Game mechanics as story - an IFDB Poll
by aaronius
RSS FeedIn the best story-centered board games, the rules and system mechanics create or encourage the sorts of stories the game is supposed to be about; one suspense-themed game I discovered recently uses a Jenga tower to create rising dread in the story, and causing the tower to collapse triggers pivotal events. I'm looking for IF that ties something about the rules of its story world or its infrastructure into the story itself, so that pieces of the system are strongly linked to pieces of the narrative. I'll add examples as I think of them.
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| Slouching Towards Bedlam, by Star Foster and Daniel Ravipinto 1 vote "The PC is being..." [+]"The PC is being taken over by an alien parasitic entity which apparently gives its hosts the ability to manipulate time. Thus, actions like getting yourself killed and undoing to try a different course become part of the PCs story, rather than something extraneous to the game." --Christina Nordlander...  Vote for this game | |
| Changes, by David Given 1 vote (No comment) [+](No comment) ( ) --Floating Info... Vote for this game | |
| Deadline Enchanter, by Alan DeNiro 1 vote "The program and its internal walkthroughs are created by an in-narrative entity," [+]"The program and its internal walkthroughs are created by an in-narrative entity," ( ) --perching path... Vote for this game | |
| Save the Date, by Chris Cornell 1 vote (No comment) [+](No comment) --sushabye... Vote for this game | |
| So Far, by Andrew Plotkin 1 vote "The theme of the..." [+]"The theme of the game is "so close and yet so far" and the various puzzles in the game generally involve you bringing things together but not quite touching, or ending up near but not quite at your goal." --Dan Shiovitz... Vote for this game | |
| Varicella, by Adam Cadre 1 vote "Varicella gives..." [+]"Varicella gives you spy cameras, tones of voice for interacting with people, and (naturally) the ability to replay until you get things right. The result is a game where you spend a lot of time skulking in your room spying on people and also a lot of time ordering or wheedling people to try to get them to do what you want." --Dan Shiovitz... Vote for this game | |
| The Djinni Chronicles, by J. D. Berry 1 vote "Your purpose..." [+]"Your purpose affects everything you do and you gain it by doing things "in your nature". " ( - Full review) --tggdan3... Vote for this game | |