Week 5 Reading
Play: The Stabley Parable
The Stanley Parable is a very narrative-focused game in which you, the player, have to be guided to the end of the supposedly linear story by the narrator. However, along the way you can defy the narrator’s instructions – leading to the main conflict of the game. Will you go along with the narrator, and how far? There are dozens of endings. It is a game I discovered many years ago, and that I love wholeheartedly for its fantastic writing and commital to the bit, able to balance dark themes and comedy writing well.
Stanley Parable doesn’t just play for cheap comedy – there’s real parody in the way it presents certain puzzles. For example, you can “break” the game by jumping out of the office windows – but the Narrator follows you, and snarkily congratulates you on breaking his lovely game, simultaneuously poking fun at the Narrator for his high-and-mighty attitude for deliberate game glitches, and also you for breaking the game to begin with. The achievement unlocked ending highlights many videogame’s stupid and ultimately rewardless achievements by having you menially click random objects by the Narrator’s command. And the DLC of Stanley Parable is a parody of many pointless game DLC’s – giving you a special bucket and presenting it as an awesome prize, with set pieces that are unfinished or rehashes of original game set pieces, and a section on critical feedback of videogames. Stanley Parable acknowledges that it is not above the many flaws of videogames, but it can present them in a unique and humerous way.
Play: The Master of the Land
The Master of the Land is a long, interactive Twine game that is unique in the sense I always felt like I had control over the narrative. I could explore and pick new options and it was bvery immersive – like I was truly at a festival – because of the piecemeal way you interact with the story. Talking to one person, and then choosing a new destination to catch a glimpse of another, listening to gossip and trying to find and convince certain people of certain things.
While I wasn’t able to finish the game, I admire how it was able to balance all of its story elements in a game that was large enough that my choices felt like they mattered, and small enough that I didn’t get lost or confused.
Reflection:
While analysing narratives in games trying to find one for myself, I managed to solve my issue of compelling character and story – turns out I had to make a good story first, before the characters could fit. I really should have figured this out sooner, because this is usually how I construct a narrative – story and themes first, characters who fit these roles second. The Stanley Parable was a particular inspiration, because that is also a very metaphorical game with arguably only one character who is a fallacy for game developers, while you merely play an avatar interacting with him. My own game will also be one whose lore you create as you interact with the game system. The antagonist character, the “Watcher”, now can act both as metaphor and as someone tied to the player.
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