#video game storytelling

[glowingmushroom0]

Top Ten TBR for August

1. The Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao (currently reading)

Back in December, I was re-watching a bunch of Zhao’s videos on YouTube and in one of them she was promoting her novel Iron Widow. While I’ve never been too into mecha-novels in sci-fi, I decided to give this one a try! I’ve been finding the mechanics of the mechs really interesting, and I find Zetian a very engaging character. It also helps that Zhao explains some of the history of the real-life Wu Zetian in two of her YouTube videos. I still haven’t finished the book, but I am pretty close to finishing it.

2. Epithet Erased: Prison of Plastic by Brendan Blaber (currently re-reading)

This novel is a part of the Epithet Erased series on JelloApocalypse’s YouTube channel, which also includes several trailers for this novel and a part of chapter 1 of the novel’s audiobook. I remember seeing the original show on YouTube when it was coming out and it’s a really fun series! This part of the novel focuses on the story of Molly Blyndeff, a twelve-year-old with an epithet, a power that depends on whatever word the epithet is based off of. The story focuses on Molly’s relationship with her older sister Lorelai, and how her friends support her and try to help her as she tries to stop her sister from expanding her dream world within their family’s toy store. I’m actually listening to the audiobook while writing this post! I really recommend the audiobook version of this novel, the voice actors did an excellent job!

3. Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily Austen

I actually was recommended this book a couple of years ago by an aunt and a cousin of mine. I had gone to a Catholic school and they both knew I was pan (I still haven’t come out to them as agender though, but that’s because I don’t see or talk to them very often). However, what actually convinced me to try the book was an old friend group that started a book club, and this was their first book. I still haven’t read it because I didn’t end up making it to the meetings, but I am interested in reading it.

4. The Henna Wars by Adiba Jaigirdar

This novel I was interested in more from the author than the subject matter, but that doesn’t mean I’m not interested at all. I first read Jaigirdar’s Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating and really enjoyed it, so I wanted to read more of her works! That’s when I learned that this was her debut novel, and I wanted to compare the two. Plus, I will always find some joy from learning about different art forms through writing in novels. The most I know about henna so far is from a friend of mine who had another friend who wanted to practice henna on them. Because of that, I’d like to learn more about how Jaigirdar depicts henna artists.

5. A Queer Dharma: Yoga and Meditations for Liberation by Jacoby Ballard

I actually found this book at a book exchange that was at an LGBTQ+ friendly event. My friend and I are both interested in this book because we’re both into learning about different kinds of religion and how to express different kinds of spirituality. From what I’ve looked over with the book it talks about how queer people create their own spaces within Buddhism and yoga.

6. So This is Ever After by F. T. Lukens

I’ll go more in-depth with this particular choice in the next book, however the main reasons why I was interested in this novel is because I had already gotten a book from this author that I was pretty interested in. And after looking through another book of Lukens’s (or Lukens’), they also seemed to be really interested in fantasy, especially magic. I also thought it was an interesting idea that the story takes place after the typical “ever after” of defeating an evil king.

7. In Deeper Waters by F. T. Lukens

Now this is the novel that I originally found F.T. Lukens from, and the main reason why I was interested in reading this novel is because I love pirates. I also found myself hooked from just the summary of the novel. When people say a character is mysterious, I don’t really know if they’re going to be mysterious until they appear in the story. However, the summary does show how mysterious Athlen can be, considering he’s introduced as a prisoner on a burning ship. So, I’m interested in learning more about Athlen just from the summary.

8. Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

This novel has a bit more controversial reason for why I want to read it. I originally got this book because it was popular, and I was vaguely interested, but then I started hearing about debates on whether this is good MLM (men-loving-men, not multi-level-marketing) representation. However, I then had another friend that’s a part of the queer community that read the book and he liked it. So I wanted to read the book to figure out my own opinion on the novel. Plus I thought it would be a good time to read it since the novel’s getting it’s own show soon. 

9. Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Trans (But Were Afraid to Ask) by Brynn Tannehill

This book is less for me and more for family reasons. I’m not going to go into too much detail for privacy reasons, but a lot of my family still don’t quite understand much about what it exactly means to be transgender, especially not someone who’s under the non-binary umbrella. So I wanted to read this book and see if it’d be a good fit for some of my family members who do read.

10. Video Game Storytelling: What Every Developer Needs to Know about Narrative Techniques by Evan Skolnick

This book is more for my own learning and future career. My specific dream job is to create a video game story, which would go into scriptwriting. However, most of the creative writing advice and tips I’ve gotten were either for fiction in general, or for short stories and poetry. This book might be able to teach more about scriptwriting, but also how to develop scripts for video games.

#tbr list #tbr #fiction #bookish #bookblr #book blog #nonfiction #lgbtq #lgbt literature #epithet erased #iron widow #everyone in this room will someday be dead #the henna wars #a queer dharma #so this is ever after #in deeper waters #red white and royal blue #everything you ever wanted to know about trans #video game storytelling

[sylvettesylph]

The issue with video games as a story medium has nothing to do with the fact that its a bad medium for stories and everything to do with the fact that gamers are fucking stupid

#game story #game stories #video game story #video games #video game storytelling #game writing #videogame writing #video game writing

[emptyjunior]

Enough random notes that have a written story on them as environmental storytelling, explore the space, get crazier with it.

You move into a house and aw cute, it has the kids height on the walls but you notice there's a three foot difference in height between measurements, you check the date, they're a month apart. The final measurement is on the ceiling. It's dated two days ago.

You're part of a recovery team that have finally found a stranded ship, they were found too late and have all passed a long time ago. They all died of starvation. You enter their storeroom, it's filled with food. In the dining hall you find the tables laden with perfectly fine looking breads, cakes, cured meats, jams, candies. Your medic says all the people sitting at the table didn't eat a Thing.

You wake up in an apocalypse. You can't find anyone at all as you wander the streets but you do hear faint music playing from somewhere. You stumble into a supermarket, to see all the aisles still full, except for the shelf that was full of ear plugs, which look to be the only thing that was looted.

Like there's light, sound, props. Having a street where every house is decimated except for One. Landing on a planet known for having No Water and a plant is growing and you don't know where it could have possibly gotten moisture from but you can't find the citizens Anywhere.

I'm sorry, I'm just kinda over the "graffiti on the wall to show the bad guy is around". That's not environmental storytelling that's just normal story. Show me I'm in the villains territory by the rain suddenly cutting out above me as I'm driving, even though it's meant to be raining all night. I park the car and step out, and realise the constellations are Wrong, until I see they're Not constellations, they're the blinking lights of a massive ship-

I Will stop now because everytime I go to write a sentence it devolves into another prompt but I'm just saying we have a Lot of senses, engage them, show me the Environment in environmental storytelling.

#text post #why have I written a Rant Completely unprompted #print it out and leave it next to me skeleton like I'm in Skyrim I guess #video games #writing #prompts #writing prompt #gaming #environmental storytelling

[prokopetz]

Environmental storytelling toilet skeleton with the obligatory ominous personal journal lying on the floor beside it, except the journal entries continue beyond the writer's death, with periodic updates describing events occurring in and around the abandoned restroom where the skeleton is located and offering wry observational humour about the process of decomposition, all in the same highly distinctive authorial tone as the entries from life. Following several large time skips owing to nothing interesting happening during the omitted spans, the final entry ends with a notably uncomplimentary description of the player character entering the restroom.

