A Brief Introduction

I'm Joshua, a 4th Year Computer Science student on the verge of graduating. I've been playing and making a games in my spare time since my early teens. Now at 21, my passion for game design has grown but my passion for playing games is almost non-existent. Unsurprisingly, most of my inspiration now comes from film and art rather than other video games. I feel like few games have actually managed to create narratives that actually take advantage of the medium itself-- the shallowness of the stories most tell have simply made me lose interest in the medium as a whole.

My feelings towards what games should strive to achieve seems to differ from most developers. I believe the most powerful ability that developers can give a player is choice. No other medium can do this yet it is only being used through the most rudimentary means when it comes to telling a story: 'Press A for Good and B for Bad'. Ideally, games should allow users to make decisions through gameplay, without them ever realising that a choice existed or was ever made.

Video game stories should not be about moving along predetermined story beats. Instead, the game's story should be told organically through the way the user decides to approach it. Exploring how the user interacts instead of when.

While I believe all games should aspire to this ideal, I understand that this is not something everyone agrees with. Some of the greatest developers including Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto have stated that they build their games using an almost antithetical approach to my own which involves creating narratives that are there only to supplement the gameplay. While I'm absolutely sure that both doctrines can coexist I think that the industry's focus on 'gameplay first' is stifling the growth of the medium and the potential it has to form emotional connections with players. While some studios claim to tote narrative-driven ideals, they often cripple their gameplay in such a way that the final result is not much more than an electronic 'choose your own adventure' novel. Finding a synthesis between engaging, organic narrative and rich gameplay is my goal and I hope more game developers follow suit.

My current project, The Valentine Watch is my own attempt to create a game that fulfils my own thoughts on narrative-driven game design. It is currently in development and this blog will be used to detail its world and outline my progress.

To get a better understanding of who I am, below is a group of some of my greatest influences. While I often disagree with a lot of their mantras, I feel these people and their works have had such a profound effect on who I am and what I aim to create. I would have loved to have meet each one of them:

While working on the The Valentine Watch I hope to post more detailed analysis on what exactly I believe games are, what games can draw from other mediums, and how these ideals relate to my own work.


Until Next Time!