Alan Wake is a writer. This means, he’s not really capable of running more than a few steps before getting out of breath, he wears elbow patches and he’s continually hunting for coffee in the strangest places. Best of all, he’s not even writing, he’s collecting the text along the way, and every TV set turns on to show what he’s been up to lately. Stephen King once said: “The so-called ‘writing life’ is basically sitting on your ass”, which is not at all true for Alan. He’s got to hurry from one important place to the other (mostly this peak or that hill or a gas station or some other peak) to find his missing wife, killing shadowy guys with an assortment of weaponry or pointing his flashlight at shadowy floating things - all posssessed by the darkness - without really knowing who he’s hunting or why (at least in the beginning).

How about the episodic structure? The game consists of 6 “episodes”, and every one of them starts with a “Previously on Alan Wake” movie. Even if you just finished the episode before. Yes, it’s skippable. The idea seems to have been to pave the way for downloadable content. Sell new episodes for a few bucks. Now, this may work, and having a whole release (a season, if you will) on one disc is the same thing like buying a season of a TV show and watching all episodes one after another. Or are there people out there who actually pause for a week before returning to Jack Bauer’s next torture scene? For those who will actually take a break between the episodes this may be welcome, but other than with a TV show you never know how much more time you’ll spend with the game until the break. “Let’s finish this episode, then we’ll take a break” - you’ll never think like this with “Alan Wake”, but rather be surprised when the episode ends. If the player could leave the game at any moment and would not just be reset at the latest save point, but would have the chance to get a “Previously” for this exact moment - that would be really helpful.

Transporting the backstory through the manuscript pages that are scattered throughout the game world … well, I’m not sure if it works. It’s a classic way to provide backstory, but in an action game it breaks the pace, and if you’re missing too many pages you get lost. Personally, I’ve come to refrain from reading the entries while playing the game. It will be interesting to see if want to read it all after having finished the game. 

It’s fun. Classic 3rd person linearity, some nice scares, good use of slow motion. Very cinematic, of course, but the writing is more than solid, the characters are interesting, the plot works.

I know, I know. Starting a blog and then posting nothing SUCKS.

But currently, as you may guess, there’s too much to do and too little time for anything else. I’ve already started to write down my thoughts on Alan Wake, but I’ve not even found the time to play more than the 1st episode yet.

It will get better.

So I finally got to play “Limbo”.

Wait, this here is about storytelling. Limbo is just some Platformer. It does not contain any more text than the menus. No one’s talking, there’s not even a bad guy. Furthermore, it’s considered to be “art”, because it’s all black and white and moody. So it’s got no story, right?

Well, no. And yes, a little.

“Limbo” is a perfect example to explain why game and level design are storytelling.

In storytelling you don’t just throw story elements around or make up every single scene individually (okay - Monty Python did). This is true for books and films - and for games just as well. Every scene, every dialogue, every set piece is put in the greater context of the story. We mad scientists call this dramaturgy. You can derive a pattern or a set of rules of the elements that make up a story. Then you end with “Hero’s Journey”, the 3 act structure etc. These don’t necessarily apply to games where the rhythm of the playing experience may vary from player to player, depending on the degree of interactivity the respective title offers.

The story in “Limbo” is told through the level design and the abilities of the player character. You can only jump and interact - and to interact the character has to be at the point of interaction. You can’t throw anything. You can’t talk. If it weren’t for the game title, you wouldn’t even know where you are, because there’s no such thing as an exposition. Boy awakes and you start to play - and unlike a JRPG there’s no elder guy telling you where to get water from the well. You have go to the right.

It’s a great journey through this limbo. The landscape changes, the weather changes. Game elements are thoughtfully introduced and then the player gradually finds out how to put them in use. The causality is exactly the same like in classic storytelling:

- Introduce an element.

- Show it in action.

- Display the consequences.

This way you lead characters through a novel, but it also applies to every little trap or moveable objekt in “Limbo”. Of course, the game is so appealing simply because it doesn’t care for all classic storytelling elements. It doesn’t try to explain anything, but at the same time it takes its game world very seriously.

And need I mention the humor? You’ll learn much about yourself when you’re laughing while playing the game … or not reacting at all.

When I looked at “Swords & Sworcery” I forgot one major aspect.

In many places you discover more or less interesting things in the surroundings. And you’re prompted to tweet this by linking the game with your Twitter account. If you do the text of your encounter during the game is being tweeted with the hashtag #sworcery.

As usual, a feature like this is supposedly for community building, for expanding the gameworld etc. But let’s face it - it’s spam. If you have someone in your timeline on Twitter (and perhaps mirrored on Facebook etc) who’s playing the game and actually using this feature you’ll be bombarded with #sworcery messages.

The only effect it had in my case was that I almost blocked the people who did this.

Storytelling and Twitter integration - haven’t seen any proof of concept yet.

The iPad is a great platform for Adventures, no doubt about that. A lot of classic titles have already been ported, and companies like Telltale Games release iPad versions of their new games almost simultaneously with other platforms.

I was getting hyped by “Swords & Sworcery” pre-release, like so many others. It was easy to get hooked by its 8bit graphics and original soundtrack. Watch this trailer. Just great.

If this trailer tingles you, then you may also be hooked by the game. But if you’re a fan classic Adventures and hope to get a dose of this with “Sworcery” - well, you don’t.

The gameplay is fairly simple, basic and not very much like your Adventures from days of yore. You don’t even point and click, of course - this is a touchscreen, you just point. There’s an inventory, but don’t think you’ll be stealing all the stuff that’s not nailed to the wall.

All features of the iPad put into good use. Multitouch gestures (pinch to zoom), touch a certain place for a longer time, double touch. In certain situations you have to turn the iPad in the vertical position. This is used when you’re reading the “megatome” you receive during the game or when you’re fighting. In this case have classic on screen controls for blocking with your shield and slashing with your sword. The fights are really simple and shouldn’t pose a problem to anyone. Not even to Adventure gamers.

But that’s the point where “classic” gamers may stumble. “Sworcery” is about experimentation. It’s much closer to “Today I Die Again” than to “Sam & Max”. If you come to this place to experience a story or interact with interesting characters you’ll be disappointed. Likewise the strong audiovisual style may not appeal to everyone.

The biggest deal breaker is the fact that the game is self aware of being a game all the time. It talk’s to in 1st person plural: ”We told Logfella why we wandered here in this mountain wilderness & how we were guided by the finger of an all-knowing God.”

Yes, and you’re that God. The gameplay is pure Zelda on the meta-level. You’ll fight monsters, look for magical books and the Triforce (or rather a variant of it). All the time the game comments what you do as the player and your character does in the game. This unity is the “we”.

See, I’m one of these story guys. I play stuff like “Halo” or “Uncharted”, because I actually like the story. I want to see what happens next. Did this happen to me in “Swords & Sworcery”? Not once. It felt more like watching a Kubrick movie. You are stunned by the detail, by the perfection of its production … but at the same time you’re slightly bored by this cold perfectionism, by these characters that are so much removed from life. (In fact and truth to be told: by the time of writing this I have not even played through the whole game, because I don’t really care about what’s happening. I WILL finish it, just to see if they break the game world even further.)

This is highly subjective, but I have to put it bluntly: “Sword & Sworcery” never evokes any magic. 

But is that all a problem? According to the developer’s homepage the game sold 200,000 in the first 2 months. I’d call that a success. Or, as the game would probably paraphrase: { We sold more games than we could fathom & realized we were awesome. } The game found its buyers, and it found its fans.

“Swords & Sworcery” is the triumph of style of substance.

But a triumph nevertheless.