Wolfire Games Forums

rudel_ic wrote:Wolfire soft[ware] hasn't invested enough into story so far, that's how it is for me.

I'd agree with this rather than with Count Roland. You're judged by what you've done last, not by what you could do.

of course you are. look at Spiderweb software for example: They made the Avernum Series's. After three Geinforge games, they decided to make Avernum 4. It Tuned out a rather painful to play game. When Avernum 5 was in development, allot of people had there doubts, but on release, it was actually was a decent game made with the new Engine for A4. I hear were you are coming from, but dont you think David at this stage Can and will do better than what he did?

Just throwing this out there...

How about an action flight-sim. Not just a combat flight simulator, but being able to do completely impossible but spectacular things like ejecting from your plane and stealing your enemy's plane.

Anyone? Aww...

Lugaru didn't need a story. You got to kick the shit out of things - that's all the story I needed. But I think Lugaru 2 does need a fairly solid story to give you some reason for wandering all over Lugaru Isle, and to point you where you should go next, if you want to go that way.

Well obviously. He'll get more experienced, and his potential for making better games will increase too. This is not to say the subsequent games will be better than the ones he has done, but he has more potential now to do something amazing than he did a few years ago. This is obvious, since people are always maturing and learning.

However, assumptions aren't a good basis for opinions. Using his last game as a basis for decisions is a better idea. I assume that David has potential to improve upon the kind of story as seen in Lugaru, as it was more than likely simply a vessel for the action. However, until he does it must be held that plot construction is most likely a weak point of his. The story isn't horrible, it's just not outstanding.

Getting a better writer on the team would be a smart move. Why waste time on writing a mediocre story instead of polishing controls or the AI when you could put that time into refining a great story after building a great engine?
I mean, that's where you start to mature, both as a person and as a company.
And I can't imagine Wolfire soft to be just about the money, but first and foremost about great games. That's why investing into people who are better than you in certain aspects also goes well with the philosophy I project onto Wolfire Software.

After investing into a great coder's achievement, story flaws let aside, I kind of want him not to become egocentric. I want him to grow where his strong side is. Omnipotent one-man-armies are kind of cute, but you don't really expect them to shine in every aspect.
Granted, if David DOES manage to write a great story to go along with a great engine and great graphics all by himself, I wouldn't complain. It's just something I wouldn't expect right now. I would consider it a miracle. Never count on miracles.

There's no game or piece of art coming from David after Lugaru that makes me think he's a great writer now. There's this theatre piece he posted some time ago, but that didn't do anything for me, to be frank.

I think a 3rd person adventure would demand way more from the team than another action game. That's why I like the idea. And as a customer, I want such a game.

I refute that. I wouldn't say it would be a miracle, just not highly probably considering the previous project.

Maybe he wouldn't want to give someone else the storywriting duties. It's his game, he probably wants to decide what happens and where you go and who you meet.

Well, then he writes the story concept, tosses it over to the writer, reviews the result. That would demand a highly-skilled writer, but that's the point I was trying to make anyway.

Makrond wrote:Just throwing this out there...

How about an action flight-sim. Not just a combat flight simulator, but being able to do completely impossible but spectacular things like ejecting from your plane and stealing your enemy's plane.

Anyone?

I believe there is a game already like that, set in the 40s or 50s called Crimson skies. That game was fun, Stealing Scientists from Zeppelin's, or Stealing Air crafts from the British empire, might i add, while there flying at 100ft attempting to blow up a Treasure sight? it also has Pirates!

ugh...

rudel_ic wrote:Well, then he writes the story concept, tosses it over to the writer, reviews the result. That would demand a highly-skilled writer, but that's the point I was trying to make anyway.

I volunteer!

Yeah, no. I'm not that good.

I am going to write the story for L2, and you can let me know if you like it or not The L1 story is a pretty standard revenge story, and I think it holds up decently compared to most action games (i.e. it has a storyline with distinct characters, and it is not ridiculously awful). However, I think I can do a much better job in L2. I went through four more years of school, wrote a few hundred pages for various classes, and took a few drama classes. I guess we'll find out if that helps!

You have my Faith in you David.

I myself am Wondering... what do you do once you've killed all that was in the path of those responsible, for the death of those I love? All I feel is the blackening of my heart. the overwhelming self pity to my self. Not able to help those that I loved. Replaying the agonizing memories, seeming that no mater where I turn, the ghosts of those I've slayed, and the ones I care for loath me. Unworthy, I am left with rage... Rage against everything that was once a part of me, this rage pulls apart my spirit, it twisted me to something... It dose not belong here, as so do I. so if I don't belong, where do I belong?

I had no idea where that came from, but I hope it inspires...

I'd love to see a game based on all of Stephen King's Dark Tower series. It would be the most epic game ever created. Ever.

Never read them.

...

They are books, right!?

This is probably one of those moments when I do actually know what you are talking about but didn't know the name of it until now.

I just wiki'ed it. Looks like a good book, but Im at the moment too engrosed in Birth and Death: Bioethical Decision-making by Paul D. Simmons.

Im actualy in the middle of making my owen universe set in a Colonial Era, I would Share it, but I wana make my millions. Once its released, Ill let Wolfire make a spin off Game in the universe of it then, IF they want to. As a game, it would likely be a Stealth FPS with realistic muskets.

marmorek wrote:I'd love to see a game based on all of Stephen King's Dark Tower series. It would be the most epic game ever created. Ever.

I concur. It is my favourite novel series ever made, even preferred to Terry Pratchett's Discworld series.

However, I had the conversation before with someone about how hard it would be to translate the magic of the novels to a computer screen or a cinema screen.