tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3889388775673754833.post4982480224972289896..comments2024-02-24T03:34:18.060-05:00Comments on Stealing Commas: Mirror's Edge Spoiler Post 2, What I would do differentlychris the cynichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06872875475212333027noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3889388775673754833.post-8070391311106769762012-06-14T08:42:05.333-04:002012-06-14T08:42:05.333-04:00AVPII was a severe letdown in gameplay terms from ...AVPII was a severe letdown in gameplay terms from the first game... but I very much liked the way the story was handled.<br /><br />I think the ultimate-sandbox version could at least break even on resources, because there'd no longer be a need to design one distinctive route per mission.Firedrakenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3889388775673754833.post-74827059136021103272012-06-13T17:43:52.513-04:002012-06-13T17:43:52.513-04:00how it effectively AVPII was
That "it" ...<i>how it effectively AVPII was</i><br /><br />That "it" isn't supposed to be there.chris the cynichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06872875475212333027noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3889388775673754833.post-84782966223757731472012-06-13T17:41:58.962-04:002012-06-13T17:41:58.962-04:00I've been trying to respond to this for a coup...I've been trying to respond to this for a couple days, but it's been difficult to find the time.<br /><br />In no particular order, both the Portal-ish approach and the ultimate sandbox version sound like good games.<br /><br />There are two things that I go back and forth on when talking about something like this. One is whether what I say should be confined by what is reasonable given the resources. For example, reasonably, a much larger prologue would have required making cuts to the rest of the game, and there's not a lot of game to cut. You could possibly get rid of the boat and the chapter with the convoy without losing too much. (Shift the fight with Cel to the PK level, have Kate be taken to the Shard as plan A.) But would that be enough for the kind of extended prologue I'd want? Probably not.<br /><br />The other is where the difference between, "This would make the game better," and, "This would make it into a different game that I would have liked more," lies and which side of that divide discussion would be on.<br /><br />So, for example, I would have liked it if you could interact with people, but Mirror's Edge doesn't really allow for that all that much.<br /><br />Which is sort of why I look to AVPII for how you could learn about the story and the setting. Obviously there's a big difference between a gun heavy game set in the space-faring future on an alien world and a gun light game set in the near future on earth, but in terms of storytelling options the two have a lot in common. Outside of cutscenes you pretty much never meet anyone who doesn't want to kill you, the one exception being the person talking to you over the radio, you're constantly on the run, so forth.<br /><br />The utter lack of interaction isn't exactly unusual for an FPS (at least not the ones I've played) but how it effectively AVPII was able to communicate story and setting during the actual gameplay sections given that lack of interaction was impressive. Following in that model could, I think, have allowed for a reworking of Mirror's Edge that had a much more solid story while still remaining, fundamentally, Mirror's Edge.<br /><br />I feel like introducing interaction beyond, "Give me the bag," "Take the bag" and "I'm going to shoot you," would be changing Mirror's Edge into somthing it's not. Maybe something better, I would have liked it at least, but something different.chris the cynichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06872875475212333027noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3889388775673754833.post-66794038435181871262012-06-11T05:39:34.518-04:002012-06-11T05:39:34.518-04:00This is, I suspect, why many action-type games (as...This is, I suspect, why many action-type games (as opposed to CRPGs) are set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland rather than a functioning society: it's much easier to justify having a small number of people to interact with. Mentioning names would certainly have helped, but really it would be much better if one could interact with people. I suspect I'd use a procedural approach: have models that can be mixed and matched, Sims-style, and generate dialogue and interaction off a personality trait system.<br /><br />Taking a Portal-ish approach would see a game of two halves: the first half is the running-as-job, the second half is the Big Plot. Couple that with your optional-mission idea, and you have a trainer mode: the player can keep doing standard missions to build up movement skills (and perhaps reputation, if there's a way for that to be relevant) until she decides to push the "start plot" button.<br /><br />The ultimate sandbox version would be to have the whole thing take place in, say, a square mile - that had been mapped thoroughly. You can fit an awful lot of parkourishness into a space like that.<br /><br />If you've watched the Doctor Who remake: the "Vote Saxon" posters towards the end of series 3 sound like the sort of foreshadowing you're talking about. Blatant and unsubtle, sure, but they get the job done.Firedrakenoreply@blogger.com