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Well, good ones anyway.
Right, lets make a start on this, I haven't read a good book from start to finish, ever. I've spent my life playing video games and thinking that I could get as good a narrative from games as I could from Holywood movies, or even from books themselves. However, recently, something strange happened.
I started reading Lord Of The Rings, mainly because of the number of people berrating the film for not being accurate enough to the books. Fair enough I thought, it's time to run the test of the three big formats of education for todays youth. Yes, before I get castrated from some angry thirty-something with kids that school is the be all and end all of education, your wrong, and I'll write a post to kiddies tomorrow explaining my views on education, look for it about the same time tomorrow in the Life forum.
Well, anyway, most of us will have seen Lord of the Rings at the film, and yes it is spectacularly amazing. The sort of film that makes any budding 3D/CG artist have nightmares because their latest 3D model looks no where near the standard required of an actaul professional product. In it's own right the film is very good, it has drama, it has suspense, and it has plenty of swords and sorcery. You just get the feeling that something bigger and better should be driving the film from one set-piece trap to the next, just somewhere hiding under the surface is a compelling narrative just waiting to brek out and describe the scene in all it's utmost glory.
If anyone owns the DVD and have watched the special features, especially the documentaries where some of the actors claim that the sets in the film are everything they imagined, and even more, then they are blighted by holywood, or have a severe lack of imagination. You se the imagination cannot be curbed by boundaries, it just cannot be dictated by budgets, deadlines or physical locations. The imagination can create anything the person so wishes to invisage. The book has much, much more detail regarding the narrative, and yes, for the non-reading holywood (soon to be Nintendo) generation, you just need to realise that your brain is a powerful thing.
Ideas, thoughts and amazing feelings race through your head when your reading a book. You attach more to the characters, because the characters are portrayed by you, not Elijah Wood, Frodo is in your head, he looks like you think he looks, and he sounds like you think he should sound. When he's scared, he's only as scared as you need him to be, he's just as inquisitive as you need him to be, and he's just as intelligent as you would have him be. Yes, the book pushes the story along, it gives you the setting, the scenario and the context, but a good book lets you imagine the threat and the level of danger, something a visual representation just can't.
This is where games take us to the next holwood level. Games make you think, but not on the same level as books. Like films, they give you all the visual stimuli, they don't leave anything to the imagination. Games make you think about simple problem solving, or at best they tax the physical responses and hand-eye coordination of an individual, but they still will never match a good book in terms of driving the imagination, and this is where budding games creators should take note. You will not be able to come up with original ideas for making a game, simply from watching films and games, those are other people's dreams and ideas.
To be truely original, you must develop the imagination, taking pointers and inspiration from captivating authors.
Right, lets make a start on this, I haven't read a good book from start to finish, ever. I've spent my life playing video games and thinking that I could get as good a narrative from games as I could from Holywood movies, or even from books themselves. However, recently, something strange happened.
I started reading Lord Of The Rings, mainly because of the number of people berrating the film for not being accurate enough to the books. Fair enough I thought, it's time to run the test of the three big formats of education for todays youth. Yes, before I get castrated from some angry thirty-something with kids that school is the be all and end all of education, your wrong, and I'll write a post to kiddies tomorrow explaining my views on education, look for it about the same time tomorrow in the Life forum.
Well, anyway, most of us will have seen Lord of the Rings at the film, and yes it is spectacularly amazing. The sort of film that makes any budding 3D/CG artist have nightmares because their latest 3D model looks no where near the standard required of an actaul professional product. In it's own right the film is very good, it has drama, it has suspense, and it has plenty of swords and sorcery. You just get the feeling that something bigger and better should be driving the film from one set-piece trap to the next, just somewhere hiding under the surface is a compelling narrative just waiting to brek out and describe the scene in all it's utmost glory.
If anyone owns the DVD and have watched the special features, especially the documentaries where some of the actors claim that the sets in the film are everything they imagined, and even more, then they are blighted by holywood, or have a severe lack of imagination. You se the imagination cannot be curbed by boundaries, it just cannot be dictated by budgets, deadlines or physical locations. The imagination can create anything the person so wishes to invisage. The book has much, much more detail regarding the narrative, and yes, for the non-reading holywood (soon to be Nintendo) generation, you just need to realise that your brain is a powerful thing.
