IF theory - third person

Roody_Yogurt · Post by **Roody_Yogurt** » Mon Dec 16, 2002 3:00 pm

I'm getting the urge to try to attempt to write my next game in the third person, with the player definitely not being the playcr character but have more of a 'What would you have Algernon do now?' sort of feel to it.

What games did this? Level 9's Lancelot, I believe, but I don't know what else. Has this ever worked for anyone? How hard will it be to change the library messages and to execute this?

What are your thoughts?

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Mon Dec 16, 2002 5:55 pm

Scapeghost was third person and in the past tense, I think. Let me know if you need/want a copy of that game.

Hugo has a switch in the library where you can change it from second person to first or third. FoD and the new game are in first person, so I have 80% of the work done by changing that value. There are a few places where the library uses "you," though, and I change those instances to give a response which clearly does not come from the game's protagonist.

So, overall I would say that it's not particularly tricky. There are a couple of other comp games that I think were in 3rd person, but their names escape me... Paul O'Brian's reviews probably note it, though.

Worm · Post by **Worm** » Tue Dec 17, 2002 12:09 am

Would that make you the player's role a concience or some mind controller or just a suggesting force?

Roody_Yogurt · Post by **Roody_Yogurt** » Tue Dec 17, 2002 12:30 am

I'd hope that the player would feel that he's working with the narrator in telling the story. How well this'll work is anyone's guess.

I think it's absolutely crazy that Kent has coded library support for this kind of stuff already. Another reason why Hugo is the stuff of legend.

k. roo · Post by **k. roo** » Tue Dec 17, 2002 2:17 pm

Roody_Yogurt wrote:What games did this? ... Has this ever worked for anyone?

Winchester's Nightmare, I believe. And no, it didn't work.
Maybe LASH counts, in which case it did work.

Also, http://www.wurb.com/if/search - there's a "3rd person" search option.

Roody_Yogurt · Post by **Roody_Yogurt** » Tue Dec 17, 2002 2:36 pm

Yeah, it's interesting to note how often third-person actually diminishes the player's empathy for the character. Both in Winchester's Nightmare and Lancelot, I could only play the beginning of the games because it was such an effort to care.

More successful games on the list would be Adam Cadre's Pac-Man and The Beetmonger's Journal. In the case of Downtown Tokyo, Present Day, the device fit with the plot and setting.

I'm not sure what's best for me, so I guess I ought to just write more and see how it feels when played.

Wo rm · Post by **Wo rm** » Tue Dec 17, 2002 7:50 pm

Still, in FoD you couldn't do ass backwards out of character things.

IF theory - third person

IF theory - third person

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