BioShocking
What is it with game developers and porn? At today's Develop conference in Brighton, England, BioShock developer Ken Levine followed Heavy Rain dev, David Cage's earlier comments on plotting and porn.
Giving his keynote to UK industry insiders (and the press, in the form of Mark SPOnG and others), Levine said, "In Bioshock we tried to make the most integrated porn movie of all time."
We weren't expecting this from Levine - although Cage has a history of porn comparisons, having told Jumpbutton magazine in 2005, "Most games offer a disruptive narrative, similar to what you’d find in porn movies. You get a couple of minutes of story to set the context, the set and the characters, then an action sequence; then another bit of story to set the context for the next scene, to prepare the next action sequence, and so on.
No one cares about the story because it is not perceived as a key component of the experience. In games, like in porn movies, the user is there for the ‘action’, not the story. But most of all, the story and the action do not progress together but turn by turn (Story/Action/Story/Action)."
That was back when he was talking about Fahrenheit (Indigo Prophecy), by the way - not in his recent interview with Gamasutra in which he spoke about Uncharted: Drake's Fortune.
Maybe Ken and David have been attending the same seminar on narrative structure? Both of them seem to be equally agreed that, while a tired, old, lowest common denominator technique such as porn-movie making is good, cut-scenes - such as the mammoth ones created by Kojima for Metal Gear Solid IV, are bad.
Levine told Develop attendees, "It's so much easier to write a 30 minute cut-scene than not to write a 30 minute cut-scene."
Exactly how that one works is beyond us right now, but it echoes Cage again. "It's one thing to do a great cut-scene, even if it's real time. It's another thing to try to tell the story as you play, so the story's not told through cut-scenes - it's told through gameplay.
So, you don't need acting performance in cutscenes. You need interactive performance", he commented to Gamasutra. Hold on Dave, we thought that "No one cares about the story because it is not perceived as a key component of the experience"?
Do you care about story? Are cut-scenes pointless? Are porn films more than masturbation aids? Tell us in the forum.
Giving his keynote to UK industry insiders (and the press, in the form of Mark SPOnG and others), Levine said, "In Bioshock we tried to make the most integrated porn movie of all time."
We weren't expecting this from Levine - although Cage has a history of porn comparisons, having told Jumpbutton magazine in 2005, "Most games offer a disruptive narrative, similar to what you’d find in porn movies. You get a couple of minutes of story to set the context, the set and the characters, then an action sequence; then another bit of story to set the context for the next scene, to prepare the next action sequence, and so on.
No one cares about the story because it is not perceived as a key component of the experience. In games, like in porn movies, the user is there for the ‘action’, not the story. But most of all, the story and the action do not progress together but turn by turn (Story/Action/Story/Action)."
That was back when he was talking about Fahrenheit (Indigo Prophecy), by the way - not in his recent interview with Gamasutra in which he spoke about Uncharted: Drake's Fortune.
Maybe Ken and David have been attending the same seminar on narrative structure? Both of them seem to be equally agreed that, while a tired, old, lowest common denominator technique such as porn-movie making is good, cut-scenes - such as the mammoth ones created by Kojima for Metal Gear Solid IV, are bad.
Levine told Develop attendees, "It's so much easier to write a 30 minute cut-scene than not to write a 30 minute cut-scene."
Exactly how that one works is beyond us right now, but it echoes Cage again. "It's one thing to do a great cut-scene, even if it's real time. It's another thing to try to tell the story as you play, so the story's not told through cut-scenes - it's told through gameplay.
So, you don't need acting performance in cutscenes. You need interactive performance", he commented to Gamasutra. Hold on Dave, we thought that "No one cares about the story because it is not perceived as a key component of the experience"?
Do you care about story? Are cut-scenes pointless? Are porn films more than masturbation aids? Tell us in the forum.
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Comments
config 30 Jul 2008 17:15
1/5
I just don't get how so few devs have grasped the Valve/Half-life school of story telling. It's a decade old forgodsake. Stop it with the cruddy cutscenes!
As for Fahrenheit, I got bored with the story and frustrated with the Dance Dance Button Interactive Cutscene Revolution crap.
As for Fahrenheit, I got bored with the story and frustrated with the Dance Dance Button Interactive Cutscene Revolution crap.
Twoozle 30 Jul 2008 17:21
2/5
config wrote:
I just don't get how so few devs have grasped the Valve/Half-life school of story telling. It's a decade old forgodsake. Stop it with the cruddy cutscenes!
Being naturally lazy, I don't mind the cut scenes too much. The ones in MGS let me do some real txting, drink a little vodka, look through a magazine or two and still keep up with the plot. I am all about multitasking because I am totally C21st. Cut-scenes are cool.
As for Fahrenheit, I got bored with the story and frustrated with the Dance Dance Button Interactive Cutscene Revolution crap.
Did anybody place IndigoFahrtenheight?
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deleted 30 Jul 2008 18:19
3/5
Twoozle wrote:
config wrote:
I just don't get how so few devs have grasped the Valve/Half-life school of story telling. It's a decade old forgodsake. Stop it with the cruddy cutscenes!
Being naturally lazy, I don't mind the cut scenes too much. The ones in MGS let me do some real txting, drink a little vodka, look through a magazine or two and still keep up with the plot. I am all about multitasking because I am totally C21st. Cut-scenes are cool.
As for Fahrenheit, I got bored with the story and frustrated with the Dance Dance Button Interactive Cutscene Revolution crap.
As for Fahrenheit, I got bored with the story and frustrated with the Dance Dance Button Interactive Cutscene Revolution crap.
Daz 31 Jul 2008 10:45
4/5
I thought Fahrenheit was good, as for other games I gotta say they're over doing the interactive cut scene's who decided they where cool? they're annoying, rather than following the story I'm concentrating on what button to smack next.
vault 13 31 Jul 2008 13:31
5/5
Half-Life still has cut-scenes. Mostly short controlled cut-scenes, but they are there nonetheless. It's very difficult to make sure everyone has the same experience from action scene x. Just imagine a camera strapped to your head and your told to run around where you want to as Speilberg tries to direct Private Ryan. Chaotic. Every time a different experience. I'm not for all heavy reliant cut-scene storytelling. But until the technology matures, camera control gets better, and better ways of incorporating live action storytelling, I'll take my cut-scenes and grab some popcorn.
The ranter is BACK baby!
The ranter is BACK baby!