Ideas, thoughts and amazing feelings race through your head when your reading a book. You attach more to the characters, because the characters are portrayed by you, not Elijah Wood, Frodo is in your head, he looks like you think he looks, and he sounds like you think he should sound. When he's scared, he's only as scared as you need him to be, he's just as inquisitive as you need him to be, and he's just as intelligent as you would have him be. Yes, the book pushes the story along, it gives you the setting, the scenario and the context, but a good book lets you imagine the threat and the level of danger, something a visual representation just can't.
This is where games take us to the next holwood level. Games make you think, but not on the same level as books. Like films, they give you all the visual stimuli, they don't leave anything to the imagination. Games make you think about simple problem solving, or at best they tax the physical responses and hand-eye coordination of an individual, but they still will never match a good book in terms of driving the imagination, and this is where budding games creators should take note. You will not be able to come up with original ideas for making a game, simply from watching films and games, those are other people's dreams and ideas.
To be truely original, you must develop the imagination, taking pointers and inspiration from captivating authors.
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Go read Steppenwolf.
Mouldy Cheese wrote:
> Steven Kings books are essentially easy, Big Brother style mental
> bubblegum made purely for money. But hey, at least you're reading.
Have you even read one?
> Steven Kings books are essentially easy, Big Brother style mental
> bubblegum made purely for money. But hey, at least you're reading.
Have you even read one?
Has anyone ever read Mr. Majelika? it a great book which i strongly recommend!
David Gemmill is an excellent writer. Fantasy, 'lord of the rings' esque type stuff.
I don't read too many fantasy books, I've got some limit of reality to live up to.
G®åpô²ºº² wrote:
> David Gemmill is an excellent writer. Fantasy, 'lord of the rings'
> esque type stuff.
i started to read lord of the rings but it was to heavy
> David Gemmill is an excellent writer. Fantasy, 'lord of the rings'
> esque type stuff.
i started to read lord of the rings but it was to heavy
Elimin@tor wrote:
>
> Have you even read one?
Read 'The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon', 'Desperation', and 'Bag Of Bones'. The endings to all of them sucked. Way too far fetched.
>
> Have you even read one?
Read 'The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon', 'Desperation', and 'Bag Of Bones'. The endings to all of them sucked. Way too far fetched.
RastaBillySkank wrote:
> Go read Steppenwolf.
:D
Finally, someone listens!
(Or is taking the urine, whatever)
> Go read Steppenwolf.
:D
Finally, someone listens!
(Or is taking the urine, whatever)
Mouldy Cheese wrote:
> Elimin@tor wrote:
>
> Have you even read one?
>
> Read 'The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon', 'Desperation', and 'Bag Of
> Bones'. The endings to all of them sucked. Way too far fetched.
Even I haven't read "The Girl who Loved Tom Gordon" it's crap, but I have read Desperation and thought that was fine.
Why don't you give "IT" a go then? Go on. At least these Aliens are beliveable.
> Elimin@tor wrote:
>
> Have you even read one?
>
> Read 'The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon', 'Desperation', and 'Bag Of
> Bones'. The endings to all of them sucked. Way too far fetched.
Even I haven't read "The Girl who Loved Tom Gordon" it's crap, but I have read Desperation and thought that was fine.
Why don't you give "IT" a go then? Go on. At least these Aliens are beliveable.
JAZZY-JACK wrote:
> G®åpô²ºº² wrote:
> David Gemmill is an excellent writer. Fantasy, 'lord of the rings'
> esque type stuff.
>
> i started to read lord of the rings but it was to heavy
Only the prelude is, when you get to the main story it unravels neatly and easily.
> G®åpô²ºº² wrote:
> David Gemmill is an excellent writer. Fantasy, 'lord of the rings'
> esque type stuff.
>
> i started to read lord of the rings but it was to heavy
Only the prelude is, when you get to the main story it unravels neatly and easily.
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