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It's probably not a huge risk to say that better technology begat more expansive storytelling in video games. I've probably written before that I both like stories in games, and find them distracting to what games do well[1]. Long running series often show this transition really well, with early games being almost arcade games, and eventually, detailed 3d graphics almost begged the designers to write stories with character development and twisting narratives.

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A weird thought though, is that sometimes, what games does do really well, can be distracting to what games do really well.

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The instant gratification that older games (and some still today) give, is because they let us go from beginning to action almost from the get-go. Look at Command & Conquer. It's a real-time strategy game, but so many of the complex systems and details present in todays RTS games just don't exist yet. On the other hand, it's definitely a huge step up from the completely unaccesible Dune 2 before it.

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I want to strive towards a middle ground from all of these (Who the fuck wouldn't? Saying you're trying to stay balanced is a huge fucking cop-out): The first Command & Conquer is such a fun experience to just enter and play. Yet role-playing games like Final Fantasy defintely don't really get fun until FFV where a system with some depth enters the mix, and allowed me to become engrossed in the mechanics of the game. Story is hard to pinpoint. I've often read the argument that some games don't need stories, like puzzle games, but Clash of Heroes for the Nintendo DS really showed how even that type of game can even more of a thrill to play, if you care about the situation.

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Thinking about my own game, I've been trying to give the player a reason to become invested and some degree of story just seems like the correct way to go about. It's an abstract kind of world, but it's not a totally abstract game (like Tetris), so this idea of going back in game history and seeing when games slowly transitioned from light exposition to gradually more complex dramas, helps me understand how much is needed to tell a story in an abstract world.

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The games from the NES, SNES and GameBoy definitely have a lot to offer in that department, but I hope to more, even in newer generations as play more games.

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  1. Give us complex systems to play with and master, helped by computers to be easy to interact with. ↩

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An almost trope-like part of FF games is the fan craving for more and more of the that is, as well as Square Enix giving that, with just enough innovation to both stay stale and fresh, simultaneously seem unoriginal and being at the forefront. The structure changes to gameplay, change of narrative focus, new systems and change of platform focus (to handheld and mobile) are all aspects of this in the Final Fantasy Tactics series.

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It's hard to scry whether we'll ever get a new Tactics game, but seeing as I really want that, I can at least speak to some of the important signs and potentials that might be in store for a Nintendo Switch release.

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None of this speak to any system that might be implemented or people who are gonna work on it and add their flavor (Yuichi Murasawa, the return of Matsuno?).

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Skulls of the Shogun of course showed a more fluidly continues world, where the analog sticks mattered for controls, and the reimagining of XCOM from 2012 did a lot of what I'm talking about here, it truly feels more like a game rooted in the series own history and the preferences of western board games. Even a game like Lord of Magna: Maiden Heaven felt more like a continuation of the ideas of Nippon Ichi and their Phantom Brave or Disgaea series.

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In fact, this train of thought is making me think of how fighting games haven't really been able to transition into 3d (gameplay) either, and keep their roots, as sort of overview and area-control-based gameplay becomes hard do an equivalent of in 3d.

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A few different possible paths are beginning to become apparent

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It might be a bit lame just simply just post an advertisement for the saturday recap post, but this short-film is still just so amazingly relaxing and funny, I just don't care.

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Having been sick a couple of days now, I started to feel better, while drinking coffee this morning and streaming more Final Fantasy XV to my Vita (Thank god for 90 Mbps download). Still a great game, yet I'm starting to see the issues with the open world structure.

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It encourages me to go so far off the right path, that I've become godlike, completely unhinged, powerful as a motherfucker. The story doesn't reflect this in any way, though, making me think how the open world structure works better for a game like GTA, where you do not become a reality distorting J-Pop Battle Wizard.

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When I went to bed sick, there was snow outside my window. This morning, I could smell the springtime. I think I'm gonna be very nostalgic towards this game if I end up connecting that scent with aimlessly slaughering wildllife in the Duscae area.

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One of my favorite books on video games is Jesper Juul's The Art of Failure.

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It's a short academic book written in completely legible language, yet maintains the depth of a thoughtful paper written on the idea of failing in video games.

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In Failure, Juul manages to outline a greater understanding of what kind of medium modern video games (anno 2013) are. He draws from many and varied games, from academic experiments to contemporary indie games (Super Meat Boy and Limbo) and triple-A titles (Mass Effect 2 and Red Dead Redemption).

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What's important to me, is that Failure is about the games and what the games do, and doesn't devolve into studying people who play games as some sort of separate race, and Failure doesn't make the most important or noteworthy aspect games the narrative, while simultaneously not disregarding how important narrative can be in certain games, or how the idea of failure is skewed in narratively tragic games.

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This isn't specifically a guide on game design, which tickles me in the right way, as Failure doesn't try to compartmentalize the creative aspects of design, into stringent boxes of types of games. The different categories that Juul outlines, are instead easy ways of referring back to the subject at hand.

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So yeah, a wholehearted recommendation from here: The Art of Failure is an honest and introspective book, that pulls out an easy understanding of what it might important to win a game. Juul is always looking for a complex way of understanding a situation, never settling an easy explanation of simplified analysis.

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Going full-on nostalgia here, although it is in the name of the creative process for Sodagirl. What should beaches contain in games? What are the best beaches?

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They're a weird thing aren't they? Real beaches aren't completely inaccessible to the average person, unlike ancient ruins, magical forests, or cursed dungeons. They have sand or rocks. Water. Some are warmer than others. Perhaps you can get an icecream or long for summer during a winter stroll.

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Many games can't really make use of the swimming and sunbathing though. Super Mario Galaxy did it great in Beach Bowl Galaxy: All scuba-koopa diving, relaxing music and beautiful water

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Good old Little Big Adventure 2 (LBA2) and Mother 3 both do sort of the same thing as the other. The beach is just for show, to add a feeling of space realness to the game. In LBA2 you even have a romantic walk on the beach with you preggers waifu. Whom you can immediately murder in a horrible murder suicide as soon as you touch water.

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The beach in Link's Awakening is hugely important in a narrative sense, and if you're stuck on a puzzle, but otherwise it's rather inconsequential. (That scene though!).

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I have other favorites, but that's enough for now.

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The beach I imagine and have planned for Sodagirl is supposed to be important. Both size-wise and in relation to the story. I like the holiday feel, and relaxing feel beaches seem to invite. Staring out into the ocean seems to be a big part of it as well, but design doesn't fit well with this. I wonder what I can do to alleviate that.