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Showing posts from March, 2012

Storytelling in Video Games

Video games, since their inception into modern culture, have always made it a point to try and convey some semblance of a story to the player. And as the technology behind them advances, so does the complexity and richness of the stories they are telling us. In the early days of video games, the hardware had major limitations in how it would allow developers to tell their stories. We will take a look at a few examples of storytelling conventions in the past and then look at how they evolved into what we have available today. Space Invaders gives away the game's entire plot in two words. Because, seriously, who could tell what was really going on otherwise? The sprites in the game look bug creatures while the artwork on the cabinet showcases a frightening, glowing eyed Sasquatch. If a child were to play the game today with no idea of the title and on an arcade cabinet devoid of any artwork what they would make of it? The enemies look more like crabs and octopus while the playe