tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7801344413612447717.post3416985247834570291..comments2024-01-18T16:20:09.743+01:00Comments on Nils' Blog: Storybricks QuestionsNilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06468755466492675831noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7801344413612447717.post-77743738018309645922011-09-17T03:19:14.655+02:002011-09-17T03:19:14.655+02:00Scripting is exactly what you need if you want to ...<i>Scripting is exactly what you need if you want to control all the aspects of a gaming experience. The StoryBricks present a new way of interacting with a story, as if it were a living system, not a series of gates you have to go through.</i><br /><br />I had a problem with the above explanation as well (and I am corresponding with Kelly too). As a player-designer who would be using these tools to create content, why would want spend time essentially setting up a sandbox for people? I want to make a story, craft a narrative, not brick up a bunch of NPCs and let the players do whatever they want. And in such a scenario, how much time does it actually save me if I have to plan for every eventuality? <br /><br />It seems to me there are two completely different functions of Storybricks. The first is an emotive AI routine that turns states like Sad, Angry, Scared (etc), into NPC body language. That's fantastic! I always thought that expressing emotion in videogames was way harder than in writing. "The queen arches an eyebrow at your request." How could a game convey the emotion in that simple sentence without being wildly exaggerative or requiring photo-realistic NPC models ala LA Noir? More of this = good.<br /><br />The second function though is the professed "emergent questing" which continues to make zero sense. "Establishing a relationship" with an NPC is something that sounds fine, whatever. Who writes the (generic?) dialog that <i>actually gives you the quests</i>? Is there really a difference between "helping the brigand makes the guard sad/mad at you" and "Clicking this dialog option on the brigand triggers Sadness/Angry +1 for the guard?" Supposedly Storybricks handles all those triggers automatically, which is good, but would that also not create potentially thousands of unforeseen problems without a robust QA feature?<br /><br />For example, if you had to program the triggers yourself, the only danger is that interactions that <i>could</i> be fun aren't available (you can't side with the bad guys, etc). If Storybricks handles it, you could theoretically get into trouble where <i>everyone</i> hates you but the player-designer never actually wrote a quest/dialog which lets you get out of the hate loop. Helping the brigand could make the entire castle hostile in a cascade of AI which, while realistic, is unlikely to be fun if the entire thrust of the story was to save the queen from demonic possession (or whatever).<br /><br />Besides, as I mentioned before, I don't want a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure PvE sandbox, nor am I interested in creating it for other people. It <i>might</i> work if the <i>setting</i> is the most interesting "character," but again, I prefer crafted narratives in compelling settings, followed by crafted narratives in generic settings. If this means Storybricks is not the tool for me... then okay. But I don't think many bloggers understand what exactly they are excited about.Azurielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16581263347888757710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7801344413612447717.post-12247201005348286222011-09-16T13:43:12.127+02:002011-09-16T13:43:12.127+02:00Yes, what I have seen referred to as "evangel...Yes, what I have seen referred to as "evangelical sales" - something different not just bigger/faster/cheaper - are much harder and slower. I hope they have deep pockets.<br /><br />----<br /><br />My hope was the SB were for the players. E.g., if you are in a game where you are Trajan not Achilles - i.e. it is not you as the solo hero but you as the hero commanding ship(s) or legions or droid companions, then a system to allow you to send out your minions and influence their behavior would be interesting to me and dozens of others. :-(<br /><br />I.e., deciding which vendor to work for or what tasks to do can be quite interesting even if the tasks themselves are not. Deciding whether to kill wolves or wombat or mine mithril could be interesting even if the task is not.<br /><br />The example from my elder gaming is the market. Deciding what to buy and what to sell is interesting. But nobody wants to wait around trying to sell it themselves; that can happen when I am logged off and asleep. <br /><br />Some sort of storyboard-like way to set up tasks & behaviors for my minions to go out and interact with NPCs and other minions could be interesting. <br /><br />Except that would make it even more of a conceptual sell. And most MMO developers and consumers are just focusing on same-old same-old these days.Haguhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03726885305104254286noreply@blogger.com