[EnterTheStory]

Hi,

I'm from the team over at EnterTheStory.com, a fairly new concept to turn the world's greatest stories into the world's biggest adventure game.

Have you ever read a great book, and wanted to climb inside, be part of the story, and explore? Well now you can! Enter The story is a huge point-and-click world made out of classic novels, epic poems and ancient legends.

So far it features Les Miserables, Dante's Divine Comedy (featuring Dante's Inferno) and Hesiod's Genesis of the Gods (the origins of the universe, Earth and mankind). Due for spring 2010 is A Tale of Two Cities, followed by Treasure Island.
Each game contains a pathway to another, hence 'the world's biggest adventure game' So with every new story, the world of Enter The Story gets bigger and bigger. The goal is for a game so big that you can wander around and explore forever, always finding something new...

The best part is you choose the next story- vote on the forum- http://enterthestory.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=4 -for what you want to see next.

Let me know what you think, along with any questions,queries or suggestions you might have.
Thanks!

[Stupot]

I once started trying to design a game based on Bram Stoker's Dracula. I know there are plenty of Dracula-based adventure games out there already, but nothing that stays very true to the book (as far as I'm aware).

I think an Enter the Story Dracula game would work really well.

[EnterTheStory]

I think that's a brilliant idea. Dracula was planned to be a future game, but you've really made me think again about the connections it would make!

The Enter the Story games need to be a) famous, b) well loved, and c) connect with existing games, to expand the Enter the Story world. For example, Les Mis is set in Paris; A Tale of Two Cities starts in Paris, and ends in London. Dracula begins in London, and goes on to Transylvania- already you can see how it all starts to connect, making this ever-expanding universe. Dracula would really work well. Thanks.

[AndreaDraco83]

It will certainly prove extremely difficult or perhaps impossible, but my favorite book is Marcel Proust's A la Recherche du Temps Perdu (In Search of Lost Time or A Remembrance of Things Past in English), and I'd love to enter its story

[tsa]

How about War of the Worlds? That must be much easier to make an interesting game out of than A Tale of Two Cities . You certainly gave yourself a daunting task!

[itlol]

try neil geiman's books. they are all solid and has myth side. ( twisted too).

[Hillseeker]

What a wonderful idea. I'm going to keep my eyes wide open for this one.

[tsa]

Yes, it's Otherland but different. Very interesting. I sure hope it works out!

[EnterTheStory]

Hi all, thanks for the suggestions!

re: A la Recherche du Temps Perdu: The goal is to make games quickly, releasing one every 2 months or so. Eventually the less well known games, as well as people's favourites, like yours, will all get to be included. However, the chances are- even if it is out of copyright- the author's relatives will try and stop any adaptations, game or otherwise. It's worth remembering though, for looking into in the future. Thanks.

re: War of the Worlds: Definitely! In fact, if you look here then you can see that Enter The Story was inspired by comic adaptations of classic books. War of the Worlds comics are pictured there three times, as it's definite future release.

re: Neil Geiman: I agree, they would make very interesting games. The problem is the books are in copyright. When Enter The Story is big enough, hopefully modern authors will be more than happy for their books to be made into games for the publicity it would bring them. Until then, we can only use books that are out of copyright. Sorry!

[GarageGothic]

How about The Wind in the Willows (that should be public domain now, right)? I think that would make for a very interesting, and quite different from the other classics, game. Yet connecting to A Tale of Two Cities (being set along the River Thames) and possibly also to Genesis of the Gods (through the god Pan).

I guess it would be a bit more work than other games though, as there are few human characters so not many art resources can be recycled.

[Linque]

I didn't understand. Are some of the games already made? I went to the official forums and there's talk about testing one 'book' and two being already out? I am really quite a bit confused about this.

[EnterTheStory]

Hiya

re: Wind in the Willows: That's a very interesting idea, thank you. It would make a quirky, fun game, different from a lot of the more serious melodramas in the pipeline. It isn't planned for the near future, but will be released at some point.

Linque: Sorry for any confusion. Three games are already out: Les Miserables, Dante's Divine Comedy, and Genesis of the Gods. You can buy them all via the website.

As far as I can tell, the thread you're talking about is GoG Beta Testing? That was a thread for all the beta testers to give Chris (the man behind Enter The Story) all of their notes/bug reports on the unfinished game. It was used before Genesis of the Gods was released this month, so is now redundant.

