Michael Steffen

Thesis Rants: A Character Drama About Tobias Rosseau

CHARACTER DRAMA! Why did no one seize on that when I did my pitch? Perhaps I didn't seize on it enough myself. The center of Telmahre is not even so much adapting the screenplay structure. It is the character of Tobias Rosseau. The world of Telmahre is a manifestation of this character's psyche. Guess I forgot to mention that in my pitch. That's core.

Right next to that is the format used in Myst 4...

Myst 4 does some extremely interesting things visually--imagine what would happen if a more dynamic model for character interaction was introduced and the puzzles were downsized or eliminated.

I still believe that a branching version of the Daniel screenplay structure would work best. People get so hung up on branching narrative, but what I tried to point out in my pitch was that most games are lucky if their narrative branches--so many still use a mostly linear one. Oh sure, you may or may not find the machine gun or the extra life, but otherwise the story progresses along a single line.

I am not out there to revolutionize interactive narrative. Evolve it, yes, but beyond that...

I want to push the ART!

I want to use existing technologies & methodologies and combine them in new ways to explore the storytelling potential that already exists.

I want to express myself with Interactive Media!

Using the medium for self-expression is so primitive right now--so much more can be done!