A thoughtful observation from Jess Sanner on trends in games:
It seems as though a great majority of video games are stuck in a world of Me Vs You or Me VS AI and this is very dangerous and stifles creativity. It’s time to move past the point of a game being to simply win or “beat the computer” but rather, to foster an interactive storytelling that can intertwine naturally with human emotion. Isn’t that truly the point anyway? Are video games in their most organic definition not another form or extension of fiction with which a player ( or reader) can interact? This is why they are so different from more traditional games or stories They inspire more accurate emotions within a person because they actually become part of the story.As we see an emergence and subsequent rise of movement technology I feel that these thoughts will weigh more on our society’s gamers. When players are truly “holding” the gun there will be more of a direct mind and emotion connection and hopefully developers will take this as a way to integrate human body language naturally with game violence. A whole new level of interactivity could be explored on a level that is honest, authentic and in great depth.
Brendan Finn also has some interesting thoughts:
I want it to alter the story depending on my actions.The players actions must define the story, amplyfying the game mechanics and giving purpose to the player. I want control over the fate of the character in a non-linear fashion, as I am the active participant of the story. I believe a strong narrative is very important to a game, the players must interact with the narrative. Both the dialogue and cutscenes are used to help convey the story more now then ever in video games. Cutscenes and dialogue which break the game into segments coincide to shape the outcome.