#concepts #gaming #video games #tropes #environmental storytelling #environmental storytelling toilet skeleton #death mention

[arthursfuckinghat]

There needs to be a scientific study done on how Rockstar Games' Arthur Morgan is able to provoke the most earth shattering emotions I didn't even know I had in me

#you guys get me right #like you feel it deep in your chest #the joy the anguish the grief #it feels like words aren't enough #and I don't mean it as in “sad moment in video game makes you sad” #I mean it as in “a deep and well written moment that has been slowly building is fleshed out in a video game and I think about for weeks” #when I say I lose sleep over this game I really mean it #I spend hours just laying in bed thinking about everything that happens in arthur morgan's life #it eats at me #I'm not ashamed of how much I have cried over this game #it fucking gets to me #playing rdr2 is the best form of escapism until the story hits you like a stab in the chest but the blade just pushes in further and further #until you're left with a gaping wound #“wow michael I didn't know you were so emotional over pixels on a screen” #except those pixels were acted out and performed by real people and voiced by real people and designed to look like real people #the game's main target was historic realism emphasis on REALISM #to provoke emotions through amazing storytelling #it's okay to feel strongly about things!! #this game man #this game #rdr2 #red dead redemption 2 #mick squeaks #mick thinks #arthur morgan #red dead redemption 2 spoilers

[volitioncheck]

nvm this is still on my brain. kim does not like to watch harry suffer… to say that kim takes satisfaction in harry’s pain is a huge misconstruing of his character.

the “getting thrashed like a schoolboy” line comes from a board game, lol. it’s a tease, not a cruelty. there’s never any line that implies that Kim enjoys seeing Harry taking actual morale damage.

he can be amused if you fail a check, but the check is always relatively inconsequential, and again, Harry isn’t taking damage in these.

Failing to pry the trash bin open:

Failing to shatter Ruby’s lorry window:

(also in both of these examples he only responds smugly if you choose for Harry to stubbornly dig in his heels. if Harry gets huffy, Kim teases. If Harry backs down right away Kim won’t rub it in, which feels significant to me! it reminds me of that recent post goin around about Kim meeting your energy!)

and here’s some reactions to failed checks where he does take damage.

Failing the jump to get your cloak:

Failing to break down Plaisance’s door:

he’s not laughing if Harry’s taking damage because he’s not a dick lol.

aaaaand here’s some other instances of morale/health damage and kim’s reactions.

alternate dialogue for failing the harbor jump:

after the call with precinct 41:

seeing bullet holes in the wall:

most significant examples to argue this point for me come when harry has done something to jeopardize the RCM’s image. which kim goes on and on about the importance of maintaining— and yet even here, he still extends worry and assurance.

telling Billie about her husband and handling it badly:

hardie authority check failure cock carousel:

aaaaand the car. this line is one of the most mask-off kim moments we get in the game in my opinion, honestly.

tying this back to the schoolboy line— that line doesn’t show up if you have a negative reputation with Kim. if you have <1 rep, it gets replaced with him calling it “about four hours of our lives that we'll never get back,” lol.

it’s affectionate ribbing!! twisting it into anything else is bizarre 2 me lmao!

anyways. kim is a foil to every other cop we meet in the game specifically because he doesn’t view harry as a punching bag or a lost cause. gottlieb does nothing but sling jabs and glib jokes about harry’s health. torson+mclaine and the others laugh at harry’s panic attack over the radio. in response to harry’s suicide-by-car attempt(!!!!) jean yells about RCM budget. all kim’s lines in response to harry’s check failures and health-damage are consistent, explicit textual contrast against the callousness of the rest of the RCM. twisting kim’s character here requires a bad faith interpretation of the whole game.

#disco elysium #kim kitsuragi #sometimes i think that fandom Hot Takes get posted just for the sake of contrasting with the majority interpretation of the media #which can be fun lol. i personally love being a pretentious contrarian when the shoe fits. #keyword when the shoe fits #sometimes it just comes off as #the thing where positive interpretations of the thing are somehow seen as lesser or naive #which i feel is so antithetical to DE’s core philosophy #it’s not naive to interpret a hopeful story as hopeful #it’s not naive to interpret a kind character as indeed kind #kindness has as much literary value as cruelty in storytelling #overcorrecting for the sake of overcorrecting in this case just feels very. meanspirited #i don’t want to come off as antagonizing because we are all just posting about a video game on tumblr dot com at the end of the day #it’s okay to Have Differing Opinions On Media #but like. there’s a reason the post Did Not Resonate lol #oh also if anyone has a link to the other post i referenced i’d love to link it in the post properly i just couldn’t find it </3 #me talking

[qwertycake]

thinking about that one comment under rt's Minecraft video where they say they haven't felt this comforted since stampylongnose and god you're so right. god you're so right.

