Graphical Stories with Game-Like Elements

[Arclight]

There has been discussion in the past on the forum about adventure games with the game part taken out. It's usually focused on puzzle/story balance and the relative prevalence of puzzle-less games in the IF community compared to the AGS community (if you don't know what I'm on about, go play 9:05 or Shrapnel by Adam Cadre, The Great Machine by Jonas Kyratzes, or Whom the Telling Changed by Aaron A. Reed). There's fuss made over whether or not such things can be made in graphical form at all.

I don't want to talk about any of that.

See, this form of interactive narrative (we can't really call them games, can we?) really appeals to me. They're the sort of thing that I plan on attempting with AGS. Whether they turn out... that remains to be seen.

What I'd like to know is if anyone else has tried this in graphical form before. I'd like to take a look at what others have tried in order to better understand how to do it myself. Right now I'm relying on IF to do that for me, and I find that it isn't perfectly applicable. So, are there any examples of this sort of immersive, non-game, interactive storytelling available?

[Dualnames]

IF goes for Infocom right? If yes, I am therefore trying to attempt something.

[Ghost]

This qualifies. It's really very good.
http://balak01.deviantart.com/art/about-DIGITAL-COMICS-111966969

[Arclight]

Dualnames: IF (Interactive Fiction) includes Infocom games, yes. I'm not aware of any Infocom games that eschew puzzles and the like, though.

Anyway, you say that you're trying something along these lines. Can you elaborate? How do you control the flow of the narrative?

Ghost: That is interesting, and kind of gets at the same point that I'm talking about. It isn't exactly what I'm looking for (the lack of interactivity is the stumbling block) but it is the same sort of thing in a different medium.

What I'm looking for is more along the lines of a puzzle-less AGS "game." A good recent example would be Heed, though there are still traditional game/puzzle elements there.

[GarageGothic]

I can't off-hand think of any AGS examples, but there certainly are quite a few commercial games that use puzzle-less mechanics with graphics.

The Last Express has very few puzzles and the ones that are there are mainly self-contained and about reacting to the situation at hand. Most of the time you spend moving around on the train and seeing the plot and subplots unfold, and learning about the other characters.

Tender Loving Care is an interactive movie totally devoid of traditional gameplay. You influence the story purely by answering questions and taking psychological tests. A terrible underrated game, if you can look past the cheesy acting.

Many Japanese hentai games (erotic games often taking the form of dating sims) use a visual novel approach where the gameplay is reduced to moving between rooms and choosing dialog options when talking to other characters. The two I played, Norcturnal Illusion and Seasons of Sakura didn't really impress me - the writing was abysmal (and I'm sure the English translation didn't improve things) and the characters cardboard thin. If anything, those games prove that you either need a truly awesome storyline, or hardcore pornography to keep the audience playing an adventure game without challenges. (I heard that Kana: Little Sister, another game in the hentai genre, was supposed to have a good story that even made some players cry, but I haven't tried it out).

Facade I think would also qualify as graphical IF, though I never got very far in it before being thrown out of the apartment.

[Ghost]

TSC: I remember an old Inform game that allowed you to tell a story in tandem with the parser- you changed the flow of the story by just typing in a word, but there was no puzzle, only a braching tree of possible stories. For example, the parser started with "You flow past the windowsill.", and any word from that sentence would progress you through a rather obscore story.

It's interesting and seems to fit your description, if you like I can go and find the link.

[ThreeOhFour]

In case it helps, these are a couple of little games I played before making Heed that really gave me some inspiration and helped give me direction

Judith

Fathom

Today I Die

Not exactly what you are looking for, but I certainly found all of them quite incredible.

[GarageGothic]

Wow, thanks for the link to "Judith". I had totally missed this little gem. Really enjoyed it,  a great lesson on the illusion of freedom in game design. I too am a fan of "Today I Die" and also of Daniel Benmergui's other games, especially "I Wish I Were the Moon". A similar game I came across recently and really dug is "I Fell In Love With The Majesty Of Colors".

