NEStalgia: Yes, the story is awesome!

ID:93609
 
Mar 29 2010, 10:30 am (Edited by moderator on Apr 3 2010, 3:36 pm)
Keywords: nestalgia
One of the biggest compliments that I've been getting from people who spend time in the game is how much they like the story. I think people are surprised that an MORPG can have such a strong plot, especially considering that NEStalgia's world is made up of blocky 8-bit sprites!

Writing and directing is what I do for a living, and storytelling is my true passion. Writing the story for NEStalgia was not unlike writing a screenplay. Creating interesting characters, interweaving story arcs and keeping up continuity were all just as important. The fact that the world is interactive made the writing process a bit more challenging, but likewise presented many opportunities to really make the plot memorable. It's also lovingly filled with 8/16-bit era RPG cliches (as you'll see below).

As you progress through the game, the world reacts. Certain areas are phased based upon how far you've progressed. Townspeople don't always just say the same thing - they respond differently depending on which quests you've completed. Here's a very minor example from one of the quests in the beginning town:


The town has a bandit problem...
...and only a hero can solve it.

Accepting the quest.
Confronting the bandits!

The bandit king is dead...
The day is saved!


By popular demand, I've also screen recorded some of the early cutscenes in the game, as many players have asked to watch them over again. I'm going to post them here because I figure that they don't spoil much for anyone who is still reluctant to try the game out. Be warned: if you do intend to play the game then you'll probably enjoy these cut scenes more if you wait to reach them on your own :)


Down the Rabbit Hole
This first scene takes place after the player (and their party) venture into the Balzackian catacombs to investigate a mysterious portal that has appeared within. After defeating a difficult Portal Guardian boss, the player enters the portal and is warped to a strange place which looks like a bizarro, obliterated version of Balzackia (the second town in the game). That is where this video begins:




We Go to War!
The next video takes place shortly thereafter when the player decides that they are ready to leave Balzackia with the fleet:




Making the story "awesomely retro" while at the same time making it interesting enough to hold up against modern day games has been a challenge... but we've pulled it off. And, like any good story, the best part is the ending. I certainly won't be posting any videos of that, so come play NEStalgia and discover it for yourself!

NEStalgia Hub: http://www.byond.com/games/SilkGames/NEStalgia
Main Server (Shrenwold): byond://cablemonkey.game-host.org:2045

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Mar 29 2010, 11:06 am
*Waits for TMM*.....

That bird made me spit all over my screen lol.
Mar 29 2010, 11:54 am
I've always found the story 'complicated' since I played it. But hey I am not much of a plot person.
Mar 29 2010, 2:03 pm
There's a story?

No disrespect because I love the game, but the "story" to me seems like just a few cut-scenes. Maybe I'm playing the game wrong, I'm not sure.
Mar 29 2010, 2:27 pm
There's a story? the game isn't online, so I wouldn't know.
Mar 29 2010, 3:00 pm
Looking at the amount of work that went into the presentation and the dialogue here, I'd have to agree with Silkwizard and his supporters that this looks to be some excellent story weaving.
Mar 29 2010, 3:35 pm
Disturbed Puppy wrote:
There's a story? the game isn't online, so I wouldn't know.

Gah. My router decided to die while I was taking a nap. You don't even want to know how many emails I got...

Sorry about that everyone. Server is back online!


Geldonyetich wrote:
Looking at the amount of work that went into the presentation and the dialogue here, I'd have to agree with Silkwizard and his supporters that this looks to be some excellent story weaving.

Thanks! :)
Mar 29 2010, 8:00 pm
I hate how people say the story is too simple; They're the type of people who never sat down and played a Dragon Quest game because they were so certain that it was the same as Final Fantasy.

NEStalgia does something that Dragon Quest does, which is taking a simple plot and presenting it charismatically, drawing the player in.
Mar 30 2010, 9:13 am
I'm sorry Ben, but your game is an MORPG, therefore; it can not have a story. Next time you have to make it single player with multiple characters, because everyone knows if your RPG doesn't have multiple playable characters, it can NOT have a story.

true story.

We have a script for FF5:AW that auto-restarts the server if it's down, I'll get it off Mike and give it to you so you don't have that problem again.
Mar 30 2010, 9:52 am
The peoples republic of china wrote:
NEStalgia does something that Dragon Quest does, which is taking a simple plot and presenting it charismatically, drawing the player in.

Thanks! This is a good way to put it :)


Mikau:
I'm sorry Ben, but your game is an MORPG, therefore; it can not have a story.

Indeed. People who don't play the game but instead speculate on what the story might be like based upon their past experiences with MMORPGs or 8-bit RPGs contribute absolutely nothing to the conversation.

As a writer, I'd absolutely love to have a discussion about the choices I made in terms of characters, plot twists, dialogue etc. Writing is a science as much as it is an art - and talking about that sort of thing is always really fun for me.


Mikau:
We have a script for FF5:AW that auto-restarts the server if it's down, I'll get it off Mike and give it to you so you don't have that problem again.

Thanks! Our problem yesterday was actually that my router died. We haven't had the server crash yet... and I'm crossing my fingers that it stays that way.
Mar 30 2010, 11:21 am
SilkWizard wrote:
Indeed. People who don't play the game but instead speculate on what the story might be like based upon their past experiences with MMORPGs or 8-bit RPGs contribute absolutely nothing to the conversation.

As a writer, I'd absolutely love to have a discussion about the choices I made in terms of characters, plot twists, dialogue etc. Writing is a science as much as it is an art - and talking about that sort of thing is always really fun for me.

That's a minor part of the reason I haven't interviewed you yet. While I have the basic everyday questions prepared, I'd like to ask you more about the story because of the fact that you are a writer, and how you went about the process. Unfortunatly between school and my grandmothers surgery I haven't had much time to do anything lately(save for play NEStalgia).