Well, the way I see it after studiying cinema is: "you should show wheneaver you can". Sometimes you can´t avoid telling to comunicate effectively some information to the audience, but if you can show it instead of telling it, it becomes much stronger. The best example is Hichcock´s first shot from "Rear Window" in which he introduces the character, setting and situation in just some seconds.

So I guess we should think "make the player do wheneaver you can", as it should be stronger both emotionally and dramatically forcing the player to do something rather than forcing him to watch it.

I agree that showing produces a stronger effect. Facts you've put together yourself stick with you, and scenes you've created in your mind are a lot harder to defend yourself against than scenes you've actually seen. At least for me, that's the psychological reality behind the saying. But for that reason, I'd go with "show when it's important" rather than "show when you can", and using it as a tool for focusing the telling. Otherwise you might waste the audience's cognitive resources on stuff that doesn't really matter.
As for do, don't show, I think the effect is similar. By letting the player act out the action herself without heavy-handed guidance from the game, the action becomes more personal and more real. But it's also taxing in a way that most audiences aren't comfortable with, and so you'll need to dumb it down here and there. Does that make sense to you?

I thought his reformulation of the film (and writing) rule of "show, don't tell," into "do, don't show," for games was an interesting idea.  I'm not totally convinced it should be looked at as a rule, but I am intrigued by the thought process and to the implications for the game medium in relation to other more traditional media.

I'd say it works as a rule for games about as well as "show, don't tell" works for linear storytelling. It's a nice adage, but in truth any story that attempts never to tell is going to be long, complicated and inaccessible. I'm not sure such a story even exists - yeah okay, I guess there are stories with so little actual content than they can survive just indicating all of it, and some of those do work. My point is, I think it's a sweet ideal to "do, don't show", but in practice most games need their fair share of not only showing, but also telling, in order to make sense to its audience.

Can't watch the video right now, so maybe I got it all wrong... Just going by the idea of "do, don't show" that I've come across earlier.

I´ve been using Multimedia Fusion 2 for a year and it dosen´t have that magical feature of Click and Play you are talking about. However, I have strictly no programming knowledge and it allows me to make the games I want. It´s pretty visual, very intuitive, and can get powerful if you are skilled enough, as Nifflas proves. It could be better for sure, even more visual and intuitive, but they are getting there, Multimedia Fusion 3 is on the works so we´ll see. I would love if you could edit the code in real time like in Unity...

Kay, that's sad. The Games Factory may be better than Klik & Play and still do these things, but I doubt anyone would call it a worthy game development tool today. So yeah, these functions would be more of an inspiration than something to actually make games with.

I don't think Klik & Play would be of much practical use in itself, given its limitations and bugginess, but I think it would be a great reference, a great source of inspiration for a new tool...

I remember this function from the "sequel" to Klik & Play, The Games Factory. Indeed, upon any new collision event in-game, you could instantly set a consequence. Might have worked for events other than collisions too, don't quite remember. I do remember you could press escape at any time to pause the game and specify what would happen in the level after that amount of time had passed since starting the level.

More importantly, Klik & Play is ancient, and has been replaced first with The Games Factory, and later Multimedia Fusion and Multimedia Fusion 2. This program is what powered Mårten Jonsson's notgame Star Sky and everything made by Swedish indie creator Nifflas Nygren, so it seems serviceable enough. So if Multimedia Fusion 2 has the same functionality, which I'm assuming it does, that would be the better choice!  

Good to hear you are picking up acting, by the road, I always feel that has much influenced me in how I see what I want to do give as a role to the player; hence the linear games; making your own 'big choices' is the last interesting aspect of being an actor and subtle expressions is everything.

That makes us two, then. Though I'm actually not so much picking up acting as returning to the the stage after my long journey to gameland. Theatre was the reason I rediscovered the joy of creation and decided to do it professionally. I've never been that influenced by the acting itself though. I think I understand Dinner Date better with your description, and I should probably play it again with an actor's mindset. What I bring with me from the theatre is mostly my role as a writer for a "physical" art form, which makes me try to see the dramatic armatures of everything from Planescape Torment to Street Fighter.

Glad you like my talk! And really glad that you will try and pursue similar ideas.

I was a bit worried about how to approach my studio with all these new "radical" ideas, but it turned out they'd spent the time I was away mostly reading your blog. Now all we need to do is figure out how to really differentiate our work from "the scary game", which would likely have been a problem for anyone in the current state of this genre, even if they were completely uninspired by Amnesia. But don't worry, we've got our own thing going. 

As Kellee Santiago would no doubt exclaim: "It's because of the funding!"

Alright, I confess, my funding for the upcoming year will come from studying. Drama, this time. I have spent some time on a proper job while handling the arts on my spare time though, and must say it worked out well for me then. Though I suppose studying will always be easier than working.

Hello NotGames!

I'm a recent graduate from the game design program at the university of Skövde, Sweden. While waiting to be registered, I actually made a blog post about the events leading up to me coming here, so if want to read that, check it out at my site: www.hugobille.com

In short, I'm fighting to free myself from the rigid academic notions of what a game is that I've been fed the past three years. I'm still a passionate gamer's gamer and fan of general popular culture, but I'm also very eager to deepen the appeal of what we do, and make mature software for mature people. I'm here to learn and find new ways of connecting with the audience.

At the moment, I am working with my Gothenburg-based studio (www.theworkingparts.com) on a horror game set in the homes of certain people who share a tragic secret, and also on a "duet" project with graphic artist Lili Ibrahim in which we try to use exploration as a metaphor for a romantic relationship - an adventure in your boyfriend's inner world. For now, I make my living outside of games.