Connecting gamers to the protagonist

I talked about something to do with you playing as the protagonist which is to understand WHY you are supporting this protagonist for his journey or mission. Now I will talk about the connection of a player to the protagonist and why it is important.

Firstly, Metal Gear Solid 4. I was never interested in this game because it is Stealth and I'm not much of a stealth fan except for Silent Hill (MGS1 was too difficult for me). I heard so many things about MGS4 and people calling it Best Game Ever, when ever I hear that I think oh this is just another fan excited for this game, soon another game will come out and they would call it BGE.
Until I decided to rent and play MGS4, my god I was blow away, Best Game Ever indeed! This right here is gaming design at a WHOLE new level.
One particular thing I would highlight that makes MGS4 triumph over majority of games is the connection between you and the protagonist.

Snake is an old man, in fact he is dying from a disease. The more you play MGS4 the more you get to experience Snake's journey and how the disease virus is taking over and slowly killing him. The cutscenes makes this really emotional and thus makes you emotional towards Snake because you feel sorry for him. A Legendary hero, dying? Much like how we felt sorry for our badass anime samurai Rurouni Kenshin in Reflection as he was dying from a disease.

The most crucial part in MGS4 was the Microwave room, my goodness as I was playing that I nearly cried because I saw a Legendary Hero who wanted to sacrifice his life for the whole world, crawling through an intense heated room that slowly kills him and not to mention his side effect disease weakening him. This is something every game should have in their Storymode, you play story mode for a purpose and the purpose being to experience This Protagonist's Story. Why are we experiencing his story? what is so good about his story? the word good is the whole point.


Moving on to GOW3 my best ps3 game and GOTY 2011. I wouldn't connect the emotional expression and appeal with MGS4 because GOW3 doesn't come close to it. But while watching the cutscene full of traitors and deceptions, you side with Kratos and you want to support his revenge.
My favourite part in GOW3 was after all the hard work Kratos did, it was all for nothing. Zeus "LOL" so loud and you could slowly see the anger expression in Kratos face. From that moment I expected Kratos to jump on Zeus and kill his ass off. I would explain the emotion a gamer would feel during this bit below, as the player would be in a "shocking" expression and immediately vote for Kratos to instantly beat Zeus to a pulp.
During other courses of Kratos journey in GOW3, the emotion for me were not expressed much. Though every time he wanted to perform the God Kills, that is when ANY player would get excited. Seeing yourself beat the hell out of Poseidon in First Person View would blow any gamer's mind. In fact these are all memorable experience and doesn't relate to Emotion Connection in games.


The formula to getting an emotional connection with the player and the protagonist is to give the protagonistfeelings. Feelings can be sadness, anger, happiness, joyful, scared and so on. The reason why I fully understand this Connection Emotion and WHY IT IS VITAL in games was from watching Asura's Wrath latest trailer. Everytime Asura gets angry, instead of me getting angry along with him, I rather get amused by it.

This is not weird and it is something that can happen in reality. Let's say you are in a class room (yea back in school days) and you see 2 students you know thus you rarely talk to; both arguing about something and ready to engage in a fist fight. You get anxiety and adrenaline would start to rush making you get excited. First of all, why should you care about one of them if you rarely speak to them? You'll laugh when one of them starts talking smack and doing less action. Accordingly if its someone you know you would try to back them up or tell them to stop and calm down.

This is the same experience with Asura's Wrath, you don't really know his back story or why you should support him nor play as him. Even if the story is about Asura's revenge against the gods for his betrayal, everytime he gets angry; you'd get excited because you are cheering for the fight and you want to see Asura kick that prick's ass.


Another example of Emotion Connection is in NG3. I remembered at Tokyo Game Show when the Consequences trailer came up. I was excited to watch the trailer after longing for new infos. Until I saw it, I felt sorry for Ryu; because this is the person I love (no gayness here), he killed so many people and now karma as taken its turn on him. Similar to Samurai X- Reflection.

It is apparent that Team NINJA understands this Emotion Connection with the player and protagonist. As they want players to experience the Journey of Ryu Hayabusa and how he would have to deal with his cursed arm. Who will die first? a mass murder Ryu or the World? (obviously you would die 100 times in Master Ninja  )

Although I haven't played Metroid Other M but I believe it must be using this player emotion connection with the protagonist Samus.


In terms of Game Designing, this is something every game developers NEEDS to embrace! Third Person games can easily adapt to this, ergo it would be difficult to make an Emotional Connection to the Player and Protagonist in FPS games as well as other genres (racing, strategy). COD Black Ops did try to give an emotional connection to the player however the protagonist was really bland and you couldn't really get a feeling out of his emotion. Your overall emotion and experience with Black Ops Protagonist would be confusion, psychological twisted feelings.


Just imagine Halo 4. What if we could FINALLY get a true backstory of Master Chief making us to support his killing against Aliens. Or get an emotional feeling through Chief and why he sacrifices his feel will to fight for the Earth (reference to Spiderman sacrificing his free time to save us). In Halo 3 we could get a slight feeling of sadness and pity with Cortana. I would say every gamer would feel this, though it is something Bungie tried to achieve. And I could say the acting and role of the actress for Cortana did a great job as her voice actress.


One thing I would like to say is the mysteriousness of why we love Gordon Freeman and why we consider him a badass:/ We are meant to play or in fact be Gordon Freeman yet we value him as a Badass even though he doesn't say much or does anything.



Emotion Connection can never be achieved in FPS if "you are the protagonist". However if you play as a protagonist, you can still have a chance of getting an emotional connection with the protagonist. Yes you can get emotional connection through other characters in the game like HomeFront but this is about you getting a feeling for the Protagonist and why you should support his ideal.

Future of the Games Industry: Revolutionising Game Design

Man the gaming Industry is one hell of a cluster ride especially when it comes down to innovation, revolution and ideas.

Back in the days we've played the same types of games and genre that looked the same and played the same but with different story, characters and gameplay. Everytime we enter a new generation, the hardware becomes more powerful, the game designing will evolve, not by a little margin but vastly!

In todays era anyone can see just how spoiled gamers are; who represents the Gaming Industry. Is the problem the younger generations or the problem are elitist who have been gaming since Atari? When new games comes out that looks like a previous well received game, gamers would brand that new game as copying the previous title. You can't have a new game today that borrows inspiration or idea from other games, without some elitist/fanboy/gamer calling out the game as derivative.

The designing in games are starting to change, and we could perceive that formula right from great games such as Half Life that introduced a unique way of Scripted cutscenes during in-game. Before jumping into a game, we would be instructed how the controls and system works by going through a tutorial lesson, nowadays we can start a game by learning the system+controls along with the story without going through any tutorials. Controls schemes in games are starting to become easier and takes less time to understand, game system are also easier to blend in and work with.


