Homework Assignment about Commander Keen's narrative

[VikingBoyBilly]

So I have a homework assignment where I need to choose a game I feel does a good job of delivering story narrative, and at first I was thinking Doom 3 or Hexen, then I decided I wanted to do commander Keen. Part of the assignment requires me to do some research about what the fanbase thinks of the way the game's method of storytelling, and, I suppose that's you guys
I'm also going to have to do the horrifying citing of sources, I'm afraid.

Mostly I wanted to pick this game because even though it all may seem like the same game, it is actually split into three different games, and the end of each one leaves a dramatic cliffhanger that makes the player want to explore the next chapter of the adventure, which is what motivated me to buy Keen 2 and 3 after playing the freeware Keen 1

This seems to have been the first game that used the whole 'try before you buy' method and I think that was a really good system to use. Of course the secret language to decode (standard galactic alphabet) plays some part in the game's story, as well as people who tell you stuff at the end of certain levels.

What do you guys think?

[KeenEmpire]

the best technique here is probably to come up with a way you Think the fanbase thinks then ask leading questions about it

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Without having heard anything, though:

The "Billy Blaze, eight year old genius, working dilligently..." paragraph actually worked pretty well, it's practically a maxim.

If you ask me, the Marooned on Mars storyline kind of went over my head (remember, i was like 6). Vorticons? Martians? I didn't know who those scary doglike creatures were supposed to be. A pictorial index, like in Keens 4 and 5, would've been much useful here. And as for the "political upheaval" on Mars - isn't the fanbase less than 10 years old? But I digress...

the Keen 2 story was much easier to understand (earth explodes, doh). The thing with the Vorticon elder wasn't bad either.

Sort of neutral about the Keen 3 story.

Keens 4-6, I think, had much more obvious storylines even to a kid. I guess this was helped a little by all the pictures and the creatures page. They might simply have gotten better, however, i'd have to check.

I guess one thing Keen wasn't characterized by was a lot of intermediate dialogue during the story. This may just be a new thing, though. The cliffhangers throughout were definitely clever business, though, i completely agree.

[Herry Jerry]

The stories were all pretty clear to me, although like KeenEmpire, the whole 4-6 picture system really helped me understand them (the stories) a bit better. Also, with Keen 4 through 6, the level entry box sorta helped me understand what Keen was feeling, and the setting and location. (i.e. Keen stumbles upon Hillville, Keen finds Mortimer's base at Bijboj IV) The big, detailed backgrounds in Keen 4-6 helped with the whole setting, location thing.

Umm... does anyone else but me notice that pretty much all I talked about was the Keen 4 - 6 system? Anyway, the text-only stories in Keens 1-3 was clear, but slightly more vague than the "new" keens. Except for the whole political upheaval with the Martian king and the Viking Lander... that part was really awesome, and took advantage of things that happen in real life to describe something happening in-game. Unfortunately, you never get to see the king... unless he's one of the rocks you see every now and then

Well, those are my thoughts on the subject... let's see what other's opinions are

[VikingBoyBilly]

Wow, I made a very close cut by submitting the assignment at 11:59 PM tonight (it was due at midnight). It's not that I was struggling to get it done, or anything. I'm pretty sure it's okay as is. Okay maybe I was rushing a little bit because the whole question with sources was kind of confusing since most of the small assignments for the class don't require that kind of thing, the rest of the questions relied purely on personal insight.

And um... I sort of mentioned the whole Viking Lander debate just a little bit while I was in that fanbase question

Thanks for your thoughts Jerry and Empire. A little insight on how Keeners percieved things when they were around the age of 6 was pretty helpful, since I was 20 the first time I played this game (My current age is 21, BTW. Yes, I discovered keen too far past its time, but better late than never, right? )

Lol, I probably should have made this topic somewhat earlier than the day it was due, but I am a master of procrastination

[XkyRauh]

Hehe--yeah, some of us arrived too late to contribute! :(

Keen comes from an era of gaming where the storyline's text had to be carefully planned such that it fit on a few screens-worth of presentation, yet carried enough mystery and excitement to carry the player through several levels of gameplay.

Many old NES or Atari games had the plot and exposition left entirely in the manual's hands, with gameplay speaking for itself. Later games integrate the plot with the action, so that the player is presented with dialogue boxes or cutscenes.... Keen in a way represents the last stand of the segregated presentation, but also the bridge between the two (dialogue on the Vorticon ship in Ep.2, cutscene with the Mangling Machine in Ep.3)

I hope your assignment goes well. :)