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"Ooooh! Look at that new game! It looks great, and the gameplay is mean to be excellent."
Really? So what do you do?
"Well, you’re a young hero who has to save a princess from an evil tyrant."
Marvellous! A developer spends millions of pounds on its latest genre-defining masterpiece (complete with a new graphics engine, realistic AI and the greatest level of interaction seen in a game before) and the best storyline they could come up with is "save the princess from the evil tyrant". Well that’s just great!
In some types of game, such clichéd plots are acceptable: kids games, deliberately corny games and licensed games are expected to have such plots. But when you have games like Metal Gear Solid 2 trying to make itself out to be a competitor to blockbuster films, you know the makers have lost the plot... literally.
The fact is that MGS2, and many other games, have the plotline of B-Rate movies. If they were films critics would heckle them. Don’t believe me? How’s this for a round up for the MGS2 plot:
"The cool as a cucumber character, Raiden, is on a mission to save the president who has been kidnapped along with the launch codes for America’s nuclear arsenal. It’s a race against time. But as the story progresses, things are not as they seem! In fact, a secret undercover organisation has been running the country for years, and the president is working with them. They have developed a weapon of mass-destruction that only you can stop! Even your friends must not be trusted! Etc...."
Now, as I think you’ll agree, the makers of MGS2 really were being a bit presumptuous to liken the game to a film. The fact is the matter is that almost every game that tries to be cinematic fails in one key area- the plot.
The mistake is not due to poor scriptwriting either- it’s due to the ethos of game design. Why should games- an interactive branching medium- try to emulate the plots of films- linear preset sequences of events- anyway? The whole point of games is that you are the one in charge- you should drive the story, and not the other way around. Preset plots and stories simply aren’t adequate for gaming anymore- the plot must be adaptable to your actions- something that film script writers need not worry about.
The problem in the industry is clear: after consoles equalled the specs of arcade games, developers turned from developing games that emulate arcades to games that emulate films. The focus has misplaced.
So, if there are any budding Miyamoto’s out there please don’t fall into the trap. Games are not films, nor shall they ever be. So don’t try to make them something they’re not!
Sonic
Really? So what do you do?
"Well, you’re a young hero who has to save a princess from an evil tyrant."
Marvellous! A developer spends millions of pounds on its latest genre-defining masterpiece (complete with a new graphics engine, realistic AI and the greatest level of interaction seen in a game before) and the best storyline they could come up with is "save the princess from the evil tyrant". Well that’s just great!
In some types of game, such clichéd plots are acceptable: kids games, deliberately corny games and licensed games are expected to have such plots. But when you have games like Metal Gear Solid 2 trying to make itself out to be a competitor to blockbuster films, you know the makers have lost the plot... literally.
The fact is that MGS2, and many other games, have the plotline of B-Rate movies. If they were films critics would heckle them. Don’t believe me? How’s this for a round up for the MGS2 plot:
"The cool as a cucumber character, Raiden, is on a mission to save the president who has been kidnapped along with the launch codes for America’s nuclear arsenal. It’s a race against time. But as the story progresses, things are not as they seem! In fact, a secret undercover organisation has been running the country for years, and the president is working with them. They have developed a weapon of mass-destruction that only you can stop! Even your friends must not be trusted! Etc...."
Now, as I think you’ll agree, the makers of MGS2 really were being a bit presumptuous to liken the game to a film. The fact is the matter is that almost every game that tries to be cinematic fails in one key area- the plot.
The mistake is not due to poor scriptwriting either- it’s due to the ethos of game design. Why should games- an interactive branching medium- try to emulate the plots of films- linear preset sequences of events- anyway? The whole point of games is that you are the one in charge- you should drive the story, and not the other way around. Preset plots and stories simply aren’t adequate for gaming anymore- the plot must be adaptable to your actions- something that film script writers need not worry about.
The problem in the industry is clear: after consoles equalled the specs of arcade games, developers turned from developing games that emulate arcades to games that emulate films. The focus has misplaced.
So, if there are any budding Miyamoto’s out there please don’t fall into the trap. Games are not films, nor shall they ever be. So don’t try to make them something they’re not!
Sonic
Page:
Actually I miss the days of the storyline being "Save the Princess!! Then you plough through hundreds of levels with the plot never changing just enormous amounts of fun to be had on each and every level.
I'm of course talking about Super Mario World.
I see what you're saying though, games are on the verge of becoming films. Shehmue for instance, for me was like a film, excellent graphics it just didn't feel like I was playing it more like watching some guy talk to all these people in an attempt to avenge his fathers death. Although that's a different concept to what your on about.