Gameplay Motivation
Now the big change in terms of game designing is how the motivation plays while gaming. When you play many games today, you just start from 1 point and keep running straighth defeating respawning enemies until you get to a safe point. This is how games are made today but ultimately the flawed part is the getting to the safe point. How fun is it to get to a safe point? Why must we keep encountering the same enemies spawning out of no where?
This is why I and many disliked games like Ninja Gaiden 2. Although the gameplay was solid, the problem was actually playing the game. You start from 1 end and run to the other end defending the same respawning countless enemies that spawn out of no where and in the corners.
This is where Dead Space 2 reinvented the 3rd person Survival horror genre. Each area you go to, you don't encounter enemies popping out of specific points, or respawning enemies coming to get you. The pacing for enemy encounters were very well done and doesn't make the player bored when encountering enemies.

Half Life 2's pacing was nicely done and man that game does deserve the '40 award'. One point you are solving puzzles, next you are riding, following to defending yourself against enemies, to helping civilians.

Protagonist Personality and Life
In todays games we have 2 types of player protagonist: 1. You are the protagonist and 2. You play through the eyes of a protagonist. Many like option 1 because you feel like you are the hero of the day, the person to save the world is you and whatever comment that protagonist will say will be determined and said by you. However the problem isn't number 1 but in fact number 2. Number 2 protagonist as we get his backstory and brief history of who he/she is, the problem is we don't fully understand why we play as him/her and why we should support him through his/her story.
I was thinking about Ninja Gaiden 3 ending referencing to Left 4 Dead.
I was hoping that when you finish Ninja Gaiden 3 and the credits roll, you'd see a comment saying "Total enemy killed: 30,768. You are now branded 'A Mass-Murderer'".
why? well it makes sense, enemies are there to kill you and you kill them while they beg for mercy, you are branded a murderer. How about Halo? Master Chief the Saviour of Humans from Covenants, how many Covenants have you killed? you are NO different to your enemies whom you call Covenants.

My point is, when we play as a Protagonist, there should be a FULL reason why we players must vote and support that protagonist. Why should I be killing Nazis as a soldier whereas I'm not different to them? there should be a reason why I kill Nazis and why it should affect me and the protagonist.
The first time an assassin carries out his first ever mission and kills for the first time. Do you think his reaction, emotion and personality would be the same? No, it would twist inside of him and either he wouldn't take the assassin killings anymore or he might go mental and actually like killing.

Dantes Inferno provides you a roller cluster ride into hell, we are there to save Betrice but we don't know why we should support Dante during his course in hell. Though the cutscenes that plays makes us learn who Dante really his and what he did in his past life.
God of War 3 doesn't really provide the player a reason to vote for Kratos during his course, the story was nice but sort of had plots holes. The only game I could say that allows the player to understand their protagonist is Metroid Other M. While I personally haven't played this game yet, I can understand that the key part of the story is understanding all about Samus.
This is one of the keystrokes Ninja Gaiden 3 is going for, so that we players can understand what ticks inside Ryu's mind.

Just DON'T be surprise if Halo 4 provides a story that makes us learn all about Master Chief just like NG3 and Metroid Other M does for their protagonist. I believe EVERY game should have a plot in the story about the protagonist's life, what happens when they do what they should do during gameplay.

Enemy A.I Reaction and Emotion
Who would see this coming, games giving enemies a solid reaction and emotion. I am not talking about when A.I makes gestures about you like F.E.A.R 3 "get your f**ing head down", "get down on the floor now" or Half Life 2 "mumble gumble*radio static*". I'm talking about comments and reactions from enemies when you take cover or attack them. Halo: Combat Evolve was actually the first game I believe to give Enemies a dynamic Reaction pattern. Each time you shoot those grunts, they will try to fall back or cry out loud for mercy. The elites might cry out of frustration or make remarks about you while taking cover.
I know other old games did this like Blood 2 but I'm talking about how the enemies in the game doesn't feel like shooting targets but more of a -you are you and they are your enemy/opponent-.
Giving enemies reactions and emotion would allow the player to feel that, they aren't just fighting lifeless A.I bots but characters that are trying to kill you for a reason.
Comparing Ninja Gaiden 3 and Ninja Gaiden/2 Enemy A.I. In Ninja Gaiden 1 the enemies are just there in the game, placed for no reasons are all; basically they are there to kill you without a reason. But in Ninja Gaiden 3, you sort of get a hint why the enemies want to kill you, they make gestures about you and cry for help when they are dying.

Out of my head I can't really remember the games that provides enemies with good a.i reactions and emotions. Killzones Helgast do make reactions and remarks about you. But that game makes you feel like the Helgast ARE the bad guys. Though a good example is Batman Arkham Asylum, I love those bad guys so much. Everytime you get into a fight, they all interact with each other by making gestures, if you get hit by one of them ; one of the groups will yell out "ha, Hit him again!". Not forgetting with each enemy or groups you take down, Joker will always give an update to the goons what just happened, with this it causes a dynamic changes to how enemies will approach you. For an example groups of 4 enemies, you take out 1 of them; Joker will update the bad guys that one of them is down. 3rd person will go look at what happened, if you managed to take him down too; once again Joker will announce an update causing the remaining bad guys to panick, since they are panicking, both of them will approach the downed enemies together. Though one thing I love most of all is whenever Joker makes an announcement update, it always feels like you are constantly being watched by The Joker.
The sort of understanding the feeling of enemies is a game I recently saw Hitman: Absolution.
The way each characters talks and interact with themselves makes you feel like "wow these are actually human beings just like me". By the time you take one of their men as hostage, they become more aggressive and agitated and more determined to kill you. Whilst in that process, you still feel intermediate and feel something spark and change between those enemies. (watching the walkthrough felt like I was watching a movie man).
In comparison to Splinter Cell Conviction, the enemies there just feels like the same normal bodyguards you've encountered many times and when you are caught, they give off the same pattern reaction and use the same dialogue context.



Another thing I wanted to talk about is the presentation visuals in games. When you look at HUD in games you can tell how vast they've all evolved.

Doom HUD


Ghost Recon Advanced War Fighter


Metroid Prime HUD


Doom 3

I couldn't find a picture of Syndicate 2012 HUD and trust me, it's another vastly improved HUD system. You don't see How much Ammo you have left displayed on your gun, the ammo is displayed to the side of your gun like a hologram.
:UPDATE:

Here are the HUD system evolution in Racing games

Gran Turismo


Burnout 3 Take Down


Split Second.

I thought Split Second had the best HUD system that doesn't clung up the screen until I saw this:


Ride Racer Unbounded.
Nothing clung up the screen, you see your point, laps appear interactivity on screen and do not stay static.
I mean I was already blow away by Split/Second's HUD design, then this came up that wow me again. It instantly reminded me Splinter Cell Conviction style of HUD interactive:


3rd Person HUD evolution.

