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Questions about (long) narrations!

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

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Lambonius

I agree.  Take all the time you need.  You guys came this far, might as well release the most polished possible product.

Cez

Quote from: Lambonius on July 16, 2010, 09:58:19 AM

 Not exactly the simple storybook writing we've come to expect from a King's Quest game.  ;)

I want to be very clear in one thing. The tone of this game is very different than the tone from previous King's Quest and that's a conscious decision that was made from day 1 and that will still stick. Going into Graham's mind, the more psychological aspect of the stories,  delving into the traumas left by Manannan on Alexander, those are all things that are in this game and that will not go away. I didn't try to write like Roberta Williams would because that's simply not my style, and trying to fully mimic it would have been a disaster. So, I took it, I understood it, and I wrote it in a way that I would feel happy about it. It was a very conscious decision I took, and I'm glad I did because I believe artists should always hold their own integrity over everything else, even when approaching somebody else's IP.

The reason I'm thinking about removing the narrations is for a gameplay reason, not because I want to now change the tone of the game. I'm not Roberta Williams, I do not write like Roberta Williams, and I would not dare to try and mimic Roberta Williams. Instead, I offer you my (and Katie's) writing, in a very self-conscious decision of telling a more mature plot, and having it fit the teenage fantasy model more than the fairytale storybook.  


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

naokiyukimura

#22
Hmm... this would definitely be an interesting idea. Although, instead of shorter, what I would like to see is an option to have  the "sassy" remarks turned on or off. This kind of goes into preference, though, but being able to control the "tone" of the narrator would be nice to see.

I know these games are already recorded, but maybe you could have "dialog only (no voice)" options for those who want to play with a more "neutral" tone when exploring? That way I can click away and not have to worry about slightly-rude remarks.

As for the narration (stories, whatever) itself, as long as I can click/skip though it with my mouse, I personally don't need an option to make it longer or shorter.

Just my two cents ~

KatieHal

Naoki--there is an option already for turning off the narrator's voice in the Audio section of the options menu.

Katie Hallahan
~Designer, PR Director~

"Change is the constant, the signal for rebirth, the egg of the phoenix." Christina Baldwin

I have a blog!

naokiyukimura

Oh, yeah, I know you can turn the voice off ~ I was just commenting on I guess, how the dialog was being delivered. Like, if you did make changes to the narration, if you couldn't add voice to whatever-it-was you decided to add or subtract, you could always make an option to have that DIFFERENT narration option available without voice.

Like, if you wanted to add something to the game, voice-less narration changes would be an option - is what I meant. Anyways, its just a suggestion. ^_^

tessspoon

Quote from: Cez on July 16, 2010, 01:20:51 PM
I want to be very clear in one thing. The tone of this game is very different than the tone from previous King's Quest and that's a conscious decision that was made from day 1 and that will still stick. Going into Graham's mind, the more psychological aspect of the stories,  delving into the traumas left by Manannan on Alexander, those are all things that are in this game and that will not go away.
Reason I love this game. <3

wilco64256

I agree with tess, I love the increased insight into the thoughts and feelings of the characters.  This is one of the reasons I loved KQ6 the most of the series - I thought it gave the most in-depth look into what Alexander was actually thinking and feeling.  The other games were certainly plenty of fun, there were always puzzles to solve and things to accomplish, but I didn't feel connected to the characters in the other games as much as I did Alexander in 6.
Weldon Hathaway

Lambonius

Quote from: Cez on July 16, 2010, 01:20:51 PM
Quote from: Lambonius on July 16, 2010, 09:58:19 AM

 Not exactly the simple storybook writing we've come to expect from a King's Quest game.  ;)

I want to be very clear in one thing. The tone of this game is very different than the tone from previous King's Quest and that's a conscious decision that was made from day 1 and that will still stick. Going into Graham's mind, the more psychological aspect of the stories,  delving into the traumas left by Manannan on Alexander, those are all things that are in this game and that will not go away. I didn't try to write like Roberta Williams would because that's simply not my style, and trying to fully mimic it would have been a disaster. So, I took it, I understood it, and I wrote it in a way that I would feel happy about it. It was a very conscious decision I took, and I'm glad I did because I believe artists should always hold their own integrity over everything else, even when approaching somebody else's IP.

The reason I'm thinking about removing the narrations is for a gameplay reason, not because I want to now change the tone of the game. I'm not Roberta Williams, I do not write like Roberta Williams, and I would not dare to try and mimic Roberta Williams. Instead, I offer you my (and Katie's) writing, in a very self-conscious decision of telling a more mature plot, and having it fit the teenage fantasy model more than the fairytale storybook.  

