Integration

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Originally posted by: NIBMRatchet @ TFW2005.com

Quote:

On this latest Game Informer article regarding Transformers: Fall of Cybertron, High Moon Studio tells us about the interactive storytelling of the the upcoming game.

In video games, there is always tension between story and gameplay. Storytelling is traditionally a passive experience, while games are inherently interactive. To help smooth out the integration of these two disparate forms, High Moon starts by looking at the larger story beats and then builds levels around those concepts. “We look at what we absolutely need to tell in our story, and then there is a lot of back and forth between the teams,” Carter says. “Designers approach a game from a standpoint of 'what is fun,' but then we have to steer that back and make sure we’re getting our story across. Making a game is really a lot of back and forth.”

Designers spend a lot of time looking at references during these exchanges, drawing inspiration for how to shape a cohesive story that is also fun to play. “At the time that we started on the Grimlock level the Dead Space 2 demo had just come out, and I told everyone that they had to play the first level of the game,” Carter says. “Because it was scripted, it’s very cinematic, but at the same time they did a lot of things where you’d be walking down the hall and a character would jump out at you and then the camera would zoom around and showcase the animation and sound, but it was all seamless. The player didn’t feel pulled out of the game. That’s good storytelling for games.”

Read more and enjoy a video at Game Informer.

Original Source: Larger Than Life: Designing Fall of Cybertron's Set Piece Moments - Transformer World 2005