Storytelling in Video Games

[Bells]

So, this is a 1 hours conversation with some really awesome people about a really awesome subject, so please have at it.

If you are a writer, or if you like working on games or working in any faction of creativity production, this is a very interesting topic made by some really interesting people with something to say.

Even if it's a bit jumbled.

I mean, i understand that game stories get writen around gameplay, never the other way around. Simply because that's how you make money, and games are a product... a very expensive product. That needs to turn a profit to keep people employed and companies working.

So, i think, there is more merit in going after games that claim to own narrative, that claim to be atmospheric and that says it tells a great story... because when it's claimed like that, that's an statement made. That's something you charge back at the game for. If it promises and doesn't deliver...

There are many games that made me feel like i was in Sync with the narrative, i was WITH the character. I don't always have to be the main hero... i'm ok with following and aiding the hero. if his story captivates me... and when i'm the main guy, when it's MY story... then i really want to dive in. And i want to throw some curveballs at the game, know what it will let me get away with... unless the narrative is so compeling and rich, that i feel fine working on a certain path... on Mass Effect i was fine being the super nice hero, the end changed that... but up to that point? Mr Galaxy over here was rolling high on the morality train!

In The Walking Dead by telltale, the more i played the more my choices were "For Clementine" not because i was search for the "good ending +++" but because i actually felt that i HAD to be that girls role model, i had to give her something to look up to, as a form to have some hope for the future....

In Spec Ops the Line... if you want storytelling in a shooter, THAT is the game to play. It's the first shooter ever... ever... that actively made me want to distance myself from the character i was playing the more i played. And not because he is evil or anything... but simply because i wanted to grab walker by the shoulders and go "This is fucked up man!! this is fucked up!! There is still time dude!! Lets turn this shitstorm around!"

So, here we are... Not just writing... but actual storytelling. How well the game conveys the world to you and how bad some games break your disbelief regardless of how suspended it gets.