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Cutscenes could be used as a reward for getting to the end of a level, however they could spoil the way some games suck you into the characters life (i.e. Oni ) by actually forcing you too see your character moving around with no input from you. Set-Pieces keep the realism of being YOU (the character you are playing) and also makes it tenser, 'the helicopter is crashing down on YOU, YOU have to dive out of the way' other then watching it from somewhere else. Which is the better way of showing that something dramatic is happening?
Well firstly, Set Pieces are a lot harder to do, but if done effectively in my opinion are better than cut scenes. If I wanted to see something like a cutscene, I'd watch a film. However, not everything looks that interesting from the first person, and cut-scenes still offer more in the way of reward to bookend a title, but there are few things more jarring than suddenly having control wrested from you mid killing frenzy so that someone can tell you where to find the next key. As an aside, has anyone here played a game called Strife? That was one of the first games to run with the setpiece ball - especially a massive assault on an enemy castle that took place around the middle.
But what about 3rd person games? Cutscenes as a change of pace by changing your perspective doesn't really work there. And, if anything, it breaks the experience up even more than it would in a FPS. Also, some fools make cut scenes unskippable. Then they make it so you have to watch through it every time you die because you need to go to the save point. Not mentioning any names. No. Well, actually, you can't skip cutscenes in Oni, but I'm not sure about that. However, I am sure about not skipping Max Payne cutscenes. I was pressing every button I could but I still couldn't skip through them. When replaying the game I found this most annoying.
Half-Life is a very good example of set-pieces being employed very well, but that doesn't mean that set-pieces will always be used so imaginatively. Cut-scenes can be used effectively, if the following points are adhered to:
- They must be skippable
- They must be short and to the point
- They must be absolutely essential for plot advancement
- They must not slow the pace of a game
- They must not be cheesy
There's nothing wrong with a cutscene at certain points in a game, i.e. at the end of a game "section" or at the end of the game itself. However, right in the middle of a level, you don't want to be interrupted by some fully-blown FMV (what IS wrong with that anyway?) sequence. Sometimes I wish more PC games would utilise FMV sequences. Recently, I was browsing through a PS2 solutions magazine (looking at it's DX walkthrough) when a few images in the Area 51 section caught my eye. They appeared to be stills from FMV sequences which must have replaced the in-game end sequences form the PC version. The one which looked good to me was the New Dark Age ending with one of the screenshots showing a "from space" view of all the lights on Earth going out as a result of the destruction of the Aquinis Hub. When I thought about it, that seemed like a much more appropriate way to show that ending than a simple shot of JC running for it. Well, I guess I'm just a sucker for epic motion picture style intermissions. After all, one of my favourite games of all time was more full of FMV sequences than could have been good for it. Not that that's a bad point.
In Shogo: Mobile Armour Division, it kicked out to a semi-cut-scene (using the game engine), and as I was idly twiddling with the mouse I reaslised that I was still controlling the the character, although around a fixed axis. I then realised I could still fire my guns - which was at a totally inappropriate time because I was still in my friendly base area, and was just listening to some old guy talking - and in doing so I set off some security robot beasts, who promptly killed me in the middle of this cut scene. Bizarre.
Cut scenes can be used for great effect at the end of levels/games - anyone remember the hilerious scenes at the end of each level set in Duke3D? Cut scenes could also be used to tell the story - aka Max Payne (I personally would have preferred them to the comic strip). But they ALWAYS have to be skippable. Set pieces are great for making you feel more involved in the game and should be used more. Just make sure the scripted events don't fail and leave you scatching your head wondering what you missed.
Thanks for reading,
Flux.
Well firstly, Set Pieces are a lot harder to do, but if done effectively in my opinion are better than cut scenes. If I wanted to see something like a cutscene, I'd watch a film. However, not everything looks that interesting from the first person, and cut-scenes still offer more in the way of reward to bookend a title, but there are few things more jarring than suddenly having control wrested from you mid killing frenzy so that someone can tell you where to find the next key. As an aside, has anyone here played a game called Strife? That was one of the first games to run with the setpiece ball - especially a massive assault on an enemy castle that took place around the middle.
But what about 3rd person games? Cutscenes as a change of pace by changing your perspective doesn't really work there. And, if anything, it breaks the experience up even more than it would in a FPS. Also, some fools make cut scenes unskippable. Then they make it so you have to watch through it every time you die because you need to go to the save point. Not mentioning any names. No. Well, actually, you can't skip cutscenes in Oni, but I'm not sure about that. However, I am sure about not skipping Max Payne cutscenes. I was pressing every button I could but I still couldn't skip through them. When replaying the game I found this most annoying.
