Jaffe: Marvel games need more narrative focus

Webs can make shadows. Especially if they're large enough, like cables.

or it could just be a venom reference.

"I dont disagree with Jaffe"

So...would it be safe to say you...agree with Jaffe?

As a long time comic book nerd(and someone who purchased and enjoyed the hulk and ironman), I would love to play through the civil war story as spiderman or captian america.

I would have hoped that they took a bit more information on what he stated...

Here are 2 of his comments that he made about this matter

"I agree- for example- the combat video on 1up looked great! In the same way that the Indy Jones combat video Lucasarts showed last year looked cool. But if history serves, I would not be surprised if combat was the crux of both of those games and it's combat combat combat all day long and to me, not only does this get boring, but it doesn't speak to the promise of playing a game set in a comic universe, or Indy's universe"

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=11677231&postcount=55

"Good story in games IS mission design and IS character mechanics. For me, good story in game design for a spidey game would be stuff like:"

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=11677607&postcount=70

Jaffe is Douche!!!

JK, I like Jaffe. I don't always agree with him, but its nice to have a voice in the community coming from a developer. He seems very passionate about games, which also gives him very strong stances on what he feels is good or bad and lets you know it.

The best part of a Spider-man game, is playing as Spider-man....I really don't think that Spider-man became famous for just swinging around New York...

Noooooo, Summer's Eve is a douche. *guh*


...and officially, the last good Marvel game was the narrative-free MARVEL VS CAPCOM2. 'Nuff said.

Ultimate Alliance was pretty good, I enjoyed it. Looking forward to #2 (crosses fingers)

If Maverl vs Capcom 2 was the one on the Dreamcast, then it is the best Marvel game ever.

"If Maverl vs Capcom 2 was the one on the Dreamcast, then it is the best Marvel game ever."

Yes it was

I don't think you actually understood what he meant:

"Good story in games IS mission design and IS character mechanics. For me, good story in game design for a spidey game would be stuff like:

-Spidey swinging above the city when his powers begin to give out and he has to- on the fly- adjust to slowly losing his powers (one by one, but in the order you- as a player choose- so there is some strategy to which powers you keep the longest before you are drained of them all)- ...so it begins with him battling the Green Goblin as Spidey- with all his Spidey powers- and by the end of the battle, you've lost all your super powers and all you've got is Peter Parker's very limited abilities (which=nothing but his intellect)...but you've still got to figure out how to stop the bad guy (cause, as Peter, you've still got this massive sense of responsibility)....granted, if not tuned right, this could be annoying to play, but for the sake of this discussion, assume it's tuned right. To me, this is a great example of a story scenario that you would see in the comics tied into the gameplay.

-Spidey being forced to deal- thru gameplay- with his ever present 'with great power comes great responsibility' dilemma...again, have not thought this thru play wise but perhaps over time there is some sort of guilt that builds up if Spidey takes the easy way out too often (allows pedestrians get hurt when battling bad guys, doesn't go after some bad guys that are able to be captured but do not need to be caught in order to win the mission,etc). Once the guilt meter is filled up, it begins to affect play or story/mission. Sort of like the fear meter in Eternal Darkness but less surreal and more tied into the actual mission design. A great way for the classic aspect of Spidey's character to come thru via play."

The entirety of his first notion seems to rely on his, strictly theoretical, ideals; as even he states -

"...if not tuned right, this could be annoying to play, but for the sake of this discussion, assume it's tuned right."

When put into effect, most of his ideas would lead to convoluted game design. I believe the point of his argument was to further immerse the player, through narrative elements, not distance them.

His second point I can better support. The ideas put forth in the way ED dealt with "sanity" have yet to really be explored and could affect gameplay design in a richer sense.

Agreed. Twisted Metal? Where's the story in that? And before anyone rolls out God of War, please read some Edith Hamilton, because *thats* story. GoW had cool fight mechanics and fluid control. The storyline was a pinball game of Greek Mythology not much more. /flameshield engage

boy did you get that wrong.

He's the most humble developer I ever heard interviewed. He talks himself down and others up...

oh...And twisted metal black had a story. Is was a twilight zone of mixed stories, but they were there if you actually played the game.

surprisingly, there was a story in Twisted Metal...

boy did you get that wrong.

He's the most humble developer I ever heard interviewed. He talks himself down and others up...

oh...And twisted metal black had a story. Is was a twilight zone of mixed stories, but they were there if you actually played the game.

And then we get back into the whole problem with licensing

If Marvel founded their own game publishing/development house, you could see a great increase in quality. Similarly, if AOL Time Warner had their own dev-house, their subsidiary DC could get some good stuff out there for a change. Self-published, unlicensed

Well, aside from Mickey Mania, all of his games have been good. But aside from that, Jaffe doesn't even consider himself a top tier game designer.

He just loves to wax poetic about his industry and other things.

LoL Prior to his "demi-godlike" status in KINGDOM HEARTS, MICKEY MANIA *was* the best Mickey game out there.