EXPERIENCE BEYOND THE STORY

A hot-button topic recently has been the idea of games as art and whether or not the medium is there yet. This debate is tough to swallow... the mere fact that it is still a debate means we have a long way to go, regardless of your personal opinion on the matter.

When people think about the artistic value of something like film, it is intricately tied to the story the piece works to tell. Not just through dialogue or action... pacing, color, lighting, framing, and a million other little touches can tell a story and establish the overall film as art. But this idea that art and story are so closely related is one of the biggest reasons games are struggling to find their place.

There are people who think that the interactive nature of games makes them a poor storytelling medium. After all, if the player can make his or her own way through the story (running down the wrong hallway, or turning the camera to face any specific area over another), the designer loses the essential powers of pacing, placement, even cinematography... which, as mentioned before, all work to build a story and create art.

Video games are not a poor storytelling medium... just an unconventional, misunderstood one.

Stories in games are not told by the developer, but the combination of the developer and the player. Digest that idea. Developers can spend all the time in the world crafting an intricate saga, but the truth is that they will never be able to convey that saga as effectively as a director or novelist through their non-interactive mediums. (Sure, books and film are interactive to some extent, but in a completely different way than games).


Consider the New York Times' review of Rockstar's western masterpiece, Red Dead Redemption.

In noninteractive entertainment — be it a play, film or television program — the director controls exactly what the audience sees at every single moment. That is why it makes sense to build sets that are nothing more than plywood facades: if the audience can’t see it, it has no reason to exist.

By contrast, a great western game allows players to roam the frontier as they please. See that outcropping over there in the distance? You can climb it if you like, or just keep riding. When you come into one of the many towns and villages there may be dozens of buildings to explore, and they are all populated with folks going about their daily lives, even if you never visit.

If you want to tell your story, if you don't want to allow your audience any wiggle room, write a book. Direct a movie. If you want to work with your audience and forge an even more powerful experience for it, make a game.

So how do we (as independent developers) accomplish this? By placing heavy focus on WORLD rather than STORY. Instead of telling people how to play, give them the tools and toys to go out into your world and play on their own. Give them colorful characters to interact with, enchanting environments to explore, interesting equipment to utilize... But when it comes to telling your own complex story, just take a step back.


This is not to say games with intricate, predetermined stories are by any means bad. Final Fantasy (especially the later titles), Metal Gear, and God of War are a few examples of fantastic and wildly successful franchises that follow this formula. But I'm going to take a bold stand and say they're all missing something. They're not flexing the medium to it's fullest potential. It's when that blend of player and developer hits a perfect balance that true art in games is born.

To name a few games I consider to be incredible examples of artistic expression because of these very reasons... The previously mentioned Red Dead Redemption showcases the most beautifully realized environment you'll ever have the pleasure of exploring. Shadow of the Colossus, a common point of reference in the "games as art" debate, presents a haunting world where even riding your horse across the empty landscape is a somehow moving experience. On the lighter side of things sits the terrific Zelda series, which has never allowed a convoluted story to get in the way of the charm of its world and characters.

(These are all simple strategies to emulate, even on a smaller-scale RM project!)


One more time. Games are unique in that their stories are not just told by the designer, but by the player as well. Because of this, it's far more effective to create a compelling world and let the player make their way through it than to attempt to weave an complex, linear plot.

Good luck with all your projects!