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Game story theory
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 Re: Game story theory
Posted by Finger on Wed May 30th at 3:55am 2007

*actually*

Each medium has it's own method of story telling. I agree with many that Half-life hit upon a certain potential, possibly the essence of interactive story telling - utter immersion in the world. Movies have a phrase "Don't tell it, show it". Games should have a phrase "Don't show it, do it".

One thing that people need to understand, and this goes for all forms of story-telling. You have to leave room for the observer to inject his or her own imagination, and also some space for personal exploration. A connection made on your own, is twice as powerful as a connection made for you. I think Halflife2 did this brilliantly - there are alot of details in the world that are there for the observer, but you have to pay attention. There's a certain level of maturity there that I appreciate.





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 Re: Game story theory
Posted by reaper47 on Wed May 30th at 1:48pm 2007

? quote:
Movies have a phrase "Don't tell it, show it". Games should have a phrase "Don't show it, do it".


Nice one, Finger!


Crono, you're taking everything so literally. Don't you see I don't really care about the exact statistics or word definition?

There's something wrong with the kind of borderline realism in games today, something that has to be overcome, and maybe it has nothing to do with "realism" (in the literal sense) at all. Maybe it's just that the additional polygons are used badly by the character designers, with smooth curves where there should be a hard edge, new details they don't know how to animate properly yet, etc., etc. With fewer polygons you can edit every detail manually, make sure it's perfectly aligned and the proportions fit. With a million polygons this becomes more difficult.

That's what I mean.

Modern game graphics too often get carried away by details and loose sight of the big picture. And the result often looks weird and less natural than the simpler models of past times. This mostly shows in animation which is often too slow or overacted.

With modern game characters I often feel like they're "pretending to be real". Almost "arrogant". That may sound obscure, but I can't help feeling this way.

PS: I think it's difficult to apply the Uncanny Valley to things that aren't animated, but with almost everything that has an ultimate goal, there is this short period before perfection that mostly turns out to be the very uncomfortable. I guess you can apply that to art as well.


Why snark works.



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 Re: Game story theory
Posted by Yak_Fighter on Wed May 30th at 5:49pm 2007

? quoting aaron_da_killa
Thaks for the suggestion reaper 47. Any others before I make the thread.

Anyway, the closest game I have ever seen to real-life is actrully Half-life 2. Most of the textures where photos and well it looks really realistc. Even the people and the damage and, the levels even the physics is pretty life like. But its NOT the best game imo. Nor is it the game with the best story line imo. I'm off to play H A L O 2, if you catch my drift.

S T O P P O S T I N G, if you catch my drift.

Oh and unrelated: Deus Ex's story and quality took a dive off a steep cliff after NYC ended. By the time you get to Hong Kong the level design that showed all its strengths in NY shows all its weaknesses, where it was once freeform and allowed for multiple strategies but became no matter the obstacle you face there's always a lockpick and a vent about five feet away. Plus there's those lame as hell rocket launcher troops in France that make combat boring as s**t since you are forced to use stealth + dragon's tooth or end up a smear on the pavement. And the story turns into nonsensical gobbledegook and I just stopped caring. There's only so many obvious 'twists' and conspiracies within conspiracies within conspiracies before you just go whatever. Gunther is cool though.





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 Re: Game story theory
Posted by Crono on Wed May 30th at 7:02pm 2007

Heh.

Reaper, stop using terms that don't mean what you want them to mean. If I didn't take things the way people said them I'd be crazy ... since that's how most crazy and possibly emotionally challenged people behave.

In other words, if the term "uncanny valley" doesn't mean what you want it to mean, then don't use it. Describe what you mean instead or at least, define how you interpret the meaning of what you're talking about, otherwise anyone talking to you has no frame of reference.

Maybe you should just define stuff before continuing? What exactly do you mean by "Uncanny Valley"? "So real it looks fake"? "Disturbing"? What? And what do you mean by "inanimate objects"? I know what all these things mean, but obviously I'm not sure how you're using them, as you've pointed out.


Blame it on Microsoft, God does.



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 Re: Game story theory
Posted by Finger on Thu May 31st at 12:00am 2007

Just saw this article on the front page of Gamasutra.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/1436/uncanny_ai_artificial_.php





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 Re: Game story theory
Posted by reaper47 on Fri Jun 1st at 6:58pm 2007

Crono, I can't help you, sorry. I think it's obvious that you can adjust the Uncanny Valley, as a concept, to almost everything that tries to be real. Even if that is not what the word was invented for in the 1970ies.

I don't know why it bothers you so much, either. Maybe I should just stop replying, ignore the patronizing, and move on. Because, obviously, arguing with you is like explaining the smell of rosebuds to a HAL 9000 supercomputer. I give up. I can't do that. I usually respect your knowledge and input on things but this is going nowhere.


Why snark works.



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 Re: Game story theory
Posted by Crono on Fri Jun 1st at 8:05pm 2007

It doesn't "bother" me you just didn't clarify how you were using it, so when I was referring to the term it meant something different than when you referred to it and that made confusion. That's really all I was talking about. If it looks more obscure or, die hard? than that, ignore it, that's not how it was meant.

I do agree that there is the possibility of art (in whatever form) looking "so real" that it looses all hints of realism. I just didn't, personally, label that idea as "The Uncanny Valley".


Blame it on Microsoft, God does.



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 Re: Game story theory
Posted by Le Chief on Sat Jun 2nd at 11:33am 2007

? quoting yak_fighter
S T O P P O S T I N G, if you catch my drift.

ummmm....... . No.

Anyway I got past the bit I was stuck on, didn't realise you could bash open some doors! I'm finnaly up to Hong Kong right now, and I just got some sowrd, but i've stopped playing it for now. Redawn needs to be finished.

Ha ha very funny admins. Some one has put a snark there. I've had red boxes, weird blue font, weird font size and now this.






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