on writing games

sorting gameplay

Here is an idea via negativa.

A set of small pieces of narrative delivered in a random order is not a dynamic story.

This is what happens in games like Gone Home, Dear Esther, and other walking simulators without reactivity.

If we give the player a series of ordered or disordered nuggets of story, it is irrelevant.

The player always ends up organizing the ideas in their head.

A disordered linear story is as linear as an ordered one.

All we are doing is making the player work a little harder.

This is good because organizing the information in your head is gameplay.

But let’s not confuse sorting gameplay with a dynamic story.

A dynamic story can have sorting gameplay, but having sorting gameplay does not make a story dynamic.

Oh, Logic❤️.