Onyxmeth said:
Films are not limited by length. They create stories that fit within a typical time frame for a film. If they don't then sometimes we get sequels. There's also TV, which are able to be as varied as movies and can last quite long. What games express themselves through gameplay? Remember also this article was about linear storytelling, so giving me cases like Fallout or Civilization where you can have unique experiences don't really count. I can think of one game that has actually told a story through gameplay itself, and it's an 8-bit indy PC game with no action and just the idea of exploration as a metaphor for life. The name escapes me now, but it's a brilliant little gamein storytelling, but is brutally boring in gameplay. The thing is, games will be limited in storytelling by many factors. One is they can't tell dramatic storylines that have no physical conflict without sacrificing gameplay. Two, is that people want violence in their games, whether it's the E rated stomping in Mario Galaxy to the M rated car violence of Grand Theft Auto. Gaming will be gaming first and storytelling second, because games don't require a storyline. How many games have really not had stories revolving around action also? Are you going to give me the few handpicked examples that may exist to prove some point? |
- "Games are not limited by gameplay. They create stories that fit within that framework." See how flawed that logic is?
- Gravitation? But no, I think any game can express itself through gameplay. One way to do so is through a method related to the 'show, don't tell' principle - or in this case, 'experience, don't tell'. A simple example: In Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, a player knows early on that the Dominus glyph is evil and will eventually lead to the main characters death for one simple reason; using it drains your HP. That is, an important aspect of the story is told not through exposition, but through gameplay.
Similar techniques are used in games such as Shadow of the Colossus and Majora's Mask though they are much more refined.
- Games can't tell dramatic storylines? Adventure games new and old seem to disagree. Also, even if games are limited in such a way, does that mean they lack the means to tell great stories within that genre? By denying this you are essentially attacking all genres and archetypes in general - not just those employed by games.
