I just stumbled upon Raph Koster’s “Narrative is not a game mechanic” and found that it contains some stuff that I do not really agree with. Now, thinking somebody on the internet is wrong happens all the time, but I think this article brings up some stuff that warrants a reply. While it has up a few good points, it also contains views on a few concept that I think can be quite damaging when trying to expand upon the medium of videogames.
Best of 2011
Since 2012 is here I thought it might be a good time for a short best of 2011 list! Note that only games that have been released during 2011 are included (and not games that I have played last year). So without further ado, here are my top picks from the past year.
The Problem of Repetition
After having played some adventure and RPG games lately something struck me: repetition in games have almost the same problems as trial-and-error do. This is not really a shocking conclusion, since repeating things in a game is basically what you do when stuck in a sequence of trial and error. But since the repetition is not a direct consequence of being unable to progress, and that not all repetition is bad per se, I figured it was worth looking into a bit.
Thoughts on Heavy Rain
It is very easy to talk bad about Heavy Rain. One can say it is just an interactive movie where you press buttons at certain key moments, in rare cases changing the outcome of the story. One can talk about the hole and cliche filled story and the weakly developed characters*. One can talk about this and other negative aspects of the game and I would fully agree. But if one only focuses on these areas, there is plenty of really interesting aspects that are missed.
Happy Halloween!
Amnesia and Penumbra are massively discounted during the Halloween weekend. Why not put a game or two in the trick-or-treater’s little bucket?
Thoughts on Limbo
A while ago I played through Limbo for the first time. I thought it was quite an interesting experience for many reasons and been thinking for it on and off. Now that I have collected most of my thoughts on the game I thought it was time to write a little post about it.
Amnesia – One year later
A year has passed since we first released Amnesia and a lot has changed for us at Frictional Games since. We have gone from being pretty much out of money, to being financially stable in a way we never thought we would be. Everybody in the company has gotten raised salaries and we have more than enough money to complete our next game.
GDC Lecture now online!
The lecture I gave at GDC EU 2011 is now up!
Custom story competition: And the winners are…
Last week we closed the polls on our modest Custom Story competition. Over the last few months, fans have been able to vote for their favorite Custom Stories and over 600 people decided to take this opportunity. More than 40 stories competed in three categories: Best Custom Story, Most Potential, and Most Unique.
GDC Europe Sum-up
Me, Marc and Jens got back from GDC Europe yesterday so thought I should write a small summary of the trip.