Resident Evil Zero Inventory sccreen


Dead Space Inventory screen

This is why I'm proud of the Gaming Industry, the amount of innovation achievements they keep introducing is just stunning. Designers are always so open minded and some of the stuff they can think of are incredible, however the problem is down to the artist and programmers who would deny the designers of their idea is not possible.

Many of these achievements I see today, I would always thank all 3: designer, programmers and artist. Designers are the one who think of these breakthrough ideas, artist are the ones who draws how it should look like and programmers are the ones who would make that idea work and function.

Like I said before each time we enter a new generation the hardware becomes stronger allowing developers to come up with new innovative stuff.
Just imagine the 8th generation, man the amount of ideas that would be so possible!

Uncharted 3 flawed Climbing system

Ok I've finally had the chance to play Uncharted 3 as I'm currently playing through Campaign mode now.
This is not a review as I just wanted to point out the opportunity flaw this game missed.


We can all say that the best developer in the world is Naughty Dogs developer, they've pushed the PS3's graphical capabilities as well as introducing a great unique memorable character Nathan Drake and telling a great immersive stories in the Uncharted trilogy.

One important thing I wanted to talk about which is the reason why Uncharted failed in this opportunity is the climbing system or platforming. Uncharted is broken into 3 different gameplay segments- Gun shooting, platforming/climbing and puzzle solving. The segments were further improved upon greatly in Uncharted 2 which we saw as a big jump. Now for Uncharted 3 we would expect more jump and newly improve features, however Naughty Dog failed on this and only focused on character development, graphics, multiplayer and story.

All you do is jump when climbing, you are not really doing much or interacting with Drake virtually during climbing.

The problem with ANY game's platforming or Climbing system is that it doesn't connect to the player or draws them closer to the climbing. Tomb Raider pioneered this climbing system, however Uncharted revolutionised it (my words are opinion if you don't agree). Now many games are copying or using this climbing system which does not immerse the player. The worst game to use this climbing mechanic is Enslaved- Journey to the West. I still find The Escapist: Zero Pronunciation review of this game to be 90% accurate. Because one of the flawed highlights to the game is the climbing system, all you do is move the analogue to make Monkey's head face a specific direction and then jump to that location. How is this meant to be fun and engaging?

Unfortunately Uncharted 3 uses the same "old" feature, imagine platforming as you are climbing like you are meant to do. Suddenly you've died up to 6 times, will you keep climbing normally or  rush your climbing? Because I know 80% of all gamers will rush their climbing.
This is WHY logic comes to your head, "if I can climb by rushing, why did the developers put this climbing system there in the first place? it's a waste of time".
Another example is God of War, Kratos uses the Chain Blades to climb and to platform, also you can speed up (rush) your climbing. Many gamers will rather speed up their climbing than climbing normal like they are supposed to.
Which brings up the question once again, if Kratos can climb normally and can also climb faster, why can't the developers just allow Kratos to climb faster without the player speeding up the climbing?


This is why I am bringing up this flaw, however a game which was controversial and bashed by everyone manages to capture how a climbing system should be implemented in a game which is Ninja Gaiden 3. Apart from Ninja Gaiden 3 another game allowed the user to connect with the protagonist whilst climbing is Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. The most impressive thing about Shadow of the Colossus was "Physical" reaction you get from the player-->protagonist-->boss. It just felt so good because you know that your character depends on your action during climbing.You control how the character climbs and if you fail, the character will fall.

You will always hang on to the Grip button if you don't want to fall off.

How does this connection work? There is a Grip Button which allows the protagonist to hang onto any ledge or soft surface in the game. Once you are holding down the hold button, the character will never let go, this is when you use the Analogue to control the direction the character is meant to progress. The reason why this method connects mentally to the player is that, when hanging onto the bosses, the bosses will wiggle and shake their bodies, thus weakening the grip system and your hanging focus. Which means while climbing and the boss shakes its body, you can fall off; this is why you depend on the Hold button.

The reason why I love this game's climbing system is that, YOU ARE THE ONE CLIMBING. Other games using old climbing system only allows YOU TO DIRECT the position the character would climb to.


As I mentioned earlier, Ninja Gaiden 3 stepped up it's game by introducing a new updated way of climbing, which is called Kunai Climb.
You run up a wall and to hang on, you hold both Left Trigger and Right Trigger at the same time. Doing this will allow Ryu to hang on to the wall permanently. Now to climb up you just have to alternate your button presses, Left: Right: Left: Right etc. Depending on how fast or slow you press the buttons controls the speed of Ryu's climbing. This is exactly what I mean by connecting the player to the protagonist when climbing. Because it feels like you are climbing instead of feeling like you direct the way the character climbs.
Each time I perform Kunai Climb, it always feels like I'm controlling Ryu's arm.

Use Left Trigger to control Ryu's Left Arm and use Right Trigger to control Ryu's Right Arm

This was a major step forward in Ninja Gaiden 3, if only good developers can see this and recognise this, they would implement it to their games. I was deeply disappointed with Uncharted 3's climbing system and a missed opportunity to update the climbing was missed. In fact Dragon Dogma manages to use this Grip/Hold system to allow players to hang and climb on bosse.

I believe that this Hold/Grip system will suit games like Tomb Raider and Uncharted instead. If the developers can find a way so the player can get into a Climbing trigger mode, when in this mode would grant the player to be able to use Hold/Grip function.
Or simply sacrifce a button map and add a Grip/Hold button instead.

Gameplay Selling Motivation-selling your game to gamers in 30mins-60min

Here is something special I want to talk about and it is something really essential to game designers.
It basically to do with selling the first 30min or 60min time of your game to gamers, this is a way of motivation to keep them playing and wanting more.
It is something HipHopGamer brought up that I perceived from him, particularly he was talking about God of War 3.

I'll get to the point what this selling/pitching/motivation thing?:
Take it this way, you just brought a game let's say a game we've all played before- Sonic the Hedgehog.
When you start Green Hill Zone, you get to experience the basic gameplay mechanic of Sonic which is running at high speed, collecting rings, jumping over enemies, destroying televisions and platforming.

Green Hill Zone 2 is part 2 but slightly different level designs and by the time you get to Act 3 you will face a boss without your consent. The whole of Act 1-3 in Green Hill Zone is meant to sell the experience and motivation to the player, it gives them a sense of feeling what to expect after Green Hill Zone.

Another example is Halo Combat Evolved, the first 5mins you start working out Master Chief's kinks in conjunction with the player's control. And after 5mins the Space station is under attack and the game IMMEDIATELY throws the player in a deep action without the player learning the combat techniques, how to fire, how the Assault Rifle works etc. For the first 30mins or 60min of Halo Combat Evolve, you battle in the Pillar of Autumn until you escape for Planet Halo- that is the selling experience. That is what hook gamers wanting more.

