Monday, April 20, 2009

A Bit More

I've been thinking about that Fallout: New Vegas post since I put it up, and I'd like to add a bit of explanation.

In an apocalyptic world, the possibilities for the future are so undefined that almost anything could happen. If a game would reflect that lack of definition, it would be fantastic. A sandbox, in some ways, with events happening in a dynamic way each time you played.

At its simplest, a post-apocalyptic future would consist of two extremes: a return to civilization, albeit slowly, or some kind of crazed world where civilization, by any current definition, just ceased to exist.

Playing a game where each of these outcomes were possible, plus everything in-between, would give a game a tremendous amount of replay value.

I mentioned Tarn because I don't know anyone else who has managed to construct a simulation with the complexity and humanity of Dwarf Fortress. DF is, in many ways, incredibly personal, and you get to know individual characters at a deeper level than any other game I ever played. Tarn (and his brother Zach) are also the only people I know who would be capable of considering all the behavioral and environmental possiblities and construct a dynamic world that would reflect all those inputs.

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