@joshtigerheart, on Sep 14 2007, 01:28 AM, said in What kind of TC do you want?:

If you're zapp, do not highlight this.

Spoiler

I get around the "assuming too much about the player" by writing Colosseum entirely in the third person voice and outright stating that the story isn't about you, it's about <PN>. Not all good stories have to be about the player, after all. I wonder if I'm the first person to break away from second-person format in the EV series?

I also wonder how long I'm going to continue using these spoiler tags as joke in response to a post zapp made...

You know, I'd like to respond to this, but in order to preserve the mystery, I'll have to refrain.

You know I'm gonna read that, and I did. What post did I make? I don't get it.

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I found it kind of annoying that I had to go the long way around through several hypergates and a wormhole just to get to a system, then all the way back.

That was the only annoying thing that I found in ARPIA2, the rest of it was great.

JTH: That's an excellant way to get around that hurdle! I didn't even think about that.

@zapp, on Sep 14 2007, 05:14 AM, said in What kind of TC do you want?:

You know I'm gonna read that, and I did. What post did I make? I don't get it.

No, I don't know you're going to read that. I'm only a T6 (or was it T7?)

Oh, and...

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No. I wish Josh would just shut up about Colosseum, because every time he mentions it I go crazy in anticipation, only to remember that it'll come out in late '07 or early '08. I hope that's an over-estimation, based on numerous release dates continuously being pushed back on other games, but time will tell. Who needs hype in such a small and dedicated community?

That one.

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JTH: That's an excellant way to get around that hurdle! I didn't even think about that.

Heh, not to brag, it wasn't even really thinking for me. I've always written in the third person, so I found it natural to do so for Colosseum. I realized a bit later that I was able to avoid the "THAT'S NOT ME!" hurdle.

This post has been edited by JoshTigerheart : 14 September 2007 - 09:37 AM

That's actually a pretty genius idea. Mind if I steal it for Nebula? Kidding. I already have so many dëscs written that it would be a pain to change them. All the same, I want to use that for a possible future plug.

I might actually introduce a distinction between 'YOU', the player, and 'YOU', the character in my TC. That would make things much, much, MUCH simpler.

Ah. Well, what I meant was, don't keep... well... I don't know, but just thinking about it drives me crazy! Everything you say about Colosseum makes me like it more and more. I really hope that that release date is an over exaggeration. Sincerely. Could you send me it the day before it comes out? I promise I won't tell anyone...

Sure, I'll give you the link at 11:59 P.M. GMT -12 (or would it be -11?) before the release day.

And I wouldn't mind anyone "stealing" my use of third person. Trying to claim it as my idea would be like saying I invented the sci-fi genre and nobody else could use it. Though be forewarned, you'll be stuck using the gender tags and <PN> quite frequently in third person. A single sentence sometimes look like this...

< PN> walked into G{"his" "her"} hangar to check on G{"his" "her"} <PSN> that G{"he" "she"} had bought the night before.

It's a bit of a pain sometimes.

And no, I made that line up on the spot, in case you were wondering. I might have even formatted the gender tags wrong...

I can't imagine typing that day in and day out. I personally hate the Gender tags so I try to make everything non-gender-specific. Which means I can't write romance plugs

LOL. I'd thought about doing that, but dismissed the idea after .000001 seconds. Sorry to all you chicks who play nova out there.

One time, I made a girl pilot just to see what happened on the Bounty Hunter string with Bindi if you did. I always thought that that part of the Bounty Hunter string should've been developed a bit more. Like, after it's done, I always wonder if the Bureau went down to Aurora and picked up all the bounty hunters there, too.

What happened?

Instead of wanting to get in my pants, she just wanted me to be her hero.

I don't really mind the second-person perspective of the storylines, even when they make assumptions about what "you" would do. In fact, I think it makes it a lot more effective. I would like to see how third-person plays out in Colosseum, though.

Well, I could show you some of my short stories to give you an idea, though Colosseum is a bit different since it's for a game.

Of course, to have a good story you have to have a good storywriter. That's something we haven't mentioned yet.

The fact that there is a good story in this imaginary plug shows that there is a good storywriter. This is all in theory.

Of course, Cosmic. Hypothetically

(completely disregarding all posts)

Well Zapp, the gameplay vs. story debate dates back to the very first video game ever made -- yup, pong.

Err, no, I mean it's been around for a long time. Like, since SMB. I think. Anyway, you could ask a million people and never come to a definite conclusion as to which is more important, but if you look at the more...successful...games being produced, you'll find that they feature an excellent balance of both gameplay and story.

Just skip the bold if you're bored/lazy/uninterested. It's examples. Not that important. I just felt like it.

**Example 1 (don't bash, I've never played this before in my life, but I heard about it at school, and it's just an example): DBZ Bodukai...or however you spell that. From what I hear, the gameplay was awesome (if you're into that kind of thing), but it had absolutely no story whatsoever ("Hey look! an ant! Let's fight!!" "You stepped on my shoe. I will destroy you!! "). Fun to play, but gets old real fast, as there's only so much you can do with gameplay, and the real twists come in the story.

Example 2: The (SW) 'Rouge Squadron' series for GCN; I always liked the story -- which was mostly based on what we knew or could surmise happened in the SW OT, but never actually saw happen (with a few exceptions), but it could have profited from some more Battlefront-esque controls...for the most part. Particularly in the ground missions. Anywho, it was fun, but once you know the story, there's only so many TIE fighters you can blow up before you start to get bored. I assume. I never got bored before it was time to stop, but then that's just me.

Example 3: Halo. I haven't got an X-Box, but the legendary Halo games cannot escape use in an example. Excellent story. Crazy awesome gameplay... so I hear. Game of the Year? Heck yes. Supposedly the best FPS game ever made. It didn't earn those titles with an uninteresting story or repetitive gameplay. It had balance. And it was awesome. Very yes. Possibly it can do it nine times.**

So instead of sacrificing one for the other, try your best for a good balance between the two -- decent gameplay with a decent story is better than amazing gameplay with a boring story, or vice-versa. Not sure how to do that? Write the story first, and build the missions around it, but don't hesitate to turn go back to Earth missions into destroy this fleet/ship, then go back to Earth missions.

My 2 dollars, 45 cents.

(/completely disregarding all posts)

Woo! I definitely read all those posts, and I'm impressed with the thing. Sort of. Maybe. You know what I'm talking about. Who says I didn't read them?!

What thing? I haven't said what I'm doing yet. Oh, I skipped the bold, BTW.