What do YOU think makes a good game?

no one answered what voice people like it written in best. such as first, second or third person??

I write in and prefer second person

Second

yeah I was thinking so too… but if my character is a girl and in second person would a guy even play it?

I really prefer ambiguous stories regarding gender. I’d prefer to be able to specify my gender

I really like to specify gender, but I really swing both ways, plus, you wouldn’t be the first to use a girl protagonist.
(@first sentence, don’t ponder on that one, either)

@WubWub117 I’ve tried swinging only forward, but I can’t do it, I have to swing backwards too :stuck_out_tongue:

@Aquos_Boost
Sometimes swinging both ways is better. =))

I’m not talking in general here really, but mostly in response to what @RockStarPenguin said:

I recently started a project myself, called Vigilante. I was using the first person perspective to tell the story, because I’m using a set character. However, I switched to the second person because people want to choose a name at the very least. I dislike writing from the 2nd person really as well (or well, I’ve not practised much). The idea was that the reader would essentially be inside the character’s head or something of that nature, telling them what they’d do.

In any case, I hope that caving and allowing people to set a name (people want gender and background choices too, but I likely won’t cave with regards to that) won’t affect the story in a negative light.

I think, ultimately, people are used to interactive stories having gender, background, name customisation. If the stories don’t have that, they naturally assume it’s something they’re not going to like without giving it a chance.

The reality is that plenty of choice and branching can be given even with a set character, name and background.

See, I’m not really aiming to do a game either. I generally look at interactive fiction as being the future of storytelling and I view interactive fiction as stories first and for-most, not games. I think that interactive fiction can really be more affecting than reading a traditional novel, provided it’s written and done well. I’m particularly interested in making people think and feel with a proper story, while making them question what they’ve previously done and to get them to think about things. Like . . . and this is an example I’m playing with in the story I’m working on:

You’re faced with a mugger. Do you beat him down or not? And how do you look upon him?

Later, you might find out the reason for the mugging. I’m hoping it’ll help show that people have reasons for doing what they do and to get people to look at others in a different light, whereas you might have once looked upon someone else as being an idiot/robber. And well . . . I’m hoping to actively engage you with the narrative, make you think about everything and possible ramifications.

All of the above said though, I am working on more game-like stuff too. I’m working on a RPG with a fully-built in levelling system, which is actually working, and I’m also working on a more game like story where you try to make it as an author. In those, I’ll be definitely giving gender options. It’s just that I don’t feel it’s necessary for everything by any means.

thanks for your thoughts. I can see how the game like and book like differences will appeal to different kinds of people. I think my games will be more character and story driven. I guess some people will like that and some won’t. and that’s ok! My ideas first were going to be written as a book and decided I wanted to change some of my ideas to be made into choice games. But the jump is still taking a lot of thought and I’m still figuring things out. I hope I just get there some day. I want to share my characters with others =]

@DavidGil I know those treacherous waters all too well. While I personally believe my second game is better written than my first, because my second game has a set MC, it doesn’t get anywhere near as much interest as my first.
Then again, because both games involve an orphan going to a mansion and finding that the owner of the mansion has an affliation with the devil and there are going to be multiple endings depending on the choices of the MC, I can safely say I’m stuck, nailed and riveted to what I know.