Half-Life is a very good example of set-pieces being employed very well, but that doesn't mean that set-pieces will always be used so imaginatively. Cut-scenes can be used effectively, if the following points are adhered to:
- They must be skippable
- They must be short and to the point
- They must be absolutely essential for plot advancement
- They must not slow the pace of a game
- They must not be cheesy
There's nothing wrong with a cutscene at certain points in a game, i.e. at the end of a game "section" or at the end of the game itself. However, right in the middle of a level, you don't want to be interrupted by some fully-blown FMV (what IS wrong with that anyway?) sequence. Sometimes I wish more PC games would utilise FMV sequences. Recently, I was browsing through a PS2 solutions magazine (looking at it's DX walkthrough) when a few images in the Area 51 section caught my eye. They appeared to be stills from FMV sequences which must have replaced the in-game end sequences form the PC version. The one which looked good to me was the New Dark Age ending with one of the screenshots showing a "from space" view of all the lights on Earth going out as a result of the destruction of the Aquinis Hub. When I thought about it, that seemed like a much more appropriate way to show that ending than a simple shot of JC running for it. Well, I guess I'm just a sucker for epic motion picture style intermissions. After all, one of my favourite games of all time was more full of FMV sequences than could have been good for it. Not that that's a bad point.
In Shogo: Mobile Armour Division, it kicked out to a semi-cut-scene (using the game engine), and as I was idly twiddling with the mouse I reaslised that I was still controlling the the character, although around a fixed axis. I then realised I could still fire my guns - which was at a totally inappropriate time because I was still in my friendly base area, and was just listening to some old guy talking - and in doing so I set off some security robot beasts, who promptly killed me in the middle of this cut scene. Bizarre.
Cut scenes can be used for great effect at the end of levels/games - anyone remember the hilerious scenes at the end of each level set in Duke3D? Cut scenes could also be used to tell the story - aka Max Payne (I personally would have preferred them to the comic strip). But they ALWAYS have to be skippable. Set pieces are great for making you feel more involved in the game and should be used more. Just make sure the scripted events don't fail and leave you scatching your head wondering what you missed.
Thanks for reading,
Flux.
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Cutscenes could be used as a reward for getting to the end of a level, however they could spoil the way some games suck you into the characters life (i.e. Oni ) by actually forcing you too see your character moving around with no input from you. Set-Pieces keep the realism of being YOU (the character you are playing) and also makes it tenser, 'the helicopter is crashing down on YOU, YOU have to dive out of the way' other then watching it from somewhere else. Which is the better way of showing that something dramatic is happening?
Well firstly, Set Pieces are a lot harder to do, but if done effectively in my opinion are better than cut scenes. If I wanted to see something like a cutscene, I'd watch a film. However, not everything looks that interesting from the first person, and cut-scenes still offer more in the way of reward to bookend a title, but there are few things more jarring than suddenly having control wrested from you mid killing frenzy so that someone can tell you where to find the next key. As an aside, has anyone here played a game called Strife? That was one of the first games to run with the setpiece ball - especially a massive assault on an enemy castle that took place around the middle.
But what about 3rd person games? Cutscenes as a change of pace by changing your perspective doesn't really work there. And, if anything, it breaks the experience up even more than it would in a FPS. Also, some fools make cut scenes unskippable. Then they make it so you have to watch through it every time you die because you need to go to the save point. Not mentioning any names. No. Well, actually, you can't skip cutscenes in Oni, but I'm not sure about that. However, I am sure about not skipping Max Payne cutscenes. I was pressing every button I could but I still couldn't skip through them. When replaying the game I found this most annoying.
Half-Life is a very good example of set-pieces being employed very well, but that doesn't mean that set-pieces will always be used so imaginatively. Cut-scenes can be used effectively, if the following points are adhered to:
- They must be skippable
- They must be short and to the point
- They must be absolutely essential for plot advancement
- They must not slow the pace of a game
- They must not be cheesy
There's nothing wrong with a cutscene at certain points in a game, i.e. at the end of a game "section" or at the end of the game itself. However, right in the middle of a level, you don't want to be interrupted by some fully-blown FMV (what IS wrong with that anyway?) sequence. Sometimes I wish more PC games would utilise FMV sequences. Recently, I was browsing through a PS2 solutions magazine (looking at it's DX walkthrough) when a few images in the Area 51 section caught my eye. They appeared to be stills from FMV sequences which must have replaced the in-game end sequences form the PC version. The one which looked good to me was the New Dark Age ending with one of the screenshots showing a "from space" view of all the lights on Earth going out as a result of the destruction of the Aquinis Hub. When I thought about it, that seemed like a much more appropriate way to show that ending than a simple shot of JC running for it. Well, I guess I'm just a sucker for epic motion picture style intermissions. After all, one of my favourite games of all time was more full of FMV sequences than could have been good for it. Not that that's a bad point.
