engaged with some interesting gameplay. My plan is not to talk about the story to much in Life is Strange but rather focus on the idea of story. The time spend playing Life is Strange had me kept going back to asking "why isn't this a movie or tv show" or "this would make such a good..etc". The story in the game tell teenage drama in maybe a corny way at times but probably better then I have seen it in a long time. Not only that it is able to wrap in a time travel element and not be goofy...well almost.
Story in games has not been the best if we are honest. I mean there aren't' outright bad all the time but I mean they also are not all that great either. Very few games if looking at the entire video game collection had told amazing stories. Some tell mostly generic fictional out of the world tales that maybe be fun, and a great excuse to blast zombies, raiders, or aliens but don't really tell a gritty story.
If we focus on just the AAA world of games I think only on one hand could I count all the game stories I am in love with. Number one being Red Dead Redemption. Here is another story that found it's legs and told probably one of the best western stories of all times in my opinion. It took the tropes of Westerns, played with them, and kept itself loose with the conventions as well. I have played that game probably three times now all the way through and will again just to visit the characters and that world. However if you took that game, turned into a movie would it do the same? I don't think so. Instead I think it would just be a great movie but the gameplay in Red Dead didn't really add anything to the story telling. Maybe it if you take in account the time it takes to actually get to the end of the game and the payoff as intertwined but that same emotional payoff could be done with a movie.
What Life is Strange does is it makes the gameplay important. Sure you could throw it into a movie, and a tv series but I think something would actually be lost not having player agency in the story. I don't just mean the hard choices (which only a game or maybe a choose your own adventure could allow) but the actual element of time travel becomes important. When you suddenly can't rewind time it freaks you out. When you start becoming aware that is awesome power to rewind time really can't save you, or people you love because choices still get made. These experiences are enhanced by gameplay elements because not only is the character feeling it, but the player as well will feel the loss of power or the realization the choices they make have lasting impressions.
The gaming industry, and not as a whole but a part of it should look at gaming as a way to enhance story telling. Take Assassins Creed or even a Call of Duty. Make it so that the gameplay itself can help a player become connected to the character. Suddenly in AC you can't climb because of a broken arm, a player can't either thus they feel the same restrictions. As well look as Call of Duty, you are used to killing 100 of enemies but then have repercussions to this so the player realizes each shot they have been firing was actually not fun but maybe the wrong decision.
Games are about having fun. I think fun is pushing an emotional states limits. Not always bad and not always good but it is having someone become connected to character or story and want to see it through but as well become connected to the story of the controls or gameplay to help create that connection.
I can't say I know exactly how all of this can be done, but I think the idea of striving for it is a good one.
It is amazing to see a game that can not only be fun; maybe not all the time but tries to tell an amazing story well keeping a person engaged with some interesting gameplay. My plan is not to talk about the story to much in Life is Strange but rather focus on the idea of story. The time spend playing Life is Strange had me kept going back to asking "why isn't this a movie or tv show" or "this would make such a good..etc". The story in the game tell teenage drama in maybe a corny way at times but probably better then I have seen it in a long time. Not only that it is able to wrap in a time travel element and not be goofy...well almost.
Story in games has not been the best if we are honest. I mean there aren't' outright bad all the time but I mean they also are not all that great either. Very few games if looking at the entire video game collection had told amazing stories. Some tell mostly generic fictional out of the world tales that maybe be fun, and a great excuse to blast zombies, raiders, or aliens but don't really tell a gritty story.
If we focus on just the AAA world of games I think only on one hand could I count all the game stories I am in love with. Number one being Red Dead Redemption. Here is another story that found it's legs and told probably one of the best western stories of all times in my opinion. It took the tropes of Westerns, played with them, and kept itself loose with the conventions as well. I have played that game probably three times now all the way through and will again just to visit the characters and that world. However if you took that game, turned into a movie would it do the same? I don't think so. Instead I think it would just be a great movie but the gameplay in Red Dead didn't really add anything to the story telling. Maybe it if you take in account the time it takes to actually get to the end of the game and the payoff as intertwined but that same emotional payoff could be done with a movie.
What Life is Strange does is it makes the gameplay important. Sure you could throw it into a movie, and a tv series but I think something would actually be lost not having player agency in the story. I don't just mean the hard choices (which only a game or maybe a choose your own adventure could allow) but the actual element of time travel becomes important. When you suddenly can't rewind time it freaks you out. When you start becoming aware that is awesome power to rewind time really can't save you, or people you love because choices still get made. These experiences are enhanced by gameplay elements because not only is the character feeling it, but the player as well will feel the loss of power or the realization the choices they make have lasting impressions.
The gaming industry, and not as a whole but a part of it should look at gaming as a way to enhance story telling. Take Assassins Creed or even a Call of Duty. Make it so that the gameplay itself can help a player become connected to the character. Suddenly in AC you can't climb because of a broken arm, a player can't either thus they feel the same restrictions. As well look as Call of Duty, you are used to killing 100 of enemies but then have repercussions to this so the player realizes each shot they have been firing was actually not fun but maybe the wrong decision.
Games are about having fun. I think fun is pushing an emotional states limits. Not always bad and not always good but it is having someone become connected to character or story and want to see it through but as well become connected to the story of the controls or gameplay to help create that connection.
I can't say I know exactly how all of this can be done, but I think the idea of striving for it is a good one.
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