Edit: Just found "Pathways", by Terry Cavanagh who also made "Judith", and incredibly enough it was even better. Really made me want to experiment with interactive storytelling instead of just replicating the same old adventure mechanics.

[TandyLion]

LOOM basically was an interactive storybook. Very mild puzzle difficultly, and as Brian Moriarty said in one of his interviews, he wanted a game that was designed to be finished. I do enjoy these type of games as well. More of a journey in my opinion.

[Arclight]

GarageGothic: from what you describe, Tender Loving Care seems to be along the lines of what I'm talking about. Your hentai games are not at all it; what I'm talking about shouldn't just be a slide-show with no challenge. While what I'm talking about has no puzzles, there is still challenge. It just comes from elsewhere. I strongly urge you to play 9:05 - you can even play it in your browser here. It won't take you more than 10 minutes the first time. It won't take you more than 5 seconds the second time - and you will play it a second time.

Ghost: That's exactly the sort of thing I'm thinking of. I'm not sure of the exact game that you're talking about, but Whom the Telling Changed uses the exact same technique. No puzzles, but you shape and modify the story.

Ben304: Thank you! I'm playing them right now. By the way, I very much enjoyed Heed.

TandyLion: You know, I never played Loom. I'm too young to have caught it when it came out. I've been meaning to grab it off of Steam.

[ThreeOhFour]

Thanks, TSC.

I hope you enjoy them - I'm guessing Fathom is less what you're looking for (although give it until after the boss battle at least ) than Judith and Today I Die, but I thought I'd name all three anyhow.

Thanks for the links to I Fell In Love With The Majesty Of Colors and Pathways, GarageGothic... I enjoyed IFILWTMOC and am downloading Pathways now, and can't wait to try it

Edit: And yeah, that was lovely. I actually got goosebumps when I pressed the <- arrow button! Not only was it an interesting way to present a story, it was an interesting story that was presented!

Edit2: 9:05 was really quite nice, and I did, of course, play it a second time . I do find myself very skeptical that this particular game could be done in a graphical format, but I am sure that there are others that could... or, at least, a worthy alternative in a graphical format.

[Arclight]

Geez, Judith was great. That's precisely what I'm talking about. It actually reminded me of a similar game - a mod for HL2 - called Dear Esther. Download for free here. Very similar, both of them. You wander around and the story reveals itself. The one problem that I see is that it might be hard to translate it to 2D.

Today I Die was a sweet little thing, too. Thanks again.  

[ThreeOhFour]

The one problem that I see is that it might be hard to translate it to 2D.

Go and play the Pathways game GG linked to earlier in the thread

[Arclight]

I just did. That certainly rids me of that concern! 

[blueskirt]

I believe this has also been tried in AGS with Dead Of Winter.

Deirdra Kiai also makes similar games, try Pigeons In The Park and Chivalry Is Not Dead. While Chivalry Is Not Dead features no puzzles, I still thought of it as a game since it throws several obstacles at you and gives you several choices regarding how to overcome these obstacles, choices which generally affect the story later on. It felt a lot like a roleplaying game to me (roleplaying as in playing a role, not killing monsters and grinding XP).

On the subject of visual novels, there is also Missing, the story is a notch above Japanese Hentai games but gameplay wise it's the same, barely any puzzles, a couple of pixel hunting moments, most of the game is spend talking with people and going back and forth in between rooms in hope that the last thing you did triggered something in another room of the hotel.

I'm personally not a big fans of such games, I prefer when games feature some sort of gameplay and not just interactivity. Your comment regarding IF only strengthen the vow I made after I played Lost Pig, to never play another IF game, because none would be as brilliantly awesome as this one.

[Greg Squire]

I think these are some examples of what you are talking about

Bionic Heart
Fatal Hearts

They are more visual stories than they are "games".  They do have some interactivity (and sometimes puzzles), but it is minimal.  I don't know if they have been any made with AGS, but it certainly seems possible to do.  I believe Fatal Hearts above was made with Game Maker, but I don't know what Bionic Heart was made with.