This week we start with the winning animator’s submission, then dive deep into ‘Narrative Legos’, a talk by Ken Levine, maker of hit games like the Bioshock series, where he lays out a concept for how to make dynamic interesting NPC’s in an RPG. Ken’s talk previews the future of games in general and how Archmage Rises is being designed specifically.

This week’s episode is +75% more content, and just as many funny cat pictures!

Be sure to check out the full 2014 GDC talk on Narrative Legos.

Ken Levine said Linear Narrative has the following Problems:

Expensive to make
Pieces don’t speak to each other
Branching exists, but with limited states and interaction
Doesn’t fully embrace the unique power of games
Not player driven
Multiple endings still mean fixed number of player states
Can only add ON, not add IN (replayability challenges)

In Archmage Rises NPC (Non-Player Characters) behavior is driven by:

Several core passions from a pool of 35+
Current emotional state
Profession

We believe the above is the key to a dynamic, remarkable, engaging world full of unique emergent stories. We're working hard to make this come true. We may be the first.