Sunday 25 November 2012

Power in a Story

I was on a forum talking to some other game developers about stuff they're working on, and someone mentioned that in his game he wants players to feel the emotion behind the story he wants his game to tell.

I've always thought that ideas like that are fantastic. I've always thought of video games as being an art form. It was a video game that kept me up until the break of dawn like a book I couldn't put down that inspired me to take up game development myself.

There are video games that leave their players in tears, question their morals, change their beliefs, and inspire them to do something.

I think many other developers, including professional companies, are beginning to catch onto the idea. We're beginning to see a lot of games with moral ideas and powerful stories, more than ever.

I said to this developer I was talking to that there are too many games that are made for the sake of having games. And there always will be.

Stock standard shoot-'em-ups that are made to satisfy teenage boy's desire to blow things up will always be made in the same way that action-packed spy movies like James Bond will always be made for the sake of making an action-packed spy movie.

But when I thought about this; I realised that a relatively small amount of movies are made to inspire, influence, and change things.

I spent so much time talking about how video games have more potential than what they're fulfilling, but the same thing applies to movies, books, television shows, and paintings.

In fact, I believe that every form of art is capable of telling a powerful story, but so often misses out.

Don't get me wrong, I'm no exception, but one day I want to make something with power and emotion behind it. And I think anyone who is creative in any sense of the word should try to do the same at least once in their life.

I think everyone who writes, creates, and performs should have a go at changing the world. Because there's power in a story.

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