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Houser Picks Freedom Over Respect
Game writers may not garner as much respect as their TV and movie counterparts, but at least they have more freedom, according to Rockstar Games' Dan Houser.
“It's really fun at the moment because we're not in any Academy and the medium's not codified. There's no accepted way of doing anything so that give us enormous pleasure because we can make it up as we go along," said Houser, who was lead writer on Grand Theft Auto IV, speaking to the Telegraph.
“Movies and TV and books have become so structured in the way they have to approach things. Not working in that environment gives us enormous freedom. I'd rather keep the freedom and not have the respect.”
Rockstar is currently preparing GTA IV add-on content, The Lost and the Damned for Xbox 360, which is launching on February 17. The add-on will focus on a new main character and its plot will intersect with the events in the original GTA IV.
Houser added, “I think the medium is still very young. It's not a baby, but it's still probably an infant. So everything is growing and evolving as we go along and we're still figuring out how to do stuff.
“But I think that's as much as case as it is with design as it is with storytelling, even though some things may be lifted from cinema or books. But we're learning new tricks and getting better as games mature.”
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It seems I read this article in a different way to those who wrote the previous two comments, I took Houser's term of 'freedom' not to mean a freedom of choice over the subject matter but a freedom to create games narrative in a different way.
I.e. the structure of a book is predominantly beginning, middle and end whereas there are a wide variety of ways in which story in games can be structured; branching narrative, parallel narrative or in the case of GTA IV: a multi-form story (the story is the same for everyone but each player has a different story to tell). Unlike earlier games where every player would do exactly the same thing as anyone else, visiting each location in the same order and killing the final boss in the same way.
In terms of writing for games being in it's infancy I agree entirely, only recently have games managed to truly immerse the player within the context of the story, take Fable 2 for example, my experience of this game was different to my friends due to the choices we made throughout, making me feel that my game was different to his, when in reality we both went to the same locations, killed the same enemies and met the same characters.
>>.e. the structure of a book is predominantly beginning, middle and end whereas there are a wide variety of ways in which story in games can be structured; branching narrative, parallel narrative or in the case of GTA IV: a multi-form story
there's books like that too, Choose Your Own Adventure series.
>>Unlike earlier games where every player would do exactly the same thing as anyone else, visiting each location in the same order and killing the final boss in the same way.
In Megaman on the NES, you could choose which level to go through, fight the bosses in whatever order, while eventually reaching the final destination of Wiley's fort. This game came out in 1987.
Super Mario Bros. had branching paths through warp pipes found in hidden passages. This game came out in 1985.
>>only recently have games managed to truly immerse the player within the context of the story
Pokemon immersed millions into a fantasy world of stomping through tall grass to put monsters in balls. I chose a charmander, my friend chose a squirtle. We went to the same locations, beat the same gym leaders, encountered the same pokemon in tall grass, but had our own unique experiences. Even if we had the same pokemon, their stats and movesets were unique. Pokemon came out 12 years ago.
The Final Fantasy series is known by its fans as having immersive stories and worlds, without making significantly branching points in the story.
This doesn't change the unique personal experiences you've had with games, nor does your opinion change how I feel, but I wouldn't say that game narrative now is much different from how it was 10-20 years ago.
You make some good points Andy, and the games you highlight support your case well.
I would argue however that pokemon doesn't immerse the player in the 'story' but in the characters. By this I mean (in my own experience at least) I wasn't bothered about why I was doing things but i enjoyed collecting the pokemon and grew more attached to some than others. To be honest i can't even recall the story in pokemon.
Your point regarding Final Fantasy is a good one, and I can't disagree with you there!
Having not experienced Megaman I cannot comment though in regards to Super Mario Bros. the freedom afforded to players is minimal and provides only a slight detour off the main spine of the plot. Essentially you could use the warp pipe or not. Games such as GTA IV give the player an entire city to explore.
It is the above paragraph that I would use to argue against your point that games narrative is not much different than 10-20 years ago. Due to the advances in hardware, greater freedom can be afforded to the player. Perhaps the ideas are no different, but they can now been put into practice.
p.s. I am aware of choose your own adventure books, hence why i said 'predominantly'.
Fairpoint Adam.
Whilst it's important that the story envelopes the player in a non linear way. At the same time, It is as much about the story's content as the ways it structured and being told, both I would say join hand in hand. In my opinion. :D
I completely agree, there's no point having a brilliant non-linear story-telling structure if the content is terrible. After all, the player will need to want to play through the game and if they don't due to a poor story then the structure will never be seen and can't be deemed a success.
It's cool that Rockstar can be so daring in the content they put out. Television networks sometimes are extremely careful not to offend peoples delicate sensibilities, so they can't do controversial or edgy subject matter. Manhunt 2 for example, you couldn't exactly make that into a Movie or a TV series. (maybe the Koreans or Japanese could - but it wouldn't be nice to watch). Computer games do seem to handle tough situations and morally ambiguous storylines a lot better than a TV movie ever could.
The freedoms Houser talks about, are the same freedoms that writers like Irvine Welsh et al. have enjoyed for a long time. The Acid House, is a good example of Welsh's writing that had to be toned down to be made into a screenplay. Their Audience are already the minority, they don't rely on the mainstream media. A good book or story perpetuates without the need for tagline and clever marketing.
Rockstar although a company in the mainstream, doesn't really adopt mainstream ideas, pushing the boundaries of what is acceptable and what is enjoyable. Although I wouldn't be surprised if at some point it comes back to bite them. But for the moment, Let the good times roll!
Manhunt sold rather poorly compared to megahit titles with mainstream friendly story and content like GTA4 and their car racing games.
I can't fault them for making popular games though, and they do still have interesting projects like Manhunt, it's just unfortunate they don't sell as well. They're working on Red Dead Revolver's sequel now, and the main artist is Capcom's Akiman, who was a big part in making Street Fighter. That's pretty awesome of them.
What exactly does he mean by freedom? What's an example of videogames having more freedom than movies in their structure of storytelling?
>>even though some things may be lifted from cinema or books. But we're learning new tricks and getting better as games mature.”
so what are these new tricks that books and cinema don't have?
>>“I think the medium is still very young. It's not a baby, but it's still probably an infant. So everything is growing and evolving as we go along and we're still figuring out how to do stuff.
What makes it a baby? If it's growing, that would imply a game like GTA IV is more mature and does something with storytelling that wasn't capable on the SNES, what would that be? Is it because it's only recently become mainstream?