Indigo Prophecy - Where Gameplay Meets Story
Those wacky folks at Grand Text Auto have been discussing the narrative in Indigo Prophecy, talking rather cogently about "...the relationship between gameplay and story" - there's also a second post with even more considered discussion and feedback on narrative.
Noah Wardrip-Fruin talks about David Cage's ideas in creating the intriguingly cult title: "Cage’s goals might be considered a less-risky version of the “interactive drama” vision that guides Façade: the gameplay can change the story in significant ways, but the system ensures the story retains an essential shape and pacing. In other words, the story becomes playable, rather than something that happens between moments of play."
And the end of the second post, he suggests: "The designers may want to create a moody, mysterious experience; a chaotic, free-for-all experience; an open, exploratory experience; or a tense, action-packed experience. In any case, what the game makes playable should be the elements that contribute to such an experience. The opening of Indigo Prophecy was largely like this. I await the story-focused game that continues as strongly as IP started." Thoughts?
Comments
I'm one of the few (?) disappointed by this game. Yes it has an interesting story (though they really messed up the end), and it's really great at involving you in the simplest tasks (taking a shower to feel better? yeah!) and making you really feel like you're living through all this.
But!... the whole "make choices, change your life" thing they promoted so much is a big lie. Sure, it *slightly* stretches here and there so that you can watch the tv before reading the newspaper instead of the other way around, but there is really no story-changing except at the very end of the game. Anything that looks like a choice in this game is just fake.
Playing the game once is great because it *seems* like you're doing meaningful choices that make your experience unique, but just play again and you'll notice how the game keeps slapping back into the main storyline and nothing changes.
And the very few cases where you can actually make big choices end up having no consequences at all.
Posted by: Leokhorn | July 25, 2007 4:26 AM
I loved that game, honestly.
But that game is not much more than a graphic-improved Interactive Fiction, like Zork (1980).
I think IG is a great game, but it's time for doing something new.
Posted by: The Saint 11 | July 25, 2007 8:46 AM
I'm another person of the opinion that the "dynamic story" elements of this were a bunch of snake oil. Cage talks about freedom (in a very intrusive, self-congratulatory way at that) but had no real interest in catering to it. At the end of the day he's just another frustrated movie director trying to kludge games into linear narratives.
Successful or not, Facade at least started with an idea of some dynamism. Fahrenheit had a script, only an illusion of dynamism where the designers explicitly cater to certain inputs. People are more than welcome to enjoy that in the tradition of the old adventure games but it's disingenuous to lump this in with Facade or Storytron.
Posted by: JP | July 25, 2007 4:10 PM