Think of your favorite movie. Okay, now think of the main character in that movie, and now the other characters. Think of what you see those characters do. Lastly, think of how much time passes within the movie. Time for another fun exercise. Think of your favorite game. Think of its main character, and now all of the other characters in it. Think of what you see them do and how much time lapses within the game. Okay, now to the point.In thinking about the movie, it was probably easy for you to not only think of the main character, but also the supporting cast. You probably also thought about the big scenes in the movie when you thought of what you see the characters do. When it came to how much time the movie covers, the answer was probably different across the board, anywhere from a day to a year. Now when you thought about the game, the main character was probably easy to think of, but some of those supporting characters may have been a bit difficult to name. When you thought of what you see the character do in the game there was probably a lot of walking, killing some stuff, more walking, maybe having to go eat, and then more walking. The time covered in the game may have been a tough one to answer, so that’s okay if you couldn’t think of it.
So, what’s the point? To put it simply, editing in video games sucks. In fact, there usually is no editing in a game, and it kills the storytelling and pace of the game constantly. First, let me give an example of a lack of editing in games, followed by a couple of games that edit really well.
Actually I’m a liar, because first I will talk about editing in general. Films started integrating editing techniques early on in the medium. In fact, it almost happened as soon as stories were being told in films. Cuts can indicate a lapse of time or a change in location. Editing has become such an essential part of filmmaking that it is astounding that video games have been slow in adopting this technique.
A game that spits in the face of editing is Grand Theft Auto. If you were not bored by having to eat, exercise, and change clothes for hours on end, then go watch an Andy Warhol movie, you’d probably really enjoy it. For those of you out there that are sane, however, let’s look at some other games.
Call of Duty 4 did a phenomenal job with editing and pacing. It dropped you into the action, made you play through the scene, pulled you out and let you take on another big scene with a different character. Story was told during gameplay or on the load screen, with a few exceptions of course, but the game really moved. There were no pointless parts that you had to complete such as a “Peel the Potatoes” mini game in between each level so your character doesn’t get too tired.
Another game that edits extremely well is, big surprise, Indigo Prophecy. The main character in the game is a possible schizophrenic serial killer. The supporting cast members are two detectives. The amazing thing about this game is that you actually get to play as these supporting characters. If you’re following along in your head, this means that you get to hunt yourself. Oh my goodness, it’s a video game version of The 3.
There is an obvious element of these two games that allow both of them to have effective editing in the game. Got it yet? Here comes the answer. There is more than one playable character in each of those games. No, I don’t mean that you can pick to play through the game as Sonic or Tails, you are forced to play different parts as different people to get different pieces of the story. Genius! Ever wonder why video game movies suck and vice versa? Well, how exciting can two hours of Samus Aran running around by herself on a distant planet be? Not very, to put it simply.
Using multiple characters can have some other interesting story and gameplay implications. For one, you may be able to learn more information about the protagonist that you didn’t know before. Imagine that you find out that in the past the protagonist was a murderer, but now he is reformed. It may make you have a different connection with the character as you play. It’s this type of storytelling that will finally start to evolve games and change the way people look at them.
The use of editing is an important aspect of storytelling. It separates good stories from ones that are extremely boring. It allows for more interesting stories and ones that can span years without actually taking years to play. It isn’t a hard concept to grasp, and by simply having the player play as different characters and have different points of view, editing can finally have life in video games.