Reinventing a storytelling game

Reinventing a storytelling game

My initial intention was to remake SiD is a more manageable form, fixing all the bits I was annoyed by and extending it from there. I realised I was rather selling myself short on this, since from my point of view, the aims of SiD’s replacement could be very different than those of its original author.

Theatre analogy

The game is played by a Director and one or more Actors.

• Play/Story/Production/Script? – A collection of scenes in a time-line (though the scenes need not be played in order).
  • Scene – A stage in the story.
    • A set – A place to put objects.
    • Objects:
      • Scenery – Background objects.
      • Props – Moveable objects (non-speaking things like a hammer or a car).
      • Supporting cast (director-controlled people).
      • Actors. Each is assigned to a different player. The director can recast them from the supporting cast if required.

Each object (scenery, props, cast, etc) is made up of one or more image layers. Objects can be switched in role at any time.

The set for a scene is shaped, rather than textured. It can be a stage (horizontal), like SiD (purely vertical arrangement) or possibly some other arrangement. Any object can be placed at any position on the flat “stage”, looking a little like a paper theatre (2D objects standing up from a plane). In the case of the stage, you could put a large flat object down as a backdrop.

Comic book analogy

There is no reason to only have one chat bubble per frame. Like comics, each actor or director should be able to build up a short conversation in one frame with multiple bubbles. Still in turns, but only one frame would be stored in the book. Frames would change any time something happened or the screen filled up, of course.