Blog: "How the player becomes the protagonist"

[mattwestwick]

I have seen a lot of different responses to the content of the game.

Some people think one thing and others think the other.
I don't really see it as a problem as with fiction you can interpret what you want.

For a game like amnesia where your imagination is you're biggest threat, surely it shouldn't be too strict in explaining exactly what everything is. That should be left to the wiki page etc.

To take an example:
-Daniel mutters some things.
In a literal sense it is just some recorded dialogue coming from the speakers.
In the game it could be him actually talking, or it could be his mind, ot it could be ghosts, it could be anything. What must be excluded are plausable possibilities that are misleading or detract from the goal of the creators.

To provide a small example of these conditions:

If it was intended that most of daniel's dialogue was not spoken out loud in the game but actually his thoughts then more effects would be needed to signify this as thoughts rather than speech. If this turns out too corny for some situations then leave the dialogue as text only.

I am aware that there are audio effects running over the monologue however this is constant for the whole game and so it is impossible to differentiate between thoughts and speech.

So the problem is we don't know for sure which it is. Which makes us confused. Which makes us unhappy. (Note: this is a very minor problem that only a few will bring up anyway. But its nice to be perfect)

As I mentioned in a previous post. You can't satisfy everyone because we are all pre-coditioned and have different expectations. If you want to please more people. Make the style of the game adaptive based on player behaviour.
Basically if someone runs through levels quickly and skips through text diaries: give them more basic and to the point instructions on screen.
And if someone takes their time slowly making progress, then you cut back on the visual and aural aids and let them discover and feel for themselves.

Does anyone think this concept is viable? Obviously the appraisal of a players behaviour has to be done early (in tutorial or first level) and with less frequent checks later on as they progress down their determined route. I feel that you can catergorise the different player types and present a game that will recognise this and adapt to it.