On pior to Sonic- lets talk about Sonic Adventure. The first level you are already battling a boss and on the second level which is Emerald Coast, you run along a beautiful sunny beach side and within minutes you get to experience something Sonic game never did before. The camera pans in front of Sonic forcing you to OUTRUN a whale trying to eat you, this experience is unforgettable and that will make the player wanting more (yea...they get to play Big the Cat and other Sonic friends that stales the experience:P


I acknowlegded what Hip Hop Gamer was talking about and until I played many other games I finally understood that the first 30-60min gameplay SHOULD and MUST sell to the player. If you look at PSN Store you'd notice there's a 60min trial for full games. Now imagine a game that doesn't give a selling pitch experience in 60min? how would the gamer be convienced to buy the game?
I recently tried the new Prince of Persia game; while playing the game and finishing the first stage by releasing evil across the land, the game told me I had 30mins left. I did not care because the game's opening pitch was not good enough for me. However I do acknowledged the amazing designed combat system hwoever the platforming, whiny protagonist and bad opening just doesn't cut it for me! Even the original PS2 Prince of Persia had a better Gameplay Selling Motivation opening than Prince of Persias opening:/


Here are a few more examples of games that sells a unique experience to gamers in 30-60mins pitch gameplay motivation.

God of War Trilogy- All GOW games sells the player an awe experience within 30min to 60min. GOW1 has you in the middle of the ocean on a sunken ship, you battle dead soldiers and within minutes you are battleing tentacles and the first boss encounter is the face of a lizard that drops the player's jaws wide open. Then you have GOW2 that pitches the player into battling a Titan statue, this opening is one of the best in any games ever created, the QTE and experience are unmatched! And then you have GOW3 that forces the player to battle enemies on top of Gaia's body, the insane battle (with unrivalled soundtrack) with Posiedeon is one hell of an experience.
I remember my first experience with GOW3, the amazing graphics in 60FPS nearly tore out my eyes, on top of that the combat mechanics where smoother. The whole experience with Gaia, new moves, combats, graphics, dialogue, scripted event and battle with Posiedeon was epic. However when I finally performed a Kratos First Person Kill QTE, that sold the deal for me! If anyone saw the FPS kill QTE, they will run out of the house and buy GOW3 instantly!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62ZjW7dWS0U

Beyond Good and Evil: I've always wondered why people praise this game so much, I've never had the chance to play it back in 6th generation and I was always skeptical about the game. Finally the game is in HD and I got to try the game. My god! The first 10min made me realise why 30-60 Gameplay Selling Motivation is so important. I battled the enemies, they were no match for me, the awesome music playing in the background. The best part was when everything went into slow motion, the music score started to change; it basically was an EPIC experience!

Dante's Inferno: Even though the game was not designed perfectly, anyone WHO ISN'T SINGLE MINDED and doesn't bash the game by calling it a God of War clone would be impressed by the opening. Background music playing, lightening effects, settings design, enemies rising from the ground, scripted events as the whole environments crumbles and turns to hell and plus the weird cutscenes that gets you confused how you betrayed your wife. Anyone who tried this opening (also in the demo) will be curious to know how Dante descends to hell.

Modern Warfare: This is essentially why Modern Warfare is successful, not because of it's multiplayer but because of it's Single Player campaign. All the opening for MW games are all fantastic. Who wasn't blown away after completing the feel realistic combat training and getting to experience the game in 60fps, cool graphics and immersive ship wreck battle from MW1?
Weren't you impressed after the combat training and you were dropped right in the middle of the warfare with so much explosions and soldiers firing at each other?
Black Ops also offered an amazing 30min experience in Cuba:)

DarkSiderS: This is why I favoured Darksiders over Bayonetta even though Bayonetta's combat is the best Hack n Slash/Beat em Up we've experienced in ages. Darksiders did a lot of things Bayonetta did not fully achieved. One of them was the opening, it was more serious, as you awake in the midst of Armageddon right on Earth, you don't even know wtf is going on, as you battle your way through the stage. You met a badass boss that clearly defeated you in the rude awakening and confusing process. Then you get sentenced by the judges who stripped away all your powers. After experiencing that opening, I want more!

DeadSpace Franchise: Anyone who played DeadSpace 2 and hoping to be immersed ever before than DeadSpace 1 were surely not disappointed! This opening is what I rate one of the best game selling motivation openings along with GOW franchises. You start the game and by the time you notice, a human is right in front of your face yelling dying and transforming in real time, on top of that you had to escape enemies blasting out of cages and rooms aiming to kill you. This offers a surviving experience as well as a scary experience. Because you are trying to get out of the place due to you being the only survivor in the section and not only that the screams, bangs and loud commotions makes things very scary.
Dead Space Extraction also offers a captivating experience that would make you want to keep playing even though it is on Rails.




I do believe that 30-60min Gameplay Selling Motivation is another game designer's secret in the Gaming Industry.



So what exactly is this Gameplay Selling Motivation and how do I know if a game as an opening pitch selling tool?

Well the whole purpose of playing games is to expereince the gameplay mechanicism, basically to play the game.
If you are going to create your game and hopefully TRY to sell the pitch motivation to gamers in terms of cutscene, it will never work. Gamers WANT to play games not watch a movie- this was another criticism of Metal Gear Solid 4 due to its lengthy cutscenes.

When you create a game, you have to give the player:
*A compelling story- make them know what they are in for in terms of narrative, story and cutscenes.
-Metal Gear Solid 4
-Splinter Cell Conviction
-Metro 2033
-Heavy Rain

*Gameplay, make sure you sell the game's unique feature in the first chapter's opening (training/introduction excluding). Why do you think Metroid franchise allows you to be overpowered in the opening to make you get a taste of Samus strenght and later take it away? Its a pitch to tell the gamer "this is what you are in for if you fully play the game and learn how to acquire all lost items". Even Ninja Gaiden 2 doesn't have a good selling gameplay motivation opening however as soon as you start the game; you'd experience its unique selling point which is Blood+Dismemberment, those 2 alone will hook the player into wanting more.
-Darksiders
-Star Wars Republic Commando
-Resident Evil 4

*Not necessary but it is always GOOD to make the player confused into knowning wtf is going. If a player doesn't know why Dante bretrayed Beatrice, the player would be curious to know why and how he did so forcing the player to be further indulged in the game.
-Half Life 2
-Dante's Inferno
-Heavenly Sword

Being Negative

I amuses me and irritates me at the same how I keep finding so much negative comments about careers, professions and the industry.

Here is an article I read:
http://www.theaveragegamer.com/2011/06/24/friday-feature-you-dont-want-to-work-in-the-games-industry/
It is basically about a game developer who has experienced the gaming industry and warns people not to get into the gaming industry and complaint about a lot of things.

