The Trajectory of an Exploding Barrel

People love stories. Your first hit was most likely the bedtime kind then you went eyes wide at comics, books and movies. We gravitate to people who can entertain us - we usually don’t call the introvert to meet up at the bar for kicks and giggles; they may sometimes remark with snap crackle pop, but they are not an exploding barrel of laughs.

In the next couple of years - perhaps even months - the majority of gamers will find themselves gravitating to the games that tell a good story. Pulling way back, gameplay has evolved at a much slower rate than graphics (a topic I’d like to discuss further in a future post). This yearly growth spurt is not necessarily something we should look down on since killer looks captures the masses. The Game Industry embraces the blockbuster and it, too, is infatuated with Hollywood style. “Look at my cut scenes, all lean and cinematic can I have your phone number?”

Interactive storytelling is another way developers/publishers try to capture the masses. Bad storytelling outweighs the good, and the good still suffer from moments of dissonance between story and gameplay.

Sometimes it feels like a story is an afterthought, sometimes it feels like the gameplay diminishes the story and its purpose. If people - me included - are hell-bent on game writers trying to take our emotions to paradise, then how bout we have games where the gameplay and its limitations are central to the story. Then we can start making games like:

- The Curious Case of the Immovable Trees
- I See You, Mr. Invisible Wall
- Sim Explodable Barrels
- Re-Spawninator: Didn’t I Just Kill You?
- The World Ends With You In A Sewer
- The Sims Explodable Barrels: Explodable Barrels Expansion Set
- Bullet Sponge presents The Amazing Adventures of Kevlar and Clay
- > Help I’m Stuck