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Mini-games, maxi-storytelling: looking at minigames as a narrative genre
Tuesday, 8th November 2005 Gonzalo Frasca, Videogame researcher and developer, Center for Computer Game Research, IT University of Copenhagen Most of today's videogames still aspire to provide an organic whole (consistent gameplay along the complete game experience) and this is not something that will change anytime soon. However, there is an interesting trend among some recent Nintendo portable games. Titles such as WarioWare are designed as a collection of minigames, most of which simulate a simple experience. Other games have taken this genre even further: Feel the Magic XX/XY (Project Rub) creates a thread of minigames in order to tell a love story. Well, maybe I should have said a Japanese love story since it involves giant robots, too. What are the storytelling possibilities of the mini-game genre? How does it relate to previous genres such as adventure games? What are the aesthetic techniques involved in simulating experiences? These are some of the questions that will be explored in this talk. |