I seriously do not get people. If you love something with all your heart however you are forced to make sacrifice or suffer from doing that job, there's no need to complain.
This is life, life is always unfair and we can never get exactly the things we want!
If you enjoy something at a moment, someone else will suffer in that same process. It all works like Ying and Yang.

If you check the comment section in that article, you'd see me blasting away the author. I had seen articles about people complaining about being a Games Journalist- less pay and more hours. So what? in any career you get into you will always be forced to get a decent salary pay and work extra hours.

These people who complain about these things are greedy and are not MAN enough to work! Back in one of my past jobs as I worked as a Sales Assistant for a retail store. I would work 4 hours a day but 4 hours is a chicken job for me man. I am a man and I want more hours, I want to work 7-10+ hours a day.
Sometimes I would fark myself up and will not get enough sleep which makes it difficult for me to work hard the next day. So what, that is my problem!
I will always remain diligence to the company I work for because I am grateful they employeed me and not the next guy. When I worked at the store I was actually one of the best in the team, I was considered the manager's favorite and you know how that works; people will always be jealous. I would get phone calls asking me if I wanna work more hours and I would say yes.
Why was I the manager's favourite? because I worked harder than anybody else, I abide by the rules and I was different than others.

When I get into the games industry I would soon write about my past life and shitty jobs I've done that these kinds of people complain but had never done before. Life is hard and difficult, when you hear about immigrants coming to a country; the managers will employ them because those people are very hard workers. They need money to survive therefore they work their butt off and yes it will eat them inside for the labour work they are doing however they are doing it to survive.

And then on the other said you have pansies who complain about low hour and long hour for doing a JOB they love. They should be grateful they got into a company because they have no idea just how many people are looking for work. The gaming industry is sort of collapsing with the constant lay offs and companies closing down. This will make it INCREDIBLY difficult for fresh starters to get a job; employer will hire the more experienced one who was laid off his other job. And the f**g idiot will be complaining about long hours and short pay.


How much exactly is the short pay? how short is it?
listen man, in my life £7 is the highest I've ever worked for and that is A LOT! If I was to work £9 or above, I would be a rich man. These complainers signed the contract to work for this amount and months later they complain about short pay.
They buy so much sh* in the house, things they do not need that makes them desperate for more money.

You know when I was working for that retail company; we were not allowed to talk about how much we got paid to staffs or disciplinary action will occur. It's because a lot of people who were hired earlier were getting paid £5 while new workers hired are getting paid £6 (such as myself). Why complain or moan? leave the job if you hate the pay, you don't tell people not to get into that industry because of your shitty experience.

It's incredible man, people do not know much about life.
This is an interesting comment from the above article:
How would you feel after 5 years when you find out that someone else with 4 years less experience than you, doing a lesser job at your company is getting paid a lot more than you?

I actually read the bible (i think it was months ago), it was about Jesus telling another parable.

Matt 20:1-16  "For the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who was the master of a household, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.  When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. He went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace. To them he said, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went their way. Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise. About the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle. He said to them, ‘Why do you stand here all day idle?’ "They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ "He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and you will receive whatever is right.’ When evening had come, the lord of the vineyard said to his steward, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning from the last to the first.’ "When those who were hired at about the eleventh hour came, they each received a denarius.  When the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise each received a denarius. When they received it, they murmured against the master of the household, saying, ‘These last have spent one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat!’ "But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Didn’t you agree with me for a denarius? Take that which is yours, and go your way. It is my desire to give to this last just as much as to you. Isn’t it lawful for me to do what I want to with what I own? Or is your eye evil, because I am good?’ So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few are chosen." 

A parable about workers working in the vineyard. The manager recruited people from the streets to come farm his corps. He said to the first guys "I will pay you the full amount for a day". He said to the second workers "I will pay you whatever for a day". He said to the third worker "work at my vineyard and get paid whatever it is right". Mind you the third last workers where hired just mere hours before the day finishes while the second workers where hired  during half the day.
Finally when they got paid the ones who worked early hours complained about the ones who worked less hour getting paid for working less.

How greedy can a man be? these people agreed to the developer the pay they would get so why should it be their concern to someone lesser than them getting more pay?
"life is always unfair".
In fact that parable doesn't even relates to equality in work place, it was merely talking about who enters the kingdom of heaven  no matter how much you worked hard.


As I was trying to relate people complaining about being a games journalist to video game developers. I am sure many of you have heard of Hip Hop Gamer. I helped create the introduction for his 2011 Hip Hop Gamer Show. The man is VERY VERY passionate about his job. A man who started from scratch and finally turning into a well recognised games journalist across the internet. Wasn't it how Lord Sugar, Richard Branson and others began? They started from nothing and worked their way up to become who they are today.
You can see how excited he gets when he goes to E3, Gamescom, PAX and all these other places. Yet you have other games journalist who complain about low pay, long hours but never appreciate the meat package which is getting exclusive interviews, exclusive press conference, conventions and exclusive gameplay experience.


If anybody complains about the work they do, take Nike's advice:

"Quit your job", and stop complaining!

Life is unfair, some people will get into a field others crave for so badly. They worked hard for it and others get that field role luckily.
I recently applied for a Manager position for a job and if I do get that job, I would be applaud! Even though deep down in my heart I feel like I cannot get the job because it is too good for me.

When I look at Team NINJA, those guys are incredible hardworkers in fact Japanese devs are hard workers! People in US are complaining about working long hours in other to ship a game by Christmas. Team NINJA would work on 2 projects in a year! I was also reading about the director of Ninja Blade who said he would get 4 hours sleep, be at work at 10am, get power sleep for 10mins, work hard etc (as that is how the day repeats). Me I dunno how the hell he sleeps for 4 hours O_o.


Here is a video one of the complainers linked to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGar7KC6Wiw

You can see the amount of negative comments from the Yellow robot.
When I was working in the Sales and Marketing, being negative is out of the option because it discourages.
If you know much about Positive and Negative, you would notice the guy who made the video is full of shit!
The brown robot was giving all positive excuses and empowerments why he wants to work in the gaming industry and the yellow robot kept coming up with negative replies.


I really wish more developers, designers and directors speak more about the working condition and passion in the gaming industry. To really shut up all these negative people and complainers. We need their insight to their "own" experience and opinion about working in the gaming industry.
Not by a lazy gamer who has NO passion for gamers, not man enough to work very hard for little pay and complains about working in the industry. No appreciation to show the developer hired him for the job role and not the next guy.

to do list...

