I was advised by David Pimm to check out a storytelling game called Gone Home to give me some more inspiration for my project. Gone Home is an adventure mystery game where you arrive back to your families home after a year long vacation and have to solve the mystery of where everybody has gone too. I wont spoil the game for all you guys but the player tries to work their way through a mysterious narrative of a young teenage girl called Sam through the mid 90's.
I found this game extremely effective in the way the developers gives the player small pieces of narrative through the use of meaningful objects found around the house. I felt that this was a very well designed piece of interactive story telling that kept me wanting to watch. I was engrossed in the story from the start. I myself began to feel a connection to the character Sam even though you never get to see her. I never experienced the same situations she did through my teenage years but nonetheless I felt a connection.
The models used within the game were very well detailed and crystal clear textures. As the player can pick up, rotate and zoom on nearly every object in the house, this made high quality models a necessity for this game. I feel the objects in each room were very well designed and personal to the person who lived in that area.
Now this game example shows how great design and well thought out model placement can create an illusion of a well used house. A feature I enjoyed about this game is that the narrative is told through the interactivity of the models around the house. This forces the player to unconsciously interact with nearly all models in case they are to do with the narrative.
Gone Home demonstrates that thoughtful design and selective storytelling used correctly, can produce a game that can invoke feelings and also give a the player an illusion of not just a house, but a home.
The video I watched was a play through of the game and was over an hour long. If you'd like to watch or see what the game is about. Click the link below.
Links
GONE HOME Gameplay Walkthrough & Ending
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ak4wU8Gp2RQ
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