[hypertexthero]

The guy hasn’t worked on that many good games. Only Wing Commander, Ultima Underworld, System Shock, Deus Ex, Thief…oh, wait.

> One of the most important lessons I’ve learned is that if your game doesn’t have a clear vision, and you can’t express and “sell” it and if you don’t hire people better than you are, you’re likely to fail.

…

> We’ve developed an entirely new art form. We’re the only medium in the history of humankind that can turn every consumer into a creator and, astonishingly, we do that through the power of play. Think about that!

I’m looking forward to the next game Warren is working on, whatever it may be, and I think System Shock did introduce environmental storytelling to video games, which reminds me I must play the recent remake.

[indigochill]

> We’re the only medium in the history of humankind that can turn every consumer into a creator and, astonishingly, we do that through the power of play. Think about that!

I mean, games are an incredible medium, but I think books can blur the line as well. I think "S." is probably the best example. It's not a traditional gamebook (which would be cheating since they're explicitly games), but it is a physical book which presents itself as an artifact of the story it's telling (it's produced to look like an old library book written by a fictional author with notes in the margins between fictional characters).

It's really three stories in one: the story of what happened to the fictional author, the story of two characters trying to unravel that mystery, leaving notes in the margins and clippings inserted into the book, and the story written in the book itself.

But in a sense it requires readers to become creators by connecting the clues linking the three stories and determining what happened, thus completing the story for themselves.

Another example I grew up with was "The Eleventh Hour" which is an illustrated children's book with ciphers and puzzles and a main mystery for the reader to unravel. This is a bit more traditionally "gamey" than "S.".

You could also argue religion is a form of this, especially Judeo-Christian religions which have sacred texts but also millenia of extra-textual canon and tradition.

[hypertexthero]

“S” sounds very interesting! Is there a link to it? And I agree that books, or most any art form, can be considered creative for the reader/viewer/experiencer since they change our brain, especially if we make something playful inspired by them.

I bought a paper copy of a book called The Ground Itself not long go and warmly recommend it:

> …a one-session storytelling game for 2-5 players, played with household materials (a coin, a six-sided die, and a deck of cards).

https://everestpipkin.itch.io/the-ground-itself

[indigochill]

Here's the wikipedia article about it (to avoid linking to any particular seller, but it's generally easy to find from normal book sellers): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._(Dorst_novel)

[hypertexthero]

Thank you! Added to to-read list.

[rob74]

A remake of System Shock launched this year: https://store.steampowered.com/app/482400/System_Shock/ - Windows only unfortunately (but I wonder if it works with Proton?)

EDIT: didn't read until the end of your comment before I posted my answer, and now I don't know how to change it, so I'll just leave it like it is...

[morsch]

It works well with Proton, though as always ymmv on PC: https://www.protondb.com/app/482400

[otteromkram]

Not allowed to delete it?

[tibbydudeza]

He helped make the genre of games that I played during my youth - still wish that Tom Hall would finish Anachronox - such a quirky but awesome game and interesting story.

[j7ake]

“If you don’t hire people better than you”.

Makes me wonder if it’s better to go solo than to hire people worse than you.

[mcmoor]

Some advice I've read says it's better to go neutral than negative. That's why some startup recruitment methods are ridiculous af because they're afraid to go negative.