I hope that makes sense. If you have any other questions please do not hesitate to ask.

[Linque]

This is actually more interesting than I thought. The production values are much better than what I expected, and the premise is pretty interesting. I don't care that much about playing the three books released so far. I might try Les Miserables, but the two others are much too religious for my taste. I'll definitely keep an eye on this for sure. If you make Dracula and I haven't tried any of your games yet, I'll definitely check that out.

[EnterTheStory]

Go for it Les Mis is a full length game- the other two are only free because I want you to get the feel of having more than one story, connected. It's a world full of stories, and you pick and choose what interests you- what you're doing is exactly what I'd hoped; different people like different things!

[poeticadventurer]

Hmmm...I'm not sure that this is such a great thing. I absolutely love adventure games, but in terms of being immersive, I don't see how playing a game is more immersive than reading a book.

Maybe it's because I have an especially vivid imagination, but reading a book, and playing a game offers an equal level of immersiveness to me. I can really sink into a book once I start going, and it's the same thing when I'm playing a game.

[Periglo]

My advice is: make some else's promotion work for you!

For this year, a clear candidate would be Alice in Wonderland, in order to benefit from the upcoming Burton's movie. (I love the book, too.)

[Ariel Type]

If you decide to go into outer space, please, don't forget about The Little Prince. And Jules Vern is an obvious candidate for a sea theme.

[Enter the Story]

Hi, Chris here! (the guy producing Enter The Story)

re: The Little Prince: I'd love to do that - you're not the first person to suggest it. But sadly it's still in copyright.

re: Alice in Wonderland: again, I'd love to! But whenever a big move comes out, a game accompanies it. And the first thing they do is trademark the name. I ran into this problem with my Dante's Inferno game. After I'd already started it, EA Games announced their own version, and trademarked it for...

computer game software for use on mobile and cellular phones, handheld computers, computers, video game consoles, both handheld and free standing, and other wireless devices ... a continuing computer game and science fiction show broadcast over television, satellite, audio, and video media ... entertainment services in the field of film and television, namely, the creation, production and distribution of films, videos, animation, and computer generated images

Clearly this is nonsense, as there were already two other Dante's Inferno games out there, plus a very famous game character called Dante, several movies, etc. But trademark law has nothing to do with sense: it's all about who can spend the most on lawyers. So I had to change the name of my game to "The Divine Comedy" - a title that nobody had heard of, and that severely hit sales.

That doesn't mean I won't tackle any stories that are also movies, but it's a legal minefield.

[Enter the Story]

Originally Posted by poeticadventurer

in terms of being immersive, I don't see how playing a game is more immersive than reading a book.

It depends what you mean by immersive. For me, immersion means I am surrounded by the story. Specifically,
1. I feel that I am actually there, and not merely reading about it
2. The story has internal logic

I love books, but they all fail the first test: you cannot feel like you are really there. If you were really there you would sometimes say "don't do that, do this" but you can't because you're not really there.

Most games fail the second test: their internal logic doesn't work. If you were really in an adventure game, for example, you would not choose the prescribed puzzles or conversations or pathways, sooner or later you'd try something else. But you can't.

For me, the most important interactions, the absolute minimum I would expect in real life, are the ability to move around and ask questions. So in my games you can go anywhere and talk to anyone. I do recognize that limits are necessary, so I've developed a back story (involving how angels interact) that explains why certain conversations are limited, for example. But for me, the ability to move at will and talk to anyone is absolutely essential to being immersed in a story. Others' mileage may vary.

[poeticadventurer]

Originally Posted by tolworthy

It depends what you mean by immersive. For me, immersion means I am surrounded by the story. Specifically,
1. I feel that I am actually there, and not merely reading about it
2. The story has internal logic

I love books, but they all fail the first test: you cannot feel like you are really there. If you were really there you would sometimes say "don't do that, do this" but you can't because you're not really there.

Wow, we experience books completely differently. This is why I mentioned that I have an especially vivid imagination, and maybe only few people have this.

When I'm reading a book, and I really get into it, I am there. I am surrounded by the story's world and am oblivious to everything around me. I don't feel like I'm "merely reading about it."

Of course, this only happens with books that I really love. If say, I'm reading a newspaper, that's something else entirely, but when reading a story I love...I am transported there !!!


I feel sorry for you guys if you can't experience this.