[PATV] Tuesday, August 2, 2011 - Extra Credits Season 1, Ep. 21: Narrative Mechanics

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[PATV] Tuesday, August 2, 2011 - Extra Credits Season 1, Ep. 21: Narrative Mechanics

This week, we look at a classic arcade game to show how games can express an idea using only their mechanics.

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brunoais

Nice thing you grabbed to talk about. And to think that an 80's game would have soo much story....

Ijnek

This episode reminded me about that one chuck episode S02E05

Josh K.

Tremendously impressive. Thank you.

kingceth

The "Many for the Few" thing was all of Mass Effect. You had to make those decisions constantly. I played the second game 9 times in preparation for the third one, wanting to see what decisions would play out in ME3. Needless to say, Mass Effect 3 blew it and assigned number values to those incredibly difficult decision. Except for Mordin. Damn Mordin...

mblair

You know what game designers could use as inspiration for narrative mechanics? Tom and Jerry cartoons. Think about it, Tom and Jerry never say a word for decades and yet we get a very detailed idea of their characters through things like the sound effects, how they react to being hit, how they react to danger, the music, the list goes on. Want more proof? Here's another question: how are Tom and Jerry cartoons similar to Metriod other M? Answer: they were both ruined when the creative team decided to give them a voice and dropped the ball.

Leench

Awesome point. And I learned a little more about me, because of how I've always played that game.

HaroldZoid

Loved this, but you guys completely ignored one aspect of the game, the planes. They're basically like the UFO's from Space Invaders, harmless enemies that give you bonus points. but in this context, they present another choice. Do you destroy the planes out of aggression, despite the impracticality, or do you save your missiles for the sake of defense?

iamcreasy

Another Narrative driven game I'd like to mention is Thomas Was Alone. http://store.steampowered.com/app/220780

SecxyBear

This is the kind of video that makes me want talk to the writers. I'd want to ask, why? Why did you make this stuff up? You guys are smart enough to see that a lot this the things mentioned in this video are bending facts to suit theory and not theory to suit facts. So why make things up? There are many legitimate examples of this topic, but you guys picked things that have very rational and legitimate explanations and have them irrational and unlikely ones.

Because of people like you, who are smart, who know what they're talking about, who like games as something more (which these are all great attributes and it's why i watch your series). But back on track. Because of you, when I learn about games at uni I get professors asking students to do the same thing in taking irrational and unlikely meaning from things. Worse still, they get marked on it. So please if you read this please comment, Please email me. And if someone else here is reading this and knows somewhere it's more likely to be seen by the EC writers please let me know. I want a dialogue about this.

padoyle

This game has some similar themes and is also extremely poignant for such a brief and simple experience. The sound and the visuals are also very well thought out.

http://armorgames.com/play/5355/