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Archive for May, 2009

Episode 3 – Showing, Telling, Performing Narrative

By Ben Abraham ⋅ May 5, 2009 ⋅ 2 comments

It has arrived! Episode 3 of the CDC Podcast. This week we discuss the approaches to videogame narrative, specifically the differences between showing and telling narrative in games. We have a very special international cast this week. So sit back and enjoy as once again we interrogate game narrative, go off on an array of [...]

Soren Johnson Discusses Sid’s Lessons

By Nels Anderson ⋅ May 4, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

Soren Johnson discusses a number of lessons he learned from Sid Meier during his time at Firaxis.
All four observations are good, but the third and fourth are especially resonant for me. Calls for thematic simplicity and “show, don’t tell” have grown increasingly loud as of late. When Jeff Kaplan says at GDC “we need to [...]

May 3rd

By Ben Abraham ⋅ May 3, 2009 ⋅ 3 comments

Welcome to another exciting instalment of This Week In Videogame Blogging. Before we dive in, I should probably explain how I go about compiling this list of the best stuff from around the blogosphere from the week. It goes something like this:
I have a Word document. When I read something on a blog that I [...]

Chris Avellone on RPG Conventions

By Ben Abraham ⋅ May 1, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

Last week saw the ‘Framework’ conference in Melbourne, and Kotaku Editor David Wildgoose attended a lecture given by Chris Avellone – he of Planescape: Torment, Fallout 2, and Knights of the Old Republic 2 fame. In a nice recap, Wildgoose talks about how Avellone turned his disdain for RPG clichés and conventions to his advantage:
In [...]

No Culture? Gameplay Aesthetes

By Joe Tortuga ⋅ May 1, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

Sure, it’s about a board game, and a forgettable one at that, but Greg Costikyan makes a point that it’s important to know about the history behind even bad or un-interesting games:
For what godforsaken reason are we featuring Twiggy Game today? To make a point: the danger of lack of culture.
What do I mean by [...]

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