TAKING RISKS [GAME DEV]

Posts

Pages: 1
Corfaisus
"It's frustrating because - as much as Corf is otherwise an irredeemable person - his 2k/3 mapping is on point." ~ psy_wombats
7874
People like to discuss the possible intentions of a story or a character being written in such a way. What is the author trying to say by writing their this or that character as the villain or the healer, etc. Sometimes arguments break out that seem to derail what else the game has going on in it or its other qualities that were clearly intentional and not just hypothetically. What if the author very much meant for this to be how the character is written? Even if it's uncomfortable (not criminal, just disconcerting), shouldn't they be given a pass as a legitimate contribution to the story?

What if it isn't necessarily the character but the scene? If you're establishing a serious or disturbing mood, how often do you allow the characters to joke around before the shit hits the fan? At what point do you run the risk of ruining the narrative? What if you weren't meant to be jokey yet what you've created ends up producing an unintentionally comical tone? What if you're convinced that it has to be this way in order to get your point across?

Maybe you would like to answer some of these questions or give your experiences on the matter.
Really? What did you expect from a stupid, happy go lucky Arshes other than being the perfect victim of darn ridiculous jokes? Sometimes their look, their immaturity or even their very existence is condemned to failure, and that's not a bug! It's a feature! Not everybody is called to become the ultimate fighter. Seriously, go ask Arshes if you disagree with me!
That's a tricky line. I think in large it is a balance of WHAT you want to convey and tweaking according to that, and a balance of things you want to put in and methods to convey. Mixing the two gets tricky, and I think the best answer you are looking for is a play tester of choice. Or consultant.

Crossing such lines you cannot really see yourself, largely because you know the full depths of the story and characters, and the player only sees what is presented. And only in very limited spots (compared to say novels or such). They will make up things and miss things.

You can't know those things, and that's okay.

We'd like to control everything, but every different interpretation angle creates new experiences as they are digested. And that's ok. If you want to find a balance between doing it in way that please you and having your intent conveyed both, I say get feedback. There's reasons editors have a job.
People pick up different things and them not getting stuff is totally okay. It not like I get all I wrote or said or did either until later *shrugs*

I remember reviewing Crime Nirvana - around the same time Stormcrow wrote one too. They really would've liked more focus on the serious side of things while I thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated the light-hearted tone.
Does it give the feedback to the dev on what shone through more? Yes. Could they have done both well? Oh for sure.
Does it mean that lightheartedness had no place? No. It just is a different experience. Is either interpretation or wish more valid? Nah. Both cool.

I think even realizing the author has written it for a certain purpose, you have your own feelings and you discuss those rather than a feeling you have about someone you don't really know. It's just more fun, and it's hard to argue over something you can't be sure on.
At least that's how it is to me, so don't let that happening discourage you! They might even pick up a lot of the author's intentions, but still feel other things weighing heavier or feeling more important than that.
slash
APATHY IS FOR COWARDS
4158
I think there's a few things to break down here!

If you're worried about confusion, I think you have to determine the main focus of your story, or character arc, or chapter. If it's a serious story with a theme like "a small lie can grow out of control and harm people", then you should use that to determine a matching tone: painful, uncontrolled, scary. That doesn't mean you can't have moments of levity - you need some humor to make the dark parts hit even stronger - but it's good to keep in mind what your intent is. You should also keep that intent in mind while writing, so you don't accidentally undercut your own theme (in this example, have characters lie casually with no repercussion or even mention; if you do so you should at least be aware of how that affects your main theme).

I think that mistakes will come up in writing, that will either undercut your tone or theme, or undercut your characters, or end up being incredibly insulting, or feel cheap. These things will definitely happen, and the best you can do is own them, study them, and avoid them in the future. No one produces flawless work, and as long as you're moving forward and trying to improve, it's okay.

I also think it's very important to recognize that you as an author are separate from your characters and writings, to an extent. Your personal thoughts and beliefs can be displayed in your writing, but that doesn't mean your writing is you. You can write a story with a happy, perfect ending, even if it doesn't reflect the world you live in or your general beliefs on optimism. You can write a selfish, evil character who is never punished for their actions, and that doesn't mean you believe evil is a good thing.

All stories aren't meant to be Aesop fables, or realistic depictions of the known world, and not all characters fall neatly into good or evil, and - at least in fiction - your writing doesn't necessarily reflect your beliefs in a simplistic "this is Right and this is Wrong" fashion. Just do your best to write intelligently and keep in mind what your overall plan and design are as you go. If you write a character doing evil, make sure you know why they're doing evil, from both their point of view AND yours.
All I can say is that it's easier to add a serious moment to a comical game than it is to add a comical moment to a serious game. That's practically what the Mother/Earthbound series is built on: setting up a cheerful and silly narrative and then sucker-punching the player with something heart-wrenching.

It's much harder to do in reverse, especially if your narrative is set up in such a way that conveys a serious, gritty, or bleak world. Because at what point can you justify the characters having a good time?
In my opinion, the game designer should ALWAYS be concerned as to what reactions his design choices will provoke on the player. There's a gap between intention and effect, and it must be aknowledge at all times. If you want a serious game that makes the player tense, WANTING to cause such effects is not enough, you must make adequate design choices. I believe a lot of games fail in that regard, and I often see myself trying to interpret "what did the game creator meant to convey in such scene?", and honestly, having such thoughts at all is a big problem. Because if you're laughing at some funny scene, you're not thinking "oh, the game creator wanted me to laugh". But if you think "he meant for me to laugh", means it was not funny, so he failed.
"you cant please everyone"

There is NO chance the developer can possibly anticipate the reactions of every player. This is purely because everyone has different belief systems and opinions. Really the developer should just do whatever they want to do long as its within lawful bounds. For example, there is a translated epic length RPG made by some japanese developers, and in the game there is an obviously homosexual male doctor who is a comic relief character trying to hit on the male protagonist. Did they think it was funny? Probably. But bring it over to western audiences and thats a huge nono. They couldn't really anticipate that kind of reaction from an audience they know nothing about and most likely never expected to have played their game in the first place. Honestly, the developer should just make whatever they feel like making, without having to consider what kind of reaction or backlash they will get. Dont like it, dont play it.
Pages: 1