EDGE magazine, article on IF

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In EDGE magazine's latest issue (142) they have an article about IF
(p86). Well, it's not really about IF, it's about the use of text in
(video) games, but about the last third is specifically about IF.
It's quite a nice piece and whilst it's too short to provide any real
depth or analysis they do get to grips with some issues that are
special to IF. It has choice quotes from Emily Short and Adam Cadre
(I can't tell if they're from e-mail correspondence or, as Edge have a
slight knack for, pulled from a web article).

They describe IF as "a gaming community virtually divorced from the
mainstream". Edge love this sort of thing, last month they ran an
article on bedroom coders doing 2D shoot-em-ups.

Their short IF reading list is: Photopia, Shade, Galatea, Shrapnel,
Rameses. All from 2000 apart from Photopia (1998). I haven't played
any of those apart from Photopia so I can't comment.

If you haven't heard of Edge magazine, I should describe it as the
most high-brow mainstream video games magazine. It's literate and
doesn't just tirelessly reprint press releases (it gave Doom 3 7/10
last month). They like to have discussion about the role of narrative
in games, and so on. Definitely worth a read if you're in IF
wondering what video games are like.

David Jones

 

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David Jones wrote:
> Definitely worth a read if you're in IF wondering what
> video games are like.

The Ico 2 preview in that issue looks interesting, too, seeing
as Ico is the most interesting narrative game (without text)
that I've come across.

David

 

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"David Kinder" <d.kinder@btinternetspamnothankyou.com> wrote in message news:<cjscld$m6n$1@hercules.btinternet.com>...
> David Jones wrote:
> > Definitely worth a read if you're in IF wondering what
> > video games are like.
>
> The Ico 2 preview in that issue looks interesting, too, seeing
> as Ico is the most interesting narrative game (without text)
> that I've come across.

It seems to me to be an especially good issue actually.

It's interesting that you mention Ico in the context of IF. I haven't
played Ico except for the demo at some E3 a while ago, so I can't
really comment (must get round to buying a PS2 one day). I have read
Andrew Plotkin's review of it. He seems struck by what struck me in
the demo: the inspiringly beautiful light, and the fragility of the
girl. How do they make it so you _have_ to save the girl? (I mean as
a player you feel compelled to, not that the structure of the game
demands it, which it does).

What's a narrative game? More story than game, or simply provides a
strong story?

David Jones

 

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Here, David Jones <drj@pobox.com> wrote:
> "David Kinder" <d.kinder@btinternetspamnothankyou.com> wrote in message news:<cjscld$m6n$1@hercules.btinternet.com>...
> > David Jones wrote:
> > > Definitely worth a read if you're in IF wondering what
> > > video games are like.
> >
> > The Ico 2 preview in that issue looks interesting, too, seeing
> > as Ico is the most interesting narrative game (without text)
> > that I've come across.
>
> It seems to me to be an especially good issue actually.
>
> It's interesting that you mention Ico in the context of IF. I haven't
> played Ico except for the demo at some E3 a while ago, so I can't
> really comment (must get round to buying a PS2 one day). I have read
> Andrew Plotkin's review of it. He seems struck by what struck me in
> the demo: the inspiringly beautiful light, and the fragility of the
> girl. How do they make it so you _have_ to save the girl? (I mean as
> a player you feel compelled to, not that the structure of the game
> demands it, which it does).

Some of it is the structure of the game. This branch of gaming
(console action-adventures) has a strong convention of "follow the
in-game cues", even when there's no mimetic reason for the protagonist
to follow that course of action. We get the same thing in text games,
of course. (Being egotistical, I'd say that text games try harder to
supply motivation, and therefore text game *players* have higher
standards. But this is a matter of degree.)

In-game, of course, you're a pubescent boy who discovers a beautiful
girl trapped in a cage. You're trying to escape from the castle.
Taking her with you is not an unnatural response. The fact that doors
magically open for her is important too (that's the game-structure you
mentioned), but you're certainly not dragging her around as a
convenience.

A tremendous amount of emotional weight is conveyed in body language.
The girl is (by turns) curious, friendly, helpful, fearful, worried,
and serene. She doesn't speak; these all come out visually.

> What's a narrative game? More story than game, or simply provides a
> strong story?

Ico had a well-told story, but it *wasn't* more story than game. You
spend most of your time engaging the environmental puzzles.

--Z

"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the borogoves..."
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David Jones wrote:
> It's interesting that you mention Ico in the context of IF. I haven't
> played Ico except for the demo at some E3 a while ago, so I can't
> really comment (must get round to buying a PS2 one day).

It's worth it: I got a PS2 basically for Ico and Rez.

> How do they make it so you _have_ to save the girl? (I mean as a
> player you feel compelled to, not that the structure of the game
> demands it, which it does).

