Avian intro and worries about tone

At heart, science fiction themed games and science fantasy adventure games have an optimistic appeal. There is an air of limitlessness and hope, endless possibility. This is why games like Knights of the Old Republic, Star Ocean and Rogue Galaxy hold an appeal for me that Final Fantasy or Dragon Age do not. A fantasy world has limits that can be threatened by an all-encompassing evil. In fact, it happens in just about every fantasy game ever made. The science fiction setting may maneuver the player into facing the ultimate evil, but the sheer vastness of space always means that, even on a subliminal level, there is always the possibility of escape to a new world far away. And even if you have explored every level and encountered every type of monster the game can throw at you, on some level, the player is aware that there are billions more in the universe.



That's the sort of appeal that Starbound holds for me, and it's why I'm keeping tabs on its development. Here's a game that generates an entire universe of planets in a procedural way. There's always another planet. If a force of great cruelty threatens a planet or an entire empire of planets, a player can fight that evil or flee elsewhere. If a great force of good civilizes and pacifies a planet or entire federation of planets, the player can choose to reside and build in this noble society, but can also choose to set out for new, more dangerous frontiers fraught with risk.

That's why the Avian intro, the "work in progress" posted on 6/23, worries me. One could see this video as a kind of call to adventure of a sort, but it's such a pessimistic, dreary way to begin a game of infinite exploration. The Avians are portrayed as a domineering society of religious zealots with sacrificial rites similar to the Aztecs. This may be integral to the game's development or not. I've not been part of the meetings to determine the creative direction of the game. Even so, a game like Starbound would be better served to highlight the ability to escape from an unjust society into the boundlessness of space, or allow the player to take the reigns of injustice themselves and conquer the universe in the name of their deity. The Avian intro makes a mention of freedom at the very end, but the tone of the intro is more evocative of helplessness and bondage. The core of science fiction, the "sense of wonder," is missing.

Each race in the game must have its own ethos, a worldview unique to itself, as well as a consistent look and feel as far as the design of their technology and architecture, so I understand not all races will be peaceful. I merely suggest that even a violent society must experience a sense of wonder at the prospect of an infinite universe to conquer and plunder. An acquisitive, greedy society would marvel at the prospect of galaxies' worth of resources waiting to be exploited. A religiously fundamentalist society would experience humility at the scope of the universe their god had created and placed under their dominion. Even if a society is helpless and weak, surely they would be overcome by the endless possibilities of destruction the universe could wreak upon their tiny planet. That too is sense of wonder, of a sort.





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhV43JiGiSE

Ultimately, it is the sense of wonder that will draw players into the Starbound universe. One does not need to impose some sense of doom early on as an impetus to adventure, like raiders destroying the village of Conan the Barbarian. Science fantasy thrives on wild new creations at every turn, worlds, creatures, intelligent races, technologies, spaceships, weapons, gods, but while conflicts are inevitable in such settings, they need not be the driver of all things, as would be the case in traditional fantasy settings, superhero adventures, or military campaigns.

Anyway, that's my impression of the still-in-the-works video and a summary of the worries it raises in my mind about the final form the project may take. I've seen other promising games that were greatly harmed by a fatal flaw not in design, but in tone. One such game was Spore. What could have been a fascinating scientific game of evolution, realistic and nearly infinite in scope, became a series of cartoonish mini-games. Tone can be a killer, and I'd hate to see Starbound abandon the sense of wonder and optimism that it needs.


I've included some SF intro vids that I consider instructive in a positive way. Any comments one way or the other would be appreciated from designers and forum users alike.

 

So the intro is dreary and pessimistic? Didn't they say the introductions would give that race a reason to leave home?

 

I do agree with your overall point, OP. However, the story for Starbound is a negative starting one... Exiled due to our home planets destruction/rejection.

So while a sense of wonder and such is great, the start should be somewhat off putting, due to the circumstances we find our character in.

 

Sorry to not contribute, but is that Wallace Shawn in the Ferengi opening, or just a really good impersonator?

 

People don't usually become homeless in a fun upbeat way.

 

That image was hilarious.

 

The Dark tone is perfect.
Why would you want it to be upbeat and happy? Its a story about losing your homeworld and go survive on a distant primitive planet. On your own.

Whats happy about that? I think its perfect.

 

The Birth of the Federation introductions serve to illustrate the philosophy behind each faction. The Federation is all about peace and science, the Romulans want knowledge and power, Klingons don't care what you do as long as you're at war. Birth of the Federation also has no story whatsoever, a situation in which it makes sense to simply shed some light on a faction's philosophy and leave it at that, the player can do the rest.

Starbound does have a story, however. You are given an absolutely massive universe to explore, but through it all there is a story to tell, and part of that story is the reason why each of the races goes out into space to begin with. Humans leave because Earth is overrun by tentacles, Apex to escape the complete control of their government, etcetera. And as far as I know, each of the reasons to leave are pretty damn dark, which is part of the story. In my opinion it also makes the universe feel more significant, it's a place where the future can be made, the hope that there is a better way of life than amongst tentacles or control-freak primates.

Long story short, Starbound wants to tell a story, and the story is dark. That's why the intros are dark. And that is also, in my opinion, how they make exploration a mission of destiny and hope. I feel Starbound captures the essence of sci-fi, if there even is such a thing, perfectly. It just goes about it differently than other games.

 

This isn't Star Trek, why are you comparing them?

Anyway, the Avians are far from humble. You know those stereotypical evangelical Christians from the bible belt?

...yeah.

 

The more freedom you want to have telling a story your own way in a video game, the lower in quality the story gets. Sure, you can use your imagination, draw pictures and write up detailed descriptions of an adventure, but the source material in this case isn't really the game itself - it's your imagination.

Even with Starbound's impressive level of procedural generation, we're still a long way from being able to procedurally generate a gripping story with conflict, plot twists, and a fitting climactic final confrontation. So the more freedom you have in choosing your own destiny, the less substance the game itself is going to be able to provide in making your decisions really, truly mean something.

Starbound has a story to tell, and the intro videos are more than just "okay here's an excuse to get people into the sandbox, you'll never hear about any of this again!" If you don't like the story as it is, then you'll have to use your imagination to make something different, because it just isn't possible to put every conceivable storyline into the game.

Starbound is very sandboxy, but it's not a pure sandbox where you just go and poke at generated creatures to see what the procedural generation algorithm came up with and then move on to see what else it came up with. It also contains a universe that is very specifically designed in a certain way in order to tell a story, and the way the plot and lore effect that story matters. The value of giving each race an intro video which highlights its personality and problems from the get-go is not to be understated.