more videogames should take inspiration from like, doctor strange
one thing i appreciate about @thecatamites is they channel this sort of extra dimensional weirdness in their games
1 Like
The aforementioned Alpha Protocol, Fallout, Arcanum.
Deus Ex, Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines among others.
Not the only setings (or âsettingsâ), but the most common ones.
Alpha Protocol is mentioned cause itâs almost the only one which isnât set in one of those three while also having âwesternâ narrative mechanics.
Oh I guess there is also Jade Empire.
also, fuck this finicky quote system
They need to watch Star Wars more closely if thatâs the case
3 Likes
didnât read the whole thread but
things are more varied than most people would imagine
but also the rami ismail point about most tools/technologies (and distribution related to such) being geared toward americans and english speakers makes it such that a lot of the cool stuff coming out of places you wouldnât have heard of with settings influenced by their backgrounds just gets buried
1 Like
Texas sure is a weird place in Killer 7.
I guess I just hold it in high regard as a masterpiece of storytelling, character and world building and especially editing (the editing funny enough didnât make any sense in its first cut and was subsequently improved, mostly by cutting a lot of scenes with Luke in it that came before he met the droids. Thereâs a good YouTube video called âHow Star Wars was saved in the editâ on this). Itâs a very basic, classical piece and I think thereâs a lot to learn from it even if itâs your only point of reference. I couldnât say the same about Marvel or LotR movies but Star Wars is a good blueprint for videogames imo.
Itâs very videogamey how it builds up the heroâs journey and sets him up for the challenge ahead. I mean the whole Death Star thing is built up so well. You go see it halfway into the movie and then it comes back as the final level/challenge/labyrinth/dungeon, giving you this immense sense of scale and threat. Donât even get me started about Darth Vader as the antagonist. Itâs just great and I wouldnât mind more videogames learning from it and emulating certain aspects of it
4 Likes
I agree. I was never a big Star Wars head but I did like them when I saw them as a kid. I think the setting tends to have an impact on people, especially sci-fi-minded ones, because itâs an old story with proven resonance, told with practical effects that satisfy your values if you like deserts, swamps, grody aliens, and techbases.
I also liked the prequels when I was a kid, but only the effects aspects that satisfy basic cravings for unreal stuff and imagination aids: big mysterious sea monsters in an undersea tunnel, a gloomy rainy planet with an ocean surface of which we only ever see about a square mile, the blue electric spheres like giant marbles that are loaded into cannons. I donât remember any emotionally affecting moments when you are (helped to be) forced to feel what a character feels by the âclassic movieâ synergy of narrative events, visuals, and music.
On the other hand, I still remember the scene where Luke finds the bodies of his guardians, even though I havenât seen it in like 10 years, because all the themes (music, visual, narrative) unite to gracefully and non-aggressively get across this unspeakably horrible image. Itâs not actually very hard to do this in a way that people will accept.
3 Likes
Oh yeah, and thatâs such a short scene. The film doesnât linger on it and it makes it even more impacting. I think the first time I saw it I didnât even see the charred skeleton and I still âgot itâ. Itâs very low key.
Itâs also great how the film breaks up the action so often. Like how they shoot down the Tie fighters from the Falcon. Thatâs like a side mission/turret section in a game. Thereâs a sneaking mission on the death star. And an escort mission. With a twist, where it turns out the princess doesnât really need to be escorted and can handle her own. Itâs really varied and nothing ever goes as planned, thereâs always a twist on everything to keep it fresh and from being predictable. Nothing makes me groan more than when a game full on gives me a checklist like, now you need to find the 8 orbs. Because you know exactly what youâll be doing for the next 10 hours. And nothing makes me rejoice more than when that chain is broken by suddenly getting two orbs at once or something like that. Why canât I be the one that letâs the bad guys collect 7 orbs and then take them from them all at once? Put a twist on it!
Getting off tangent here but yeah
1 Like
in all my levelmaking pursuits I eventually started heavily beating on the drum of concept combinatorics. letting multiple thematic components inform and shape and alter one another, because most lives and groups and places are hardly a singular biome / culture, because consciousness and experiences are both synthesized contexts anyway. we live in remixed times, our thoughts come from remixed minds, and even with our inevitably limited scopes thereâs probably still something new everyone can eventually say.
perhaps thereâs some stigma attached to this because itâs usually just discrete and sequential adjacency extensions or frostfire cavernous peaks (not even calderas!). the swarms of crossovers emphasize bland surface-level collisions with zero conversations beyond rote absurdity, after all, and indeed so does the constant ârealisticâ violent savior-conqueror perspective.
âŚand so also yes frontloaded genre typifying + dominant nation perspectives + incestuous pop cultures + market conservatism provides little chance to escape from the established and generic. games require a million knowledges applied in a million ways a million times, collectively or individually, in a space with its own unfathomable counts of comparative works. worldliness and worldsettings are just as much ones to have failed to learn and personalize as any other, even if they speak to ideological rather than crafting faults.
all such knowledges require active research and pursuit, the standard just-barely-present space to breath and meaningful esoterica, which I guess is the entire point of carved-out spaces like SB. hi, hello. this still takes a lot of time and effort and insight, of course, and when can you fit that in alongside learning even a fraction of those other equal infinities like programming and art and music and writing? itâs understandably endlessly easier to just lean on learnt signifiers, on explanationless standard anchors, while youâre still making and then still having others learn how to play any given particular mechanicspace. that doesnât mean the cliches havenât been absolutely exhausted, but it seems unavoidable that every piece of novelty and new meaning has to be deliberately unearthed.
âŚand, of course, that further bolsters liminal hybrid conceits, because then one can still lean on the established before twisting it into something new just through juxtapositions of nature and composition alone. of course, then everybody just makes furries and 'taurs, but
5 Likes
I found my experience with much of design retreating into more conservative areas after doing it for several years because I was learning how much our genres are interdependent on a million pieces, how incorporating many divergences to be new, different, creative was building a bridge to the void from one end only, how fixing these issues tended to circle back to established solutions. Games arenât art. Theyâre machines that create art, and as machines theyâre sensitive and must be built properly.
I learned to be professional, and I died more than a little.
But there are things I know to be true, stories and dances that have stuck with me for years. I think Iâm learning how I can do those without jumping past more than I can handle.
4 Likes
video games are fields and time spent playing is cows. I see why ranchers would want their field to support lots of healthy cows. But I want to spend my time in gardens and wilderness, not pastures.
5 Likes
I like this metaphor.
I too want to spend my time in gardens and wilderness with exactly one cow.
1 Like
it is easy for me to say i like things! and it doesnât have anything to do with whether or not my job title sounds like a buzzword from one of Steve Jobsâ nightmares.