tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344068351653946740.post8758034842115047958..comments2024-01-07T18:12:05.881-08:00Comments on Versus CluClu Land: The Game About NothingIroquois Pliskinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14324582950813408440noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344068351653946740.post-77064083168448644012009-03-22T18:14:00.000-07:002009-03-22T18:14:00.000-07:00@nels: that piece on pacing vs. immersion is reall...@nels: that piece on pacing vs. immersion is really good, thanks for the reminder. I've been thinking about pacing in open-world games quite a bit. <BR/><BR/>@chris: believe me, I didn't mean to slight the main narrative for not being interactive. It's well done-- a bit overly theatrical, but well-directed and acted. Solid genre work, and that's a compliment for a game. Like you, I enjoyed the interplay of the two types of story.Iroquois Pliskinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14324582950813408440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344068351653946740.post-2636743474185716422009-03-22T05:34:00.000-07:002009-03-22T05:34:00.000-07:00Personally I found the actual storyline of Yakuza ...Personally I found the actual storyline of Yakuza 2 to be fairly enjoyable, as gangster genre rehash goes. Being someone who believes mostly that the whole interactive-storyline-with-multiple-choices thing is really just so much mush, I thought that having all the wander around and stumble over stuff elements attached to a more traditional narrative was what really made this game work for me. Sure, that model's still a bit of an ugly hybrid and needs some refinement. But me, I'd rather have that then a bunch of possibilities that never collapse into a statisfying and singular whole.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344068351653946740.post-39089416332399513102009-03-19T23:41:00.000-07:002009-03-19T23:41:00.000-07:00Not that I can remember. I used the term when I wr...Not that I can remember. I used the term when I wrote about pacing in immersive games here:<BR/><BR/>http://www.above49.ca/2008/12/reconciling-immersion-and-pace_09.html<BR/><BR/>But I probably lifted it from Steve Gaynor (http://fullbright.blogspot.com/) at some point. Steve's got a lot of interesting thoughts about these things. If you haven't read his blog, I'd check it out.<BR/><BR/>I assume you're familiar with some of Iroquois's older posts on this subject, but if not, I'd find them too. It's good stuff.Nels Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06484436433023780229noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344068351653946740.post-47826133980190779512009-03-19T20:29:00.000-07:002009-03-19T20:29:00.000-07:00Hey Nels, is there a source on the "narrative spin...Hey Nels, is there a source on the "narrative spine" terminology? I've been thinking about this quite a bit lately myself, and I'm looking for anything to help make a bit more sense of the disconnect between open-world mechanics and innovative narratives and designs. Great post Irquois... and welcome to Twitter.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344068351653946740.post-75045303080125432292009-03-19T09:20:00.000-07:002009-03-19T09:20:00.000-07:00This response to Yakuza 2 seems pretty much ubiqui...This response to <I>Yakuza 2</I> seems pretty much ubiquitous. Yet, I can't help but think that if a city with interesting people/things was the entirety of the game, it would somehow be less compelling.<BR/><BR/>A totally freeform structure like that seems problematic. There's no sense of ownership like there is with those games akin to <I>Animal Crossing</I>. Paralysis of choice and absence of feedback would probably turn a lot of people off.<BR/><BR/>We're still figuring out how best to use the "narrative spine" to enable and complement an open world, but I don't think we can toss it entirely. By necessity, I think games like this have to be vertebrates. There's still a lot of opportunity for evolution (alright, enough with the tortured metaphors) here though and it's exciting to be seeing the seeds of that.Nels Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06484436433023780229noreply@blogger.com