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Stanford STS 145 - Game Review: Betrayal at Krondor

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STS 145 – History of Computer Game Design – Professor Lowood – Winter 2001 _ Nicholas Fang – Assignment 1 - Game Review (Betrayal at Krondor) 1 Game Review: Betrayal at Krondor Nicholas Fang – [email protected] - SUID 4495024 Game Information and Credits Betrayal at Krondor, © 1993 Developed by Dynamix (a division of Sierra On-Line) Published by Sierra On-Line Design John Cutter Lead Programming Nels Bruckner Programming Steve Cordon, Timothy Screlchun Graphics / 3D Programming Damon Mitchell, Vance Naegle Level / Scenario Design Neal Hallford Graphics / Artwork D. Brent Burkett, Rhonda Conley, John Garvin, Viggi Hippler, Robert Kraft, Peter Lewis, Sean Murphy, Tito Pagan Music Jan Paul Moorhead Art Director Mike McHugh Cover Art D. Brent Burkett, Roger Smith Documentation Barbara Ray, Sue Roberts Director John Cutter Writing / Dialogue / Story Raymond E. Feist, Neal Hallford Playtesting Gerald Azenaro, Corey Boyer, Tim Boyer, James Domico, Oliver Fellguth, Brent Gilbert, Robert Harrington, Dan Hinds, Chris Hunt, David M. Tatum, Wayland M. Wasserman, Wesley Malespino, Zachary Marcus, Penny May, Chris Medinger, Joseph Muennich, Sam Nicols, Warren P. Gunther, Duri Price, Jeff Rollosson Halbhuber, Chris Singleton, Lewece T. Champetier, John Wolf Quality Assurance Forrest WalkerSTS 145 – History of Computer Game Design – Professor Lowood – Winter 2001 _ Nicholas Fang – Assignment 1 - Game Review (Betrayal at Krondor) 2 Acting / Voiceovers Sher Alltucker, Danette Artusy, Mark Baker, Kevin Barclay, Allen Beausoleil, Stan Boyd, Thyra Boyd, Rogert Canaga, Jan Carpenter, Jane Chase, Bill Chilla, Keith Cooper, Todd Croson, Richard D. Mitchell, Sylvan DuPlant, Ted Ellis, Roger Emmert, Howard Epstein, Laura Fulks, David Gauntlett, Joseph Gilg, John Gilpatrick, Kim Harris, Tucker Hatfield, Viggi Hippler, Stan Jackson, Daniel Kaufman, John Keeys, Michael Kovcholovsky, Robert Kraft, Chris Leebrick, Peter Lewis, Greg Mantell, Zachary Marcus, Samuel Martinez, Eric Milligan, Tuan Myers, Jan Paul Moorhead, Stanley Pender, Bill Reed, Alan Roberts, Ken Rogers, Earl Ruttencutter, Marc Siegel, David Snider, Justin Stafford, Colleen Tunnell, John Urhammer, Mark Verrier , Alan Wagner, Dennis Williams, Douglas Zalud-Mackie Special Thanks To Kerrie Abbott, David Aughenbaugh, Mike Boyersmith, Mark Brenneman, Michelle Cordon, Melanie Cutter, Jenny Gray, Dan Hinds, Bob Lindstrom, Dariusz Lukaszuk, Jerry Lutrell, Joel Mariano, Kyle Miller, Mark Potter, Tony Reyneke, Kim Screlchun, Janna Silverstein, Jeff Tunnell, Thomas Van Velkinburg Introduction Among games of the role-playing genre, there has traditionally been a division between two principal styles of game designs. On one hand is what are often called the story-driven RPGs, in which the role playing elements are wrapped around relatively linear gameplay designed to draw the player into and give them a part in a well conceived and put together storyline. In these games, the players often take the roles of pre-generated characters with already specified personalities and histories that are well fleshed out, allowing for stronger character development and better integration between the characters and the story. Console role-playing games, for a variety of reasons, have often fallen into this camp. On the other hand, we have the freeform RPGs that are frequently more popular on the PC. In these, the focus is on the characters’ stat development and their unbounded participation in a world. Though there is a story in these games, this story is usually very loosely structured and is just a thin excuse for the player’s explorations (for example, find the eight pieces of the staff to save the world). These games are more flexible in what the player does and allow for more random wandering and random events. The user also frequently generates the characters from scratch, so the player feels more like they themselves are participating in that world. The tradeoff here is that the lack of structure and linearity coupled with characters that aren’t pre-generated make it more difficult to have a strongly cohesive story.STS 145 – History of Computer Game Design – Professor Lowood – Winter 2001 _ Nicholas Fang – Assignment 1 - Game Review (Betrayal at Krondor) 3 In recent years, though, this division has begun to break down. Recent story-driven RPGs begin to adopt more side events and possibilities, building a more freeform world for the player to interact with. At the same time, the freeform RPGs have started crafting a more complete and compelling story. This blending of design philosophies can be traced through certain games through the years, and one of the earliest, most influential, and ultimately most enjoyable and successful of these is Betrayal at Krondor. Basic Storyline Betrayal at Krondor is set in a land called Midkemia, and is based on Raymond E. Feist’s literary series The Riftwar Saga. Not only set in Feist’s world, Feist himself co-wrote the story for the game. This basing of the game on an already existing, rich world was a rarity at the time (and in fact, still is) and having a well-established author pen the storyline was even more rare, but had great and positive ramifications for the game’s design and execution. This contributed ultimately to its success and to an advancement of the genre. The basic storyline begins innocuously enough, with the player’s characters escorting a Moredhel turncoat bringing tidings of an attack on Midkemia (the Moredhel are the enemies to the north). Taking the role of several preset characters, this escort mission becomes an investigation of this aggression, a determination of the truth behind the war and its inciters, and a desperate race to prevent the coming onslaught. No summary, however, can describe the richness with which this story is told and the intricacies and details of its plotline. Interestingly enough, the story was strong enough to be adapted for the beginnings of a new book series, The Riftwar Legacy, a continuation of Feist’s original series. In a sense, this completes the cycle from book to game and back. This is telling of how well the story of this game was crafted. As we will soon see with the game design’s roots in theSTS 145 – History of Computer Game Design – Professor Lowood – Winter 2001 _ Nicholas Fang – Assignment 1 - Game Review (Betrayal at Krondor) 4 freeform RPG tradition, this was


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Stanford STS 145 - Game Review: Betrayal at Krondor

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