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I've just watched some of the 1972 movie Call of the Wind, which is based on the novel of the same name, which is by Jack London, and I thought to myself, "why aren't there more movies, novels, or even games like this? London has made several really powerful novels, from what I've heard, which were The Call of the Wind and White Fang. He also has been known for crafting a novel called The Iron Heel, a dystopian novel that came before the widely known 1984, and actually influenced George Orwell's works.

We've already had some games with protagonists that are non-humans, like Okami, for instance. Also, there was a game made by David Braben and Frontier Development's (known for the Elite games) that was called a Dog's Life, which was an open-world game that was about playing as a dog. It was meant to be a nice break from GTA-styled games. From the looks of it, we still have yet to witness anything that will truly prove the strength of video game narrative, unless some game developers are determined to break down many barriers and make changes. And centering a game around a wolf or dog, with themes of morality and cruelty, as well as maybe even social Darwinism (fits nature very well) would really be a splendid way to push video games forward.

Sonic the Hedgehog

Second Life.

I've always thought White Fang would make a great game:

World of Goo.

What we need is a game where you live the life of the glorious narwhal.

Why do people always compare video games to movies or books? Or feel that games need to be "legitimized" to move forward?

Games have something that books and movies can never have, the ability for the player to interact with the world.

The ideas you suggested could easily work as gameplay. Even as an open world game with loose or no narrative. You could have a permadeath game where you play as a pack of wolves and just them survive. With various elements effecting your survival like loss of habitat due to human encroachment, hunting, etc. or just surviving in the wild in general (finding food, surviving the elements, etc.).

lugaru

 :cavestory:

Quake 3
Osmos
Mr Robot
BaboViolent
Darwinia
Dawn of War
Blueberry Garden
Aquaria

The Underside
Life+

tetris

Pacman.

:shrug2:

Needless to say, there are a lot more non-human protagonists than you might think. But I don't think that's the point of this thread. It's more about seeing the point of view of something animal, or even something not animal... just not human. Spore, in it's earlier stages, is like that.

Oh, so you're saying that you don't like having games more "open" to all kinds of ideas. Yeah, sure, that makes a lot of sense (*sarcasm*). Video games are as much a medium and a part of mass media as literature and cinema are. There is no reason why games cannot expand in their ideas. Otherwise, most game designers and developers are reduced to nothing but people with shallow minds, and naivety. I think that a lot of people in the game industry are like that, due to not having been exposed to most of the things that humanity carries.

It is a silly thing to say that games should be completely separate from movies and literature. Then, they'd might as well be nothing but toys. That is how it is with gaming today. Very few games are meaningful, and that is precisely why so many people are still uninterested in video games.

Who are you to tell me and the many other people out there who have many different ideas from those of today's video games, and who wish to create new forms of entertainment that appeal to individuals that still have yet to be a part of this medium? I don't like the idea of being told that I should like games and be happy for them remaining as nothing more than electronic toys, with little meaning in them. I'd might as well go ahead and stop following games if that is how all of them ought to be or will be.

If you like games for what they are, that's good. But don't tell me that I have no rights to criticize games. In fact, Rev Rant made a video about this topic, and he said that people who don't want games to beyond are cowards, that they fear that games like Gears of War or Madworld will not be in demand as much as games like flower. That is not true. Rather, hoping that game will become something bigger is just a means to diversify the gaming culture even more. And there's nothing wrong with that, is there?

Play nice kids. :wizard:

That's not what I said at all. Maybe you should read my post again before flying off the handle like that.

My point is that video games can do more than movies or literature can due to the fact that they are interactive. They can make you part of the experience. Imagine a game where you experienced animal cruelty first hand? Or saw things through an animals perspective and witnessed the hardships they must endure? That would be a really poignant experience. One that couldn't be replicated by any other medium. Wouldn't you agree?

 :smb00:

Everyone knows Toad is the real protagonist.

Also, let me tell you something. One of my favorite games is X-Com. It doesn't have much of a story or narrative, other than the standard aliens attack Earth and you must stop them plot. But that's not why it's significant.

Instead, what it does is an amazing job at is showing the psychology of war and what it does to people. You control a squad of randomly generated soldiers, who all can die at any moment (in one shot, even with body armor). However, death isn't just get shot and game over.

As you start to accumulate casualties, your soldiers become more and more unstable and eventually start coming down with PTSD as they witness both their friends and civilians die. They start to lose morale, causing them to put down their weapons and question their reason for fighting or even turn on each other as they begin to lose all hope.

It's such an amazingly simple gameplay mechanic, but it works so well and really makes you feel for the characters on screen and actually make them feel "human." There are numerous times when I actually felt remorse for losing a veteran soldier or seeing them turn into a paranoid mess because of my own actions.

I wish there were more games that tried to do things like this.

Instead, there are way too many games out today that just try to spoon feed everything through cutscenes or narrative.

I mean, it works. You could easily take my example and instead show the effects war has on people through a long cutscene or story. But why not have the player witness it and "feel" what it's like through their own actions first hand? Too few games actually do this, and I feel that it's rather unfortunate.

it's wild

call of the wild

fuck

y'all should go and check out Wolf. it's this old edumacational game and it's pretty dang awesome.

my game features a lizard...

http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/wolf
there's some more info about the game. there's also a sequel with lions instead.

Imaginatively called Lion.

Uh... Okami?

Somehow nobody has mentioned WolfQuest?

http://www.wolfquest.org/

You play as a wolf, doing wolf-like things. It's free!

RunMan,
Nintendo things like:
Kirby, Legend of Starfy
StarFox!, Donkey Kong.

It should be also non-anthropomorphic protagonists.

Otherwise I'm gonna say Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Battletoads. But like 90% of these characters are essentially human.

yeah this should be about non-humanoid protagonists

Ty the Tasmanian Tiger

Twilight Princess in wolf form

While I don't want games compared the same as music / film, I do wish that there was more critical discussion outside of indy gamers about the role of video games in our lives.

Also, Toejam and Earl :)

Seems many games mentioned are just anthro games i.e. Star Fox or Klonoa. Enough of that!

Games with true non-human protagonists:

Ecco
Kolibri
Okami
Cubivore!
and so on. Edutainment titles are good for said topic i.e. ODELL Down Under -- amazing game that.

It is a topic most interesting.



"Play alone or with friends in on-line multiplayer missions, explore the wilderness, hunt elk, and encounter stranger wolves in your quest to find a mate." That sounds... bizarre.



Also! List is not complete sans infamous Endless Forest game (http://tale-of-tales.com/TheEndlessForest/) of which many people have strong opinions.

Wolfquest looks quite interesting, I will try it and see how many of my ideas they have stolen :ninja:

...I'm a bit surprised noone has mentioned Deadly Creatures though. I haven't played it at all, just watched a review, so I can't really say much about it other than it looks well implemented, good, and possibly even fun.

Lemmings and Gulp

Lots of cruelty in Lemmings in particular.

Zoombinis!

Zerg?

EDIT: A better example would be playing as an Alien in AVP.

within a deep forest

Actually laughed.


Also, when I was a very little 'un I was adamant that a game could only be really good if the protagonist was non-human. Or, um, a Viking, as the case may be.

Yoshi's Island

Katamari Damacy

"Rich people sure are different."