AIQS Workbook Spring 2025

Group 3 - Integrating Quotation Practice

While often seen as simple backdrops, a good walking simulator takes advantage of its environment, and uses it to tell the story along with the games dialogue. According to Reed et al., "But the most famous and successful walking simulators are best understood as explorations not of environment, but of character. Just as the environments in first-person shooters exist to support action-packed combat, the environments in most walking sims are designed to be platforms for understanding and empathizing with characters" (129). The authors claim that although the environment gives the player not only a space to experience the game in, but also another way to explore and understand the characters and plot. The claims that the authors make are quite important, as an environment that is dull or otherwise serves no purpose to the story can cause the player to lose interest in the world the game is trying to create. In terms of "Gone Home," the games environment serves not only as a hub for storytelling, but it also creates a believable world, which helps engage the player by putting them directly in the family's conflicts. 

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