"Computer games" became a generic term for "interactive digital entertainment" sometime in the 80s.
But in more specific terms, there is a difference in a "game" versus
an "interactive story".
Characteristics of a Game:
systems, goals, mechanics, player skill/mastery/competition/mechanics, increasing difficulty, clear definition of success or failure,
importance of strategy or tactics.
Characteristics of an Interactive Story: focus on experiencing a
narrative, less emphasis on mechanical skill, dialog choices matter, exploration, selecting action and the feeling of choice, story is the
main attraction, impacts of dialog affect outcome.
So imagine you're stuck on an island and can only pick one or the
other to spend your time. Which do you choose and why?
Action computer games! I don't need a stinking story. :P
Rin Stowleigh <nospam@nothanks.com> wrote:
"Computer games" became a generic term for "interactive digital
entertainment" sometime in the 80s.
But in more specific terms, there is a difference in a "game" versus
an "interactive story".
Characteristics of a Game:
systems, goals, mechanics, player skill/mastery/competition/mechanics,
increasing difficulty, clear definition of success or failure,
importance of strategy or tactics.
Characteristics of an Interactive Story: focus on experiencing a
narrative, less emphasis on mechanical skill, dialog choices matter,
exploration, selecting action and the feeling of choice, story is the
main attraction, impacts of dialog affect outcome.
So imagine you're stuck on an island and can only pick one or the
other to spend your time. Which do you choose and why?
"Computer games" became a generic term for "interactive digital entertainment" sometime in the 80s.
But in more specific terms, there is a difference in a "game" versus
an "interactive story".
Characteristics of a Game:
systems, goals, mechanics, player skill/mastery/competition/mechanics, increasing difficulty, clear definition of success or failure,
importance of strategy or tactics.
Characteristics of an Interactive Story: focus on experiencing a
narrative, less emphasis on mechanical skill, dialog choices matter, exploration, selecting action and the feeling of choice, story is the
main attraction, impacts of dialog affect outcome.
So imagine you're stuck on an island and can only pick one or the
other to spend your time. Which do you choose and why?
"Computer games" became a generic term for "interactive digital >entertainment" sometime in the 80s.
But in more specific terms, there is a difference in a "game" versus
an "interactive story".
Characteristics of a Game:
systems, goals, mechanics, player skill/mastery/competition/mechanics, >increasing difficulty, clear definition of success or failure,
importance of strategy or tactics.
Characteristics of an Interactive Story: focus on experiencing a
narrative, less emphasis on mechanical skill, dialog choices matter, >exploration, selecting action and the feeling of choice, story is the
main attraction, impacts of dialog affect outcome.
So imagine you're stuck on an island and can only pick one or the
other to spend your time. Which do you choose and why?
Modern day titles are full of this fluff because the mainstream
audiences that play them, want them. Period. That is ok with me. I
have enough of a backlog to last me until death. Even if every
Indie, Double A and Tripe A developer released nothing more than
'Interactive Story' games from here on out.
Mike S. wrote:
Modern day titles are full of this fluff because the mainstream
audiences that play them, want them. Period. That is ok with me. I
have enough of aÿ backlog to last me until death.ÿ Even if every
Indie, Double A and Tripe A developer released nothing more than
'Interactive Story' games from here on out.
I saw a book at the library about writing that was more interesting than
the one my aunt sent me which told how to get published. This one was
more focused on how to write to entertain. Then I started thinking, with
all these books, I really want is to write a video game. I found a great book about writing video games. The only problem is that this convinced
me the job is too tough.
But maybe not.
What if I brought it up here, and because the book's author was dealing
with stuff like writing Disney video games. Like totally top production, Maybe Kingdom hearts and stuff.
Not certain if you realize it, but those kind of games are a developer's worst nightmare. Eight man teams. Thousands of work hours. Highly professional art work.
I almost went to a video game design school but they were super intense about art work being the intrinsic they were looking for.
I'm an analytics engineer by trade. I write seriously intense programs designed to do very specific tasks. I don't have time to develop
personal art skills.
Does a guy have to rely on the industry to get what he wants in the game store, or are there some niche interests that indie developers and guys
like that can entertain? I think Castle Wolfenstein as a 2 dimensional action game would fail today because a) no xp table b) one gun and maybe some grenades. These are the types of games that become available to the modern developer as initial projects. Not Pirates of the Caribbean or
Who Framed Roger Rabbit? These games with simple rules and complex interactions are still making it today. For example, one can find
Sequence on the iPhone (and on Steam nowadays plus its sequel) and also
a few others like Dragon Dice. You don't -have- to spend 1000 man hours.
Every day my programs are getting more and more complex.
Here's something else the book said - get your first ten games out of
the way because they won't be very good.
On 7/17/2026 6:23 PM, Rin Stowleigh wrote:
"Computer games" became a generic term for "interactive digital
entertainment" sometime in the 80s.
But in more specific terms, there is a difference in a "game" versus
an "interactive story".
Characteristics of a Game:
systems, goals, mechanics, player skill/mastery/competition/mechanics,
increasing difficulty, clear definition of success or failure,
importance of strategy or tactics.
Characteristics of an Interactive Story: focus on experiencing a
narrative, less emphasis on mechanical skill, dialog choices matter,
exploration, selecting action and the feeling of choice, story is the
main attraction, impacts of dialog affect outcome.
So imagine you're stuck on an island and can only pick one or the
other to spend your time. Which do you choose and why?
Game, because with that one at least has an illusion of choice and
control. Different outcomes are at least a possibility.
Interactive stories, at least in my experience, are fixed. Chose which words your character says but the results are still the same. They are
a fixed sequence of events rather than a branching tree of outcomes.
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