All the stuff I love most in game storytelling is never the big-picture stuff; it's the stuff that feels like curlicues, stuff that's just there because it's a game and because you can do it.
Interpretation
Game storytelling thrives on small, intricate details rather than grand narratives.
In this quote, Tom Bissell emphasizes the importance of the subtle, intricate elements in video game storytelling that contribute to a richer, more immersive experience. He suggests that it is these 'curlicues,' or small details, that elevate the medium and engage players on a deeper level, reflecting the unique possibilities that gaming offers.
In practice
In a game development conference talk, I quoted Tom Bissell to emphasize the value of incorporating small details in game design.
To create anything β whether a short story or a magazine profile or a film or a sitcom β is to believe, if only momentarily, you are capable of magic. These essays are about that magic β which is sometimes perilous, sometimes infectious, sometimes fragile, sometimes failed, sometimes infuriating, sometimes triumphant, and sometimes tragic. I went up there. I wrote. I tried to see.
I am going for a level of perfection that is only mine... Most of the pleasure is in getting the last little piece perfect.
Preparing a character is the opposite of building-it is a demolishing, removing brick by brick everything in the actor's muscles, ideas and inhibitions that stands between him and the part, until one day, with a great rush of air, the character invades his every pore.
Liquid architecture. It's like jazz - you improvise, you work together, you play off each other, you make something, they make something. And I think it's a way of - for me, it's a way of trying to understand the city, and what might happen in the city.
Jazz is a very democratic musical form. It comes out of a communal experience. We take our respective instruments and collectively create a thing of beauty.
Flesh was the reason why oil painting was invented
Filmmaking is exploring. Why would I want to make a film about something I already understand?
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