Quote:Original post by sunandshadowA character that is well written.
I want to know what kind of character you would really empathize with
Your ideal game story to play?
Author
Quote:Original post by DaaarkQuote:Original post by sunandshadowA character that is well written.
I want to know what kind of character you would really empathize with
A post that says nothing.
Quote:Original post by sunandshadowQuote:Original post by DaaarkQuote:Original post by sunandshadowA character that is well written.
I want to know what kind of character you would really empathize with
A post that says nothing.
Actually he's saying that if the character is well written and the intent is for the player to empathize with them, then the player WILL EMPATHIZE WITH THEM if that character is well written.
Good writing involves pulling on the emotional strings of audience and orchestrating the response in them that you want to achieve. There are movies where you hate the villain and others where you feel sorry for them... and whichever way you do end up feeling is usually by design of the writer/director.
Author
Quote:Original post by Hypnotron
I don't dream of living any kind of game story and I don't believe most people do either. To me, the question is not the right one to be asking frankly.
I never dreamed of playing as a gangster, but Vice City showed me it could be fun.
I never dreamed of playing as a scientist who has to kill aliens and commandos, but Half Life showed me it could be fun.
I never dreamed of playing as an Imperial fighter pilot, but Tie Fighter showed me it could be fun.
A good writer / designer can make a player fall into a "role" and enjoy themselves whether they would like that character if they met them on the street in real life or not. The key to doing this successfully is as I talked about.
You don't even think to yourself, "Gee I'd like to play another game with a story like Game X." or "I'd like to play Novel Y as a game." or "Cool minor character Z was underused, I want to play a game where he's the main character." or even better "I'd like to play the main character from Game A with the love interest from Game B, the setting from Game C, and the plot from Game D." Or maybe you pick up a game and read the back, "Oh in this game the main character is a spy, do I want to be a spy?"
(I find it baffling why anyone would want to write a game story if they didn't think this type of thing.)
Author
Quote:Original post by HypnotronQuote:Original post by sunandshadowQuote:Original post by DaaarkQuote:Original post by sunandshadowA character that is well written.
I want to know what kind of character you would really empathize with
A post that says nothing.
Actually he's saying that if the character is well written and the intent is for the player to empathize with them, then the player WILL EMPATHIZE WITH THEM if that character is well written.
Good writing involves pulling on the emotional strings of audience and orchestrating the response in them that you want to achieve. There are movies where you hate the villain and others where you feel sorry for them... and whichever way you do end up feeling is usually by design of the writer/director.
It doesn't matter how well-written the character is if you don't like the concept of the game enough to play it (if you bought them purely according to their gameplay and without caring what the story was about I can only wonder why you would be in the writing forum), or if the character's basic design is alien or repulsive to you.
Quote:
It doesn't matter how well-written the character is if you don't like the concept of the game enough to play it (if you bought them purely according to their gameplay and without caring what the story was about I can only wonder why you would be in the writing forum), or if the character's basic design is alien or repulsive to you.
I thought I tackled this issue already. Games are games. About the only thing that's going to repulse me is a game that is intended to be used as right-wing propaganda, religious recruitment or the spreading of hate messages. Otherwise I'm happy to suspend disbelief and murder some strippers, shoot up a post office or bank, and do a drive by. Then I can turn around and play a cop/detective, a pirate, a space captain, whatever.
What I'm trying to convey is that when it comes to characters and stories in games, I personally think that the basic plot and characters are the least important. What's important is making these characters "jump off the screen" and seem natural. What's important are the details involved in the execution of the scenes, the scripts, the level designs, etc. The believability, naturalness, of characters is more important than who they are or what their background is.
Quote:Original post by sunandshadowThat's not true.Quote:Original post by DaaarkA post that says nothing.Quote:Original post by sunandshadowA character that is well written.
I want to know what kind of character you would really empathize with
Find out what genre you are going write, find out as much as you can about the expectations and tropes that the fans of the genre want, and then write a good, believable main character.
I don't care who the character is, what they do for a living, their gender, their race, or any of those superficial details. Write them well and give them interesting, meaningful interactions with the story world.
That's all.
Re:
This is how I read your prompt:
"Imagine that you are about you start a game and you are creating your character. Suppose I give you the liberty that the gameplay could be whatever you happen to be imagining, then: 1) Who would you want to be in the gameworld? 2) Who would you want to interact with in the gameworld?"
1) I am engaged with my current design so my answer is: I want to be a group of people of different age, gender, appearance, race, culture, job, personal goals cooperating in the same mission to take care of old, discarded, forgotten stuff.
2) I want to interact with old things in the gameworld, such as antiques, obsolete technologies, and old ways of life.
This is how I read your prompt:
"Imagine that you are about you start a game and you are creating your character. Suppose I give you the liberty that the gameplay could be whatever you happen to be imagining, then: 1) Who would you want to be in the gameworld? 2) Who would you want to interact with in the gameworld?"
1) I am engaged with my current design so my answer is: I want to be a group of people of different age, gender, appearance, race, culture, job, personal goals cooperating in the same mission to take care of old, discarded, forgotten stuff.
2) I want to interact with old things in the gameworld, such as antiques, obsolete technologies, and old ways of life.
Author
Quote:Original post by HypnotronQuote:
It doesn't matter how well-written the character is if you don't like the concept of the game enough to play it (if you bought them purely according to their gameplay and without caring what the story was about I can only wonder why you would be in the writing forum), or if the character's basic design is alien or repulsive to you.
I thought I tackled this issue already. Games are games. About the only thing that's going to repulse me is a game that is intended to be used as right-wing propaganda, religious recruitment or the spreading of hate messages. Otherwise I'm happy to suspend disbelief and murder some strippers, shoot up a post office or bank, and do a drive by. Then I can turn around and play a cop/detective, a pirate, a space captain, whatever.
What I'm trying to convey is that when it comes to characters and stories in games, I personally think that the basic plot and characters are the least important. What's important is making these characters "jump off the screen" and seem natural. What's important are the details involved in the execution of the scenes, the scripts, the level designs, etc. The believability, naturalness, of characters is more important than who they are or what their background is.
Okay - it's interesting that you feel that way. I think your taste is fairly far toward the non-picky end of the spectrum, while mine is a lot more toward the picky end. Do you think it's a safe assumption that if I designed playable character options to please various types of picky people (of course trying to make the characters evoke empathy and be vivid and believable, because I think that's what a writer should strive for any time they create a main character) people who were less picky would find one or more of these playable characters pleasing? In other words if I please the picky people will the less picky ones automatically be pleased too?
Author
Quote:Original post by DaaarkQuote:Original post by sunandshadowThat's not true.Quote:Original post by DaaarkA post that says nothing.Quote:Original post by sunandshadowA character that is well written.
I want to know what kind of character you would really empathize with
Find out what genre you are going write, find out as much as you can about the expectations and tropes that the fans of the genre want, and then write a good, believable main character.
I don't care who the character is, what they do for a living, their gender, their race, or any of those superficial details. Write them well and give them interesting, meaningful interactions with the story world.
That's all.
You think a goal of writing is to create something typical of the genre? To me that's kind of a disturbingly commercial view. Personally my goal would be kind of the opposite - although it's important to be true to the heart of your genre, I think at the same time you really have to do something new with that genre that surprises its fans.
This topic is closed to new replies.
Advertisement
Popular Topics
Advertisement
