Bear with me readers, I’m going to try a bold experiment today. I’m about to break with my usual pattern and review an actual game design book written by actual game designers. I know that’s a pretty radical departure from the norm but work with me on this, I think you’ll like it.
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I had an odd experience last night: I stayed up very late playing Fallout 3 (very fun) and as usual in such games I died an awful lot. Of course I kept reloading my save game, sometimes kicking myself for not quicksaving more regularly. At a suitable point in my game, in the wee hours of the morning, I saved everything and headed to bed, pausing only to gulp down the glass of wine that had been untouched for hours.
Now I don’t know about you but if I drink alcohol before going to sleep, especially on an empty stomach, I generally sleep for about two hours and am then wide awake staring at the ceiling for the next three or four. It’s one of those things I’ve learnt to avoid doing but there are times, like last night, that I forget. So as I drifted into alcohol-aided slumber, I caught myself regretting the merlot slowly seeping into my veins.
And then a thought occured to me… I had saved just before drinking the wine. If I just restored to that save point I could go back and make a different choice.
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I’m a bit late to the party on this, but Emily Short is attempting an interesting experiment in interactive fiction construction. Alabaster is a ‘fractured fairy tale’, retelling the story Snow White with a halloween flavour. The interesting thing about the project, however, is its mode of composition.
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