Game Theory Video on Story Telling
02/21/2011
Wired recently published an article that highlights Scott Steinberg's video series Game Theory and their recent focus on storytelling in video games and interactive fiction. It's a great video and includes interviews with Richard Garriott (Ultima), Bob Bates (Sherlock, Arthur, TimeQuest), Steve Meretzky (Planetfall, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy), Jane Jensen (Gabriel Knight) and others.
As the Wired article notes:
The short documentary covers the plots behind a wide range of games, from Zork to BioShock, and also features interviews with writers behind titles like Assassin’s Creed II and Mirror’s Edge. The video explores topics like the conflict between character motives and player desires, the influence of cinema on gaming, and the obstacles that today’s writers must leap while crafting game stories.
“I don’t think we’ve yet mastered the techniques of true interactive storytelling,” Garriott says in the video, pointing to his own Ultima IV as one of the first narrative-focused games. “I mean that not just in dialog [or] cut-scenes, but [really] in how you emotionally become engaged with what’s going on.”
The GameTheory videos and web site are definitely worth checking out!
- Wired: Game Theory Series Probes Videogames' Big Questions
- GameTheory: Main site, Blog, Storytelling
- Wikipedia: Richard Garriott, Bob Bates, Steve Meretzky
It's a nice documentary but I'm surprised they didn't realize that the vertical hold was broken.
Another cynical thought: A lot of the visuals were game excerpts that showed off the shiny graphics without giving you any idea of what the narrative was like. (Actually Heavy Rain seemed like the standout here, because the contextless excerpt still made me say, "Hey! This looks like you do stuff that isn't totally videogamey!")
Posted by: matt w | 02/21/2011 at 09:06 AM
What a joy to find someone else who tihkns this way.
Posted by: Caelyn | 05/10/2011 at 02:13 PM