PeaceIsland
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Our Theory of GameWorld Design.
🕑 Added 2019-07-22 18:48:29 +0000 UTCI'm a gamer, pushing 50.
While that fact speaks a lot about some of my life choices, it also grants me 35 years of perspective on the medium - and even though the hackneyed complaint of the elderly that "things just ain't as good as they used to be" has long been a trope, we must sometimes acknowledge that it's actually TRUE.
It is particularly so, in relation to the "Open World" genre of video games. I know this for a fact, because the very first video game I owned was Richard Garriot's "Ultima" for the Apple II. That guy was able to pack a HUGE open world filled with cities, actual 3-D dungeons, a multitude of quests and thousands upon thousands of enemies and NPCs onto one single old-fashioned floppy. It was very simple by today's standards, but it was an undeniable benchmark in the genre that defined it for decades to come.
Since then, the Open World genre has flourished- it brought us the Elder Scrolls series, Grand Theft Auto, The Red Dead series- and so many other modern classics. However, the genre became a victim of our technological success:
As computers and the processors that ran them became more and more powerful, Game companies thought it was incumbent upon them to larger and larger worlds. There unfortunately became a point where the worlds became superfluously large, in relation to the core story of the game. To compensate, strange game mechanics started appearing to encourage the player to explore the world, other than story...
Bethesda started giving players XP every time they wandered into a pre-designated "area," accidentally or not. How knowing the location of an abandoned desert raceway improves one's marksmanship or medical skills in "Fallout: New Vegas" is completely beyond me.
Fast Travel became more and more common as the world you traveled through became less and less consequential. I can tell you that I usually just called a cab 90% of the time, when playing GTA5 - I've not owned a car in 20 years, and the thought of DRIVING for 10-plus minutes within a game struck me as just absurd, when absolutely nothing of consequence happens during the journey (that's why they included all those radio stations- Rockstar KNOWS you're bored with their game...)
I think the open world that encapsulates so many issues with the genre was in the WB Games 2015 release, "Mad Max." While it certainly captured the sound and feel of being in a huge, abandoned, lifeless wasteland- it also reminded us all of how absolutely empty a huge, abandoned, lifeless wasteland actually IS.
Our approach is different.
Since the inception of this project, we were aware that our budget and equipment limitations put a cap on the size of the world we could create. So, we've emphasized QUALITY of content over QUANTITY of content.
Every building, prop, and location will be consequential to the game as a whole. We've spent over 200 hours working on the identities and relations between each and every one of the now-departed 38 residents of the Island, and getting to know those stories will assist you, throughout. We're absolutely allergic to the concept of limiting in-game conversation choices to simply "Good/Neutral/Bad" responses- it's just crazy.
So- thanks for reading this rather long screed- believe it or not, it took about ten minutes to pump out, as I've had this on my mind for 18 months.
Back to work- We'll chat about streaming, tomorrow!
Comments
Lisa Mallette
When our grandfather died, my dad used part of his inheritance to purchase an Apple II computer. We had to drive 40 miles to the nearest software store and Ultima was around 50 bucks (equivalent to more than $150 now), so it was a treat to be able to even own any games. (I always say that to people who moan about the prices these days!) Anyway, I have clear memories of my brother playing the game and about six kids from the neighborhood crowded around watching him. Another favorite was the original Castle Wolfenstein. Simple graphics, simple mechanics, but exciting to play and terrifying when the Nazi soldiers spotted you!
Thank you for your needed perspective! All products of creativity need to have parameters in order to take a unique shape and become beloved works of art. That principle is sorely lacking in many technologically based creations. Just because you can do something without limits doesn’t mean you should or that it will speak to people on a human scale. I love this project and it’s the first game I’ve been excited about since Tetris - really not a gamer but this one is vision driven and not boring. :) Keep at it!
