I love how Gris makes you FEEL the story rather than narrating it, allowing each person's interpretation to differ based on their experiences or mood. If you haven't tried Neva yet, I highly recommend it (it's from the same studio as Gris) and in my opinion, has an even better story :)
An advantage for an indie team is that oftentimes there's only one person writing the story meaning it's their vision of how things go. In a big budget game you could have anywhere from five to ten writers working on the same game at the same time requiring constant communication between them so everything is consistent. Another indie advantage: The writer is also likely the director and designer with an idea of how everything might look. If the other devs agree, then harmony commences. Then again, what do I know? I'm just a trollfacing Wario.
One of my favourite indie game stories in the past little while was from the game "Venba" that released back in 2023. It is a pretty quick game, and the cooking mama style game play is quite fun, but the incredibly moving and heartfelt story brought me to literal tears. Highly recommend!
One of the biggest differences that can impact the narrative capabilities of games lies in the amount of artistic abstraction. It's possible to categorize art the same way as stories, with more realistic art being explicit and simple/abstract art being more implicit. More explicit art forms will show more using textures, animations, effects, lighting and sound, but that will make unique and interesting stories more expensive to implement. On the other hand, more implicit art forms can cut away from realism and create abstract ways of showing objects, places, actions and emotions. This will take away the capacity to convey details and subtle actions, but makes it much cheaper to create unique story lines. As an interesting side effect, implicit art forms require the user to fill with their imagination what was removed. As the brain must work more to absorb information and fill the blanks, the art and story becomes more memorable and personal. The reason why novels are still popular is exactly because words are the cheapest art form we can make and also the most abstract way to represent reality (aside from math). A well written book can create an incredible experience at a fraction of what an AAA game would cost to convey the same story. This is also the reason why older games relied heavily on text to convey their story. The Resident Evil and Elder Scrolls games had a lot of notes lying around so they could make the game feel deeper, compensating what the gameplay and cutscenes could never achieve at the time.
Few examples of games with storytelling I love are Shantae, Sly Cooper, Disgaea & Megaman Legends which feel like whimsical fun animated series focused on their characters.
I jest, that the greatest reward for completing Return of the Obra Dinn should be a pleasure to watch the entire story in full motion. Except that... it would invalidate the underlying creativity.
Great video as always! Just a minor thing, it's pronounced griS not gri. It's a spanish/catalan game (Gris meaning gray since you start without any colors), not a french game :)
When one person who knows exactly how they want the story to be executed makes a story out of pure love and passion with little financial incentive in their own free time, it tends to be better than like twenty people with different ideas tries to execute one story on a budget mostly out of financial incentive within a limited amount of time and with a lot of pressure from their higher ups.
I love how Gris makes you FEEL the story rather than narrating it, allowing each person's interpretation to differ based on their experiences or mood. If you haven't tried Neva yet, I highly recommend it (it's from the same studio as Gris) and in my opinion, has an even better story :)
Definitely on my list of games to play!
An advantage for an indie team is that oftentimes there's only one person writing the story meaning it's their vision of how things go. In a big budget game you could have anywhere from five to ten writers working on the same game at the same time requiring constant communication between them so everything is consistent. Another indie advantage: The writer is also likely the director and designer with an idea of how everything might look. If the other devs agree, then harmony commences. Then again, what do I know? I'm just a trollfacing Wario.
One of my favourite indie game stories in the past little while was from the game "Venba" that released back in 2023. It is a pretty quick game, and the cooking mama style game play is quite fun, but the incredibly moving and heartfelt story brought me to literal tears. Highly recommend!
I recently played your demo, and damnnnn its good definitely buying on launch
Thank you thank you!
@@OandCoGames though the story is too explicit, maybe a little bit more implicit would be a nice touch :)
@ we’re trying to weave both methods into it. Quieter subtle stories will be woven throughout the full game
One of the biggest differences that can impact the narrative capabilities of games lies in the amount of artistic abstraction.
It's possible to categorize art the same way as stories, with more realistic art being explicit and simple/abstract art being more implicit.
More explicit art forms will show more using textures, animations, effects, lighting and sound, but that will make unique and interesting stories more expensive to implement.
On the other hand, more implicit art forms can cut away from realism and create abstract ways of showing objects, places, actions and emotions.
This will take away the capacity to convey details and subtle actions, but makes it much cheaper to create unique story lines.
As an interesting side effect, implicit art forms require the user to fill with their imagination what was removed. As the brain must work more to absorb information and fill the blanks, the art and story becomes more memorable and personal.
The reason why novels are still popular is exactly because words are the cheapest art form we can make and also the most abstract way to represent reality (aside from math).
A well written book can create an incredible experience at a fraction of what an AAA game would cost to convey the same story.
This is also the reason why older games relied heavily on text to convey their story. The Resident Evil and Elder Scrolls games had a lot of notes lying around so they could make the game feel deeper, compensating what the gameplay and cutscenes could never achieve at the time.
Well i dont know about all of them but TG has such a nice story
lol awe shucks
Few examples of games with storytelling I love are Shantae, Sly Cooper, Disgaea & Megaman Legends which feel like whimsical fun animated series focused on their characters.
I love this.
how does this video only have 800 views? This deserves at least 3 mil. Top tier video! Keep it up!
Thank you!!!
I jest, that the greatest reward for completing Return of the Obra Dinn should be a pleasure to watch the entire story in full motion. Except that... it would invalidate the underlying creativity.
lol yeah, I suppose it’s the fragmentation of the way the story is told that gives the game its magic
Legendary homepage pull 🔥🔥
Great video as always! Just a minor thing, it's pronounced griS not gri. It's a spanish/catalan game (Gris meaning gray since you start without any colors), not a french game :)
When one person who knows exactly how they want the story to be executed makes a story out of pure love and passion with little financial incentive in their own free time, it tends to be better than like twenty people with different ideas tries to execute one story on a budget mostly out of financial incentive within a limited amount of time and with a lot of pressure from their higher ups.
YES!!!
5:51 oof
..yeah… :(
It's insane how No Man's Sky was made by AN INDIE TEAM WITH LESS THAN 20 PEOPLE
Oh shoot that's right!
Without even watching the video yet, it's the lack of executives that allow people to tell great stories. We see it in every art/medium
Nailed it.
Will thier be any advance movement options, like how Celeste has the wavedash?
There already is 😎
11:37 what game is this?
Arctic eggs
9:40 what game is that
Eastward.
I'm sorry I wasn't subbed. I am ashamed.
But I made amends.
lol I’m honored.
Indie game with an AMAZING story: Spiritfarer.
9:21 what game is that?
Sanabi