Sorry.  I thought I was playing a King's Quest game, not Twilight.

rev79

Personally, if inputting shorter narrator dialogue is going to lengthen the delay of episode 2, then I don't want it. It's really not THAT much of an ordeal to listen to some speech. In some cases, it's actually very interesting.

MusicallyInspired

What? So the people who don't have a problem with it can get it early while the other half of the community who wants it changed just has to suck it up? That's fair...

Blackthorne

I think everything's just fine the way it is!  Forget all the haters!  They're just jealous.


Bt
"You've got to keep one eye looking over your shoulder
you know it's going to get harder and harder as you
get older - but in the end you'll pack up, fly down south, hide your head in the sand.  Just another sad old man, all alone and dying of cancer." - Dogs, Pink Floyd.

Jerminator

I smell a rat! I just s*** my pants  :suffer:

spinz

#32
i didnt have a problem with the narrations. Sounds like shortening them creates alot more work. What happens when a narration thats several sentences long has some important information in more than one sentence? It cant just be shortened, it would have to be re-rerecorded and paraphrased entirely. I think you guys should stick with the work you have. You already gave people the option to play the narrated voice or not, i think thats enough.

i mean come on, if the narrations bother someone that much, just click through them. The game doesnt make you listen to them.

MusicallyInspired

#33
No, it's not enough. And you have no more right to it than I do. Just let them do it for all of us instead of just some of us. Do you really want to slice the KQ community right down the middle over this? There are certainly enough people who dislike it to make a difference. Everything is not hunky dory just because you say it is. There are plenty of people who dislike it and want an option. I'm one of them. They're not invalid and any less important than those who don't mind it.

The point everyone seems to miss is that we don't want to click through the narrations. That destroys half the point of playing an adventure game. We are rather forced to because we don't want to sit through so much pointless walls of text. There's a big difference. And it's a valid one.

I_am_so_nifty

This seems to be the kind of issue that you are either for or against. First, I suggest that we see if the shortening option would even be possible to be implemented into the game. It seems that we do have enough people who would want it for the team to consider it. But, until we know if that's possible...

...It's kind of like Mask of Eternity. We can debate about it as much as we want to, but--at the moment for this issue, at least-- there's not much we can do about it.
This is Nifty, Royal Heir.

I'm like, an adult now or something? Sounds fake, but okay.

Cez

It's easily doable and it's on the list of programming/design tasks. We'll do our best to get to it without compromising our schedules. I wouldn't have considered if it completely screwed up our schedules, but it really is an easy option to implement, and there seem to be enough people that would want to change it.


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

KuroShiro

Yikes, if this arose partially from the thread I posted, then from looking here and other forums it seems I've started a bit of hostility -- that was not my intention so whoops.

On topic, I should note that when I posted some criticism of the writing style in the game, it was not for my own edification, but rather to try to help POS create the best game possible. I am a longtime fan of King's Quest, but I am not so devoted to the mythology as some people seem to be, so if you want to take the game in your own direction then I have no big problems with that as long as you call it what it is -- fan fiction.

I was never really talking about issues related to "Integrity" or whatever you choose to call it -- if you want to write a KQ psychological thriller then that is your prerogative -- I was simply pointing out that there is good writing and bad writing, and some of the writing in Episode 1 was poor. Certainly not all of it; much of the dialogue was very nicely composed and flowed naturally. However, there were many instances in the descriptive narrator text where the writing was simply poor stylistically, sometime using repetitive phrasing, or unnecessarily flowery prose. I don't even have a huge problem with narration being lengthy as long as it is well written. You would benefit greatly from a 3rd party editor, as does all writing. There is a reason virtually all professional authors have them.

Having an option to shorten narrations seems a bit like treating the symptoms rather than the cause. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it. If it compromises the feel of the game by mucking up cinematics, then I would say to just leave it. I would strongly suggest that you go through all the writing in the next episode before you release it though, and try to make it as good as possible.

airman_dopey

Hey all. Don't usually post on the forums, but I've been a reader for years.

As far as the narrations go, you've pretty much said it Cez. This is your work. Do things the way you want to. People don't like it, they can play something else. If YOU want to shorten it, then go for it. But this is YOUR story that YOU are telling, not them. Most of us want to hear the final chapter in the King's Quest series in all its glory.

MusicallyInspired

Sinister on the IA forums had an excellent solution that I'm surprised nobody here (me included) has thought of. Perhaps instead of keeping the long narrations as is, or even implementing an option to have either or, you could put in multiple interactions for ever object. The first response would be a simple answer. The more you click the more information you get until you can't get anymore information. This concept is definitely not new to adventure games and would be a welcome solution I think on both parts.

rev79

^I like this idea. I love in-depth descriptions, but only so much of it. Perfect solution.

Not sure how that could be implemented, though...