Gamasutra - Chris Avellone Interview

Gamasutra is hosting a new interview with Chris Avellone.

I remember Torment and how it impacted my mind and perception of reality. Maybe, after playing it, for the first time I've asked myself about life and death.

I’d probably set up a gamification system like the virtue/vice system above and invite people to try it, especially with regards to physical fitness and health. They’d need to be aware of their own vices and virtues, though, but maybe it would give people something to strive for. A lot of the more “commonplace” game answers don’t feel like they’d be appropriate for this.

During game development, what proportions of business and art is optimal? I know some companies are 99% business-oriented, other are 99% creativity oriented and forget about business. What is your proportion?

I pragmatically think about all the narrative design I do and break it into how it can be developed, not just the genesis of the idea and the “fun” parts. I’d guess it breaks down into half raw creativity (and that may be high), and the rest is devoted to “how do we get this done within resources?”

What about games itself: a lot of people say that games are bad, useless waste of time. But we are making games... why? What do our games give to the players (or should give)? Why they are good (if they are good)?

Games entertain, and by definition, that’s what they should do. It is possible to include themes, morals, or even a non-game interactive experience (Dear Esther), but at that point, they are not games anymore.

I feel that games are a powerful medium for giving perspective, but it enters dangerous territory when you make that more important than the reason players came there in the first place – to be entertained, not to be preached to.