We asked you to contemplate video-game settings for the latest Bitmob Writing Challenge, and you delivered. We got a number of insightful articles analyzing interesting vistas and varied atmospheric locales and discussing their roles in video games. We've collected them for you to enjoy here. It's better than a vacation!
The sci-fi setting's untapped potential by Danny Concepcion
Danny chose to shine a light on the often one-note sci-fi/horror setting. He comes to the conclusion that every game that utilizes this setting tries to be like the movie Alien; they endow the player with an entire armory's worth of guns, making horror difficult to achieve. Danny's points can apply to the whole genre, but I agree that it's high time developers rethink space as a place for scares.
I bought the Pantheon: Renaissance Italy by Matt Polen
Matt decided to write about one of my personal favorite underutilized settings: Renaissance Italy. He focuses on the Assassin's Creed games, mostly because they are some of the very few to use this locale. And the pictures he provides for the article tell just as much about the location as the words do, especially in the context of an open-world game where you climb all over the beautiful architecture.
There but not back again: Abandoned in Rapture by Timothy James
Switching gears by focusing on an original setting, Timothy extols the virtues of Rapture, the underwater city of BioShock. He clearly supports the sunken town's atmosphere as an effective storytelling device, and I can only find myself agreeing. And his point about two different Raptures in two points in time stands as well. Not going back to the well can be more powerful than sucking a setting dry sometimes.
The morphing tower of Persona 3: Tartarus by Jonathan Oyama
Looking at a game developed in Japan rather than a Western one, Jonathan took a glance at Tartarus, the randomly-generated main dungeon of Persona 3. His piece is a straight-up analysis of the place, its themes, and its atmosphere; the main idea is that it's supposed to be a hellish place that shouldn't exist. I can personally attest that this was indeed the case…and it made the game all the more intriguing for it.
Visit beautiful South Town: The home of Fatal Fury! by Chris Hoadley
Finally, fellow Writing Challenge honcho Chris takes a not-so-serious look at Fatal Fury's South Town, structuring it like a travel brochure mixed with an encyclopedia entry. Simply put: South Town is a town full of fighting, and its citizens are proud of this fact. Personally, I'd want to stay away from people who do nothing but pound on each other all day…but I don't generally criticize people's vacation preferences.
Well, that's it for my challenge. Chase Koeneke has taken the reins for the next challenge, so don't forget to take part in that one as well. Safe travels!