mmo-story
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Storybricks taking an alternative approach to MMO story
If you've been following MMOs in recent months, you've no doubt been inundated by the new story focus of the genre's upcoming AAA titles. Whether we're talking about Star Wars The Old Republic, The Secret World, or even TERA, story has been the favored industry buzzword for a while now. Enter Storybricks, a new concept from Namaste Entertainment that eschews the big boys' affinity for tacking single-player narratives onto a traditional MMO foundation in favor of player-generated content. Storybricks is more tool than game at this point, and a new post at Kill Ten Rats sheds a bit of light on what makes the software unique. Ravious describes Storybricks as an offshoot of tabletop roleplaying, and as such, a concept that linear gaming and conventional MMO fans may not embrace. It's an interesting read, and it features commentary from developer Brian Green and community manager Kelly Heckman. You can read more about Storybricks via Massively's hands-on impressions piece from this year's GenCon.
Some Assembly Required: Issue #3 -- Building a base with SWG's Storyteller system
So... yeah, MMO story. It's a giant buzzword nowadays. Funnily enough, MMO story isn't a new concept. Dedicated MMO storytelling tools are quite rare, though, and the means to build story-related set pieces are rarer still. Enter Sony Online Entertainment and its seminal Star Wars Galaxies sandbox. There are many reasons to dig this particular game if you're a fan of player-generated content, but among the most important is the Storyteller system. Yeah, I know SWG is on borrowed time. There's still plenty of time to enjoy it though, and if you're a Star Wars fan, a sandbox fan, and especially a player-generated content fan, you're going to love it. Join me after the cut as I show you how to create your own makeshift starship base, complete with starfreighters, starfighters, Rebel pilots, and even a few Wookiee commandos thrown in for good measure. Oh yeah, this is all in the live game-world too. No instancing here. %Gallery-129431%
Secret World dev diary talks story, context
Sleuthing for more story-centric info regarding Funcom's upcoming horror-conspiracy MMORPG? Look no further than The Secret World's latest video dev diary featuring commentary from designers Ragnar Tornquist and Joel Bylos as well as lead writer Dag Scheve. The trio highlights The Secret World's use of the real world as both location and character, with Bylos calling it "the greatest resource of all." The video shows a few new clips courtesy of the game's cinematics, but Tornquist is quick to point out that cinematics don't tell the whole tale when it comes to The Secret World's narrative. In spite of the fact that every character in the game is motion-captured and fully voiced, the story is "embedded into the world. You have to look for it, you have to search for it. The story is exploration and the story is discovery," Tornquist explains. Funcom also seeks to challenge gamers in ways that depart from the traditional MMORPG paradigm, and Bylos says that "we're not just asking them to click a mouse button over and over again, but to think about what they do." Put on your thinking caps and click past the cut for the full video.
The Secret World showcases NPC backstories
Funcom has just updated its website for The Secret World, and the info drop encompasses the backgrounds of some of the NPC characters we've been hearing about lately. Last week's interview with lead writer Dag Scheve clued us in to the fact that Funcom won't stand for any of its NPCs being lazy and falling into old mission-dispenser habits, and today's reveal gives us some more story-related insight. We're introduced to the likes of a crazed journalist with a death wish, an assassin who didn't make the cut at Juilliard but did with the Illuminati, and a half-human half-demon member of the Dragon who serves a mysterious mistress, just to name a few. While we don't know how the stories of all these individuals are interrelated, it goes without saying that we're looking forward to finding out. Head to The Secret World website to start your own journey of discovery.
The Soapbox: A case for player-generated content (or why MMO story is complete and utter bollocks)
Disclaimer: The Soapbox column is entirely the opinion of this week's writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Massively as a whole. If you're afraid of opinions other than your own, you might want to skip this column. I read with great interest Ragnar Tornquist's recent blog posting concerning story in The Secret World. After I got over the initial impulse to roll my eyes at yet another developer jumping on the BioWare-induced story, story, story bandwagon, I found that Tornquist had a couple of interesting points to make. Unfortunately, he also missed an opportunity to strike a blow in favor of player-generated story content. While this is totally unsurprising coming from a man who has built his career on interactive storytelling prowess, it was nonetheless disappointing on several levels. Yes, yes, I know, Tornquist is a wunderkind developer, you'd have his babies, and who am I to question his almighty design wisdom? Regardless, I am questioning portions of this particular blog piece, because MMOs are an exceedingly inadequate vehicle for storytelling of the kind that developers are espousing lately. That's not to say massively multiplayer titles shouldn't have a narrative component, though. Join me after the cut to find out why MMO makers ought to stick to systems and math and leave the storytelling to the folks who do it best.
