Re: Gaming thoughts of the day
Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2013 3:23 pm
Segata Sanshiro Jr. wrote:and I'm scared. I'm afraid I won't make it as an indie, just like the publishers told me I wouldn't. I want to tell the story of a man who was molested, examines the definition of rape and contemplates suicide before he can hurt anyone. I don't know if anyone would play the game. I want to make a game that basically goes through what its like to be a native. I want to write about men who love men, about understanding balance and harmony. I want to write about things that terrify people even if they don't admit it. But "they" might be right, and I might not be able to reach a single person.
I'd say if those are the kinds of things you want to tackle, you ought to just write a book or a movie.
Honestly, how would gameplay factor into any of those ideas? It might be an odd thing coming from me, considering that I love so many games whose stories aren't completely gameplay-centric. But I still think that, in general, it's probably important to go into a project considering the strengths of the medium itself.
If a guy wanted to make a movie with an almost nonexistent story about someone dungeon crawling and leveling up, wouldn't you tell him "Hey buddy, you've come to the wrong room, videogames are just down the hall"?
Sure, you could probably do all of the ideas you named by doing them as point-n-clicks or something, but the point I'm trying to make is that they aren't intrinsically "videogame" ideas, just as something about a plumber jumping on mushrooms and collecting stars isn't specifically a "movie" idea.
I know, I know, we could get into a conversation about shoehorning videogames as one thing or another, about how we shouldn't be closed-minded about how they're used, etc. And I agree that they should be allowed to tell any kind of story a person might want to tell.
But it's still true that the ideas you're talking about just don't have to be games. I'd argue that it doesn't even make much sense for them to be games.
You mention not being sure anyone would even want to play games like those. Well, I personally wouldn't be interested in them myself. I can say that with complete certainty.
And yet, I would likely be open to watching a movie or reading a book on the same subjects.
Something to ponder I guess.