Fantasy (+Quick Update)

Hello everybody!

Unfortunately, my last content of the year won't be a video… I've gotten the thumbs up from developers I consulted on the pre-production segment, so now it's mostly about adding the refinements and waiting for the intro to be rendered. I'd love to have everything done for the weekend, but it's probably going to be the first week.

Let's get something out for everybody in a free Randomly Mine before the New Year though (in my Timezone, I know some of y'all are already in the future).

Here's something that bugs me.

There's a brilliant concept artist I follow on Twitter who makes these.

Gregory Fromenteau

It's a pretty eye catching concept. Legendary Rally Racers power sliding through the type of science-fiction European cities and hills you'd see in a Half Life game. I'd love to make this. I think there's room in the market for a racing game that's realistic in driving but fantastical in setting. I always loved the fantasy courses in Gran Turismo games, and I remember even other sports games like Tiger Woods having Golf Courses in places that'd be certifiably impossible.

That's the fun of fiction.

You get to do all the things you can't do in reality, no matter how rich you are.

However, I knew immediately, were I to make this video-game, there'd be someone saying "what's the story?"

People testing DOOM games asked the developers "What's my motivation for killing demons?"

Halo 4 attached multiplayer to the in-universe lore because… ???

Can we seriously stop with this need for explanation bullshit? 

Is Tetris a bad game because we don't know why blocks fall down? Is that what the proposed Tetris trilogy by Hollywood is for? Are we going to get the equivalent of a Marvel Studios Origin Story to explain why Donkey Kong jumps? Are you not allowed to play Poker until you've read the history of the first person who put five cards on a table with two in their hand?

I'm saying this as somebody who loves storytelling in games and desperately wants to further its potential, but forcing an experience to adhere to some sort of world logic is incredibly restrictive, especially for experiences that are primarily focused on gameplay mechanics.

Why do I need more character motivation in a Forza Horizon game? Why do we even need a main character at all? What does it add to the experience apart from awful dialogue, unskippable cutscenes, and scripted setpieces the player can only look at rather than affect?

What's really infuriating though, is that the same games which put so much effort into explaining their "world" like Rainbow Six Siege, will completely drop all the world building and internal logic in the name of selling skins… or I guess there's an explanation for why Smoke wears a pink Fur suit during international competitions.

I guess my stance is, pick one.

Go complete fantasy for your mode, or make a believable setting, but don't do this wishy washy vague "they're fighting in a simulation" crap.

Your game isn't any smarter for "explaining" why a shouting teenager is T-bagging your corpse.

Happy New Years!

Everyone who has donated, or continues to, thank you.
I'm aware even saying that thank you is a cliche, is cliche these days, but I hope my gratitude is reflected in the content. This Metro Exodus video that's around the corner wouldn't be possible without your help, and I hope it's worth the notable wait.