Does anyone think that games that deal simply with normal character interactions, and not with violence or action or mangament of some sort are viable? I''m thinking of an interactive analogy to a drama film or theater. Any comments?

Probably - if you had a really really strong story, and really really great characters.

It''d never be mass-market stuff, but I''m sure it''d find a following.

E

well.. it would be something like edutainment..

there are some titles like that, but i havent played any in a long time..

the game will be like a movie ? .. something like 7 guest or phantasmogaria ?? .

i think phantasmogaria had no point to it, it looked like a point and click hollywood movie..



{ Stating the obvious never helped any situation !! }

(not having played The Sims) but it sounds like very Mass-market stuff ! As opposed to the "action movies" that most game designers make.

I remember when I was smaller, I always thought it''d be really, really cool for someone to write a 2D RPG-style script engine that was really easy to use (you know, hyper-user friendly). See, I''ve always been a Final Fantasy fan, and when I played FF3 and got to the Opera scene, I was ecstatic. I wanted to be able to come back and write my own plays, and see the little SD cartoony characters act them out, posing, text boses popping up...I was hoping that somebody would make one, but I don''t ever remember seeing one, and I was very disappointed.

Years passed, I started programming, and now, here I am. This last semester I was taking an Intro to Shakespeare class at the local community college in lieu of English 12, and we were supposed to do a creative project. I said to myself, self, I''ve got it - I''ll program something! And what I decided to do was write a 2D RPG-style script engine, and do a scene from Shakespeare.

Welp, I wrote the engine from relative scratch (working off a simple DX basecode from some other project, I wrote all the data structures from scratch, as well as the algorithms that formed the meat and potatoes of the program) and then I started writing the script for it (I had it set up to read from a text file) but that proved to be a pretty long and strenuous task, so instead of doing an entire scene with multiple people, I just did a soliloquy - Hamlet Act 3 Scene 1 to be exact, the "To be or not to be" speech. All of the graphics I used were from FF3, and I had Locke in there as Hamlet...oh, and Rachel as Ophelia when she steps in at the very end. I think it came off very well; the teacher, who said she had done a little programming herself, was very impressed.

Anyways, what I''ve written is a beginning - one would have to make an in-engine script editor, where you could graphically give orders, and constantly play things back as you go, for it to be what I had envisioned in my youth...But it could be done! And heck, maybe I''ll do it. It might even sell.

Eight is right though, it wouldn''t be mass-market stuff at all. It''d still be cool to have, anyway...Maybe I''ll do that...I dunno, what do you people think?

- Bucket_Head

- Hai, watashi no chichi no kuruma ga oishikatta desu!
...or, in other words, "Yes, my dad''s car was deliscious!"

Well, I wasn''t talking about "interactive movies" I was just comparing action games to action movies as an example of what a drama game would be. I think that if you did it right it could have tons of mass market appeal. I''m thinking that it would be something like the sims, except much more of an adventure\rpg style game then a strategy game. Also you would be invovled in specific scenarios, as opposed generic everyday life (which can, and does get boring.)

I think you''re right about drama games, actually. Perhaps you could do what I''m developing with my tiny game - make it episodic, like a serial? Make it almost like Indiana Jones and the Desktop Adventures/Yoda Stories, but with better characters. That way you could develop the characters over several episodes..maybe I''m just rambling though

I remember reading an article about the "Female Gamer". The short of it was men like to hunt and kill women like to talk and interact. While this is a MASSIVE generalisation, it does (to a point) hold true. The end of the article said women would play games that where more like a soap opera the quake.

The only problem being the soap opera would take 1000x more processing to be beleivable than quake3 does now.

Drama games or Roleplay games (where there is more than just go east, kill orc) will happen. I dream of the day where I could play D&D on a computer and not need to use offencive spells.

Drama games would require amazing AI (anyone else see the posiblity of AI daughter boards?) or scripting so cleaver as to create the illusion of free will.


Anyway I say go for it! it can only go to further the industry.

V

AI would definately help the genre develope, although I think that clever design tricks could produce similar results with current technology. I''m seriously against "AI boards" unless they are some kind of complex neural network that actually simulates a generic human mind. One capable of learning, conversation, etc. It would be cool to have a board that this, but if such a thing ever comes into existence it is quite a ways away (at least 15 or 20 years I would say).

Well, I am planning to create a true Role-Playing game. I allready have the plans ready, but I need to become a better programmer first... I can''t create graphics yet :p. And I am also waiting untill I have finished my college study of AI. And then I''ll need to find people to help me... But once that is all done, there shall be the best RPG game ever created!!! Raaah!!!! :p

(sorry about the last part... )