There's a school of thought which suggests that interactivity and compelling stories are inverse relationships: the more freedom a player has to act within a game, the more difficult it is to keep the player in the realm of a dramatic narrative. (The exception would be writing dramatic narratives for all contingencies, but there are some things that simply can't be made dramatic, so you'd have to limit the player's exploration that way.)
This got me thinking about main characters. I've read over and over that for the player to truly assume the role of the main character in a game, the main character needs to be as "ambiguous" as possible to allow the player to project his or her personality onto the character. This was true with Cloud (Final Fantasy VII) and Crono (Chrono Trigger), neither of whom spoke in their games.
But that runs counter to a lot of adventure titles. Take Tex Murphy, for example, whose dialog is often wittier and more interesting than anything the player could have come up with. Many adventure game developers go to great lengths to give their main characters personalities that "we will want to spend time with." It's almost as though the adventure game's goal is not to bring the player into the game, but to allow the player to be someone more interesting than himself/herself for a while.
My question is this: how defined are your main characters? Do you go to great lengths to make them very specific and detailed, or do you try to keep them as similar to the player as possible?
How do you think this affects your narrative? Your interactivity?
For me, my main character is pretty well fleshed out, but not quite so much as the surrounding characters. I do expect the players to assume his role, though, rather than project themselves into the game. Having the character really fleshed out has given me a lot of dramatic possibilities for the story, but the game is becoming a "trail of bread crumbs" without a lot of freedom. Perhaps this is inherent in the adventure game genre, and is requisite to telling a story.
I've seen AGS games go both ways. My opinion is that Prodigal's main character is pretty amorphous; it's easy to assume he's "like me," and the game story has him act in ways that I would choose to act (trying to seek out my brother even after he's stiffed our family). Cedric and the Revolution has a main character with a very distinct personality, and I realize that we are very different. That keeps me removed from the game, in a sense, but it's entertaining enough that I don't mind.
Any thoughts on this?
Sorry for the long post.
This got me thinking about main characters. I've read over and over that for the player to truly assume the role of the main character in a game, the main character needs to be as "ambiguous" as possible to allow the player to project his or her personality onto the character. This was true with Cloud (Final Fantasy VII) and Crono (Chrono Trigger), neither of whom spoke in their games.
But that runs counter to a lot of adventure titles. Take Tex Murphy, for example, whose dialog is often wittier and more interesting than anything the player could have come up with. Many adventure game developers go to great lengths to give their main characters personalities that "we will want to spend time with." It's almost as though the adventure game's goal is not to bring the player into the game, but to allow the player to be someone more interesting than himself/herself for a while.
My question is this: how defined are your main characters? Do you go to great lengths to make them very specific and detailed, or do you try to keep them as similar to the player as possible?
How do you think this affects your narrative? Your interactivity?
For me, my main character is pretty well fleshed out, but not quite so much as the surrounding characters. I do expect the players to assume his role, though, rather than project themselves into the game. Having the character really fleshed out has given me a lot of dramatic possibilities for the story, but the game is becoming a "trail of bread crumbs" without a lot of freedom. Perhaps this is inherent in the adventure game genre, and is requisite to telling a story.
I've seen AGS games go both ways. My opinion is that Prodigal's main character is pretty amorphous; it's easy to assume he's "like me," and the game story has him act in ways that I would choose to act (trying to seek out my brother even after he's stiffed our family). Cedric and the Revolution has a main character with a very distinct personality, and I realize that we are very different. That keeps me removed from the game, in a sense, but it's entertaining enough that I don't mind.
Any thoughts on this?
Sorry for the long post.
)
