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Questions about (long) narrations!

Started by Cez, July 16, 2010, 03:35:25 AM

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Cez

There seems to be a great divide between the people that like the long narrations and those who doesn't. So, the solution to me really isn't to just shorten the narrations because we would take that away from those that enjoy it.

I'm thinking of a choice that would please both players. At the beginning of the game, you choose whether you want the short narration version or the long narration version. I can easily trim down the narrations and create a "short" version for them.

My question for those that don't like the long narrations is the next: The one downside that I can see to cutting off the long narrations is that, on those narrations that have a moving camera attached to them, you would not see the full "cinematic" experience of the camera that was created for it, but it would cut off short. Do you mind the narrations as much when there's a moving camera to them?

Obviously, we would probably leave some of them, for example, the one on the guard dog statue since that's a good one, but for most things you would now get a single short paragraph instead.

Feedback is appreciated :)


Cesar Bittar
CEO
Phoenix Online
cesar.bittar@postudios.com

StormSpirit86

I don't mind long narrations personally, making a short option would be ok so people could go with that instead, as long as it doesn't make the wait for Ep2 longer of course  ;)
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SurfnSwells80

I personally do not mind the long narration. I was wondering though, if you would cut the narration short, would it be audio or would only text be displayed and the cut scene would be gone? If there would be audio, why not add additional silence to the end of the short narration to give the player the ability to see the whole scene?
David Johnson
Quality Assurance Tester

auroraambria

In radio, they take out the breaths and shorten the time by just taking out some of the silence. sometimes it's a question of the former but sometimes those pauses are on purpose for dramatic effect.

Just a thought and  probably a lot more work than you want. My two cents.

Baggins

with the short option, giving people some minimal camera control?
Well, ya, King's Quest is on Earth. Daventry is very old city from a long time ago. It's in ruins now and people aren't quite sure exactly where it used to be. There are some archaeologists searching through the ruins, they think they know its Daventry. But its somewhere on Earth."-Roberta Williams http://kingsquest.wikia.com/wiki/File:Daventryisearth.ogg

SurfnSwells80

Quote from: Baggins on July 16, 2010, 06:56:57 AM
with the short option, giving people some minimal camera control?

That's not a bad idea, but I know with 3D mapping, certain elements of the area you are walking around may not be a complete object. Giving even some camera control could make these areas visible when they shouldn't. If it is easy to lock down the degree in which the camera can move and the angles, I think this would be a great idea and give even more immersion to the game.
David Johnson
Quality Assurance Tester

Baggins

Even if it camera control was limited to a toggle to switch between several different prechosen angles, it would add to the immersion.
Well, ya, King's Quest is on Earth. Daventry is very old city from a long time ago. It's in ruins now and people aren't quite sure exactly where it used to be. There are some archaeologists searching through the ruins, they think they know its Daventry. But its somewhere on Earth."-Roberta Williams http://kingsquest.wikia.com/wiki/File:Daventryisearth.ogg

SurfnSwells80

Quote from: Baggins on July 16, 2010, 08:00:20 AM
Even if it camera control was limited to a toggle to switch between several different prechosen angles, it would add to the immersion.

So, something like the interactive moments in movies? if there is something to look at or a separate/alternate scene, something will pop up you can click to see the additional content?
David Johnson
Quality Assurance Tester

MusicallyInspired

I like the idea. I wouldn't mind a lot of narration the odd time, but just not most of the time. Regarding cutting camera movements short, where are such examples of camera movement bound to narration? And are they very numerous (not just in this episode but future ones)? If they're not plentiful then I probably wouldn't mind those staying. If they are plentiful, then shortening them with some limited camera control might be best, assuming the controls are intuitive enough. Or maybe you could just leave the camera timing along while the narration is short (unless it's programmed to stop the camera movement when the narration audio track ends) and then just have players press Escape or something if they don't want to watch the entire camera movement.

I'm glad to see this is being worked on. And honestly, if it moves back the releases a little bit who cares? If it has the chance of being more appealing to more folks what's the slightly longer wait in comparison to how long we've all waited thus far? I say take the time to do it right instead of adhering strictly to release dates no matter what.

Baggins

QuoteSo, something like the interactive moments in movies? if there is something to look at or a separate/alternate scene, something will pop up you can click to see the additional content?
Ya, something like that. If you have played Assassin's Creed, it kinda had moments that allowed you do that (although it also has full camera control).
Well, ya, King's Quest is on Earth. Daventry is very old city from a long time ago. It's in ruins now and people aren't quite sure exactly where it used to be. There are some archaeologists searching through the ruins, they think they know its Daventry. But its somewhere on Earth."-Roberta Williams http://kingsquest.wikia.com/wiki/File:Daventryisearth.ogg

theroachyjay

I love the long narration because I feel it really brings me into the world and I understand everything, irrelevant to the story or not, it makes me feel more connected and the game more fun.