#certified qwertycake moment #rtgame #anyway minecraft as a medium of storytelling minecraft as an experience minecraft as comfort etc #like it's not a roleplay a la aphmau or even some of skydoesminecraft's cops and robbers but it's like Investment In A World #and Appreciation Of What This Game Can Do #idk. good videos. good videos. rarrrghhhh #I'll have to draw something for it maybe

[anxiatheanxious]

hot take: antagonistic characters don’t need to have redeeming qualities. They don’t have to be morally grey, or have sympathy points. Sometimes people are bad just to be bad.

This applies ESPECIALLY (to emphasize: I say especially, not only.) to stories that take place in fucked up worlds.

Yes, villains with sympathy points and traumas are cool and sometimes relatable. But you know what we need? A villain that simply can’t be psychoanalyzed for their trauma, because they’re not doing this for their “trauma,” they’re doing it for personal gain. A villain that you should be rooting for their punishment or even death. A villain you can’t empathize with, or like, or idolize.

People can sometimes just naturally be bad people. Like Jack Horner, or Firelord Ozai.

#fictional characters #characters #media #storytelling #writing #video games #movies #puss in boots #avatar the last airbender

[ganondoodle]

i have grown kinda tired of all the studio ghibli and totk comparisons bc i love most of miyazakis movies and its so annoyingly obvious that if totk actually took inspiration from them its all just the surface level aesthetic and none of the good story telling

#ganondoodles talks #zelda #totk #like yeah i see how ashitakas arm and how he got it hurt looks similar to how link “”“”“loses”“”“” his arm in totk #but ashitakas wound is a curse of hatred from a deity that protected their forest from humans destroying it to get to the iron in the earth #and the deity - whos a BOAR- got wounded so badly the pain and fear of death turned him into a demon of hatred #while the poeple wanting the iron are also just doing it for their own survival #like man i fukcing WISH totk had any of the storytelling that princess mononoke had #them seemingly jsut taking the aesthetic from it but none of the story is even more infuriating to me tbh #princess mononoke is one of my all time favorite movies #maybe thats another reason why im so disgruntled about totk #bc it reminds me of things i love -zelda and mononoke- and turning it both bad #before the game was out the comparisons from link to ashitaka was pretty much in every second theory video #abd even then i was skeptical bc i doubted they could make in any way a story as good as that #welp :)))) #anyway #old man yells at cloud lol #(this is not directed at anyone directly btw- i just keep running into even now and been feeling this way for a long time- )

[blinkpen]

odd ask, but what are games one would describe as "walking simulators" that are in fact a game where i could just wander around a nice environment and explore without arcade reflexes or obtuse puzzle solving ever becoming inhibitors, that you would reccomend?

like i literally do just want space out and look at pretty unreal zone, it need not be remotely realistic or lush with detail (one of my favorites to replay now and then is Electric Highways which is VERY surreal, LSD Dream Emulator Style but kinda better imo), just gotta be like. interesting or pretty or soothing to wander in.

even if its not a walking simulator per se but it is otherwise ripe with pretty easy/accessible areas where just wandering around n Lookin is a viable options?

would love suggestions, please and thank you!

edit: my options are PC and PS4, and i am not going to be buying new consoles or gadgets or gizmos anytime soon, i can't afford that lmao

#sporadic warbling #video games #semi related i was actually feeling kind of nostalgic for vanilla WoW the other day #i did so much entirely in my own head roleplaying and internal storytelling just running around areas too low level to be a threat #did that with platformer games often too like spyros and ratchet n clanks i'd clear the level of enemies and then just. chill out there. #-sighs- ratchet and clank rift apart being trapped on the ps5 is a crime (against me)

[outsiderace88]

The way I get sucked into this world every time I pick up the controller.. I love capturing cinematic type shots when playing game. I like being able to frame and position the character of V and be able to tell a mini story with either a single shot or multiple shots from different angles.

