LÖVE

This is just a general game-design question, more so than any real love2d question. Would you play a game that is primarily undiluted gameplay for 10 to 15 minutes, interspersed with occasional animated cutscenes with no interaction for 5 to 20 minutes? To me, this seems like a way of getting to the best of the gameplay bits without story getting in the way, and getting to the best of the story bits without gameplay getting in the way. The animated segments and gameplay would feature the same characters, plot, items etc, but could otherwise exist without depending on one another.

Does this seem like a viable or interesting way of telling a story in a game? How long would you be willing to wait between gameplay segments? This is just a basic concept given that most generic RPGs have lengthy idle chatting and then battling in a way that bolsters neither story nor gameplay.

I would not enjoy a game that I would be forced to wait any longer than 5 minutes for a cutscene or otherwise unplayable portion of the game unless there is some action happening.

I don't think I would enjoy it, no.

Honestly it sounds like the worst combination of a game and a story you can have; people who love stories won't be able to complete unless they're good enough gamers and people who like good games will constantly be forced to wait through long story parts, when they're just looking for some play.

You'd probably have a pretty small audience of people who absolutely love both.

It works in Metal Gear Solid.
But then again, their cutscenes are very high quality and with good voice acting.
Not everyone can pull this off.

undef wrote:It works in Metal Gear Solid.
But then again, their cutscenes are very high quality and with good voice acting.
Not everyone can pull this off.

This. I'd only tolerate too long a cutscene in three instances:

• one at the very beginning of the game (and possibly at the end as well) telling the backstory and the conclusion
• between bigger "chapters" or whatever, if there are larger time-skips.
• if the game tells me beforehand that it will be full of cinematics, and it does indeed fit (the quoted, or probably halo as well, never played either)

Note that this doesn't apply to "scripted events", where the transition between one and another is seamless; though those are usually not that long either

Though i find it a bit cheating that pre-rendered cinematics (when the same engine is used for gameplay) are done with higher quality, and the game doesn't use those assets (understandably probably not possible in realtime for now, or for whatever else extra reason)

And besides, if your game's "story gets in the way of the gameplay" or vice versa, then something wrong, you are doing;

a good game or cinema piece implements both story and presentation in a good way, so that they fit together.

Another important thing would be that the gameplay is extremely fun, and that all the cutscenes are skippable.