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Date: Sun, 15 Sep 2002 10:14:03 -0400
From: John Colagioia <JColagioia@csi.com>
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Subject: Re: [Game Design] Stylistic question -- flashback narrative structure
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Jerry Kimbrough wrote:
[...]
> now, 'cause he's in the middle of a war, it's obvious that the
> character is going to have the opportunity to die many, many times
> throughout the course of the game.  my question is -- and once again,
> sorry if this question is discussed elsewhere in one of the FAQs -- if
> the character were to die at some point in the flashback, should i
> kick the player to the "you have died" prompt, or should i toss them
> back to the conversation that he's having with the journalist, clue
> the player about how to avoid dying at that point, and resume the
> story from before the player died?

I think that either, or both (e.g., print "You have died," just like
the library would, but then just jump back to the main narrative),
could work, personally.  The key is to not make it look artificial.
Other people have pointed to "Spider and Web," and at least one also
(rightly) mentioned that it's a trick that's probably suited only to
that game.

Newspaper interviews aren't (usually) so confrontational.  Of course,
the PC and the interviewer could be teasing each other, but then it's
pretty much the "Spider and Web" issue.

A similar possibility is to make the death someone else's, when
leaving the flashback.  After all, it *is* a war, and presumably
there are multiple people in the same situation you're in, regardless
of the mission (redundancy is good, when you're trying to win).

In fact, the death scene could be a final game death, wherein the
player realizes that he's not the same guy that's in the flashback
(but only if he dies).

Just a quick idea, at least.  Certainly feel free to ignore it.