I do like the idea someone mentioned on another thread where perhaps you could continue to move around without the narration cutting off, though.  For the non-cinematic moments, of course.  That way, you would still get all that neat extra stuff without really hindering your gameplay ability.
Jules Ismail

daventry

Amazing how some People Complain about the Long Narration, now they say Leave it be. HA HA HA

tessspoon

Quote from: theroachyjay on July 16, 2010, 09:15:39 AM
I love the long narration because I feel it really brings me into the world and I understand everything, irrelevant to the story or not, it makes me feel more connected and the game more fun.
:yes:

Sounds like a good compromise to me. :)

Lambonius

#13
Quote from: daventry on July 16, 2010, 09:35:46 AM
Amazing how some People Complain about the Long Narration, now they say Leave it be. HA HA HA

Actually, nobody's saying that.  The people who are saying "leave it be," weren't criticizing it in the first place.

To the point of the topic:  I think it's a reasonable solution.  

I think giving players the ability to continue to move around while most narrations play (excluding the ones that have camera movements attached to them) would probably help, too, as others have said, since having to stop and wait for a long narration to play out can be rather immersion-breaking.  

I think Zeek hit the nail on the head with his assessment over at IA--it's a matter of trying to cram too much backstory into the game in a place where it doesn't necessarily belong (narration), since revealing backstory is not the primary function of a narrator in games like this.  Leaving some if it in isn't a huge issue, since the overabundance was part of the problem.  So as long as there aren't an inordinate amount of them, I would be inclined to think you could probably get away with leaving the few cinematic camera narrations untouched, provided the prose isn't too overindulgent or melodramatic, which was also part of a lot of people's issues with it.  Here is an example:  Using the look icon on a particular tree garners a line like this: "The King can somehow relate; inside of him a wild storm has begun to rage, harrowing his every nerve, at every inch of a man who has looked at evil in the eye before and won, yet has never found a way to put it to an end for good."  Not exactly the simple storybook writing we've come to expect from a King's Quest game.  ;)

Flubly

#14
If you're going to do this, you need to hire another writer who will edit the narration.  You need someone who would prefer to have the short option on, otherwise it might be dispassionately made.  I hope everyone who wants the shorter option would agree with me, that we don't want simply a shorter, dryer narration.  We want a different style of writing altogether.  A minimalist, implicative style of narration.

It wouldn't be too hard, I think.  You'd just give the writer all the narration lines, and he'd basically "translate" and edit them.  After that draft is done, you'd discuss with him your concerns and do any rewrites that need to be done.

Again, get someone who WANTS the shorter narration option, someone who really believes in that writing style as an art.

Haids1987

Make a poll and see how people vote. :yes:

I personally like the long narrations.
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B'rrr

The long narrations will still be there Haids, just an option so you can choose between them in game.
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liggy002

#17
I prefer the longer narrations because it adds to the overall gameplay experience as others have said.  The option to have a shorter narration as an option is a good idea.  I would prefer not to have it at all since it would be extra work and would push the back the release schedule.  If you don't think the longer narrations are that big of an issue, you could always release the game as scheduled and then go back and work on it to offer the shorter narration option.  I just think that a lot of people are really impatient at this phase and it might be a good idea to release the second episode as soon as possible and then work on the narration.  As far as the remaining episodes, others expect that those might take longer so you could fix the narrations before releasing it.  Besides, with the longer narration option in the game for the initial release it might give players the impression that the game is longer since they will be playing it longer.  This could serve to offset the short Episode 1.

Haids1987

Quote from: B'rrr on July 16, 2010, 12:35:20 PM
The long narrations will still be there Haids, just an option so you can choose between them in game.
No, I got it, it's just that it'd be interesting to see how people vote.  Then he could see how necessary it really would be to have long/short narrations. :)
STATUS:
-Drinking water
-Checking the forum. 

Perpetually. ;D
Erica Reed is Katie Hallahan.
Leader of the "I <3 Doon" Fanclub

chucklas

I like the idea for the option.  I found myself wanting quite a few of them to stop.  Sometimes it just doesn't make sense to go on and on because you tried to see if there was significance to what appeared to be a hole in a tree for example.  I just want to know if anything is in there, not more story...etc.  I think the idea to be able to go with long/short sounds perfect.  That way you wont have people complaining about it one way or another. 

I also agree that if it means it takes a little more time to release the upcoming episodes, so be it.  I would rather have better game than something not as good more quickly.
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