GDC: Spector says better game narratives are vital

Deus Ex creator Warren Spector believes improvement in design and delivery of game narrative and story is vital to the future of the videogame industry, and necessary to pull in a much-needed new wave of games players.

"I don't know about you, but my budgets are going up. We need to sell a lot more copies or we're not going to be able to make games for much longer. I think stories can be key to reaching nongamers, but we have to start creating more emotionally satisfying and interactive stuff," Spector said during an address at this week's GDC.

He went on to voice concerns that the power of new hardware could be detrimental to development of narrative, character involvement and character interactions in videogames, due to developer's being now able to ramp up visual quality and because "players expect a certain level of graphical quality".

"People who want to tell stories in an interactive manner, I think their job is about to get a lot harder," Spector opined.

Speaking further on the topic and addressing the games development industry at large, he said that games players should be "let off the rails" and that devs should "work with players" to tell their stories, as opposed to leading them around on a leash.

But Spector was also quick to point out that gameplay shouldn't suffer at the hands of a new approach to, and focus on, story and narrative.

"If you think that story has no place in games, you're crazy. If you think story is everything in games, you're just as crazy", he said. "It's all about balance."

via cvg