Friday, June 30, 2006  The Three Stories that Games Tell
Anonymous said...  Interesting! In addition, some gamers like to
observe if and when a game has "a beginning, a middle, and an
end" which is the basic idea of a story.  This reminds me of the
unusual three-square board of Beowulf, geometrically suggesting
a story's beginning, middle, and end. That's how I've always
interpreted the design purpose of that unusual board, to
reinforce the story theme.   Yehuda said...  Absolutely,
Coffeebike.  I may have to play Beowolf one day.   Anonymous
said...  I think Beowulf is worth playing, if you're prepared
for the "Push Your Luck" mechanism. I like it.  I also think the
produced game makes a strong effort to focus on the theme, but
the heavily "swords & sorcery" type graphic design mistakes
spoil that effort. So gameplay tends to obscure the classic
story theme, unfortunately, unless you make a conscious effort.
For one example, I think the ~chapter-titles on each station on
the gameboard are far to