Storytelling

Quotes

Why adventure games suck

Posted September 2nd, last year. (Permalink)
Cataloged under Games, Adventure games, Storytelling and Ron Gilbert

I enjoy games in which the pace is slow and the reward is for thinking and figuring, rather than quick reflexes. The element that brings adventure games to life for me is the stories around which they are woven. When done right, it is a form of storytelling that can be engrossing in a way that only interaction can bring. [...] If any type of game is going to bridge the gap between games and storytelling, it is most likely going to be adventure games. They will become less puzzle solving and more story telling, it is the blueprint the future will be made from.

Kirchner on visual storytelling

Posted August 29th, last year. (Permalink)
Cataloged under Paul Kirchner, Comics, Storytelling and Inspiration

I like telling a story without dialog. It forces the reader to fill in what’s happening, and as long as the narrative is clear I think the reader gets satisfaction from that. I’ve heard it said that a humorous story always leaves out a key element that the audience must fill in, and the satisfaction of making that connection – “getting it” – provokes the laugh. Omitting dialog is one way to force the reader to fill in the blanks.

Paul Kirchner
Postscript in “The Bus”, June 2015

Comforting fictions

Posted August 27th, last year. (Permalink)
Cataloged under Storytelling and Living

Story-telling, especially at an impressionable age, is a way of understanding ourselves and our surroundings.

As adults, we prefer stories, like our lives, to be predictable, to be fixed, to have the comfort of formulas that every soap opera and most films conform with. Yet life is messy. It contains accidents, contradictions, loose ends. There is probably no plot and yet there are more possibilities than we dare imagine. Ultimately, none end very well. There’s a vertigo to contemplating such matters but it is more truthful and ironically less childish than the comforting fictions we adhere to.

Burly Men at Sea review

Posted August 27th, last year. (Permalink)
Cataloged under Adventure games, Storytelling and Games

I have nothing against stories you play, though they’re currently shelved with video games only because we privilege unreliable terms like “interactivity.” [...] in all cases they involved me watching some things happen, clicking a button, then watching some more things happen. [...] That’s put the burden of invention on audiovisual novelty.

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