Heavy Rain
The last time I heard of Heavy Rain was when it was first shown, as we were first entering the current generation of hardware. Today, Jerry Holkins from Penny-Arcade linked to two videos where the game’s executive producer, Guillaume de Fondaumière, talked about the game. Here’s a great quote:
I think, personally, that game overs are a thing of the past. Heavy Rain is not about failing or succeeding, Heavy Rain is about the journey… not to replay, but to continue the experience, whatever [the player's] choices… The four playable characters can be in great danger sometimes, and sometimes they can die. But when you lose a character, this is an information that the game takes on board, but the story continues… You bear the consequences of your actions. I think, personally, that game overs are a thing of the past. Heavy Rain isnot about failing or succeeding, Heavy Rain is about the journey… not to replay, but to continue the experience, whatever [the player's] choices… The four playable characters can be in great danger sometimes, and sometimes they can die. But when you lose a character, this is an information that the game takeson board, but the story continues… You bear the consequences of your actions.
A game with consequence! Isn’t that what game developers have been working towards for so long? Players will finally have weight tied to their actions. There won’t be any Good/Bad meters like we’ve seen in so many games (Fable, KOTOR, etc.) trying to artificially remind players of what they’ve done, and how they’re perceived in the game world.
Then I found this article on Destructoid. David Cage, the game’s director, is quoted several times:
In Heavy Rain, the player is in control second to second, he tells the story through his actions. All this is done in a very fluid, seamless way, with no cut scenes, no big flashing sign to make decisions, and this is what makes the game really unique… Heavy Rain is not a videogame anymore in my mind, because it breaks with most of the traditional paradigms, but it’s fully interactive.
How is this not a video game? The use of video games of as a narrative art form is what people have been trying to accomplish for so long. Interactivity is what separates video games from most other storytelling mediums. Is he trying to appease forum trolls who say this isn’t a game? Don’t shy away from the title of being a video game just because no one has done something as unique or original as you have.
The original Penny-Arcade post goes on to describe the game’s official blog that’s being hosted on IGN.
This shit didn’t come from the marketing department, I’ll tell you that much. This guy is a fucking wreck – he’s barely making it through the day. The clutch of the creative process, as experienced by Cage, is indistinguishable from a mental illness. Heavy Rain is a symptom of his condition, and he is expelling it from his mind piece by piece in an effort to save his own life.
Isn’t this a large portion of what defines art? Art, in part, is the expression of one person’s of life in a way that evokes emotion in the people who interact with it. I’m really excited and curious to see how this game turns out, and how it will be received.