So budding Miyamoto's should learn a lesson from retro gaming, make a game not a film.
I'm of course talking about Super Mario World.
I see what you're saying though, games are on the verge of becoming films. Shehmue for instance, for me was like a film, excellent graphics it just didn't feel like I was playing it more like watching some guy talk to all these people in an attempt to avenge his fathers death. Although that's a different concept to what your on about.
So budding Miyamoto's should learn a lesson from retro gaming, make a game not a film.
"Ooooh! Look at that new game! It looks great, and the gameplay is mean to be excellent."
Really? So what do you do?
"Well, you’re a young hero who has to save a princess from an evil tyrant."
Marvellous! A developer spends millions of pounds on its latest genre-defining masterpiece (complete with a new graphics engine, realistic AI and the greatest level of interaction seen in a game before) and the best storyline they could come up with is "save the princess from the evil tyrant". Well that’s just great!
In some types of game, such clichéd plots are acceptable: kids games, deliberately corny games and licensed games are expected to have such plots. But when you have games like Metal Gear Solid 2 trying to make itself out to be a competitor to blockbuster films, you know the makers have lost the plot... literally.
The fact is that MGS2, and many other games, have the plotline of B-Rate movies. If they were films critics would heckle them. Don’t believe me? How’s this for a round up for the MGS2 plot:
"The cool as a cucumber character, Raiden, is on a mission to save the president who has been kidnapped along with the launch codes for America’s nuclear arsenal. It’s a race against time. But as the story progresses, things are not as they seem! In fact, a secret undercover organisation has been running the country for years, and the president is working with them. They have developed a weapon of mass-destruction that only you can stop! Even your friends must not be trusted! Etc...."
Now, as I think you’ll agree, the makers of MGS2 really were being a bit presumptuous to liken the game to a film. The fact is the matter is that almost every game that tries to be cinematic fails in one key area- the plot.
The mistake is not due to poor scriptwriting either- it’s due to the ethos of game design. Why should games- an interactive branching medium- try to emulate the plots of films- linear preset sequences of events- anyway? The whole point of games is that you are the one in charge- you should drive the story, and not the other way around. Preset plots and stories simply aren’t adequate for gaming anymore- the plot must be adaptable to your actions- something that film script writers need not worry about.
The problem in the industry is clear: after consoles equalled the specs of arcade games, developers turned from developing games that emulate arcades to games that emulate films. The focus has misplaced.
So, if there are any budding Miyamoto’s out there please don’t fall into the trap. Games are not films, nor shall they ever be. So don’t try to make them something they’re not!
Sonic
Really? So what do you do?
"Well, you’re a young hero who has to save a princess from an evil tyrant."
Marvellous! A developer spends millions of pounds on its latest genre-defining masterpiece (complete with a new graphics engine, realistic AI and the greatest level of interaction seen in a game before) and the best storyline they could come up with is "save the princess from the evil tyrant". Well that’s just great!
In some types of game, such clichéd plots are acceptable: kids games, deliberately corny games and licensed games are expected to have such plots. But when you have games like Metal Gear Solid 2 trying to make itself out to be a competitor to blockbuster films, you know the makers have lost the plot... literally.
The fact is that MGS2, and many other games, have the plotline of B-Rate movies. If they were films critics would heckle them. Don’t believe me? How’s this for a round up for the MGS2 plot:
"The cool as a cucumber character, Raiden, is on a mission to save the president who has been kidnapped along with the launch codes for America’s nuclear arsenal. It’s a race against time. But as the story progresses, things are not as they seem! In fact, a secret undercover organisation has been running the country for years, and the president is working with them. They have developed a weapon of mass-destruction that only you can stop! Even your friends must not be trusted! Etc...."
Now, as I think you’ll agree, the makers of MGS2 really were being a bit presumptuous to liken the game to a film. The fact is the matter is that almost every game that tries to be cinematic fails in one key area- the plot.
The mistake is not due to poor scriptwriting either- it’s due to the ethos of game design. Why should games- an interactive branching medium- try to emulate the plots of films- linear preset sequences of events- anyway? The whole point of games is that you are the one in charge- you should drive the story, and not the other way around. Preset plots and stories simply aren’t adequate for gaming anymore- the plot must be adaptable to your actions- something that film script writers need not worry about.
The problem in the industry is clear: after consoles equalled the specs of arcade games, developers turned from developing games that emulate arcades to games that emulate films. The focus has misplaced.
So, if there are any budding Miyamoto’s out there please don’t fall into the trap. Games are not films, nor shall they ever be. So don’t try to make them something they’re not!
Sonic
Page: