I was watching a Let's play on Youtube today where one of the players said they would probably like Final Fantasy 9 more if it was only a story. While it was said somewhat jokingly, it got me thinking. Would it be possible to make a game that was barely based around fun gameplay and more based around the story and artistic features of the game? Instead of having any sort of big and complex combat system to play throughout the game, you would have smaller minigames and puzzles spread thoughout, some of which could be optional. The game would be more like watching an anime or movie than actually playing a game
My ultimate question is, in a story-to-gameplay balance, if you made a game that was almost all story, could you still make that game really immersive and fun, or would it seem smarter to just watch a movie/read a book?
Of course, you could have gameplay elements and exploration that would make a mostly-story game meaningful. Like what if between sections of a game, you could visit old towns and see how they've changed over the span of what has happened, or make it so the player has to emulate things that the people in the story would do(like rapidly press a button when a protagonist has to do something hard and physical). Games like 'To the Moon' and 'Farenheit: Indigo Prophecy' are somewhat like this, but I'm still curious about if you could go even further in the direction of pure story.
Thoughts?
A game made solely to tell a story
Author
Have you played Dear Esther?
Just looked it up. Pretty interesting that someone has tried this before, thanks
Interactive Fiction is a lot like what you're describing.
Somewhat, I was thinking more about using graphics and sounds in it as well though
Interactive Fiction is traditionally text based, but more modern incarnations do make use of graphics, sounds, animation, etc. and are highly related to the adventure genre. Games like MYST are very much a graphical "choose your own adventure" with some simple puzzles thrown in.
So yes, it's certainly an approach that can work if you've got good enough writing to draw your "player" in to the story and world.
You could also borrow another idea from the world of children's stories: pop-up and play books have small interactive features which aren't crucial to the story but can be amusing to play with. This could be ideal in a smart-phone or tablet based "game" where the player experiences a story and can "play" with small features in each section -- tapping to make a character dance, or a firework detonate, or similar. Mixed with simple choices (which way to proceed), dialogue choice, and some simple and relevant puzzles you could do quite a lot to help keep your "player" engrossed in and involved with the story as it unfolds.
So yes, it's certainly an approach that can work if you've got good enough writing to draw your "player" in to the story and world.
You could also borrow another idea from the world of children's stories: pop-up and play books have small interactive features which aren't crucial to the story but can be amusing to play with. This could be ideal in a smart-phone or tablet based "game" where the player experiences a story and can "play" with small features in each section -- tapping to make a character dance, or a firework detonate, or similar. Mixed with simple choices (which way to proceed), dialogue choice, and some simple and relevant puzzles you could do quite a lot to help keep your "player" engrossed in and involved with the story as it unfolds.
Somewhat, I was thinking more about using graphics and sounds in it as well though
Visual novels are commonly less interactive and more like a comic book with sound. And, ugh, I know there's a Chinese or Japanese word for a piece of software that emulates the storytelling technique where a board is used as a backdrop to stick still images of characters to while the story is being told... can't remember what that was called, but the concept was quite similar to interactive stories and visual novels.
At some point though you have such little interactivity that you are better off straightforwardly making a movie, whether it's a machinama or animation or what, so you can use the unique strengths of that medium.
You could go pretty far in the story direction (visual novels, IF, point & click adventures).
But, in the end a game is about making decisions (or at least about an illusion of making decisions), if there are no decisions to make, it's not a game.
But, in the end a game is about making decisions (or at least about an illusion of making decisions), if there are no decisions to make, it's not a game.
Sure you can do this. There is a continuum between zero user choice audio visuals, say a 3d movie like toy story, and full free choice games. A lot of game artists also work on movies.
When there's no user interaction, there's a lot of shortcuts you can take. Objects may only need to be built with one viewing angle for instance. You don't tend to need physics representations in the same way. And the whole thing can be prerendered with smoother curves and effects. On the other hand the detail expected tends to be higher for movies.
A lot of games have scripted elements. This would be more akin to a movie sequence. Game designers have to choose how scripted a game is (which is good for storytelling), and how much choice there is. Sometimes it can be difficult to force the intended story without giving the player the impression that the game is linear.
As the others say, there is a cutoff point, where your game is so linear, that you might as well make it pre-rendered or a movie, so you can take advantage of those techniques.
When there's no user interaction, there's a lot of shortcuts you can take. Objects may only need to be built with one viewing angle for instance. You don't tend to need physics representations in the same way. And the whole thing can be prerendered with smoother curves and effects. On the other hand the detail expected tends to be higher for movies.
A lot of games have scripted elements. This would be more akin to a movie sequence. Game designers have to choose how scripted a game is (which is good for storytelling), and how much choice there is. Sometimes it can be difficult to force the intended story without giving the player the impression that the game is linear.
As the others say, there is a cutoff point, where your game is so linear, that you might as well make it pre-rendered or a movie, so you can take advantage of those techniques.
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