Ok I decided to note down things I need to do that would help me in the future (in getting a job in the industry)

*Create 2 High Concept Documents: this will be good ideas, not just some cheap ass game like tick tak, brick game, asteroid. It needs to be a game that showcases just how much of a vivid thinker I am
*Create 1 Game Design Document: I decided to halt the GDD I was currently working on, now I'll do so for a different game.
*Create a flowchart for one of the HCD
*Create half a script for a scenario/level for one of the HCD
*Create 1 UI Main Menu Interface mockup: I am not a coder so creating a new Main Menu with Scaleform is hard! So i will just create 2 UI in photoshop

*Create a map? I don't think I'll get through with this, creating a map is difficult! If I learn in time, I'll do it or if not I'll forget doing it.
*Create concept drawings: back in the days when I was young I used to know how to draw, in fact I haven't lost my touch yet. It may have degrade quite a little but these concepts should help me.
-Character design for both HCD
-A stage concept design for one of the HCD
-Floor plan for this stage concept
-Create a Storyboard for one of the HCD
-Gameplay mechanic for one of the HCD

UPDATE:

so far I'm working on HCD for 2 games, and I stumbled upon something familiar with the Train2Game book:

http://www.downloadic.com/7cs7ca1kti2a1s4e/The-high-concept-document.html

Same example from the Train2Game book:/ just because its a CC registered document.

Vow

I have enough of this shit!

I buy games not just to enjoy them but to support the developers.

I am currently renting Mortal Kombat instead of buying it, I decided to buy Thor God of Thunder video game to support the developers. The trailer released for the game really sold me.

Finally getting my hands on the game now...I decided that I will never buy a movie game adaptation again! Movie video game are known to be a failure, however things changed for Wolverine Origin, the game was really good and well made. Green Lantern, Thor and Captain America are coming out. I thought to myself that these movies are becoming better and better, Wolverine Origin game was a success so these new game shouldn't fail.

I was wrong...everything about this game is a failure...is it lack of motivation, rush job or laziness? I just don't know why this game fails!

And the fact is those guys are the same ones who made Rise of the Argonauts (2008), what a FAILURE game...and once again I FUCKING BOUGHT THEIR GAME!

*Avoid movie video game
*Only rent a movie video game if you tried the demo
*Only consider your hard earned money-£40 for a good quality game
*Games that are only Single Player Campaign and not amazing looking I should avoid!
*Games with only Single Player Campaign however nicely done like God of War 3/Heavy Rain, I should consider buying.

3 voews I will have to keep and watch over. I'm tired of buying garbage games.

I should have used my damn money to support Netherealm Studios for their hard work for Mortal Kombat (9) game.

Now the main problem is to try and sell the piece of sh*

Nintendo Challenge system

Here is an idea I came up with for Nintendo's next system code name Cafe or Wii 2.

I just recently sent them the email contacting the pitch idea.

Also while I post it, who knows Developers might actually use this idea, thus the idea will work best as a console implementation.

Hello Nintendo,

I have a suggestion for the new console stated for 2012 and it's an idea I really want to be utilised in next generation platforms.

I noticed the Wii did not have an Achievement nor Trophy system, I mean technically it isn't much of a big deal for including a trophy system to games however theoretically it makes the games last longer and more fun when playing.

Having both experienced the Wii's point system, Xbox 360's Achievement and PS3's Trophy System; I developed a balanced and fun way for future next generation achievement system. I know for sure Nintendo will not allow this achievement system slip away, you've all seen how Achievement works and how it does boost up sales because of Achievement 'whores'. This kind of feature would be something Nintendo would want and it is something they are planning to include in the next Wii 2 and further make it better.

I will get to the point:

1) Next Generation -Nintendo Challenges:

3 tiers of Challenges- Tier 1 Novice, Tier 2 Intermediate and Tier 3 Advanced.

*Tier 1 Novie (25 points): Consist of challenges the players needs to accomplish, these challenges are not difficult and they are mainly based on the the user beating the Story chapters or Defeating bosses. This Tier is do-able by everyone so as long as they complete the campaign in Normal or Easy difficulty.

*Tier 3 Intermediate (25 points): For the average and hardcore players who had successfully cleared all Novice challenges and eagerly want more challenges. These challenges would be such as find the hidden Mario statue in Lark village, or gather 1 million Rupees.

*Tier 2 Advanced (50 points): Is aimed at the hardcore players, players who crave for real challenges and makes their game last longer. Whether you want to beat the game in the hardest difficulty, defeat the second boss without using any health regeneration or stomping on the enemies 50 times in Super Mario 4. These challenges are aimed at the hardcore players to make the game last longer.

2) The points acquired in either tiers can be used to unlock game features or items, the positive to this is that you grants players motivation to keep hunting and clearing challenges.

Tier 1 consist a total of 25 points, each challenge will be 5 points/star or less. Plasyers can use points to unlock features like New Costumes, new skins, new menu background etc. Tier 2 will consist of 25 points and for each challenge will be near identical to Tier 2. You can unlock items such as new weapons, hidden soundtrack, concept arts. And finally Tier 3 will consist a total of 50 points and each will vary in numbers or stars. Item unlockable might be new playable character or boss rush mode etc

The whole purpose of the Challenge system works like Wii's Point+Xbox 360's Achievement+PS3's Trophies= Cafe/Wii 2 Challenges.

The Wii point uses numbered points to unlock in-game items, the achievement consist of achievement that rewards in numbers; and trophies breaks trophies in 3 different levels bronze, silver and gold.

With the Challenge system: each challenges you unlock grants points, with points you can use to unlock in-game items. The Challenges are categorised in 3 levels fitted for all types of gamers.

3) One of the discussions you experience with gamers is "I hope this X will not have Multiplayer achievements". That is why most gamers are not good at multiplayer games and thus limits them for gaining the rest of the achievements simply because they suck at multiplayers.

This is where Challenges comes in place. Let's take Metroid Prime Hunters 2 for an example.

Metroid Prime Hunters 2 for Wii 2:
Tier 1 Novice Completionist 22% Stars= Complete Story Campaign

--Defeat the first boss: 1star

--Defeat Nazrath: 5star

--Complete Stage 5: 5star

--Defeat Omega Metroid: 5star

--Defeat Medieval Samus: 1star

--Stage Stage 10: 5pts

Tier 2 Intermediate Completionist 16% Stars= Complete secret challenges in the game

--Find the Ancient Lost One: 5 star

--Defeat Omega Metroid with just the Necrid Cannon: 5 star

--Defeat Medival Samus with SpineShark: 1 star

--Beat the game by using only the morph ball: 5 star

Tier 3 Advance Completionist 10% Stars= Fully cleared all Multiplayer Challenges in the game

--First Blood- destroy another player 15second when the mission starts: 1 star

--Spree- kill 5 players without dying: 5 star

--Brutality Military combatant, kill a player using melee: 4 star

(as you can see, I don't have to complete the harder tiers because I am not forced to just by getting 1000 achievements. I can simply perform Tier 1, compare it with my friends and move along without having to worry about Tier 2. Even though I attempt Tier 2 and cannot complete all challenges, when comparing I would not see all Challenges. I would only see the Tiers in groups.)

As you are wondering what if a game doesn't acquire Multiplayer? how would Tier 3 be used?

Well simply by adding more difficult challenges.

Basically the tiers are there to rectify the problems many gamers face today. I can procure all achievements in Ninja Gaiden 2, however I cannot beat Master Ninja which eventually is stopping me from gaining my 1000g. This is where the Tiers come in place, gamers are not required to complete harder challenges.

You can obviously compare your Challenge stats with others gamers and the best thing is by comparing in tiers. If you want to compare your brother's Super Mario 4 stats against yours, you can do so. Come to find out your brother hasn't completed Tier 2 and 3 yet, you can simply compare his Tier 1 with yours.

4) World Player Challenges.

What is this? well it is a leaderboard system stats that allows you to see the first few players who acquired this challenge or see just how many people had completed a certain challenge. I believe this will be more motivational because many gamers would love to be the first to beat this challenge.

Imagine turning on Zelda: Mirrors, you scroll down in the menu and select World Player Challenges. You see 0% for Beat the game in Hardest Difficutly under Tier 3. You will be motivated to be the first to do so. Whereas when people check for that challenge stats, they will notice 1% and your name only comes up.

Also if you just want to see how many players had beaten Master Ninja in Ninja Gaiden, you might get results such as 13% and your name is amongst the elites.

The SWOT for Achievement:

WEAKNESSES

*They are simply numbered points that does nothing, you can't unlock anything nor use the Achievement points.

*Many Achievement points have odd numbers and the most frustrating thing is when you beat Master Ninja and you get rewarded just 50g:(

*Useless, hence the title Achievement which should mean Achieving something! Why should I Press Start button to get 10g achievement in The Simpsons game?

The SWOT for Trophies

WEAKNESSES

* Categorised however randomised. You might even gain a Gold trophy before Silver trophies which is obviously meant to be the other way round

*No point system but more of trophies.

The SWOT for Wii points

WEAKNESSES

*Just points

*You do not get tasked with real challenges

*Not grouped

The SWOT for (Wii 2/Cafe) Nintendo Challenges

WEAKNESSES

*none! All problems are rectified from the weaknesses of the above console systems.

STRENGTH

*Numbered points that means something, you acquired vary numbers that you can use to unlock in-game items

*Harder challenges will be in Tier 2 and Tier 3

*You don't need to press Start to get 1 star, you need to work hard for a star point

* Categorised and rightfully classed well. All broken down in 3 tiers for all gamers

*Both with level system and points

*Challenges that are points and can also be used and worth getting

*You are tasked with real challenges

*All grouped in tiers

*World Player Challenges: You can see just how many gamers have completed these challenges in certain tasks. This will motivate you to be the first to complete a challenge.

I do hope my idea gets implemented, thought about or approved and further improved.

You like?

i am even thinking of making presentation document to help visualise this idea.

UPDATE

I received a reply back from Nintendo's customer support team lead.

He said Nintendo do not take ideas from consumers and its Nintendo of Japan that does the major decisions.
What a bummer man!  And you know Nintendo, wii friends code, nintendo wii points

All these things just cannot stand up to Xbox Live, Achievements, Trophies PSN:/
Nintendo really need to step up their game if they wish to please 'other' hardcore games instead of just their loyal customers.

Interactive Drama, is it really a new genre?

Nowadays it is very hard to get a new genre to be created in this industry and I believe the latest genre well sub genre to be created was under Strategy games and I can't remember the name of it, I think it's called X 4 Com or something, or 4 X (my opinion). Anyway the newest genre to appear is Interactive Drama, you can only experience this genre for the game Heavy Rain exclusive to the PS3.

Is Interactive Drama really a new genre for this gaming industry? I believe it is, many can say it isn't but more of a blend of other genres together or many game mechanics formed into one. Last time I checked Heavy Rain in an 'opinion' source Wikipedia, listed it as an Adventure game. Now the game page has been updated to Interactive Drama, thus interactive drama having it's own article. However Wikipedai seems to be getting the wrong impression of what Interactive Drama is, I mean how can you list "There have been some recent video games that have used this approach using fully-animated computer generated scenes, including various adventure games such as the Sound Novel series byChunsoft, Shenmue", Shenmue as an interactive drama?:/

Anyway Wikipedia words are nothing but opinion and same as mine. Why is Interactive Drama a new genre?
Because of the formula that makes it as its own. Heavy Rain's gameplay consist of QTE (Quick Time Interactive) mechanic throughout, you can control the character and interact with almost everything in the world of Heavy Rain. The story is obviously adventure, and not only are you experiencing a story however the story connects to the player based on their feeling and how they should feel in a particular scene. And the final thing is the conscience, emotion and feelings of the character that the player deeply relates to.

*FEELING AND EMOTION WITH PLAYER AND CHARACTER- In Heaven Rain you  play as 4 different characters with different feelings and emotion, it's almost like you can connect to them so easily. If you think of another game that can use Interactive Drama formula, you would obviously know the feelings and emotion for that character. If Kratos from GOW was in an interactive Drama game, you would feel and connect to his hatred and also feel sorry for him. How can you determine the character's feelings and emotion? Because you can listen to their 'thoughts' all the time. If you accidentally stabbed someone in real life, what you would be thinking? you'd grow fear in you as well as panic, you wouldn't know what to do. This is the same thing with characters feeling, if you feel fear, the character would feel fear. However not everyone thinks the same, some people might think "i stabbed him? good let him die", or "he deserved it". The video game character can have that similar sinister thoughts which is how you feel.

If the character is sad, you will be feeling sadness

*INTERACTIVITY- You can interact with the world in the video game. This interactive to the world is not new, it was something Shenmue and Nomad Soul: Omikron did and very well executed. I can even say the title Interactive Drama, Interactive sums up the definition of interacting to the world. In Heavy Rain you can literally interact with any thing you see in the world, television, coffee maker, remote, sound player, basket ball, switches, lamps, items in shop etc. All these interactive makes the game feel more realistic and doesn't limit those items in the game as dead weight or being there for decoration.

*QUICK TIME EVENTS/ MOTION- QTE is just a gameplay mechanic that existed in Panzaar Dragon, Shenmue fully utilised QTE so well that other games started using the QTE mechanic while some executed it well (Resident Evil 4, God of War 3) and many used it badly (Knights Contract, Heavenly Sword).  Aside from QTE, you can walk, think and interact. However the basis of Heavy Rain consist of QTE through out, when you interact you have to perform QTE's on screen. Why is there QTE? QTE gives the impression that you are really doing something, like the action you are doing is the same the character is performing. However in terms of immersion, a simple game console controller could not do it well, it just couldn't give the 'immersion' impression. The PS3 controller DualShock 3 comes with 6 Axis motion sensor. Quantic Dream took advantage of this and implemented feeling mechanics to take use of this feature, for an example walking on a wooden plank from one end to another means you have to be careful with your steps and balance. This is where you move the controller steadily to get that character to the other destination without falling. Later Sony released the Playstation Move controller which is a more better motion than the Wii using 12 axis motion and more precise. With this Move controller even gives a better impression to playing Heavy Rain. For an example when pick locking a door in the game, you would have to make QTE and gestures using both hands to give the impression like you are really pick locking a door. The motion was not desgined or developed for Heavy Rain at start of production, it was just an add on after the final game was released. Thus making the motion not 100% accurate. You only make gestures but not realistic gestures.



If Move was designed for Heavy Rain at start of pre-production, you would rely on real proper motion gestures rather than QTE's. QTE gives the impression that you are doing something with the character. Heavy Rain really should have been developed with Move at start. Heavy Rain was developed using full body scanning, meaning all the things every character performed where performed and acted in real life. So if you can make a realistic gesture of 'slapping' someone therefore it would sum up the realistic experience and definition of Interactive Drama.



*STORY- As for the story, the story can really be anything or set in a different world. Heavy Rain just picked our era world to be more realistic. Interactive Drama story can really take place in fantasy world or sci-fi. The settings or geography is not the importance of story to Interactive Drama. The importance to the story is telling a good story and giving a 'feeling' and 'emotion' to the story. In Heavy Rain during some scenes you would feel really angry in certain situation, in other part you would feel sorry. For an example, I was jaw dropped when I accidentally shot Nathaniel, I never meant to do it as it was an accident, because of this I felt guilt and sorry for myself. Another part was taking care of the baby Emily, I felt sorry for the baby because she was all alone and I also felt kindness and love when I took care of her. Taking care of Emily was the best moment in Heavy Rain, it was really priceless because it captured the true feeling of how a human can have an emotion towards a video game.

The feeling and emotion of a story is quite important in Interactive Drama, if those 2 key elements are missing therefore the game is just another typical story in a video game.

*YOU ARE THE DIRECTOR-  This phase 'You are the director' exist due to you given the ability to change camera angles, choose different dialogues for the character, interact with the world, move around and chose the character's feelings. Choosing your own character dialogue is not new as it can be perceived in many RPG games. However when you play Heavy Rain, the way things are set,  things happening and the actor/actresses voices feels like this game is one big drama tv series. Hence the title Interactive Drama again. You are the director in this game because you can decide how a character talks or listen by leaning back against the wall, sitting down next to the character or looking out the window. Everything you do causes effect, if you successfully cook an omlette, Laura would like it, if not cooked right she would hate it. If you slam the dishes on the table, Ethan's wife would be furious, if you place the dishes carefully on the table she wouldn't say anything.



Being the director in Interactive Drama is the best unique feature about the genre, changing to different camera angles is the feature I love the best. Let's say for an example "Sizzly's Place- the first time you meet Lauren playing as Shebly". When entering the motel you can make Shebly walk straight up the stairs without talking to the receptionist. Or make Shebly bribe the reception into giving you the where about location of Lauren. I also do think this Director experience is a powerful tool because if you do things right, you would get hints and information you were not aware of in the game. For an example when Madison goes to the hospital to see Ann. If you speak to a nurse, she would reveal Ann's memory condition to you that she needs props and items shown to her so she could remember things. If you don't speak to her you might be confused why Ann is acting like that, you'd feel like Ann's trying to p*ss you off with her memory.

And to top it all, you can decide the ending of the game. Having different ending in games is not new, most RPG inherit this feature. Like I said before you are the director, this game plays out like a drama, when you watch drama series different things occur and makes use of the "what if" this happens or that happens. In drama the protatongist has his/her own purpose or agenda, let's say his agenda was to find out who killed his wife. In the final episode you thought was going to be final and reveal the person that killed his wife. This is where drama power plays it role, some other character would just appear and say he knows the person that killed his wife or someone else is invovled or the best his wife planned the whoel thing (the reason for this twist is to extend the series and give more to the story). Because of twists and turns of event would eventually spawn more to the drama. This is the same case with Heavy Rain, Shibly spoke to Lauren and did not reveal much information, and to change events Troy came him to personally talk to Laruen, and since you are the director you decide to help her or leave. Your actions determines the cause of event: if you take your time to interlope, Lauren would have deep bruises on her face, if you interlope without hestitation, her face wouldn't be badly damaged. Depending on how you handle the situation, you can leave the motel badly injured, clean or your ass kicked.

*MEMORY, EMOTION AND FEELING- I've already talked about emotion and feeling previously above however that was Emotion and Feeling towards the player and the character. This emotion and feeling is based on the human side. Another example, when playing the Taxidemist DLC mission. However the player feels when the killer gets back home would give a  shock to the player in terms of feeling. The player would be confused and wouldn't know what to do. Should you escape and sneak past the guy? should you hide? or should you find your way out by any means? As the player's emotion strikes, time is of the essence because the killer would start moving around the house, this is where the player's feeling comes in contact. You will be scared and afraid that he might just find you. Memory now comes to play, remember the squeaking floor board earlier? or remember the window by the stairs?

In Interactive Drama: Player's memory, emotion and feeling plays a big role in this game. Your memory is needed when you go to the police station and detective asks you "what colour jacket was Shaun wearing?" Your emotion is needed to defend the psychiatrist from being hit by Blake or you assiting Blake into getting information out of the psychiatrist. And the last thing needed is your feeling, how do you feel when Mad Jack is trying to kill Jayden? or how a suspect linked to the murder is running away?

Heavy Rain is a powerful game that immerses player and gives them feeling and emotion towards and when playing the game.

To develop any Interactive Drama game it should consist of: Immersion control-
-typically motion gesture via Kinect or Move
-Emotional and engaging story
-You Are The Director: you decide the outcomes of scenes depending on your action and how you want things to play out or turn out
-Player feelings, emotion and relationship towards protagonist or NPC's
-Player Memory, Feelings and Emotion when playing the game
-Interact with everything of the game's world (they are not there just foe decoration, they are there to give an impression that this space/earth/mythology/fantasy world are real!)
- the camera angles can be in Over the Shoulder, First Person or Above the Head (3rd person not top view/birds eye)
- Interactive Drama is really a drama, you are the director and you can decide who dies, who lives, who gets hurt, what ending should occur, what character should say and how things should turn out. Meaning the script would be very deep!

I believe if there are mor Interactive Drama games like Heavy Rain, it would draw more non gamers to the gaming industry. Instead of Wii drawing these kinds of people into gaming, Heavy Rain or Interactive Drama can do this.