{"id":82,"date":"2008-11-05T11:38:37","date_gmt":"2008-11-05T15:38:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.skins.abtec.org\/?p=82"},"modified":"2016-03-27T19:28:41","modified_gmt":"2016-03-27T19:28:41","slug":"vector-heroes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skins.abtec.org\/skins1.0\/vector-heroes\/","title":{"rendered":"Vector Heroes"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Vector Heroes<\/span><\/span><\/strong>: <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

How Improved Graphics and Budgets has Led to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Game-Storytelling<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

By Nancy Elizabeth Townsend <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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1. Atari’s PONG<\/em> (1971)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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\"Atari's<\/a><\/dt>\n
Atari’s Pong (1971) <\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n

In the beginning, a player\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s immersion into a video gaming environment required them to do nothing more than control a moving block on a black and white screen. Needless to say, we have much improved since. Some of the most recent console blockbusters allow the rendering of not only realistic and customizable characters, but each can have over 200 animations played based on user input.<\/p>\n

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2. Nintendo’s Legend of Zelda <\/em>(1986-2007)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

From a white rectangle that could only move up and down, to a dashing hero with your personalized features that can jump, twist, swing walk run, rescue the girl (or guy), chainsaw alien invaders in half and, in<\/p>\n

\"Nintendo's<\/a>

Nintendo Legend of Zelda (1986-2007)<\/p><\/div>\n

the end, save the world. The fundamental logistics are the same – user input effects on-screen elements to fulfill a pre-designed objective \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but it is the stories that have led to such a shift that video game sales are now rivals to Hollywood box office receipts. By mapping the history of game development (Pong \u00c3\u00a0<\/span><\/span> Space Invaders \u00c3\u00a0<\/span><\/span> Dungeons&Dragons \u00c3\u00a0<\/span><\/span> World of Warcraft) of the most important enhancements that improved technology and larger budgets has allowed us to explore, is story application.<\/p>\n

Shooting rocks out of the sky has no meaning, no passionate-igniting purpose, without the background fact that the harmless rocks will destroy you and your home nation (Asteroid vs. Super Stardust HD). Along with relatable goals, characters began to appear (Mario, Pac man) that gamers recognized \u00e2\u20ac\u201c leading to game series, expanded casts and more complex storylines. The arrival of the RPG (Role-Playing Game) game format in Square\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 1986 release of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Dragon Quest\u00e2\u20ac\u009d was an instant sensation with its large cast of characters and moving fantastical storyline.<\/p>\n

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3. Infinite Interactive – Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlord<\/em><\/p>\n

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\"Infinite<\/a>

Infinite Interactive - Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords<\/p><\/div>\n

Soon enough, every game company was in on it; first person shooters set in World War II, real time strategy in a fantastical world of imaginary races. Even the most banal in-browser flash games (Bejeweled \u00c3\u00a0<\/span><\/span> Puzzle Quest) have added heroes, villains and quests to their game plan in order to enhance the user experience.<\/p>\n

Story has become as essential as playability and art style for the success of a game. Many criticism of the amount of time youths spend playing video games instead of reading can be rebuffed nowadays. Unlike films, gaming is at least interactive and, unlike books, it has been proven to tone reflexes and with consoles going online, it is no longer an anti social activity. Perhaps one the most prominent defenses of game-playing vs. book-reading is the fact that many game stories use the exact same literary design elements. Heroes, antagonists, allusions, flashbacks, symbols, suspense, climax \u00e2\u20ac\u201c they have indeed become so alike that books have been turned into video games and vice versa; and not only action\/tales of war, but classics as well. Each medium is merely a different way of accounting a narrative.<\/p>\n

Some examples of classic novels turned into video games:<\/em><\/p>\n

Conan<\/strong> (2007) Nihilistic Software. Book \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Conan the Conqueror\u00e2\u20ac\u009d by Robert E. Howard (1950)<\/p>\n

Agatha Christie<\/strong> \u00e2\u20ac\u0153And When Where Were None\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (2005) \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Murder on the Orient Express\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (2006) The Adventure Company. Books by same title (.<\/p>\n

Nancy Drew<\/strong> \u00e2\u20ac\u201c various PC games. Novels by Carolyn Keene<\/p>\n

Lord of the Rings<\/strong> \u00e2\u20ac\u201c various PC and console. Novels by J.R.R. Tolkien (1954-55)<\/p>\n

America McGee\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Alice<\/strong> (2000) Rogue Entertainment. Lewis Caroll \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Through the Looking Glass\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (1868) and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Alice in Wonderland\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (1865)<\/p>\n

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American McGee’s Alice<\/em> (2000)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\"American<\/a>

America McGee's Alice (2000)<\/p><\/div>\n

Whether sticking to the original plotlines (All Agatha Christie or Nancy Drew games) or twisting them to create a new world out of existing elements (\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Alice\u00e2\u20ac\u009d) , the fundamentals of storytelling remain firm in both mediums, with the additional interactivity mixed in.<\/p>\n

A story is a story; it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s how you tell it that makes it an adventure.<\/p>\n

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How Improved Graphics and Budgets has Led to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Game-Storytelling\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n\n\n
\n\"Atari's<\/a><\/dt>\n
Atari’s Pong (1971) <\/dd>\n<\/td>\n
\n\"American<\/p>\n
American McGee’s Alice (2000) <\/dd>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/skins.abtec.org\/skins1.0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/skins.abtec.org\/skins1.0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/skins.abtec.org\/skins1.0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skins.abtec.org\/skins1.0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skins.abtec.org\/skins1.0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/skins.abtec.org\/skins1.0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":117,"href":"https:\/\/skins.abtec.org\/skins1.0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82\/revisions\/117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/skins.abtec.org\/skins1.0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skins.abtec.org\/skins1.0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skins.abtec.org\/skins1.0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}