In response to Gehn: Take, for instance, the movie “Sixth Sense.”
SPOILERS!!!
Take any scene from that movie involving Bruce Willis, after the opening sequence. Bruce’s character’s interactions with the rest of the world aside from Cole (Haley Joel Osment) are all merely suggested by the use of movie-making techniques: when Cole comes home to find Bruce’s character sitting in the chair across from his mother, the audience automatically assumes that the mother and Bruce were deep in conversation when Cole comes home, though it’s never actually explicitly stated or shown.
Or, for instance, every time Bruce went home to go to his basement, he’d find the door locked. The camera would only show from the handle up, and it’d show Bruce fumbling in his pocket for his keys. The next scene would always be him sitting in his office in the basement, leading the audience to automatically assume that he’d found his key, opened the door, and went downstairs as normal. However, M. Night Shyamalan’s direction was great in that it made the audience feel as oblivious to the truth as Bruce’s character.
It was Shyamalan’s understanding of the medium that allowed him to use those tricks to tell a story in a new and unique way.
Or, take, for instance, the movie “Memento.” The story in and of itself wasn’t terribly innovative. However, the way it was told could only be effectively done so in the movie medium.
It’s that sort of thing that I’m talking about. I’m looking for a game made by someone who has an intimiate understanding of the medium itself, and design the story/gameplay around those unique aspects of the medium.