Wednesday
Jan182012
Moving to the Next Passage
Wednesday, January 18, 2012 When a new art medium is formed, it is a historical trend for it to draw from the previous popular medium; movies were influenced by photography, just as games are now influenced by cinema. When a new medium peaks in terms of what it can borrow and learn from its parent medium, the new medium will start to develop its own unique traits. At their relatively young age, games continue to mature as an entertainment medium. They are closing in on how long they will need to borrow from cinema. If the games medium wants to fully distance itself from derived narrative structures and progress into its own golden age, fully realizing the medium’s capabilities will be its first step.
Even from the earliest days of Electronic Arts and Trip Hawkins, game developers have strived to create interactive experiences that could make people cry. It’s a valiant goal that aims to enrich the possibilities of video games on an emotional level. Unfortunately, the approach commonly taken by popular games for this task doesn’t progress the medium away from cinema. Titles like Heavy Rain and Metal Gear Solid are classic examples of games that are only able to cause intendedl emotional reactions through the use of cutscenes, the proverbial crutch that games have borrowed from cinema to limp their way through shoddy narrative. Storytelling in video games needs to stop trying to imitate cinema and start utilizing the most basic aspect of games: the player’s ability to affect outcome.
Games as an art form have the unique trait of being able to create meanings through the player’s use of mechanics. Dynamic meaning is the most important differentiating factor between games from movies. It was not something that cinema was capable of teaching to games, so it could have only emerged from the games as the medium matured. The marriage of gameplay and narrative needs to be ubiquitous in the future of games before the medium can reach it’s golden age. The field of innovation in video games, indie games are already helping games get to that point.
Arguably the most important game that aims to forward the progress of games is Jason Roherer’s Passage. This short 5 minute experience provides provides no formal narrative structure, but instead relies only on it’s simple mechanics to create meaning. As a nameless character in an open world, the player can score points by traveling to the right and by finding treasures along the way. Early in the adventure, the player may find another character to be their spouse and travel side-by-side with, doubling the amount of points scored. Unfortunately, their married movement makes it impossible for the couple to reach certain treasures that are behind narrow obstacles - an allegory for the sacrifices/hardships of marriage. As the game continues, the couple show signs of aging with gray hairs and slower movement. The game’s most powerful moment comes in the form of death, when the player’s significant passes away and is replaced with a tombstone. Players then have to make the decision to either travel away from the tombstone to score a few more points or to spend their last few seconds by the grave waiting for their death.
Even from the earliest days of Electronic Arts and Trip Hawkins, game developers have strived to create interactive experiences that could make people cry. It’s a valiant goal that aims to enrich the possibilities of video games on an emotional level. Unfortunately, the approach commonly taken by popular games for this task doesn’t progress the medium away from cinema. Titles like Heavy Rain and Metal Gear Solid are classic examples of games that are only able to cause intendedl emotional reactions through the use of cutscenes, the proverbial crutch that games have borrowed from cinema to limp their way through shoddy narrative. Storytelling in video games needs to stop trying to imitate cinema and start utilizing the most basic aspect of games: the player’s ability to affect outcome.
Games as an art form have the unique trait of being able to create meanings through the player’s use of mechanics. Dynamic meaning is the most important differentiating factor between games from movies. It was not something that cinema was capable of teaching to games, so it could have only emerged from the games as the medium matured. The marriage of gameplay and narrative needs to be ubiquitous in the future of games before the medium can reach it’s golden age. The field of innovation in video games, indie games are already helping games get to that point.
Arguably the most important game that aims to forward the progress of games is Jason Roherer’s Passage. This short 5 minute experience provides provides no formal narrative structure, but instead relies only on it’s simple mechanics to create meaning. As a nameless character in an open world, the player can score points by traveling to the right and by finding treasures along the way. Early in the adventure, the player may find another character to be their spouse and travel side-by-side with, doubling the amount of points scored. Unfortunately, their married movement makes it impossible for the couple to reach certain treasures that are behind narrow obstacles - an allegory for the sacrifices/hardships of marriage. As the game continues, the couple show signs of aging with gray hairs and slower movement. The game’s most powerful moment comes in the form of death, when the player’s significant passes away and is replaced with a tombstone. Players then have to make the decision to either travel away from the tombstone to score a few more points or to spend their last few seconds by the grave waiting for their death.
The experience of playing Passage resonates long after the player dies. Within it’s 5 minute span, Passage can provide an emotionally profound view of life, mortality and marriage. There are no cutscenes needed to convey the game’s messages, because playing with the games’ basic mechanics of movement and obstruction creates the messages. The game uses rudimentary systems inherent in all games to serve as the catalysts for the game’s narrative. Passage cannot be translated into a book or movie, the game’s meanings can only be understood by playing it.
Reader Comments (2)
Provides provides no formal narrative structure, but instead relies only on it’s simple mechanics to create meaning. As a nameless character in an open world, the player can score points by traveling to the right and by finding treasures along the way. Early in the adventure, the player may find another character to be their spouse and travel side-by-side with, doubling the amount of points scored.
Interactive experiences that could make people cry. It’s a valiant goal that aims to enrich the possibilities of video games on an emotional level. Unfortunately, the approach commonly taken by popular games for this task doesn’t progress the medium away from cinema. Titles like Heavy Rain and Metal Gear Solid are classic examples of games that are only able to cause intendedl emotional reactions through the use of cutscenes, the proverbial crutch that games have borrowed from cinema to limp their way through shoddy narrative. Storytelling in video games needs to stop trying to imitate cinema and start utilizing the most basic aspect of games: the player’s ability to affect outcome.