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Evan Balster
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« on: February 19, 2013, 10:21:34 AM »

In a game a friend of mine was playing through recently, I noticed something that really got my imagination going.  The main character wears a holster on his leg, but it's empty.  It never houses a gun, and the character isn't really seen using one.

Perhaps he used to carry a gun and doesn't any more?  Did he hurt someone?  Does he carry the holster as a reminder?  It's never really addressed ingame, and it's sort of this weird mystery that's open to speculation.

In this particular example -- Sly Cooper, in case anyone was wondering -- I might be reading too far into it.  Recent art has restyled the thing into more of a pouch and shows it being used as such.  Still, it looks a hell of a lot like a holster in the originals.


Loose ends like this can be a really good way of adding depth to a story and its characters, in the same way "horizon building" (passing allusions to distant places and the history of a world) adds breadth to a setting.  It's my opinion that careful choices about what is stated expressly versus what is left unsaid can have very artful results.  I follow a philosophy of minimalism there.

I'd be interested to hear about other folks' thoughts and experiences with mysteries like these.
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wccrawford
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« Reply #1 on: February 19, 2013, 10:39:24 AM »

I read somewhere that a way to give your game depth is to have a backstory for everything, but don't give it all the player.  It will color how you treat the character and everything that happens, but like real life, the player won't know everything.  They'll only get a taste of it.

Sly's holster is like that.  Clearly, the artist had an idea in mind there when creating the art.  We just don't know what it was.

The author of the article went on to say that if you *do* explain everything, then you have to write backstory for everything in the explanations, so that they'll be deep and not shallow.  (So just don't tell everything.)
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sebaslive
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« Reply #2 on: February 19, 2013, 11:54:36 AM »

I think it was always his pouch of goodies where he can place his stolen goods.
http://download.gamespotcdn.net/d4/user_images/1216/slycooper_2.jpg

but either way it brought about an interesting point which I think it would be better if it were a holster with a sense of mystery and could be a great example for future developments with characters. I also really enjoy minimalism and share this philosophy as well while also sharing little hints as to the possibility of what the true purpose of the holster was for those that really want to read between the lines. A possibility of having the best of both worlds for those that are just there for the game and others that look for the little details like the holster without drowning anyone in dialogue and text.
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mysteriosum
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« Reply #3 on: February 19, 2013, 10:23:51 PM »

The Binding of Isaac is FULL of these. Practically every power-up item is a loose end.

You might get a blue dead fetus ghost thing following you around. It's called Brother Bobby.

Then you might get a Wire Coat Hanger which goes through your head and gives you more tears.

Maybe ... wait... hmm....

You get Dad's Love as an item at some point. You get Max's Head (Max is a dog), and multiple body parts of Guppy, Isaac's cat. When you die, it says "I leave everything I own to my cat Guppy" - but is it still alive? Is the boy's mental defenses keeping Guppy alive to save him the pain?

Every item might have a story behind it... it keeps you interested and keeps you playing. It's really powerful. I have ~350 hours in that game. Best $8 I ever spent  Grin
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« Reply #4 on: February 26, 2013, 02:55:18 PM »

These can be extremely frustrating, but in a good way. Skies of Arcadia comes to mind. That game was almost entirely about exploration, but you never fully understood the things you discovered. Why is there an empty train that flies through the sky? Why did we lose all knowledge of this ancient civilization that launched electronic satellites in to the atmosphere? What happened to the people of the frozen continent? So many questions left unanswered. But you know what? It drove my imagination crazy. I spent so much time just thinking about that damn game. And I think that's exactly what the creators wanted.
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bluecollarart
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« Reply #5 on: March 19, 2013, 01:37:08 PM »

This can be a great technique to create horror, too. When you don't directly describe the terrible thing, or you don't let the player get a good look at what's after them, they can let their imagination run wild. They can come up with something that is personally tailored to their own fears, so it really gets under their skin.

Amnesia used this technique a lot, and it's probably one of the most horrifying games ever. It'd be a good one to check out if you're trying this method yourself.
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J.W. Hendricks
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« Reply #6 on: April 16, 2013, 11:34:48 PM »

Some of the best story elements I've seen in games are exactly what they don't show you.

Take Shadow of the Colossus. The world set up is mysterious yet fascinating, but there are faint hints set up across the span of the game. It practically begs you to create your own puzzle pieces to fit together. And don't even get me started on how it supposedly correlates to Ico.

Another great example (and I just saw this film today) is Taxi Driver. Absolutely one of the most fascinating characters I've ever seen on film. We are given very little backstory, aside from that he was enlisted in the marines. But through his actions, we are able to piece together a lot of his backstory. It actually becomes a big chunk of the experience.

Recently I played through Bioshock: Infinite, and I've got to say, the audiologs were a work of storytelling genius. It was one of the most immersive and thought-provoking ways I've ever seen to tell a story (I mean, I've played the other Bioshocks as well). Gaming as a storytelling is a strange beast. Everything would get bogged down with description in a novel and there wouldn't be time to develop the world in a film. Here, we are placed in the world with a narrative to guide and motivate us through it, but that's only the half of it. The other half, is collecting these audio logs. This is something unique to the medium of video games. And honestly, I quite like it.
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« Reply #7 on: April 23, 2013, 11:40:57 AM »

Interesting that is mentioned, when working on a character, I drew the concept I wanted (lucky I do art). I drew the figure with markings on his face and it didn't have any real story to them originally. The character was written with depth and feeling, but that lead to question where he got those feelings. How he came to be the way he was, and still the question about the markings. So a entire back story was written to give him more depth. The question was how to release it, and I think you answered it. Having the character with mysteries in an unknown past makes people question the same thing. How? Why? and more, thus giving good definition to a character as well as pique the interest of an audience toward that character.
   Good food for thought. Thanks!
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Trystin
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« Reply #8 on: April 30, 2013, 02:16:52 AM »

I read somewhere that a way to give your game depth is to have a backstory for everything, but don't give it all the player.  It will color how you treat the character and everything that happens, but like real life, the player won't know everything.  They'll only get a taste of it.

Sly's holster is like that.  Clearly, the artist had an idea in mind there when creating the art.  We just don't know what it was.

The author of the article went on to say that if you *do* explain everything, then you have to write backstory for everything in the explanations, so that they'll be deep and not shallow.  (So just don't tell everything.)

This helps me so much. I feel like so much of the time I want to spit out all the story to the player - but now I realise that ultimately bores the player and makes them lose interest. Kind of like playing hard-to-get, you tease the player with the possibilities, but never give them the whole thing until everything comes to a climax. Fuck, its like highschool all over again.
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