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Randy Smith

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  • Talking With Computers: Part Two

    Façade. Galatea. The Sims. Ultima. Civilization. Quantic Dream. BioWare. Bethesda. Randy Smith charts the fertile middle ground of interactive dialogue.

    You may wish to read Randy's previous columns on character interaction, Is The Holodeck The Holy Grail? and Talking With Computers before reading this one.

    February 1, 2010
  • Talking With Computers

    Interactive dialogue is incredibly difficult, and to prove it, Randy Smith presents a list of techniques which don't quite work.

    You may wish to read Randy's previous column on character interaction, Is The Holodeck The Holy Grail?, before reading this one.

    Sure, it sounds like it would be cool to have a real conversation with a game character, but what do you actually do? There you are, holding a controller; how do you interact? Well, that’s an easy question to answer! Or, at least, it’s easy to list a few of the answers that are probably wrong.

    January 11, 2010
  • Is The Holodeck The Holy Grail?

    Truly interactive characters: do you even want them, asks Randy Smith.

    I really do believe that interactions with characters are going to be a huge big deal in the future of gaming, a revolution that will permanently change things. I do not mean MMOs featuring new ways to communicate with real humans. Not cutscenes with superior rendering of facial expressions. Not dialogue trees with a kazillion branches. Instead, I mean the stuff I typically write about: some way to craft your relationship with an NPC with the same freedom you have when building your RTS base or attempting a combat tactic in an FPS.

    November 27, 2009

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aryshirazi's picture
from aryshirazi

Hi Randy, my name is Ary Shirazi, i am a recent game design graduate and i've been working on my own brand of "interactive animation" (i.e a 'game' story) for the past 2 to 3 years.

Altho there hasn't really been any info on LMNO....it sounded like it's a game returning to the LucasArts days of progessing a story being the whole point of the gameplay... in any case im glad that people are working on such a mysterious project.

I've only recently bumped into your blog on the edge-online website, but have read a few of the coloumns you've written in the back of the magazine... the things you are discussing struck me, as ive been writing and preaching similar thoughts during my time at art college 4 years ago and during my degree.

I'm also drawn towards Steven Poole's views of the medium as well as Ernest Adams (if you havent read his article Where's Our Merchant Ivory? on gamasutra i highly suggest it)

However, id like to suggest you read through my dissertation which talks about the unique properties of game time and game space, interactivity, immersion and flow (with research into mihail czk ... you know who i mean) the outdated narrative design (or screenwriting) in games today... and how the young generation of game designers graduating now is reminisant of the first film students coming out film school pushing the medium to a true art form..(i'm not sure how to "attach" a document here as this isnt an email, i will send you the document if you wish to read it)

We aren't designers that sit behind desks.... we're a new kind of artist.. artists of the globalised 21st century!

Any sort of feedback would be highly appreciated - The dissertation is linked to my interactive animation project (my attempt at gamings equivalent of the 2 hour movie).. i think its possible.. and in fact, id love to see a video game story win an Oscar in my lifetime.

Cheers

Ary Shirazi

April 29, 2009
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