In Shogo: Mobile Armour Division, it kicked out to a semi-cut-scene (using the game engine), and as I was idly twiddling with the mouse I reaslised that I was still controlling the the character, although around a fixed axis. I then realised I could still fire my guns - which was at a totally inappropriate time because I was still in my friendly base area, and was just listening to some old guy talking - and in doing so I set off some security robot beasts, who promptly killed me in the middle of this cut scene. Bizarre.
Cut scenes can be used for great effect at the end of levels/games - anyone remember the hilerious scenes at the end of each level set in Duke3D? Cut scenes could also be used to tell the story - aka Max Payne (I personally would have preferred them to the comic strip). But they ALWAYS have to be skippable. Set pieces are great for making you feel more involved in the game and should be used more. Just make sure the scripted events don't fail and leave you scatching your head wondering what you missed.
Thanks for reading,
Flux.
Well firstly, Set Pieces are a lot harder to do, but if done effectively in my opinion are better than cut scenes. If I wanted to see something like a cutscene, I'd watch a film. However, not everything looks that interesting from the first person, and cut-scenes still offer more in the way of reward to bookend a title, but there are few things more jarring than suddenly having control wrested from you mid killing frenzy so that someone can tell you where to find the next key. As an aside, has anyone here played a game called Strife? That was one of the first games to run with the setpiece ball - especially a massive assault on an enemy castle that took place around the middle.
But what about 3rd person games? Cutscenes as a change of pace by changing your perspective doesn't really work there. And, if anything, it breaks the experience up even more than it would in a FPS. Also, some fools make cut scenes unskippable. Then they make it so you have to watch through it every time you die because you need to go to the save point. Not mentioning any names. No. Well, actually, you can't skip cutscenes in Oni, but I'm not sure about that. However, I am sure about not skipping Max Payne cutscenes. I was pressing every button I could but I still couldn't skip through them. When replaying the game I found this most annoying.
Half-Life is a very good example of set-pieces being employed very well, but that doesn't mean that set-pieces will always be used so imaginatively. Cut-scenes can be used effectively, if the following points are adhered to:
- They must be skippable
- They must be short and to the point
- They must be absolutely essential for plot advancement
- They must not slow the pace of a game
- They must not be cheesy
There's nothing wrong with a cutscene at certain points in a game, i.e. at the end of a game "section" or at the end of the game itself. However, right in the middle of a level, you don't want to be interrupted by some fully-blown FMV (what IS wrong with that anyway?) sequence. Sometimes I wish more PC games would utilise FMV sequences. Recently, I was browsing through a PS2 solutions magazine (looking at it's DX walkthrough) when a few images in the Area 51 section caught my eye. They appeared to be stills from FMV sequences which must have replaced the in-game end sequences form the PC version. The one which looked good to me was the New Dark Age ending with one of the screenshots showing a "from space" view of all the lights on Earth going out as a result of the destruction of the Aquinis Hub. When I thought about it, that seemed like a much more appropriate way to show that ending than a simple shot of JC running for it. Well, I guess I'm just a sucker for epic motion picture style intermissions. After all, one of my favourite games of all time was more full of FMV sequences than could have been good for it. Not that that's a bad point.
In Shogo: Mobile Armour Division, it kicked out to a semi-cut-scene (using the game engine), and as I was idly twiddling with the mouse I reaslised that I was still controlling the the character, although around a fixed axis. I then realised I could still fire my guns - which was at a totally inappropriate time because I was still in my friendly base area, and was just listening to some old guy talking - and in doing so I set off some security robot beasts, who promptly killed me in the middle of this cut scene. Bizarre.
Cut scenes can be used for great effect at the end of levels/games - anyone remember the hilerious scenes at the end of each level set in Duke3D? Cut scenes could also be used to tell the story - aka Max Payne (I personally would have preferred them to the comic strip). But they ALWAYS have to be skippable. Set pieces are great for making you feel more involved in the game and should be used more. Just make sure the scripted events don't fail and leave you scatching your head wondering what you missed.
Thanks for reading,
Flux.