I truly love this game, it’s really the only one that has actually been able to keep me interested and invested in it. Aside from games like Mad Max or Red Dead Redemption 2, as far as open worlds go, there’s just something special about Cyberpunk 2077.

#cyberpunk 2077 phantom liberty #cyberpunk 2077 photomode #cyberpunk aesthetic #cyberpunk #cyberpunk 2077 #cyberpunk art #cyberpunk photography #cyberpunk photomode #panam palmer #judy alvarez #V #virtual photography #gaming #video games #virtualworld #storytelling #cinemetography #cinematic

[spitblaze]

You ever see something that is meant to be like...an overgeneralized statement for the sake of entertainment or comedy and not at all serious but it's about YOUR special interest and you are just sitting there trying not to explode with an entire explanation of why it's such an overgeneralized statement and the depth of the topic

#spitblaze says things #like. im not about to shame anyone about this. i WANT more people to be interested in video games as a storytelling medium #and calling someone a fucking casual about it Does Not Help #but it IS still a big big overgeneralization to say that all games in the 80s were simple arcade style deals #adventure games came into being in the 80s! maniac mansion and kings quest and snatcher! all 80s titles! #if we wanna go back even further the first Ultima game was 1979! as soon as we had the technology to make more narrative and complex games #we DID #obviously we see more of that now because its the easiest its ever been to make video games and put infinite thought and resources into #worldbuilding and narrative #and YEAH most 70s and 80s games were simple bc uh. our computers werent that good yet lol #but like. oh my god dragon quest and final fantasy 1 came out a year apart in thr 80 #do not tell me it was all run jump get the coin lol

[alpha-beta-gamer]

Storyteller is an inventive storytelling puzzle game where you place characters into comic-panels to tell different stories!

Read More & Play The Beta Demo, Free (Steam)

Gameplay Video:

#Gaming #indie games #Storyteller #Storyteller game #pc games #beta #beta testing #playtesting #video games

[prokopetz]

Not a single thing in Dark Souls or Fallout or The Outer Wilds is on the same level of sheer environmental storytelling as the wording of the "Go to Jail" Community Chest card in Monopoly.

#gaming #video games #game design #environmental storytelling #monopoly

[lgbtpopcult]

2023 Best WLW Video Games

Baldur’s Gate 3

Thirsty Suitors

This bed we made

Fae Farm

Moonlight in Garland

Love's Crescendo

En Garde!

Tales Of Aravorn: An Elven Marriage

R is for Rachel

Storyteller

Sushi for Empress Setsuko

Little Goody Two Shoes

~The Summer Romance Bloomed From A Lie~

#Moonlight in Garland #Fae Farm #this bed we made #video games #Love's Crescendo #Tales Of Aravorn: An Elven Marriage #R is for Rachel #Youtube #Sushi for Empress Setsuko #The Summer Romance Bloomed From A Lie #Thirsty Suitors #En Garde! #storyteller #lesbian #gay #lgbt #lgbtq #wlw #bi #girls who like girls #lgbtqia #sapphic #2023 #new year #Little Goody Two Shoes #gaming

[cacodaemonia]

Still watching this video about the Marvelization of cinema and 'storytelling entropy,' but I'm definitely nodding along so far.

Incidentally, as someone whose main exposure to Marvel has been through transformative fandom osmosis, I was surprised that the narrator said End Game was 'generally well-received,' but I imagine that opinion is coming from the larger, more mainstream 'fandom' (Which I feel like I need to put in quotes because I just don't think that liking something and buying merch for it counts as fandom. That's called being a fan, but it fandom is so much more than that).

#video #media analysis #cinema #marvelization of cinema #star wars #marvel #cinematic universes #movie franchises #storytelling #storytelling entropy #game of thrones #lotr #the hobbit #top gun maverick