I'm not sure I can easily describe how it's done, other than to say
that the sense of immersion it generates is very impressive. There's
one point towards the end which switches to a cut scene: the platform
you and the girl are on splits in two, leaving her on one side and you
on the other, immediately after which the game gives control back to
you. Normally in games at these sort of points I poke around to see what
happens if I do something non obvious, but in this case I did what the
game's story needed: I tried to jump the gap that had opened up. The
moment impressed me as it made me feel I was participating in the story,
not just watching it.

> What's a narrative game? More story than game, or simply provides a
> strong story?

Ico doesn't have a particularly strong story, it's really very simple.
It's more the way it's told: the best expression of "show rather than
tell" I've come across in a game.

I'm still not sure what the ending means, though.

It'll be interesting to see what (if any) of this survives into the
new game. Whatever happens, the screenshots in Edge show it'll be
beautiful, at least

David

 

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"David Kinder" <d.kinder@btinternetspamnothankyou.com> wrote in message news:<cjv8hb$ouq$1@titan.btinternet.com>...
> David Jones wrote:
> > It's interesting that you mention Ico in the context of IF. I haven't
> > played Ico except for the demo at some E3 a while ago, so I can't
> > really comment (must get round to buying a PS2 one day).
>
> It's worth it: I got a PS2 basically for Ico and Rez.

I played Rez on my Dreamcast. I could clearly see it was a "good"
game. But I just didn't like it. so I returned it (about 3 hours
after buying it). I've regretted that ever since, because I would
know like it for its historical value and importance alone.

>
> > How do they make it so you _have_ to save the girl? (I mean as a
> > player you feel compelled to, not that the structure of the game
> > demands it, which it does).
>
> I'm not sure I can easily describe how it's done, other than to say
> that the sense of immersion it generates is very impressive. There's
> one point towards the end which switches to a cut scene: the platform
> you and the girl are on splits in two, leaving her on one side and you
> on the other, immediately after which the game gives control back to
> you. Normally in games at these sort of points I poke around to see what
> happens if I do something non obvious, but in this case I did what the
> game's story needed: I tried to jump the gap that had opened up. The
> moment impressed me as it made me feel I was participating in the story,
> not just watching it.

Er, yeah. I know. I played the demo. E3 is not the best environment
for playing videogames. You're standing up (usually), it's very noisy
(so you probably can't here the game sound very clearly), you're being
jostled all the time. And yet I was totally hooked for the 40 minutes
or so it took to solve the demo. I did exactly the same thing at
exactly the same gap. The game had managed to convince me that I
should save the girl and save her now and if I went exploring or
poking around I may lose the girl. And I didn't want that.

What I mean is, I saw the animation, the bleeding of the light, the
ghostly aura around the girl, heard her little wails (so I must have
heard _some_ of the game sound), saw how she stumbled when I yanked
her along too quickly, but from a technical perspective I'm totally
impressed at the feeling it conveys. It's a piece of magical
direction.

> > What's a narrative game? More story than game, or simply provides a
> > strong story?
>
> Ico doesn't have a particularly strong story, it's really very simple.
> It's more the way it's told: the best expression of "show rather than
> tell" I've come across in a game.

Notice there are no status bars nor head-up display in Ico. There is
no meter to indicate the girl's peril or your health or time since
last sofa. It must be all part of the same philosophy. Story and
game through cinema alone. Other games might provide some means to
switch the screen junk off (Goldeneye and Metroid Prime for example),
and it is quite cool, but it's not really the same game.

> I'm still not sure what the ending means, though.
>
> It'll be interesting to see what (if any) of this survives into the
> new game. Whatever happens, the screenshots in Edge show it'll be
> beautiful, at least

I'm convinced that the Ico guys have mastered programming the PS2 in a
way that no-one else has. Because anyone can do 3D models and
textures and full-screen effects (like blur and bleed), but I've never
seen light or dust done as well as in Ico. The transition from being
inside to being inside was, for me, literally dazzling. And it's just
a TV; why has no-one else shown me that a TV can do that?

David Jones

 

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Here, David Jones <drj@pobox.com> wrote:
>
> I'm convinced that the Ico guys have mastered programming the PS2 in a
> way that no-one else has. Because anyone can do 3D models and
> textures and full-screen effects (like blur and bleed), but I've never
> seen light or dust done as well as in Ico. The transition from being
> inside to being inside was, for me, literally dazzling.

_Prince of Persia_ (on the PS2) equalled the technical polish,
although it was going for a slightly different style -- more dust, not
as much dazzle. Mind you, that was two years later.

Then of course there are the _Silent Hill_ people, who are just as
masterful, but more interested in "blood is crawling on the walls"
than sunlight.

--Z

"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the borogoves..."
*
* Make your vote count. Get your vote counted.