Part Two: How Game Storytellers Collaborate With the Player

03/11/21 • 104 min

Following from last week's episode, Tim and Joel begin by looking at Kentucky Route Zero, which does interesting things with narrative interactivity - positioning the player as stage director rather than performer. We talk about the ways games suggest ways of playing through creative constraint, with reference to the stress system in Crusader Kings 3. Finally we talk about narrative reconstruction, wherein the focus of the player's experience is to put the game's story together, in Outer Wilds and The Flower Collectors.

Games mentioned:

Kentucky Route Zero
Disco Elysium
Crusader Kings 3
Civilization
Outer Wilds
The Flower Collectors

Games mentioned:

Kentucky Route Zero
Disco Elysium
Crusader Kings 3
Civilization
Outer Wilds
The Flower Collectors

Previous Episode

Part One: How Game Storytellers Collaborate With the Player

Tim and Joel examine the difference between passively experiencing and actively performing or participating in narrative, and the different degrees to which games make that participation meaningful. We begin by looking at branching narrative, with reference to The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, a game that takes narrative divergence in bold directions. We briefly examine the dynamics of what makes us choose various character actions in games, take a brief look at romance in games, and look once again at Disco Elysium -- one of the best expressions of these principles so far.

Games mentioned:

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings
Dishonored
Cyberpunk 2077
Mass Effect Trilogy
Fallout 1
Firewatch
Baldur's Gate 2
Disco Elysium
Fallout 2

Next Episode

Part One: Giving Players Authorship in Systemic Games: Return to Dwarf Fortress

Tim and Joel look at the way systemic games allow players to create stories. After a brief digression into the mechanics of character creation, we look once again at Dwarf Fortress, and its unique ability to generate story through its systems.

Games mentioned: