sephfire Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 Just finished the fifth in my little series of game-related video lectures! Today's topic: Choice. This should show up on Gamasutra.com in the next week or so along with James Portnow's article on the issue. It goes a little more in-depth on game design than usual, but the general tone remains the same. I've already got my next topic picked out, so the gap between this video and the next shouldn't be nearly as long. Extra special thanks to Anthony Lofton and Joshua Morse for unwittingly providing outro music, and to CarboHydroM (as always) for providing me with an intro theme. Enjoy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sindra Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 Very nicely done. I always liked your format, even though you admit to mimicking Yahtzee, I feel yours is still different. (I mean, how many new ways can things be brought across to people?) I kind of mimic it myself in the videos I do. Is your voice really that high-pitched? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Mutericator Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 Delicious. As a software engineer in training, I eagerly await the next entry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishy Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 Pretty cool as usual, just wondering why Fallout 3 didn't get a mention in this? I'd be curious to see your thoughts on what actual choices there are in that game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sephfire Posted March 15, 2009 Author Share Posted March 15, 2009 Is your voice really that high-pitched? No, I pitch-bend the narration up about 10-15 percent. I like that he has a voice of his own and (sort of) stands as a character separate from me. Also, my normal voice is pretty boring. Pretty cool as usual, just wondering why Fallout 3 didn't get a mention in this? I'd be curious to see your thoughts on what actual choices there are in that game. Actually, I was pretty impressed with Fallout 3. The decisions weren't nearly so cut-and-dry "Good vs. Evil" decisions as you tend to see in, say, Bioware games. And while a lot of the quest conversations are basically just "Will you help out this old man or ignore him?" scenarios, it really felt like you were free to choose your way in the world. You could handle situations however you wanted, and your choice would lead to consequences, good or bad. A lot of the choices in the game may still have just been very cleverly-concealed problems, but that's still a step in the right direction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCvgluvr Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 It's always a pleasure to watch your videos seph. Not only are they intelligent and relevant, but they're not-so-strangely compelling and interesting as well. Once again, good job (James too). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dhsu Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 Entertaining and well-done! But it's spelled "decisions." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
relyanCe Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 Stellar, as usual! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miletus Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 Very interesting, actually! Clearly presented, kind of reminded me of that great 'crisis of credit' animation recently: easy to understand yet without oversimplification. It reminds me of the Gabe Newell (Half Life)/Warren Spector (Deus Ex) debate about linearity in games. I've always thought about the debate in terms of linearity vs non-linearity but problem-solving vs choice is actually a more interesting way of thinking about it, now I've seen sephire's video. The non-linearity is really a quality that arises from the decision to make use of choices. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big giant circles Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 nice work, par for the course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sephfire Posted March 15, 2009 Author Share Posted March 15, 2009 Entertaining and well-done!But it's spelled "decisions." One of these days, I'll make a video without one mispronounced word or misspelling. Someday ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexis Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 I liked it, despite the spelling error! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLyGeN Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 I think I was able to infer correctly on my own, but it might have been worth mentioning that the helping the old man "choice" being reduced to a mere problem also seems to have reduced the outcomes to a mere "get money" or "not get money", and therefore are not exponentially increasing the game's size. As always, a pleasure to watch and learn from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
friendlyHunter Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 This was probably my favourite one so far. Partially because of the content and how it makes me think about videogame design, and partially because of all the James Portnow jokes "Should have bought a mic, buddy." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arrow Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 Ah, good video. Though the part about the king asking the hero to save the village and the hero refusing before being asked again immediately made me think of this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glasfen Posted March 21, 2009 Share Posted March 21, 2009 Nice work, sephire. Always a fun learning experience. I have to say this was enlightening. It seems so intuitive but I've never thought about choices vs. decisions in terms of gaming. Certainly gives me a different perspective. Oh, and labeling Inky and Clyde = hilarious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sengin Posted March 21, 2009 Share Posted March 21, 2009 Ah, I always love your videos and as usual, this was very entertaining. It certainly made me think more about the devlopers and the choices they make into, well, developing games. I definitely look forward to the next one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted March 21, 2009 Share Posted March 21, 2009 Why do you never pimp your URL in your video descriptions? It's like you don't want to help people find you. You have to make it easier and more straightforward. Obviously, the lecture kicks ass. Always a great way to spend 6-10 minutes. In other news, pimp: http://twitter.com/ocremix/status/1365877592 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Pezman Posted March 21, 2009 Share Posted March 21, 2009 You and I need to sit down and have a chat about all this sometime... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Ascher-Weiss Posted March 21, 2009 Share Posted March 21, 2009 Great Video as usual! It seems to me like this exists more on a spectrum though.. from what you're saying, if a choice has any weight behind it... that is, if one choice can be considered preferable, then it's a "problem in disguise", to me that makes it seem as though the only thing that you could call a real grade A USDA approved "choice" would be something that has zero impact on the game. Like, if a character early on asked you to choose sides in a dispute and depending on which side you choose, a race of people later on in the game all have red hair instead of yellow hair, then it's a choice I suppose unless you prefer one color to the other, in which case it would become a problem because you'd want to make the "correct" choice, the one that would yield your favorite color. The thing is, I don't see any decision as worth making if I don't have something invested in the outcome...like say if I were colorblind, then the hair color would be irrelevant. The same goes for "choices" that would create branches in the gameplay...if a decision in a game gives me branching paths, people will have preferences as to which branch is more to their liking. Like Castlevania 3 to a degree, moreso if you took the extra characters out of the equation. So I see it as any given decision either being closer to a choice or problem based on how much weight is given to the outcome. In order for something to be a pure "choice" by what I see as your definition, it would have to be totally inconsequential and therefore meaningless, like naming your main character with the stipulation that the name never appears in the game because if it did... it might move into problem territory since I'm sure there would be some name you'd prefer to see for whatever reason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FR Posted March 21, 2009 Share Posted March 21, 2009 It was very informative. Do you know if Yahtzee seen your vids? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tex Posted March 21, 2009 Share Posted March 21, 2009 This video was not good at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FR Posted March 21, 2009 Share Posted March 21, 2009 Stop trolling Txai. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tex Posted March 21, 2009 Share Posted March 21, 2009 I am not trolling. I just didn't like it. Can I have different feelings about something, please? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sephfire Posted March 21, 2009 Author Share Posted March 21, 2009 I am not trolling. I just didn't like it.Can I have different feelings about something, please? No 10charlimit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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